Lean Out with Tara Henley

“What do falling fertility in the United States, a plague of loneliness and lack of friendship, bitter conflicts over racial and gender identity, and a politics of culture wars and moral panics have to do with one another?” The answer to that question, according to a compelling new book , is too many bad, low-wage jobs. Michael Lind is a bestselling author, a columnist at Tablet Magazine , and a c...

People on the left have been reaching out to me for years, saying that they feel like the mainstream media has become politicized, is biased in favour of the left — and they no longer trust it to report the news fairly. Now, a group of international scholars has published an interesting research paper that addresses this dynamic. It finds that when people perceive institutions to be politicized, t...

Life in North America is becoming increasingly lonely — and this trend is impacting all areas of our lives, including our physical health. So much so, in fact, that the United States Surgeon General recently issued an advisory on loneliness , characterizing it as a critical public health concern. But my guest on today’s program says that that report fails to grapple with the drivers of our lonelin...

One of the questions of this podcast has been: How do we begin to rethink feminism — given the fact that, in the current era, so many women are so unhappy ? A group of powerhouse writers and thinkers gathered at Harvard last month to contemplate that very question. My guest on the podcast today moderated that panel, which, one could argue, marked a major turning point in feminist thought. Erika Ba...

Since the pandemic, we’ve been hearing more and more about the mental health crisis impacting teenaged girls. My guest on the program today is a journalist with a special interest in the well-being of young women. In her own adolescence, she was hospitalized nine times for anorexia — which she’s written about in a new book — and in recent years, she has dug into the issue of gender dysphoria, tryi...

With the rising tensions in our society has come increased conflict, including generational conflict. There are now lots of stereotypes being thrown around about existing generations, from Boomers to Millennials. But my guest on today’s program prefers to deal in facts. Her latest book analyses data from 39 million people, debunking dominant ideas about generational cohorts — and, in a departure f...

In recent weeks, on the Lean Out podcast, we’ve been exploring the issue of declining fertility in rich countries . And Canada is not exempt from this trend. Canada’s fertility rate has been dropping for years, and is now at 1.4 births per woman — well below population replacement levels. My guest on the program today argues that these statistics represent a world of hidden personal pain. The thin...

Liberal feminism is predicated on the idea that more is always better. More freedom, more technology, more autonomy. But my guest on today’s program says this ethos is dissolving the bonds between men and women, between women and children, and between women and their bodies. And she argues that it’s time to rethink feminism. Mary Harrington is a columnist and contributing editor at UnHerd , and a...

On the Lean Out podcast, we delve into the subjects that don’t get talked about enough in society. And one of the topics that’s still considered third rail is women’s fertility — even as the birth rate in Canada has dropped to a record low . My guest on the podcast today writes a lot about this issue. She recently published a fascinating piece on South Korea, which has the lowest fertility rate in...

One of the goals of the Lean Out podcast is to complicate the dominant narratives. And my guest on today’s episode does this all the time in his work. He’s an independent thinker, a prolific essayist — and, as we’ll hear, his conclusions are often surprising, rarely conforming to the orthodoxies on either the left or the right. Wilfred Reilly is a political science professor at Kentucky State Univ...

Earlier this month, a federal court judge went to speak to students at Stanford Law School. Judge Kyle Duncan has referred to the explosive protest that ensued as a “ struggle session ,” while student hecklers have defended their actions as counter-speech . My guest on today’s program has some thoughts on this free speech controversy — and where the university should go from here. Alex Morey is a...

If you’re a regular listener of the Lean Out podcast, you know that it has not been a good couple of years for the media. From the lab leak theory to the Hunter Biden laptop, we in the press have gotten a lot of big stories wrong. My guest on the program today is a media veteran, and he has some insights on how this all has happened — and where we go from here.    Steve Krakauer is the executive p...

One of the themes of the Lean Out podcast is open inquiry. And my guest on the program today has some thoughts on this. He’s concerned about the suppression of discussion and debate and viewpoint diversity in the field of addiction — and he points to specific actions from the B.C. government and the B.C. Centre on Substance Use. But, as we’ll learn at the end of today’s episode, both view the issu...

After much anticipation, Justice Paul Rouleau has released his final report for the Public Order Emergency Commission , finding that the Canadian government’s use of the Emergencies Act against the trucker convoy was appropriate, but noting that he came to this conclusion reluctantly. My guest on the program today had a front row seat — for both the convoy protests in Ottawa and the Commission — a...

Who am I? What am I here for? These are fundamental questions in life — and throughout human history, they’ve often been answered through relationships to kin. But with the collapse of the family unit and the atomization of individuals, my guest on today’s program argues, we have become unmoored. And we are now experiencing a crisis in identity, “a psychic howl” that’s shaping our culture and poli...

In July of 2020, in The New Statesman , my guest on today’s program wrote, “I fear that history will judge lockdown as a monumental mistake on a truly global scale.” At that time, there was surprisingly little debate over an unprecedented public health intervention. But that dialogue is starting to happen now, and my guest’s recent book is one reason why. Mark Woolhouse is a professor of infectiou...

This past week in Canada, a controversy erupted around the National Arts Centre’s plans to reserve an upcoming theatre performance for Black audience members, with many questioning why any organization would want to open the door for racial segregation , in any form. (And indeed, since this podcast was recorded, the NAC has issued an updated press release , indicating “everyone is welcome at all o...

Without freedom of expression, there can be no great art. Artists must have the ability to express themselves fearlessly, and take risks, in order to create authentic work. So, what happens when this fundamental value is eroded within our culture? It’s a question that my guest on the podcast today has thought a lot about — and one he tackles in his first Substack newsletter , dedicated to a recent...

On the Lean Out podcast, we’ve talked a lot about the state of open debate in our society. The public conversation these days frequently involves highly contentious and nasty arguments — and science is no exception. Michael Powell at The New York Times recently reported out one such example , involving the naming of a telescope after a late NASA head, and allegations of homophobia. Several of the...

In recent weeks on the Lean Out podcast, we’ve been doing a deep dive into the rise of independent journalism , and looking at some of the big stories that independent journalists broke this past year. My guest on today’s program, taped in December, saw several of her own pieces draw international attention in 2022 — including her reporting on the trucker convoy crisis in Ottawa , and, as we’ll di...

One year ago today, the Lean Out podcast launched with an interview with the American journalist Batya Ungar-Sargon . Now, 12 months later , Lean Out has listeners in 135 countries and 2900 cities. To mark this milestone — our first anniversary — I invited Batya back on the show to talk through some of the big stories of 2022. Batya Ungar-Sargon is the deputy opinion editor at Newsweek, and the au...

Throughout the month of December, here on Lean Out, I’ve been having conversations with the independent journalists that I admire. Today, I’m happy to welcome back to the podcast a writer and thinker whose work kept me sane during the pandemic. Meghan Daum is an essayist and author. She’s a former columnist for the L.A. Times, host of The Unspeakable podcast , and with Sarah Haider , co-host of th...

Today is a day of rest and reflection for many of us — and, with any luck, of joy and gratitude and communal celebration as well. With that in mind, we have a surprise bonus episode of Lean Out, featuring a special guest. He’s here to offer us all a little hope and inspiration for Christmas, and for the year to come. Christopher White is the minister at Kedron United Church in Oshawa, Ontario, in...

This month at Lean Out, I’ve been speaking with journalists that I admire — and having conversations about the state of the mainstream media, and the rise of the independent press. My guest today runs an independent outlet in Ottawa, and she joins me to talk through some of the year’s biggest stories. Holly Doan is an award-winning journalist, and the publisher and owner of Blacklock’s Reporter ....

What does it mean to be politically homeless? My guest today describes herself this way, and jokes that her tribe is tribeless. I relate. A lot. This month at Lean Out, I’ve been speaking with independent journalists who are changing the media landscape. Today’s guest is an opinion writer that always makes me think — and laugh. Bridget Phetasy is a comedian, writer, and podcaster in Los Angeles. S...