Feminine Chaos

Kat is joined by Leigh Stein for a discussion of the vibe shift (whatever that is.) A longer version of this conversation is available for premium subscribers on Substack. Links: * A Vibe Shift Is Coming. Will Any of Us Survive It? * Kat on intimacy: The death of intimacy - UnHerd * Maybe Baby essay: * Coronavirus Sex Guidelines Must Consider Virtual Safety | Teen Vogue Questions about subscribing...

Kat is joined by Batya Ungar-Sargon to talk about the Joe Rogan controversy, the Great Moon Hoax, and moving the media needle away from contempt for the working class.  Links: Batya's book: Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy Kindle Edition Kat's New Statesman article: The Joe Rogan controversy isn't about truth – it's about control - New Statesman Spotify Quietly Pulls Over 70 Episo...

Kat is joined by journalist Christie Smythe to discuss justice reform, trial by media, the Kyle Rittenhouse affair, and a one-year retrospective on the Elle article in which she talked about her relationship with Martin Shkreli. An extended cut of this interview is available on our Patreon. Links: The Journalist and the Pharma Bro Christie at Business of Business: Latest Articles Tucker Carlson’s...

Kat is joined by poet and cultural critic Alice Gribbin for a discussion about art, empathy, Succession , and Shakespeare. An extended cut of this interview is available on Patreon. Links: Alice's empathy essay: https://alicegribbin.substack.com/p/the-empathy-racket The bad essay about political literature: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/opinion/fiction-poetry-trump.html See acast.com/privacy...

Kat is joined by reporter and author Nancy Rommelman to talk about who's getting paid for the Dave Chappelle controversy, who's getting hurt by Instagram, and who should repent, motherf***er, repent! Links: Chappelle coverage: Netflix made a mess of the Dave Chappelle controversy. It's a crisis of Netflix's own making TV director compares transgender people's treatment to the HOLOCAUST ‎Blocked an...

Kat is joined by Leigh Stein (novelist, poet) and Penny Lane (documentary filmmaker, kidney sharer) for a discussion about literary drama, organ donation, urban legends, and Bad Art Friends. Links: Who Is the Bad Art Friend? On the Internet, We're Always Famous Where do I start? Penny Lane's website: https://pennylaneismyrealname.com/bio/ Leigh Stein's website: https://www.leighstein.com/ See acas...

Kat is joined by Katherine Dee, a.k.a. Default Friend, for a conversation about Tumblr's discursive power and lesser-known internet subcultures . Katherine's work: Default Wisdom Tumblr U. Satire in the city Katherine Dee (@default_friend) Advertising campaign for American Horror Story illustrating the tumblr-to-TV pipeline: 15 Times "AHS: Cult" Did It's Best To Make You Trypophobic Tumblr's proto...

Kat talks with poet and novelist Leigh Stein about the world of contemporary poetry scandals. An extended version of this episode is available for subscribers on Patreon. Links: Jia Tolentino poem archived https://archive.is/Dzrjt Poetry magazine published a child porn convict in its prison issue, but did it deserve the backlash? Poetry Twitter Debates Whether 'After' Poems are Plagiarism A very u...

Kat and Phoebe discuss the (dis)pleasures of being scolded by sitcoms, evolving norms surrounding office-appropriate hairstyles, and a bizarre controversy surrounding Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Ellie Kemper.  A clip from Shrill : BBC Three on Twitter: "Yikes." NYT: Why 'Kim's Convenience' Is 'Quietly Revolutionary' Slate: Ellie Kemper, queen of the Veiled Prophet Ball: “KKK princess” controver...

Kat and Phoebe discuss the scandalous allegations against Philip Roth biographer Blake Bailey and the eternally-creeping concept of "grooming." Links: Slate: Blake Bailey's former eighth grade student on being sexually assaulted by him years later. Also Slate: Blake Bailey's former Lusher students on how their eighth grade teacher groomed them. NOLA: Author Blake Bailey accused of abusing ex-Lushe...

Kat and Phoebe talk about Prince William, pretender to the throne… of sexy baldness, that is. Is Prince William the world's sexiest bald man? Heck, is he sexy at all? And speaking of sexy, Naomi Wolf is kind of a weirdo these days, but does this mean that her 1990s feminist polemic, The Beauty Myth , is no longer good? Finally, we foray briefly into the weird, wonderful, and sometimes deadly world...

Kat and Phoebe discuss Oprah's big wild interview with Meghan and Harry, formerly of the British monarchy, now just a couple of normal dudes... sort of. Also: can the endangered species known as the Basic Straight Girl survive when there is literally one good man available to be mated with? Links: 11 things we learned from Meghan and Harry's interview I'm OK -- You're a Racist Kat at Unherd: Holly...

Kat and Phoebe discuss the mother of all privilege disclaimers and the cancellation of Mandalorian actress Gina Carano. Links: Ashley Judd's hospital interview The BBC interview  Neglecting Yourself Doesn’t Make You a Better Mother Behind Disney's Firing of 'Mandalorian' Star Gina Carano Gina Carano and Crowd-Sourced McCarthyism See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This is a...

Kat and Phoebe get together on the day of the Capitol coup attempt to talk about the most important political and cultural event of our lifetimes: the Bean Dad Thread. And speaking of cans of beans, how about that cheerleader who said the N-word? Links: The original Bean Dad thread, screencapped: https://twitter.com/ManiacalV/status/1345870405085573122 Bean Dad apologizes: http://www.johnroderick....

Kat and Phoebe discuss the controversy over a "vitriolic, violent" Twitter thread that resulted in a YA author's cancellation (no, not the worms guy), before answering burning questions from listeners about who's causing all this drama, the impact of young adult fiction shenanigans on the culture at large, and the craziest MeTooing Kat ever witnessed in her years on the YA beat. Links: The inaugur...

Kat and Phoebe discuss the jailbird-journalist love affair between reviled "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli, and former crime reporter Christie Smythe. (Production note/apology: Kat's mic went wonky at about 30 minutes in, this slightly tinny result is the best we could do on short notice.) Links: The original Elle story Christie Smythe's Twitter account Followup interview with Smythe at Elle The Cut s...

Kat and Phoebe are joined by Jessa Crispin, literary critic and culture writer, to talk about dewy ingenues, the young-adultification of literature, and why that one guy on Book Twitter was screaming about worms. Links: Jessa on age gaps in the Boston Review: Pathologizing Desire Jessa's essay on the Underground Railroad vs Normal People, both for children David Bowles' epic "disgusting worms" Twi...

Phoebe and Kat discuss Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, now cancelled for intellectual pick-up artistry. Is putting your best foot forward a violation of consent? Will the stigma against duplicity-in-dating usher in a new era of unwashed, farting suitors who start every relationship by confessing their worst sins? Then, the ladies talk about the liberal feminists who are forcing...

Kat and Phoebe discuss the cultural appropriation controversy surrounding a Toronto-based broth bar, and whether having your lunch made fun of in fourth grade is a source of permanent trauma. Then: is this equal pay controversy between two LA Times food critics as simple as it seems? (Spoiler: Nope, it never is.) Links: Phoebe on the cultural appropriation of broth: No Soup For You. Can you even c...