On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined yet again by Nadira Goffe, this time to unpack the mailbag. First they discuss the convoluted mess over a guy on TikTok named Kevin who may or may not understand what the female gaze is. Then, they talk about chili, a Brazilian puppet, and inflation in TikTok’s doubloons economy. This podcast is produced by Daniel Schroeder, Rachelle Hampton, and Daisy Rosario. Subscribe to Slate Plus at http://slate.com/icymiplus Learn more about your ad choices. V...
Dec 07, 2022•40 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate Money host Emily Peck is joined by journalist and author Taffy Brodesser-Akner to talk about Taffy’s new show, Fleishman is in Trouble, based on her bestselling novel. They dig into why men’s magazines are more freeing to write for, how ambition can mess up a marriage, and how midlife crises and divorce are different experiences for women. In Slate Plus, Emily and Taffy talk about Toby’s eating disorder, how empathy can make people mad, and more. Podcas...
Dec 01, 2022•33 min
This episode was recorded before the Nov. 19 attack on Club Q. Outward stands with our queer family in Colorado Springs. This month, Christina Cauterucci, Jules Gill-Peterson, and Bryan Lowder discuss two major trans news stories from recent weeks. First, the New York Times’ latest article about trans kids and gender-affirming care, this time about puberty blockers and bone density, and how it plays into the ongoing, manufactured, and weaponized conservative panic about trans existence. Then the...
Nov 23, 2022•1 hr 15 min
For about two decades towards the end of the Victorian era, in the 1870s and 1880s, a large bustle-enhanced bottom was the height of fashion. In this episode we explore how it’s connected to today’s big booty craze. We look at the bustle’s history with a curator fascinated by old undergarments; consider the various theories about its popularity with the author Heather Radke; and then hone in the tragic story of Sarah Baartman. The bustle may be old-fashioned, but it still has a lot to tell us ab...
Nov 22, 2022•47 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate senior supervising producer of audio, Daisy Rosario is joined by actress and director Lake Bell to talk about voices. Bell’s new audio book Inside Voice is all about her obsession with how people sound. They dig into why we should take better care of our voices, how trauma impacts our ability to speak, why candidate voices impact their electability, and more. In Slate Plus, Lake and Daisy talk about the problem with the sexy baby voice. Podcast producti...
Nov 10, 2022•29 min
As Texas laws have become more discriminatory against trans individuals and their families, many wonder if they can even stay in the Lone Star State, especially when parents could be investigated as child abusers for providing healthcare to their children. This family made the difficult decision to move to Colorado. Guests: Katie Laird, social justice blogger. Noah Laird, high school junior. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like z...
Nov 09, 2022•29 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, we dig into why Sarah Palin is still around - and if you should be paying attention. Slate senior producer Cheyna Roth is joined by Slate senior writer Christina Cauterucci to talk about Christina’s time spent in Alaska where Palin is trying to make a political comeback in a tight race for Alaska’s lone Congressional seat. Later in the show, Christina explains why it’s necessary to keep talking about Palin after all these years. In Slate Plus, Cheyna and Chri...
Nov 03, 2022•33 min
Andrew Tate, a former kickboxer and star of Big Brother in the UK, was deplatformed earlier this year because of his offensive and misogynistic talking points, but that didn’t stop him from spreading his message. On today’s episode, Rachelle speaks with journalist Ikran Dahir who recently wrote, “Andrew Tate’s Hustlers University 2.0 Has Made at Least $11 Million in Just One Month,” in BuzzFeed. Ikran discusses what it was like being on the platform, the quality of the classes being offered, and...
Nov 02, 2022•39 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate senior supervising producer of audio Daisy Rosario is joined by author Elissa Bassist to talk about women’s voices. They discuss Elissa’s new book, Hysterical and unpack why we cringe when we hear vocal fry, and ask why we don’t have similar words to describe male vocal ticks. Later in the show, they dig into how the fear of scrutiny women have over their voices silences them in ways you haven’t imagined. In Slate Plus, Elissa talks about her involvemen...
Oct 20, 2022•30 min
Bryan Lowder is still out on book leave, but hosts Christina Cauterucci and Jules Gill-Peterson summon him back to discuss Bros, the gay rom-com of the moment. The film lingers on questions of queer history, shows what happens when a nerdy podcast guy dates a beefy gay bro, and is a fascinating meditation on what it means to be a cis gay man in a time of both progress and prosecution. (This segment lasts around 31 minutes if you want to skip ahead to avoid Bros spoilers.) Then they are joined by...
Oct 19, 2022•1 hr 29 min
Five years after exposés in the New Yorker and New York Times, Harvey Weinstein is in jail—but a major rallying point of #MeToo was just how widespread this sexual harassment, abuse, and violence really is in workplaces across industries. Looking back, from the top of media to blue- and pink-collar work, how much has the #MeToo movement changed? Guest: Christina Cauterucci, senior writer at Slate. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits ...
Oct 18, 2022•28 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate homepage editor Sol Werthan sits down with trans rights activist and author, Paisley Currah. They discuss Paisley’s new book, Sex Is As Sex Does and discuss why “male” and “female” are used as a legal and social classifier. And why, even for cis people who identify with the gender binary, that might not be the right way to go. In Slate Plus, Sol and Paisley talk about the politicization of trans kids. Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial ove...
Oct 13, 2022•35 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate senior editor Rebecca Onion is joined by Slate contributing writer Imogen West-Knights to talk all about queens. From the daily news to Sunday nights on HBO, queens are everywhere right now. Rebecca and Imogen talk about the enduring appeal of shows like The Crown, House of the Dragon, Victoria, and more and what these representations are lacking. In Slate Plus, is the modern iteration of Hillary Clinton still feminist? Recommendations: Rebecca: Dirty D...
Oct 06, 2022•28 min
After three decades of marriage, Bernadette wasn’t exactly blindsided when Rodney asked for a divorce. Things had been rocky for awhile, but she always assumed they’d live the rest of their lives “unhappily ever after.” Now Bernadette is facing an uncertain future, wondering how she’s going to navigate her new life socially, emotionally, and financially. On this episode of How To!, we bring on Dr. Elizabeth Cohen, author of Light on the Other Side Of Divorce: Discovering the New You, and host of...
Oct 04, 2022•40 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate senior editor Shannon Palus and transgender journalist Evan Urquhart pose the question: Do we really need to separate sports by sex? The pair discusses Maggie Merten’s recent piece in The Atlantic, “Separating Sports By Sex Doesn’s Make Sense” and what role biology does (and doesn’t) play in determining who the top player on the field is. Later in the show, Shannon and Evan talk about why co-ed sports would be great for transgender youth. In Slate Plus,...
Sep 29, 2022•33 min
Dahlia Lithwick’s new book Lady Justice: Women, the Law and the Battle to Save America, tells the story of the women lawyers who stood up to Trump and stood up for those unseen and unrepresented by a brutal presidency, and the stories of the women who will fight on in the wake of life-altering decisions from a radicalized Supreme Court. Lady Justice is also available as an audiobook, and Amicus listeners can get a 25% discount by entering the code “AMICUS” at checkout. https://books.supportingca...
Sep 26, 2022•11 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, Nicole Lewis, former Slate senior editor and Daisy Rosario, senior supervising producer of audio at Slate, talk about Britney…bitch. Mega-pop star Britney Spears is trying to navigate her life after being released from the court order that gave her father almost total control of her life. But the fans that put her conservatorship in the spotlight still can’t let her go. Nicole and Daisy unpack the toxic relationship between Britney Spears and fame—as well as ...
Sep 22, 2022•37 min
Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Roberta Kaplan, who along with co-counsel Karen Dunn brought a successful civil suit against twenty-four neo-Nazi and white supremacist leaders responsible for organizing the racial- and religious-based violence in Charlottesville in August 2017. They discuss how the KKK Act of 1871 applied to discord channels and now January 6th defendants. And they explore the complicated relationship women find themselves in with the law in this moment, as defenders of rights but ...
Sep 17, 2022•46 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate senior editor Shannon Palus sits down with writer and political scientist Virginia Eubanks. They talk about Virginia’s New York Times magazine essay , “His PTSD, and My Struggle to Live With It,” and how the condition is more widespread than most people realize, even as terms like “trauma” and “triggered” are tossed around cavalierly. Later in the show, they talk about why you shouldn’t give unsolicited advice to people living with PTSD—and what kind of...
Sep 15, 2022•34 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, erotic thrillers are making a comeback and The Waves is ready to dig into it. Freelance podcaster and writer, Nichole Perkins is joined by Slate features editor Jeffrey Bloomer to talk about why they love these movies, while also acknowledging the many flaws they contain. Then, Nichole and Jeffrey talk about what they want to see change and evolve as we enter into a new era of erotic thrillers. In Slate Plus, is taking your partner’s last name feminist? Podca...
Sep 08, 2022•37 min
Today’s high schoolers have lived in an America with legally recognized gay marriage for nearly half of their lives, but this fall, Florida students are starting the first school year under the “Parental Rights in Education” law, a.k.a. “Don’t Say Gay,” and LGBTQ students are bracing for a very different classroom experience. Guest: Will Larkins, a 17-year-old senior at Winter Park High School, Florida and cofounder of the school’s Queer Student Union. If you enjoy this show, please consider sig...
Sep 07, 2022•27 min
Instagram has seen a recent influx of college “virginity club” accounts featuring sharp, funny memes about remaining chaste. On today’s episode, Madison and Rachelle put these accounts under the microscope. Is anything about these accounts real, or are they just a grift for merchandise and music promotion? After some internet sleuthing, they track down the creator of the most popular account, for “Brigham Young Virginity Club,” and put him on the spot. Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and ...
Sep 03, 2022•39 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, Lizzie O'Leary host of What Next: TBD is joined by Emily Peck co-host of Slate Money to explain the new Student Debt Relief Plan. They delve into the reason women often carry more debt on average and why they stand to benefit the most from even modest relief. Then, Lizzie and Emily unpack debt-relief criticism itself, what Biden’s plan does well, and where it could improve. In Slate Plus, some hard-hitting, in-depth analysis on whether or not laundry-folding ...
Sep 01, 2022•29 min
While authorities searched for missing 22-year-old Gabby Petito, she was everywhere to be found on TikTok, Reddit, and Instagram. Content creators, some well-intentioned and others simply chasing clout and clicks, turned the story of Gabby’s apparent death into the latest in true crime drama. On today’s show, Madison and Rachelle talk about the murkiness of the true crime internet and the ethics of using tragedy for clicks. They’re joined later in the show by Haley Toumaian, a TikTok creator and...
Aug 27, 2022•36 min
After winning 23 Grand Slam singles titles, four Olympic gold medals, and over $100 million in prize money, this month Serena Williams announced the end of her professional tennis career. While her on-court accomplishments and longevity put her in the sporting pantheon, her cultural impact is just as remarkable. Guest: Amira Rose Davis, assistant professor of Black studies at the University of Texas Austin and co-host of the feminist sports podcast Burn It All Down. If you enjoy this show, pleas...
Aug 25, 2022•31 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate senior producer Cheyna Roth is joined by culture writer Anna Nordberg to talk all about Jane Austen. The romance novelist may have written her seven books well over a century ago, but as Cheyna and Anna discuss, her work still endures in popular culture. They talk about why Austen’s characters are even more modern than the men and women we see on screen today and why some of the men are kind of meh. Later in the show, they talk about what makes an endea...
Aug 25, 2022•35 min
The Department of Justice announced this month that they were investigating allegations that leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention mishandled sexual abuse accusations for decades. How have abusers exploited the church’s decentralized structure and notions of forgiveness to avoid accountability, and how have church teachings about sexuality and “purity culture” allowed the abuse to continue? Guest: Robert Downen, reporter at the Houston Chronicle. Jules Woodson, co-Founder & COO of Help;Hear...
Aug 24, 2022•33 min
The U.S. has some of the worst maternal mortality rates in the industrialized world. And African Americans are three times more likely to die in childbirth than whites. The documentary Aftershock focuses on how the healthcare system is failing Black mothers at the most vulnerable time of their lives, and how their families are fighting to change that. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson speaks with the film’s co-director and co-producer Tonya Lewis Lee about the history of the crisis and...
Aug 19, 2022•26 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, the streaming wars have come for us all. The Daily Beast’s Allegra Frank sits down with Inkoo Kang of The Washington Post to talk about what happened at HBO and where gender fits into it all. HBO Max recently canceled the nearly done Batgirl, and has been quietly removing content from its streaming service as it prepares to merge with Discovery+. Allegra and Inkoo talk about how streaming services reducing their content offering likely spells trouble for non-...
Aug 18, 2022•36 min
Three lifestyle trends with surprisingly retrograde ideas have been popping up on TikTok. On today’s show, Nadira Goffe is back with Rachelle to discuss what’s going on. They talk about the problems with the “clean girl” aesthetic, people who shouldn’t be trying to imitate the Kennedys and the like, and why being a housewife isn’t the “soft life” TikTokkers might want you to believe it is. This podcast is produced by Daniel Schroeder, Rachelle Hampton, and Daisy Rosario. Subscribe to Slate Plus ...
Aug 17, 2022•36 min
