Hello, welcome to the show. This is Emotional Badass, where Moxie meets Mindful. I'm your host,

Nikki Eisenhower, life coach and psychotherapist. And on today's episode, we're exploring what happens

when the female mind bullies. I've shied away from this topic for a really long time,

partly because it's so big and so layered that I've worried I couldn't really do justice in one episode or 10, but it's time to talk about it.

Women are dynamics with each other, our connection, our complexity.

I've done several episodes geared toward men, and honestly, men have been easier for me. Despite everything I've lived through,

abandonment from my biological father, the trauma of being molested in my own home by the man who

married my mother and adopted me, the years of navigating these aftershocks, even the loss of my

grandfather, the one highly sensitive empathic man who was my anchor

and my safe place, and I lost him at 17.

And then I had two deeply painful marriages.

Somehow, men as a group have still been easier for me to understand, for me to work with, for me to

befriend. I've always been able to form clear, platonic, deeply respectful relationships with men.

Boundaries intact, no flirtation, no confusion. Even if upon meeting men that I wanted a platonic relationship with,

if they were interested in me, I could feel when the men in my life shifted into a non-sexual, safe

place and space for me. Men would feel more like mentors, brothers, uncles, even father figures.

And I can say with absolute confidence that I am here today because of good men.

Men whose presence and integrity helped override the harm that others caused. But when it comes to women,

our relationships, our power dynamics, the way we compete with

one another, our tenderness and our misunderstanding, that's where things get more complicated

for me and for so many women who are out there listening right now.

So this episode is me stepping into that

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