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 FamousWhere do I start?Penny Lane's website: https://pennylaneismyrealname.com/bio/Leigh Stein's website: https://www.leighstein.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bloggingheads.tv: Feminine Chaos

Conflict Is Stored in the Kidneys

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 WisdomTumblr U.Satire in the cityKatherine 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 TrypophobicTumblr's proto-#MeTooing of John Green: John Green Responded On Tumblr To Accusations Of Sexual AbuseA NYT essay from the creator of the "problematic fave" callout blog: I Was Your Fave Is Problematic See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the Tumblrweeds

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/DzrjtPoetry magazine published a child porn convict in its prison issue, but did it deserve the backlash?Poetry Twitter Debates Whether 'After' Poems are PlagiarismA very unsympathetic (to Jia) account of the allegations against her family: NYT Bestselling Author Jia Tolentino Defends Her Human Trafficker ParentsLauren Oyler · Ha ha! Ha ha! Jia Tolentino · LRB 13 January 2020 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Poetic Justice

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” controversy, explained.Kat’s article about Ellie Kemper: Ellie Kemper and Twitter's Two Minutes Hate - The Spectator WorldDad Pulls Biracial Daughter Out of School After Classmate and School Employee Cut Her Hair See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Shrill and Shriller

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-Lusher students' trust for sex; denies illegal conductSexual Assault Allegations Against Biographer Halt Shipping of His Roth BookSome statistics: Clearance rate - crime by type in the US 2019 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sins of the Biographer Shall Be Visited Upon the Biographee

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 of gender reveal parties.Links:Stop trying to make 'sexy Prince William' happen - The SpectatorA tweet thread explainer: how the "sexiest bald man" study came to beDoes Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth hold up? What I think of it now that she's an anti-masker.Naomi Wolf's Book Corrected by Host in BBC InterviewWhat Would Phoebe Do?: The Beauty Myth, Part IPlane Crashes During Gender Reveal, Killing Two 3/31/2021 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Bald and the Beautiful

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 interviewI'm OK -- You're a RacistKat at Unherd: Hollywood's Cinderella has spokenPhoebe at Hedgehog Review: Straightness Studies | Who Do We Think We Are? | Issues See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Royals

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

Break a Leg, Gina Carano

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/1345870405085573122Bean Dad apologizes: http://www.johnroderick.com/an-apologyThe NYT cheerleader story: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/26/us/mimi-groves-jimmy-galligan-racial-slurs.htmlKat's essay on The Word: How Could She Not Know?. Language is a moving target, but some… | by Kat Rosenfield | Jan, 2021 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What Might Have Bean

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 inaugural article on all things YA Twitter:  The Toxic Drama on YA TwitterKat in Refinery29: How The OwnVoices Movement Is Changing YA LiteratureAnother rundown of the Jessica Cluess/ Lorena German beef: What is #DisruptTexts?The Sarah Dessen controversy: Sarah Dessen & Brooke Nelson Twitter Controversy, ExplainedOne book blogger's writeup on the Tristina Wright debacle:  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Young Adult Episode

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 storyChristie Smythe's Twitter accountFollowup interview with Smythe at ElleThe Cut story on Shkreli's harassment of female journalists  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Shkreliphant in the Room

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 DesireJessa's essay on the Underground Railroad vs Normal People, both for childrenDavid Bowles' epic "disgusting worms" Twitter meltdownKat's 2017 (but still relevant) primer for understanding YA's internecine conflicts: The Toxic Drama on YA TwitterJessa's website  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

All the Sad Young Disgusting Worms

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 women everywhere to endure lousy sex, and the murder mysteries that soothe the soul in the midst of dreary quarantine.Links: The Obama-as-predator take that broke TwitterRefinery29: We Need To Know Who The “Ethereal Bisexual” Woman Was In Barack Obama’s MemoirLouise Perry at Unherd: Is casual sex immoral?Phoebe at The Globe and Mail: Surviving the pandemic with murder mysteries See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Wholesome Wokefish and the Joy of Murder

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 culturally appropriate… | by Phoebe Maltz Bovy | Nov, 2020LA Times Responds to Accusation of Paying Discrimination See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

To Whom Does Broth Belong

Kat reviews the very controversial French film Cuties ... Sexuality without sex ... The hypothetical specter of a pedophile watching this movie ... "Photogenic feminism" and the stories about women the media ignores ... Phoebe: Being constantly chased by men is not feminism's main concern ...

"Cuties" and Photogenic Feminism (Kat Rosenfield & Phoebe Maltz Bovy)

Problematic faves, dissident feminism, and poodles.