The Guilty Feminist · Deborah Frances-White

The Guilty Feminist Ten for Ten #9: Athena Kugblenu

April 6, 2026·49 min·4 clips

Athena explains why she enjoys the unfair workload of motherhood, despite its feminist contradictions.

Athena comes back through a lockdown memory. The conversation begins with the comedy of raising children when she had barely been around babies, was living in her mum's house, and was mostly making it up as she went along. The children are older now, and that lets her joke about a girl who can make sandwiches. It sounds like a small domestic win until the relief underneath it starts to land. Then the clip hits. The host brings up a lockdown moment from Black Women and Girl Lives Matter, where Athena explains why she did not march for Black Lives Matter. She is not trying to sound pure or detached. She says it is not because she does not believe in equality, or because anti-Black racism is not something she cares about deeply. Her objection is more tired than tidy. Paying £12 to get into town, then buying snacks and water, just to hold a sign saying her life matters feels insultingly basic to her. The point is not apathy. It is the exhaustion of being asked to prove humanity in public, as if that was ever a reasonable demand. She stands by it. The host asks how the movement has moved on, which keeps the old clip alive instead of treating it like something sealed away. The room stays political. By the end, Athena is picturing a future where people in power answer for their choices and billionaires are taxed. She wants the ability to make money disabled unless that money goes back into the countries being exploited. It is hopeful, but not in a shiny way. It lands like a fingers crossed wish, not a polished manifesto. Comedy keeps breathing beside anger. Deborah Francis White closes by naming Athena as the special guest, and the episode leaves the audience with warmth, impatience, and a political ask that has not been made softer for anyone's comfort.

As heard by us

Athena Kugblenu brings bite and dry warmth to a Guilty Feminist reflection on parenting, protest, and being asked to argue for the obvious.

Athena Kugblenu is exactly the kind of guest The Guilty Feminist suits best: funny without pretending the serious bits are less serious. This Ten for Ten stop moves from the small, blessed relief of children getting old enough to make their own sandwiches into her lockdown-era…

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Why you'd press play

A funny, frank chat that keeps circling the politics underneath the joke.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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