Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Australian 'Who TF Did I Marry?' series, Natalee B Fitness women's-only gym backlash + wombat influencer speaks out

Transcript

MINI SCROLL: Australian 'Who TF Did I Marry?' series, Natalee B Fitness women's-only gym backlash + wombat influencer speaks out · Mini Scroll

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  Hi everyone, welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday. I'm your host, Lauren Meisner,
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  the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
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  Welcome back to Mini Scroll, everyone.
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  OK, let's get into the stories for today.
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  The first story that I have for you guys is creator Conscious
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  Cast taking over Australian TikTok with her own Who the fuck
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  did I marry type series. But now people have started to
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  turn on her. So last week a creator who goes
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  by Conscious Cast made a series detailing how she was in a year
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  long relationship with a man that she met on a dating app
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  named Marcus. At the time of posting her first
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  video, Cass was like a week away from giving birth and apparently
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  she actually has had the baby and she has since gone private.
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  So while I did see the first video of hers that was posted,
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  the rest of this information has been crowd sourced because her
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  account is on private so keep that in mind.
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  As Cass detailed in the series, she was conned by this man
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  Marcus that she was in a relationship with.
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  His name was Marcus Bennett, but that wasn't his real name and
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  kind of her tagline for the series.
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  This is how I fell for a man who wasn't even real.
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  This is my. Story of how I fell for a man
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  who wasn't even real. He lied about everything.
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  His name, his age, his job, his family, his entire.
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  She said they met on a dating app and he said he was a civil
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  engineer in Dubai and he was just back in Australia while on
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  break from work. They got into a relationship and
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  she basically claimed that he lied to her about everything.
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  Like he said he was a twin. He said that he had multiple
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  family members that didn't exist.
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  He lied about his career, his financial situation and also
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  said he had no children. Eventually Cass got pregnant and
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  they sadly lost the baby. Then she got pregnant again and
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  when she started the series, like I said, she was basically a
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  week away from giving birth. This is a direct snippet from
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  the Daily Mail quote. He has done this before to other
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  girls, she claimed. I am OK and in my newborn bubble
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  with bub born last night. Miss Talaki, which is her last
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  name, said she sold everything she owned in October last year
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  in order to start a new life with the man she believed to be
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  a successful civil engineer in Dubai.
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  They had met on a dating site almost a year prior and planned
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  a new life together after she fell pregnant in May.
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  So Cass said that she found out, despite claiming he had no kids,
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  that he had at least 7 seven kids.
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  And apparently these children, or at least some of them are
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  from similar situations to this. Like Cass said she has now
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  spoken to several women that have had children with him where
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  he was basically lying about his complete entire life.
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  Similar to the situation that Cass got in.
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  Apparently he's also a Barber, not a civil engineer.
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  So people were really feeling forecast, especially because she
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  was obviously duped by this man and heavily pregnant with his
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  child. While she was releasing this
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  series, however, people started getting suspicious of her
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  because apparently, and I didn't see this myself so take it with
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  a grain of salt, but she started telling people to subscribe to
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  her page for the rest of the story.
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  And then she was also asking people to donate to a GoFundMe
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  because, you know, she was about to have a baby and she was
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  obviously conned and out of money.
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  And I think when it comes to these elements of it, I'm kind
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  of like whatever, like she got some virality and she's trying
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  to make a few bucks off of it. She obviously is like a single
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  mom now because this man is obviously no longer in her life.
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  And we don't even have the creator fund in Australia.
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  So you know, she can't even make money off of the virality of
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  these videos. And I do understand it's
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  different asking people for their money versus like TikTok
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  paying you for views like this multi billion dollar company
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  paying you. I totally get that it's
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  different, but still, I think it is like, you know, our
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  prerogative to donate or not. But then I also understand it's
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  like, well, she pulled out our heartstrings and now a lot of
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  people are feeling like she was conning them.
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  So the reason why people feel like maybe she was conning us
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  now is because plot twist, people assumed that because
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  apparently Cass has a lot of family in New Zealand.
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  And I also think that's where she's from based on her accent.
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  But the Daily Mail called her like Gold Coast influencer.
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  She probably just lives on the Gold Coast, which is in
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  Australia. For anyone that is, you know,
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  not from this region, I assume she just lives on the Gold Coast
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  and has been living on the Gold Coast.
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  But I think she is like initially from New Zealand.
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  So, you know, people assumed when she left Dubai she'd go to
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  New Zealand because she has like all of her family there.
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  However, during a TikTok live this week off the back of this
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  kind of viral fame, it was revealed that after leaving
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  Dubai, Cass came back to Australia and has been living
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  with an influencer called Jay Muk.
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  Jay Muk was known to be in a relationship with another
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  influencer, Maddie Hale, who was also pregnant.
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  So everyone was like, OK, what happened here?
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  A lot of people assumed that maybe something really shady
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  went on between like Cass and Jay Muck and Maddie Hale.
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  So then they clarified that Cass and Jay Muck.
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  OK, so Cass is like the original one who was duped and this
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  influencer that she's now living with have a son together
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  already. And she came back to Australia
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  with nowhere to live because she didn't want to keep her son away
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  from Jay Muck by moving back to New Zealand where she has
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  family. So basically saying like, I had
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  no choice but to move in with him because I was essentially
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  homeless and needed to be in Australia for our son.
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  But then this LED users to be like, well, you were about to
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  move to Dubai with his son. Like what?
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  So all of this made people question if Cass had been having
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  maybe like some type of affair with AJ Muck behind Maddie's
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  back and if that's why J Muck and Maddie split.
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  However, Jay Muck has now clarified in his own video that
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  he and Maddie split before Cass moved in.
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  Obviously a lot of people see a lot of things circulating this
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  and that. The last thing I want to do is
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  encourage anyone to talk shit about the mother of my children
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  or anyone in my family or my son's mom, anything like that.
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  And one thing I just want to clarify, I put up that status
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  this morning just to clarify that EJ's mom has moved in with
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  me, but that was after me and Maddie split.
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  But this has just made people very suss on Cass, which I think
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  is why she went private. And Cass is.
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  GoFundMe apparently has started refunding people as well.
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  Again, I cannot confirm this, however she did just have a baby
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  and I do imagine like all of the attention and now all of like
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  the drama and the backlash around it.
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  She probably also went on private because she is trying to
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  protect her peace. The final part of this, however,
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  again, this is a direct snippet from the Daily Mail quote.
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  As she went into labor, Bennett allegedly used another one of
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  his aliases and pretended to be a friend in Dubai.
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  He claimed the Queensland Police were involved in the saga.
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  Hello, I urgently need your help.
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  Read 1 message sent to a stranger who had shared Cass's
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  videos online. Is there any way you can contact
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  her straight to TikTok? The family want to speak to her
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  as sadly he has taken his own life.
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  So this is claiming that Marcus. Apparently it was allegedly was
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  Marcus who was pretending to be one of his friends, telling,
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  trying to get to cast to say that he has taken his own life
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  because of this whole situation. And I think, you know, a lot of
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  the attention now has gone on cast.
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  It's gone on Jay Muck, it's gone on even Maddie.
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  But let's remember this is about Marcus and what he did to this
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  woman. Like regardless of like what is
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  going on, Like that's what her story like series was about,
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  right? And like warning other women and
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  she was sharing pictures of him and stuff to warn other women.
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  Like, it doesn't have anything to do with like, J Muck and
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  Maddie. And like, for some reason, that
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  situation, I guess has made people like, trust her less.
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  Anyways, that is what I have gathered from the whole
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  situation. If you guys followed this, like,
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  let me know what you guys think. Let me know if there's anything
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  that I missed in this story because that is possible.
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  But yeah, that is a very wild story that is going viral on
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  Australian TikTok right now. The next story that I have for
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  you guys is that fitness influencer Natalie B is under
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  fire after she made it clear that trans women will not be
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  included in her women's only gym.
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  Natalie B is a fitness influencer with over 400,000
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  followers on Instagram and nearly 2,000,000 on TikTok.
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  She recently shared that she's opening a women's only gym in
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  London called The Girls Spot. People were really excited about
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  this because her intention behind it was to make like a
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  safe space for women to exercise.
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  When people ask me why am I doing a women's only gym, I
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  would always say to tackle gym harassment, gym intimidation,
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  sexual assault, and sexual violence that women are facing
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  in mixed gyms. But if you was to ask me today,
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  I would say 100% because of my daughter.
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  Because I'll be absolutely fucking damned if she ever comes
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  home one day, God forbid, and tells me that she experienced
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  any of that and then on top of that had no safe space to go.
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  However, shortly after announcing this gym, Natalie
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  revealed that the girls spot would be a quote single sex gym
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  for those biologically female to ensure quote a space where women
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  who have experienced trauma, harassment or discomfort in Coed
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  gyms can feel at ease. This is such a shame because the
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  intention is there and it's so important and women's only
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  spaces are needed in fitness. Especially because there is
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  actually this new study that found that 61% of women gym
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  goers have experienced harassment from men while
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  working out. Like women deserve to have safe
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  spaces to exercise. I go to a women's only gym now,
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  but it shouldn't be at the expense of trans women,
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  especially because we know that trans women are also the target
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  of gender based violence from men, writer Shivani Day from
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  Metro UK writes Quote. Everyone who signs up to the
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  girls spot is seeking safety from the male gaze, unwanted
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  comments, staring touch and ultimately violence.
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  The trans clients would be no different.
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  I think she needs to reconsider her policy if she seriously
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  wants to have a nuanced, ongoing conversation about the safety of
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  women. I mean, I think that's such a
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  good point. Like, you cannot have feminism
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  without trans women. And I also think this whole
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  situation is really contributing to the deeply problematic
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  narrative or like, stereotypes about the LGBTQ community being
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  like, quote, UN quote predatory. Like that is what this is like
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  indirectly labeling trans women as as someone who goes to the
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  gym all the time. I have gone to commercial gyms
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  for years and years and years, Co Ed commercial gyms for years.
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  I only just joined a women's only gym in the last couple of
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  months. I have been made to feel
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  uncomfortable by men so so so many times.
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  Whether they are a trainer at the gym, whether they're just
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  like a random man at the gym, whatever it is.
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  I have never been made to feel uncomfortable by a woman, by a
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  trans woman or by a trans person ever.
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  And like, I know I don't have the lived experience and I know
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  that a lot of people are disagreeing with labeling her as
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  transphobic for various different reasons.
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  And I don't necessarily like, I'm not here to like get into
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  that. But I just thought talking about
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  this story was really important because I see a larger issue at
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  play, which is like the pop culture space, especially in
• 11:46
  podcasting, is becoming increasingly discriminatory
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  against, I mean, like everyone's rights, but like, especially
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  trans rights. And like, I just want this
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  space. Like I want you guys to know
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  that this space, this podcast, my media brands like this is a
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  safe space for LGBTQ people, trans people, women.
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  Like we will never shy away from talking about people's rights.
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  We will never shy away from talking about, like, violence
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  against women, sexual harassment, like everything that
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  all of this encompasses, even when it's really scary to do so.
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  And even though it's becoming like, weirdly trendy not to
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  believe in human rights in this house, we believe in human
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  rights. And you can have both.
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  Like, you can have a women's only space.
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  You can make a safe space for women.
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  You can have the intention to be giving that to women and to be,
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  you know, providing this amazing safe experience for women while
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  also including trans women. Like, it doesn't have to be 1 or
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  the other. And we're never going to get
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  anywhere if we don't start, like, actively choosing
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  intersectionality. That doesn't mean that is
• 12:54
  perfect. I am sure there are so many
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  times personally where I say things on this podcast and it is
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  from such like a privilege cisgender like white woman lens.
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  Like I totally understand that and respect that.
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  But we have to make conscious efforts to do better all the
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  time or like we are literally never going to get anywhere.
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  And like this world, you guys like, things are not well.
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  Things are not well. So yes, I wanted to cover this
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  story because I think it's important to cover things like
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  this and to be talking about it from this perspective of the
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  fact that like so many pop culture spaces lately will not
• 13:29
  cover stories like this or topics like this.
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  And it is, like I said, kind of becoming trendy in a weird way
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  to be like anti human rights. And that is just not what we
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  believe in here, OK? We also believe in animal rights
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  here. Because the next story I'm going
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  to be sharing how US influencer Samantha Strable is defending
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  herself against criticism when she took a baby wombat from its
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  mother while in Australia. That is a sentence that I do
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  feel would put a Victorian child into a coma.
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  So last week, American hunting influencer Samantha Strable,
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  also known as Sam Jones, posted a video on her Instagram where
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  she snatched a baby wombat from the side of the road from its
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  mother while she was in Australia.
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  Just caught a baby wombat. Look at the mother.
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  It's like, oh, chasing after her.
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  And then Sam puts the baby back on the side of the road and it
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  basically says, like, what? Mom is pissed.
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  I can't even tell you how deeply this has angered the Australian
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  population. I can't, I can't even, like,
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  watch the full video, you guys. It reminds me so much of my
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  little baby dog, my little pump. And I can't imagine if she was
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  snatched from me. And before anybody says that, I
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  snatched her from her mother. We got her from a shelter.
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  OK? We adopt.
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  We don't shop. So yes, like I can't even
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  imagine like my little baby girl getting a snatch from me and how
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  scared she would be. And like, I mean like Lauren
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  discovering empathy. But yeah, like literally
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  thinking about the baby wombat and how scared it would have
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  been. I think about the mom and how
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  just stressed she would have been that her baby was just
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  taken and having no idea. Oh my God, I can't.
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  I literally can't even think about it.
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  OK, so this has caused insane outrage in Australia to the
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  point where our Prime Minister Anthony Albanese actually
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  address this. He said I suggest this so-called
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  influencer. Maybe she tries some other
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  Australian animals. Take another animal that can
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  actually fight back rather than stealing a baby wombat from its
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  mother. See how you go there?
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  And then he recommended the crocodiles so they didn't kick
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  her out of the country, although I know that there were questions
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  around like what her visa would have permitted and stuff.
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  But she did leave Australia after this.
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  So a couple days ago, she posted this lengthy statement on her
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  Instagram. I'm not going to read the whole
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  thing because it's quite long, but she said, am I the villain?
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  Things, dear reader, are not as they see him over holding a
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  wombat. Thousands threaten my life.
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  OK, we shouldn't be threatening her life.
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  Let me be clear. These same people ought to
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  understand the reality of Australia today.
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  For the readers that are so angered by my mistaken attempt
• 16:16
  to help and that I am a hunter, do not be blind to your country.
• 16:20
  The Australian government allows and permits the slaughter of
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  wombats. Thousands each year are shot,
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  poisoned to suffer and trapped legally, she says.
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  Your government further spends 10s of millions of taxpayer
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  dollars annually to fly around in helicopters and shoot
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  beautiful horses, deer and pigs out its windows.
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  While the Prime Minister wishes harm on me for picking up a
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  wombat, I implore you to take a good hard look at what is
• 16:42
  currently being done in Australia surrounding the real
• 16:45
  issues it faces, the lack of power for 10s of thousands of
• 16:49
  Aussies and the treatment of its native wildlife.
• 16:51
  Then decide for yourself if IA person who certainly makes
• 16:55
  mistakes. I'm really your villain.
• 16:58
  The statement is wild. And then today it was reported
• 17:00
  that Sam cancelled an interview that she had scheduled on the
• 17:03
  project, which is like ATV segment here, and she sent a
• 17:06
  video message instead. I want to begin by taking
• 17:09
  responsibility for my actions. What I did was an incredible
• 17:14
  mistake, and there hasn't been a moment I haven't regretted it.
• 17:19
  However, there's something much bigger at play here and it would
• 17:22
  be a disservice to ignore it. If this situation has proven
• 17:26
  anything, it's proven that Australians care deeply about
• 17:29
  their wildlife and that is something I intensely admire.
• 17:33
  Every year, however, the Australian Government issues
• 17:36
  permits for the killing of thousands and thousands of
• 17:39
  wombats across Australia, along with millions of Kangaroos.
• 17:43
  I have just shared never before seen photos of these exact
• 17:46
  culling operations going on in Australia today on X with the
• 17:50
  username at Australia Kohl's. The same government that is
• 17:54
  calling for my head is the one that spends millions of your tax
• 17:58
  dollars to mass slaughter native Australian animals as well as
• 18:01
  the Snowy River and Kosciusko Brumbies, well pigs and numerous
• 18:05
  deer species. So this is a woman who is
• 18:09
  doubling down, who is like pretending to take
• 18:12
  accountability, quote UN quote, and saying like, oh, I regret
• 18:14
  this, but let me deflect and talk about all the reasons why
• 18:19
  you are so fucked up and wrong. Of course, no one should be
• 18:22
  sending her death threats. Nobody should be threatening her
• 18:24
  life. And I understand the escalation
• 18:26
  of like a country's Prime Minister calling you out for
• 18:28
  like a video, which you I guess think is like quite innocent,
• 18:32
  you know, on it's, you know, on reels or whatever, wherever it
• 18:35
  was, cuz they TikTok, I think it was on reels.
• 18:37
  It is a, it's been a big reaction here.
• 18:40
  It's been a big story here, that's for sure.
• 18:42
  But it's just an example of like such extreme disrespect, not
• 18:47
  just to wildlife, but I think Australians, I'm not Australian
• 18:49
  obviously, but I live here. I think they see it as a very
• 18:53
  big disrespect to like their country, their culture.
• 18:57
  But yeah, so I think it's just part of like a bigger issue
• 19:00
  that's playing out right now. But that's that for today.
• 19:04
  Guys. Thank you so much for listening
• 19:05
  to Mini Scroll. I love you guys.
• 19:07
  Please rate review and subscribe.
• 19:09
  Please star rate US on Spotify. We're trying to get to 1000
• 19:12
  Spotify star ratings. Annabelle will talk to you guys
• 19:15
  tomorrow and I will talk to you on Thursday.
• 19:19
  Bye.