We Love in a Society

Hannah just took a trip to the Whydah museum and now she's here to share all about the rich lives of pirates! The what-dah, you say? Find out about this sunken ship off Cape Cod as well as the pirate lives that, yo-ho yo-ho, may very well be for you and me. 

We're always hearing about "the female fantasy" in movies like Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey, but what about male fantasies? Today, we break down different types of male fantasies, such as the "squeaky-clean hero," the "one special boy," and the "you missed the point" fantasies with popular media spanning TV and film. We talk Nolan Batman, Sam Raimi's Spider-Mens, Breaking Bad, Starship Troopers,...

Is Sam Raimi's new movie what the trailer would have us think? Or might it have more to do with gaslighting, gatekeeping, and most of Girlbossing?

Hannah and Sam talk John Green’s last book, Everything is Tuberculosis, and talk the state of health under capitalism. https://www.pih.org/donate

Hannah and Sam talk about their recent trip to Texas for Hannah's first Paraclimbing Nationals, including a discussion on the dissolution of the non-binary gender category and the use of the term "able-bodied."

Hannah and Sam talk about the importance of storytelling for trans people, using Morgan Boecher's graphic novel ChickenHeart as a jumping-off point.  Order ChickenHeart, out now: https://greenapplebooks.com/book/9781951491444

Sam and Hannah welcome their first guest on the pod, Morgan, to discuss the moral panic that is trans women in sports and what we can learn from storytelling.  Order ChickenHeart, out now: https://greenapplebooks.com/book/9781951491444

Today, Hannah gives Sam language to talk through the "emotional labor" of being a pharmacist - and also how that phrase has come to mean more than what it originally meant. 

Today, we discuss "Too Late to Die Young," the 2006 memoir by Harriet McBryde Johnson. Johnson was a writer and attorney living in Charleston, South Carolina, who self-described herself as a "disabled, liberal, atheistic Democrat." Her memoir is a reflection on her various life experiences. Hannah introduced Sam to her with Johnson's famous essay "Unspeakable Conversations." We decided we'd read h...

We talk stigma, spoiled identity, and fascism in Wicked. Oh and how much we love Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.

Why does rock climbing attract queer people? And other questions you didn't know you had about the sport. 

We talk Guillermo del Toro's 2025 movie Frankenstein and the strong parental motifs throughout. 

Today, we talk about the book Abortion by Jessica Valenti, co-author of the blog Feministing and writer of the Substack "Abortion Every Day." We focus on how abortion is discussed in conservative communities and the medical facts these communities fail to address.  

Which is a better example of toxic masculinity: Power Slap or Jackass? (hint: it's not the one where a bunch of white dudes pull wacky pranks on each other)

We discuss the 2024 film 'The Substance,' its place in feminist cinema, and what it has to say about disability (spoilers: it's not sure).

Today, we discuss the book "What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat" by Aubrey Gordon. We relate it to the social and medical models of disability.