Bare Marriage

Episode 331: Keith & Sheila Respond to Crazy Clips (Is it That Jezebel Spirit Again?) 04.06.2026 1godz 13min

Send us Fan Mail In this season finale we take a dive into social media, examining the messages behind viral clips from popular marriage and church influencers, and challenge fear-based teachings about marriage, parenting, gender, and authority. Through our thoughtful (and often hilarious) analyses and lively discussion, we hope this conversation encourages you to pursue healthier, Christ-centered relationships rooted in mutual respect, truth, and genuine spiritual freedom. CHECK OUT OU...

Episode 330: Men of Virtue with Zachary Wagner 28.05.2026 58min

Send us Fan Mail What does it actually mean to be a “good man” in today’s world—and does Christianity offer something deeper than dominance, leadership clichés, or internet manosphere culture? In this thoughtful and surprisingly hopeful conversation, Zachary Wagner joins us to unpack masculinity through the lens of the fruits of the Spirit, exploring everything from loneliness and power to marriage, self-control, parenting boys, and the modern crisis of meaning for men. Together, we challenge...

Episode 329: Parenting With Confidence Without Messing Up Your Kids with Wendy Snyder 21.05.2026 1godz 13min

Send us Fan Mail What happens when you know the old “because I said so” parenting style isn’t healthy…but you also don’t want to raise entitled little tyrants? In this episode, parenting coach Wendy Snyder joins us for a deeply practical, heartfelt, (and hilariously honest) conversation about strong-willed kids, emotional regulation, yelling, boundaries, anxiety, and what healthy authority actually looks like in family life. Together, we unpack the difference between authoritarian, permissive...

Episode 328: The Billy Graham Rule and What It Does to Men Too 14.05.2026 58min

Send us Fan Mail What if the “Billy Graham rule” (or the evangelical distortion of it) says more about fear than integrity? In this episode, Danielle Strickland helps us unpack the assumptions behind the idea that men and women can’t be alone together—and ask whether it protects integrity or quietly reinforces suspicion, segregation, and control. Drawing on Scripture, leadership research, and real-world church experiences, our conversation explores how transparency—not isolation—is a stronger...

Episode 327: For Men Only by Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn Talks Lust and Sex 07.05.2026 1godz 11min

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Part 2 of our breakdown of For Men Only! This episode dives headfirst into the sex chapter — and quickly exposes how shaky stats and selective storytelling create misleading narratives about libido and desire. We examine why women’s sexual desire is far more contextual — and relational — than the book admits. We unpack the myth of “on-demand” desire, challenge rigid sex rules like the 72-hour expectation, and explore why libido is far more dynamic — and human — tha...

Episode 326: The Problems with For Men Only by Jeff & Shaunti Feldhahn 30.04.2026 1godz 9min

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we dive into For Men Only, by Shaunti & Jeff Feldhahn, and let’s just say…we have many thoughts! We unpack some of its core claims about gender dynamics, communication, and emotional needs. Rebecca shares how this book impacted her first few months of marriage to Connor, and not in a good way! We address major concerns with the book’s research methods, its reliance on broad gender stereotypes, and its tendency to frame women as overly emotional and men as...

Episode 325: I Belong to Me with Tia Levings 23.04.2026 1godz 5min

Send us Fan Mail Tia Levings is back, and this time she's brought the book so many of you have been waiting for — I Belong to Me, a survivor's guide to recovery and hope after religious trauma, and the follow-up to her memoir A Well-Trained Wife. After thousands of women slid into her DMs asking how did you heal, how do I find myself again, Tia sat down and wrote the guide she wished she'd had. In this conversation, we get into what religious trauma actually is and why therapists are only now...

Episode 324: Who Bears the Emotional Labor and Mental Load for Sex? 16.04.2026 1godz 10min

Send us Fan Mail Who's carrying the mental and emotional load when it comes to sex? Today Keith and I are breaking down all the ways evangelical marriage culture places that burden almost entirely on women: from appearance standards and contraception to performing passion on demand and suppressing her own emotions so his experience stays comfortable. We are listening to sermon clips and reading quotes from bestselling Christian marriage books that are pretty hard to hear, but really important...

Episode 323: A Step-By-Step Guide to Vetting a Church's Website to See if They're Heathy! 09.04.2026 1godz 24min

Send us Fan Mail Finding a healthy church after being hurt is hard — especially when toxic churches have learned to hide what they really believe. This week, Rebecca and I walk you through our evidence-based, step-by-step method for evaluating a church's website before you ever step through the door. From homepage vibes to staff pages, statement of beliefs to membership covenants, we'll show you exactly what to look for — and what to run from. We're also sharing real examples from actual chur...

Episode 322: Why Is Every Man's Battle So Creepy? A Harrowing Example 02.04.2026 25min

Send us Fan Mail A close look at how Every Man’s Battle ignores the impact of predation on women and girls–and is just plain creepy! Plus a new study on hostile/benevolent sexism when it comes to tradwife content. It’s our podcast and Friday RoundUp in one! Our podcast we wanted to air this week just wasn’t ready in time–so we decided to record our Friday RoundUp a day early, and run it as this week’s podcast. So if you’re used to listening to our podcast, remember that on YouTube every week...

Episode 321: New Research into Modesty Messaging, Sexual Harassment in Church, Plus We Answer Your Questions! 26.03.2026 56min

Send us Fan Mail Keith and Rebecca are taking over the podcast this week and are answering your questions — from how to find a healthy church community to whether complementarianism is a dealbreaker. They're refreshingly honest and a little funny about it. Then Joanna joins to dig into a brand-new peer-reviewed paper on how internalized modesty messaging affects girls' self-esteem and their risk of being sexually harassed in church as minors. What they found is both unsurprising and deeply so...

Episode 320: Let’s Talk Adult ADHD and GENDER ROLES! 19.03.2026 1godz 19min

Send us Fan Mail What does it mean to have realistic expectations of a spouse with ADHD? How does gender play into how ADHD impacts a relationship? And what do accommodations actually look like—versus what do they not look like in a healthy marriage? This week Rebecca talks about her own diagnosis of ADHD with her father Keith (a pediatrician) and good friend Daniel Forsythe (a licensed psychotherapist who works with neurodiverse marriages frequently) to dig down to discuss what the evidence ...

Episode 319: Did Purity Culture Cause Developmental Trauma--and Kill Libido? 12.03.2026 1godz 5min

Send us Fan Mail What if the reason so many women struggle with desire, arousal, and orgasm has nothing to do with their bodies—and everything to do with what they were taught before they even wanted to be sexual? In this episode, Rebecca and I pull together research and real-life stories to trace a thread that runs from how we raise our daughters, to what happens on the wedding night, to why so many women are secretly faking it. THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR: To Heal or Harm: Scripture's Use as Pois...

Episode 318: You're Allowed to Want Stuff! Talking Desire with Jay Stringer 05.03.2026 1godz 8min

Send us Fan Mail Jay Stringer, licensed therapist and author of Unwanted, is back to talk about his brand new book Desire: The Longings Inside Us and the New Science of How We Love, Heal, and Grow. Together, we unpack why so many of us — especially those from church backgrounds — were taught to fear and suppress our desires rather than develop them. We dig into enmeshment, the "provisional self," why differentiation is actually the secret to intimacy and a healthy sex life, and why low libido...

Episode 317: Famished--How Purity Culture Taught Women to Shrink with Anna Rollins 26.02.2026 55min

Send us Fan Mail Anna Rollins grew up as the kind of girl who took her faith seriously — and that's exactly why it hurt her so much. In this conversation, Anna and I dig into her memoir Famished: On Food, Sex, and Growing Up as a Good Girl, where she traces how purity culture's messages about desire, self-denial, and the body quietly fueled decades of disordered eating, compulsive exercise, and sexual pain. What strikes me most is that Anna's parents were loving, her church wasn't overtly abu...

Episode 316: What Still Surprised Us Making the Love & Respect Docuseries 19.02.2026 1godz 11min

Send us Fan Mail Rebecca, Joanna, and I are pulling back the curtain on what went into making the Love & Respect docuseries — including the things that didn't make the final cut. From the bizarre Nazi torture illustration Emerson used to keep women in bad marriages, to the genuinely heartbreaking story of a little boy watching his father abuse his mother, this episode gets raw and honest about why we've been fighting this battle for seven years. We also share the stunning survey results f...

Bad Stats, Editing the Bible, and Recycling 1970s Ideas: A Love & Respect Deep Dive Part 2 12.02.2026 1godz 16min

Send us Fan Mail Part two of a three-part docuseries deep dive into the best-selling evangelical marriage book Love & Respect. LOVE & RESPECT DOCUSERIES: Watch the video version of thisHere's episode 1. To see episode 3 next week, subscribe to the Good Fruit Faith ChannelThis podcast delves into what Love & Respect is based on--recycled ideas from a 1970s best-seller; faulty stats; misrepresented research--and editing the Bible. BONUS CONTENT Gain bonus content, full videos o...

Happily Never After: The Curious Case of Love and Respect (Deep Dive Part 1) 05.02.2026 1godz 17min

Send us Fan Mail Part one of a three-part docuseries deep dive into the best-selling evangelical marriage book, Love & Respect. THE LOVE & RESPECT DOCUSERIES: This is a video series, so if you want to watch it in all its glory, head over to https://youtu.be/z3EEAkjwcXA! To see episodes 2 & 3 when they launch next week, subscribe to the Good Fruit Faith Channel This podcast delves into the broken logic of Love & Respect, why so many people bought into it, and the truly bizarre...

Episode 313: To Heal or To Harm: Making Sense of Weaponized Bible Verses feat. Steven Tracy 29.01.2026 1godz 16min

Send us Fan Mail Today I'm talking with Dr. Steven Tracy, author of "To Heal or Harm," about how scripture has been twisted to keep abuse victims trapped. We're diving into passages that discuss things like, "wives submit," "God hates divorce," and "a gentle answer turns away wrath" to show what they actually mean in context. And spoiler alert: none of them tell victims to stay in abuse. If you've ever felt like the Bible was being used against you, or if you're a pastor who wants to understa...

Episode 312: Why The Complementarian Bar for Men is in the Basement 22.01.2026 1godz 3min

Send us Fan Mail We're tackling three really problematic things that have happened recently with evangelical leaders that show just how low the bar has gotten for men. From Jonathan Podluka announcing he wants to sleep with multiple beautiful women, to pastors responding to Philip Yancey's affair by saying "it could be any of us," to Tim Challies telling people in miserable marriages to just stick it out until they die—it's all connected to this theology that refuses to hold men accountable a...