Erased: How This Administration Is Harming Women & Girls

You ever notice how some politicians claim to “support women,” but somehow the numbers — and the damage — always tell another story? You ever hear men say they “care about women” and then watch them slash funding for childcare, healthcare, and education — all while patting themselves on the back? 

In this episode, we confront the hypocrisy head-on, exposing how this administration’s actions are rolling back decades of progress for women and girls. From healthcare to pay equity to personal autonomy, we connect the dots between rhetoric and real-world harm — and what it means to live in a nation where policies dressed up as “pro-family” quietly erase women and girls. Because “family values” should never mean sacrificing women’s futures, yet here we are.

About your host:
Sonia in Cyber is a multicultural feminist voice, creative entrepreneur, and unapologetic truth-teller. With roots in education, tech, and product marketing, she blends data with empathy, humor with heartbreak, to expose the cracks in America’s “normal.” Through her podcast Somebody Pinch Me, she gives voice to the disillusioned, the outspoken, the overlooked, and the quietly furious — proving that truth doesn’t just survive in chaos; it thrives in it. Her mission is simple: to use her voice to inspire others to keep fighting, resisting, and moving forward — no matter what.

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Episode Transcript

@soniaincyber (00:21):
You ever hear someone say they support women
and then watch them gut theagencies, programs, and
protections that women and girlsrely on?
You ever feel like women'sneeds are invisible unless
they're politically convenient?
Yeah, me too.
This is Somebody Pinch Me withSonia in Cyber, and today,

"Erased (00:40):
How This Administration Is Harming Women and Girls".
Let's start with the basics.
Women make up over half theU.S.
population.
We're the majority of Medicaidrecipients, we're the backbone
of caregiving, we're the bulk ofthe part-time and service
sector workforce.
But under this administration,we're being erased, not with one

(01:01):
single law, but with a thousandsmall cuts.
Let's just say it out loud.
This country is run by men whodo not respect women.
Not quietly, not behind closeddoors, but openly, proudly, on
microphones, at rallies, onnational stages.

(01:22):
These are men who brag aboutgrabbing women without consent.
Men who call their daughtershot.
Who refer to women as nasty,too emotional, not attractive
enough to assault.
Men who laugh off rapeaccusations, joke about puberty,
and rank women like they're onsome twisted reality show.

(01:43):
These are not fringe figures.
These are our senators,governors, presidential
frontrunners, and nowadministration.
And it's not just the language,it's the policies.
They strip our reproductiverights, they defund maternal
care and child care, they slashprotections against workplace
harassment, they silencevictims, prop up predators, and

(02:07):
call it leadership.
What we're witnessing isn'trandom.
It's systemic misogyny with apodium and a budget.
And it's cloaked in patriotismfaith and family values.
But make no mistake, this isn'tabout protecting women.
It's about controlling us.
They're not just disrespectingus with their words, they're

(02:29):
dismantling us with their laws.
These same men slashing accessto abortion and contraception,
they're also cutting funding formaternal health, cancer
research, and domestic violenceprevention.
They crush efforts like theGender Policy Council, the one
federal body focused on equityfor women and girls.
They've gone after Medicaid andSNAP, knowing full well women,

(02:50):
especially single moms and womenof color, make up the majority
of recipients.
They've blocked paid leave,attacked equal pay protections,
and undermined Title IX, allwhile pretending to be defenders
of womanhood.
They weaponized phrases likeprotect our daughters, then gut
programs that would actuallyhelp our daughters survive,
thrive, and be safe.

(03:11):
And now they've even come afterDEI programs, calling them
divisive, when in reality, thoseare the policies that gave
women, especially white women, afoothold in spaces we were
never invited to before.
This isn't about disagreement,it's about dehumanization.
And if you think they'll stopwith abortion, think again.

(03:31):
They've already started comingafter contraception, IVF, even
divorce protections and maritalright protections in some
states.
Because the goal isn't toprotect life, it's to control
the bodies that create it.
And let's talk about our girls.
Because what we normalizetoday, they'll be forced to
navigate tomorrow.
When men in power mock women,legislate our bodies, and treat

(03:55):
our lives like political pawns,young girls are watching.
They see what's allowed, theylearn what's expected, and that
damage, it doesn't wait untiladulthood.
It starts early.
It starts when a girl learnsher school won't teach her real
sex education, but will punishher for what she wears.
It starts when a 12-year-oldhears lawmakers debate whether

(04:17):
she should be forced to givebirth if she's raped.
It starts when a teenage girlis told to smile more, sit
smaller, shrink herself, whilethe men who diminish her are
praised for being strongleaders.
And these laws, these attackson abortion, contraception,
maternal care, they're not justabout women today.
They're about erasing thefreedom of the next generation

(04:40):
before they ever get a chance touse it.
Because when you control agirl's access to knowledge, when
you police her body, herautonomy, her future, you don't
just limit her choices, youlimit who she believes she's
allowed to become.
This is how the trauma tricklesdown.
This is how the silencingbegins.

(05:00):
And this is exactly what wehave to stop right now.
Let's dive a little deeper intoa few of these topics.
To start, workplaceprotections.
In the first weeks in office,Trump fired the first female
board member and female generalcounsel of the National Labor
Relations Board, rendering itpowerless to do anything despite
the critical role it plays inunion representation for women

(05:23):
that ensures higher wages andaccess to benefits.
Crushed the EEOC by removingtwo female commissioners and the
female general counsel, alsorendering it powerless despite
its critical role in recoveringwages for those discriminated
against based on gender, age,and religion, many being women,
often in multiple categories.
What does that mean?

(05:44):
Women, especially women ofcolor, have fewer avenues to
fight wage theft, harassment, orretaliation, and that's by
design.
Next up, reproductive health.
This administration has revokedexecutive orders protecting
access to reproductive care,pushed gag rules that block
funding, thrown out abortion, asmentioned already, attempted

(06:05):
and then did dismantle theGender Policy Council, which
focused on healthcare,caregiving, and gender equity,
the first of its kindestablished by the Biden
administration.
They say it's about life, butthey cut Medicaid and SNAP too.
More than 24 million women relyon Medicaid.
More than half of thenon-elderly SNAP recipients are

(06:25):
women.
So ask yourself, if it's aboutprotecting life, why are they
slashing the very programs thathelp people survive, that help
women survive?
Let's go deeper, the NationalInstitute of Health.
This administration cut fundsto programs that
disproportionately impact andhelp women, such as cancer
research, endometriosis,menopause, long-term effects of

(06:48):
pregnancy research, too.
And I'll give you a personalexample of the critical role
research plays in saving andprotecting women.
It's this exact kind ofresearch that ensured my mom is
still here today after beingdiagnosed with stage 4B ovarian
cancer last year, the number onegynecological related killer of
women, many of which having nosymptoms.

(07:09):
At this time, there is no earlydetection test for this deadly
cancer, but research has beenmaking progress towards
improving treatment outcomes andpossible future ways to detect
it sooner.
This cancer is not onlyaggressive and typically only
found at late stages, it alsohas a very high recurrence rate.
In my mom's case, it's 90 to100% likely to return, with her

(07:40):
being over 65.
And now young girls are beingdiagnosed with a two.
The youngest I've heard of was13.
The thought that all cancerresearch that could continue to
save my mom, that 13-year-old,and anyone else fighting this
ugly disease might not beavailable anymore just because
is not only heartbreaking, butalso cruel, because it doesn't

(08:02):
have to be that way.
And these aren't women'sissues, these are life and death
issues, but research, funding,clinical trials, being quietly
pushed off the table.
Let's talk education.
This administration hasproposed elimination of funding
for early learning and childnutrition programs, like Cuts to
Head Start, which helps nearlyone million children, many

(08:24):
living in foster care withdisabilities or experiencing
homelessness, attacks on TitleIX and DEI efforts in schools.
And while they demonizewokeness, they gut the very
access to education andadvancement many women rely on
to get closer to closing thegender wage gap.
And what about safety?
I think this is the one thatgets me the most.

(08:45):
They've stoked fear aroundbathroom policies and protecting
girls while doing nothing aboutdomestic violence shelters,
housing assistance, protectionsfor survivors in the workplace
or on campus, and guns.
The number one killer ofpregnant women in the US right
now is homicide, and most oftenwith guns.
They weaponize femininity as awedge issue, but when women are

(09:07):
actually in danger, silence.
And here's the cultural kicker.
This is a president whoridicules girls playing with
dolls as if softness is weaknessand compassion is a joke, as if
being a girl is comical andcertainly less serious or
significant than being a man,whose tariff war
disproportionately harmslow-income families and women,

(09:29):
who talks tough on crime whilecutting the very social services
that keep women safe, likehousing, mental health care,
domestic violence support,trauma recovery, who slashes
funding for maternal health andthen dares to call himself
pro-life, who undermines TitleIX protections while pretending
to defend girls' sports andaggressively slashing public

(09:50):
school funding and banning DEIprograms that help girls have a
better chance to thrive in aworld of men as they fight for a
seat at the table or equal payonce they get there every single
day, who mocks survivors, rollsback campus assault
protections, and empowersabusers with silence.
Deny, deny, deny, who thinksbanning abortion makes immoral,

(10:12):
but banning assault rifles isgoing too far, and that
celebrates and pardons J Sixerswhile launching the military and
National Guard on peacefulprotesters.
This is a president whoweaponized the word woke to
distract from his war on equity,who surrounds himself with men
accused credibly of abuse whilehaving a long history of

(10:35):
inappropriate behaviors withwomen and underage girls
himself, who spent years fanningthe flames of misogyny,
platforming hate, and idolizingstrong men who treat women like
property, who makes exceptionsfor billionaires and criminals,
but draws the line at womenseeking autonomy.
This isn't leadership.
It's a rollback.

(10:56):
It's a rejection of everyhard-won gain in the last 50
years.
None of this is accidental.
It's an agenda, a quiet one,disguised as budgeting or
efficiency or family values, butit's about power.
It's about control.
The more invisible women'sunique needs become, the easier
they are to erase entirely.

(11:17):
It's ideological because ifgirls grow up empowered,
questioning, confident,educated, they're harder to
control.
And we can't talk about thiswithout naming one of the oldest
tools used to keep women intheir place, religious
nationalism.
More specifically, Christiannationalism, an ideology that

(11:39):
says one religion, one gender,one version of family should
define the laws of an entirecountry.
It's not about faith, it'sabout power dressed up as
morality.
The kind that tells women ourpurpose is to serve, submit, and
stay small.
The kind that builds policy offof pulpits where our rights are
seen as threats and ourautonomy is framed as rebellion.

(12:02):
Christian nationalism doesn'tjust push misogyny, it
sanctifies it.
It says women are vessels, notpeople.
It tells girls they're sacreduntil they speak up, fight back,
or say no.
And then suddenly they'resinful, dangerous, disposable.
This belief system has shapedthe Supreme Court, state
legislatures, school boards, andnow it's shaping the bodies and

(12:25):
futures of millions of womenand girls, and not by accident.
And if we don't call it out forwhat it is, political control
wrapped in scripture, we'regoing to keep watching our
rights vanish while they tell usit's holy.
Now, before I wrap it up, I haveto speak to the men that know
something isn't right, buthaven't quite accepted or
acknowledged that.

(12:46):
That feeling, that gut-turningdoubt, it's trying to tell you
something.
I know you've been led tobelieve it's all just politics.
You might even roll your eyesat feminists or equate feminism
to man hater, or tell yourselfit's not all men to sleep a
little better at night, whilewholeheartedly believing it's

(13:07):
just about protecting girls orkeeping tradition alive.
You're not seeing it, at leastnot yet.
You've been fed a version ofmanhood built on dominance, not
dignity, on fear, not strength,on control, not character.
You've been told that yourpower depends on our silence.
But real power doesn't shrinkother people to feel tall.

(13:30):
It listens, it protects, itgrows.
And if you're a man who'sconfused, uncomfortable, or just
now starting to question whatyou've believed, good.
Sit with it.
Let it challenge you, let itchange you.
Because this isn't just aboutwhat women are fighting against.
It's about what we're trying tobuild: a world where your

(13:53):
daughters, your partners, yourstudents, your friends can exist
fully and freely without havingto earn their humanity in a
court, in a hospital, or at aballot box.
You don't have to be thevillain in this story.
You can be the reason itchanges.
What's happening to women andgirls in this country isn't
random and it isn't righteous.

(14:14):
It's a calculated effort toshrink us in law, in language,
in leadership, and it's comingfrom the same mouths that claim
to protect us while quietlybuilding a system that punishes
our power.
But we see it and we name itand we fight it together, not
just for ourselves, but forevery girl watching, wondering

(14:35):
if her voice will ever matter ina country like this.
It will, because we're stillhere, louder, sharper,
unrelenting.
And we're not asking for a seatat the table anymore, we're
flipping the damn table over.
And maybe, hopefully, you'lldecide to help.

This was "Erased (14:53):
How This Administration Is Harming Women
and Girls".
Remember, this isn't aboutparty, it's about policy, it's
about life, it's about doingwhat's right.