STARGIRL

*Full episode on Patreon* This month, we rehash the recently upwelled Ballerina Farm discourse, and I talk about what she represents to me: not a “trad wife” (outdated, meaningless term), not a hard-headed business woman, but a secret third thing. Discussed: “Meet the queen of the ‘trad wives’ (and her eight children)” Megan Agnew in the Times “My day with the trad wife queen and what it taught me...

*Full episode on Patreon* Eloise Skinner  is a psychotherapist, author, and fitness instructor whose work focuses on existential themes, embodiment, and wellbeing. In this episode of The Body Series, Eloise explains the principles of existential therapy, how she’s built a life that combines her many varied interests (law, spirituality, therapy, fitness, dance, modeling, etc.), how our fundamental...

*Subscribe to the STARGIRL Patreon!* Announcements:   1. STARGIRL in-person event is happening! Sunday, July 28 at 10am in Williamsburg (exact location details will be emailed out), a meetup and all-levels yoga class in NYC! Fill out this Google Form to RSVP   Space is limited, so serious responses only please 2. Submit your Rants and Raves! Record a 0:30 - 2:00 hot take on a Stargirl of your choi...

*Announcements!  The first STARGIRL in-person event is happening! Details will be announced on my Instagram first @emmaglennbaker — can’t wait to share more and see you there!* In this week’s episode, I introduce a brand new segment to the public: STARGIRL Rants and Raves! I welcome all listeners to send in a Rant or Rave on a Stargirl, person/persona you fixate on, or cultural event/moment that y...

*Full episode on Patreon!* Happy July! In this month's letter, available to Dream / Threat-tier subscribers on Patreon, I give my final thoughts on "Brat Summer," dive into Azaelia Banks' recent Twitter run on today's poised-for-greatness pop stars, and ground down to the principles of manifestation/Law of Attraction that will get us all where we want to go. Follow STARGIRL o...

*Full episode on Patreon!* In this episode of The Body Series, I interview Sloane Elizabeth , a food freedom coach and the founder of the Food Freedom Collective. She is a holistic wellness expert who helps women eat, move, and live with Love & Intuition and empowers women to stop dieting, obsessing, restricting, and playing small so that they can experience food and life freedom. She uses a u...

*Full episode on Patreon!* Welcome to Part II of my conversation with my friend and the writer Shaan Sachdev. In this episode, we tackle Beyoncé as a Stargirl: how she handles controversy, deploys narrative control, and the Dream / Threat she represents. We discuss who she offends, and in which ways the jury is still out on her morality, despite her not being an edge-seeker in her personal life. W...

Welcome to Part 1 of our Beyoncé special, with my friend and the Beyoncé evangelist Shaan Sachdev! This week, we take it all the way back to Wayne Koestenbaum’s 1993 book The Queen’s Throat, the seminal text on the Diva, fandom, and Vicariousness. We discuss the border between true Divadom and generalized cuntiness, and use Shaan’s recent piece in the Wall Street Journal to discuss Beyoncé’s supre...

*Full episode on Patreon!* Cameron Yuen , PT, DPT, CSCS, is a performance physical therapist with a specialty in strength and conditioning, and the Director of Rehabilitation and Training and Bespoke Treatments in New York City. I worked with him in 2023 after I injured my lower back, and his coaching transformed both the way I approach training and my overall relationship to my body.  In this epi...

*Full episode on Patreon!* Celebrate two years of STARGIRL in this patron-only special episode, where we look back at the genesis of the project and check in on some of the Stargirls. We discuss Tinx as a DJ, EmRata as a mom, the race to represent “mainstream white America,” what the heck is up in New York, and more. Plus, breaking my silence on Addison’s downfall and "the Girls and Gays" as a mar...

Helloooo!!! Today we’re tackling the phenomenon of Paige Bueckers, college basketball star who has captured the nation’s attention with her skill, swag, and heart of gold. I talk about her TikTok explosion, the sexuality that’s projected onto her, and how her wholesome silly vibe makes me excited to be alive. Then, we’ll hear from my little sister Nelly, a D1 runner who fills us in on all things N...

*Subscribe to the STARGIRL Patreon !* This May marks two years of STARGIRL ! As a birthday gift from me to you, I’m unlocking the most recent episode of The Body Series, my conversation with Tao Lin. I decided it was so important that everyone needed to hear it! Subscribe to the whole series at Patreon.com/STARGIRLpod .  Tao and I talk about how we live our lives—our exercise and caffeine routines...

This week we welcome my friend and writer/editor Alana Pockros to tackle the work and persona of Lauren Oyler. We discuss how Lauren seized authority as the millennial literary critic, how her abandonment of the “rules” makes her work difficult to engage with critically, her famous distaste for Vulnerability, the Berlin piece (...), and what it means to be both brave and mean. Plus, in my quarterl...

*Full episode on Patreon* This week, we welcome the writer Emmeline Clein to discuss her new book, Dead Weight , a history of eating disorders. She explains how the medical establishment created a diagnostic hierarchy that feeds into the latent competitiveness of the disease, how the impulse to ritualize your diet can both life-affirming and self-destructive, and how cultural characters like Karen...

*Full episode on Patreon* Happy Spring! This week we explore the legacy of @treaclychild (RIP) in her ascent from Twitter darling to HBO executive producer (!!!). We explore why ironic self-debasement felt so electric in the late 2010s (and feels so boring now), the "Our Girl Made It" feeling, and what we lost as her persona drifted into caricature. Mentioned: Treadmill video Shiva Baby...

*Subscribe to the STARGIRL Patreon to listen to the full episode and gain access to more exclusive content Hello, earth angels! This week Callie and I delve into the sensual world of our favorite YouTuber, @yaknowme_hitomi. We discuss her spiritual evolution from depressed NYC thrifter to fully realized health goddess, explore the Dream/Threat of the ethereal travel vlogger, and relish in our shar...

*Full episode on Patreon * STARGIRL 2.0 is here! Introducing: The Body Series. Embodiment has always been a central theme of STARGIRL , and we tackle it head on in The Body Series, a Patreon exclusive. In this sequence of conversations, I chat with writers and artists, fitness professionals, athletes/dancers/yogis, etc. whose work centers on the body. Our first guest is writer Jordan Castro —we di...

Shiva Rea is credited as a key popularizer of modern yoga in the United States: She transformed the physical practice and in so doing, helped to define our mainstream conception of what yoga “is.” In this episode, we discuss the roots of her Prana Vinyasa style, the aesthetic evolution of yoga chicks from the 1980s to now, yoga’s waning counter-cultural status, and why the knee-jerk response to ac...

Today we're joined by Sam Cummins of Nymphet Alumni to discuss the timeless American novelist Willa Cather. We talk about the needless politicization of Cather, why Nature is the ultimate identity cleansing force, and how frontier literature has evolved today. Discussed: Cather novels: O, Pioneers One of Ours My Ántonia  Death Comes for the Archbishop Willa Cather and the Politics of Criticism...

Happy New Year! Today we take the opportunity to look back at how Gwyneth and Goop defined Wellness in the 2010s. I argue that while Goop lacked a soulful center, Gwyneth is working in the grand Esoteric tradition of seeking the sublime through one's relationship to the body. I look at the current aesthetic detritus of exercise culture, challenge the bad rap on “self-optimization,” and meet Gw...

Today we use Kim Kardashian and Skims to close out many open conversations of the year: the body, motherhood and domesticity, women megalomaniacs, athleticism as an editorial trend, and so much more. I argue that Skims is the most exciting, subversive contemporary *beauty brand* and *grand editorial project* of 2023, commend Kim for her commitment to her own point of view, knight her as a Free Thi...

*Full episode on Patreon* Bianca Giaever was a local legend, a mythic figure whose forest nymph-like presence lingered in the walls of Garfield High School long after she graduated. I learned about her—her confidence, adventurousness, cleverness, and drive—within the first month of my freshman year, and witnessed hoards of girls (and myself) debase themselves to try to emulate her vibes. I kept ta...

Today we welcome YouTuber and general internet darling Sally Darr Griffin to tackle Taylor Swift. Discussed: Taylor's insidious creep toward total world domination, the Dream/Threat of a Girls' Girl, power hungry female celebrities, songwriting vs. performance value, the Swiftie microeconomy, Taylor's relentlessly out-of-step visual identity, and so much more. I also let SDG nerd out o...

This week we welcome K-pop expert and fanatic Alexi Alario, the co-host of Nymphet Alumni , to analyze Miss Jennie Kim ♡ We discuss how Jennie sets herself apart from her BLACKPINK peers, her craving for multi-hyphenate Western relevance, and why the “lazy Jennie” narrative makes her even more stannable. We also dissect her perfect neotenous face, Calvin Klein billboards, and incoherent budding so...

Welcome back! Today we discuss Zendaya, arguably the most celebrated Face of Young Hollywood and one of my favorite people to watch move. We discuss all that's demanded of her liminal space of race, her incredible lankiness, the attempted "queering" of her relationship with Tom Holland, and what's beneath the understanding of her as a "safe" celebrity. Mentioned: "...