Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/

Consent isn’t a checkbox—it’s a relationship.

In this episode, Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke dig into the messy, nuanced reality of consent. Moving far beyond the simplistic “yes means yes” framework, they explore how power dynamics, discomfort, and unspoken pressure shape whether consent is actually present.

From workplaces to relationships to leadership, they challenge the idea that words alone determine consent—and make the case for deeper awareness, ongoing check-ins, and paying attention to what’s not being said.

This is a conversation about power, humanity, and what it really takes to create environments where people can genuinely choose.

In This Episode, We Cover:

• The difference between performative consent and real consent
• Why “they said yes” is often not the full story
• How power dynamics distort people’s ability to consent
• The role of nonverbal communication (and why words aren’t enough)
• Why leaders have a responsibility to pay closer attention
• Consent as an ongoing, relational process—not a one-time agreement
• How discomfort prevents both giving and receiving real consent
• The problem with forcing vulnerability in workplace culture
• Why “use your words” can be an oversimplification
• Real-life examples of honoring consent—even when it costs something

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Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/

Let’s clear something up right away: discomfort and conflict are not the same thing.

But most of us treat them like they are, and that misunderstanding is costing us. In our relationships, in our leadership, and in the kind of world we say we want to build.

In this first episode of our discomfort series, I’m joined by Faith Clarke to break down what discomfort actually is (hint: it lives in your body), what conflict actually is (hint: it lives between people), and why so many of us are doing everything we can to avoid both.

We talk about:

• Why your brain is so quick to label discomfort as danger
• How power and identity shape your relationship to conflict
• The stories you tell yourself that escalate everything
• And why learning to stay with discomfort might be one of the most important leadership skills you can build

If you’ve ever avoided a hard conversation, over-accommodated to keep the peace, or spiraled over something small—this one’s for you.

🔑 What We Cover in This Episode:

• The difference between discomfort (internal) and conflict (relational)
• Why discomfort is often a somatic, body-based experience
• How conflict arises from competing stories—not just feelings
• The role of power, privilege, and identity in how we handle conflict
• Why many of us were conditioned to believe conflict is “bad”
• Fight, flight, freeze, fawn—and what they look like in real life
• The importance of threat assessment (is this actually dangerous?)
• How meaning-making turns small discomfort into full-blown spirals
• Why avoiding discomfort makes everything more expensive (emotionally, mentally, physically)
• The possibility of healthy conflict as a tool for growth and co-creation

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Get "Liberate Your Business" by Becky Mollenkamp at https://liberateyourbusiness.com/

Becky and Faith kick off their discomfort series with something deceptively small: a middle-of-the-night argument about an open window. What starts as a relatable story about being woken up at 3am becomes a real-time breakdown of how discomfort turns into conflict — and what we can do about it.

They dig into the stories we tell ourselves when we feel disrespected, why anger is actually energy looking for justice, and how our nervous system state determines what choices are even available to us in heated moments. Plus: why the low-stakes conflicts are exactly where we should be building our conflict navigation muscles — so we're ready when the stakes are actually high.

In this episode:
• How a single moment of discomfort becomes a full conflict narrative
• What your body is trying to tell you before you do something you'll regret
• The difference between the stimulus and the story
• Why choosing your response is a form of agency, even at 3am
• How small conflicts are training ground for the big ones
• Using conflict as a tool to actually improve your relationships

🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/