

Sydney Sweeney’s bathwater, the ‘literary man’ and a Beckham feud update
On today’s show: BookTok is engulfed in controversy after an Australian rugby star was seemingly handed a book deal after just a month of posting on BookTok and with no former writing experience or manuscript to his name. We discuss the accusations of white male privilege, the inner workings of influencer publishing and whether we need more ‘literary men’ in our age of incel culture. Plus, is Sydney Sweeney selling droplets of her used bath water to male fans genius marketing or normalising objectification? And, following the news of Bella and Gigi Hadid’s secret sister, how wise is genealogical testing? Finally our usual film and TV recs (including a very honest And Just Like That review), and a highly revealing update on the Beckham feud.
Please do leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or a rating on Spotify – it really does help keep us going x
We love hearing from you, DM us @straightuppod, email at hello@straightuppodcast.co.uk and follow us on TikTok @straightuupod too!
Huge thanks to our sponsor Yonder, the incredible lifestyle rewards credit card packed with rewards you’ll actually *want* to use. Find out more at yonder.com/straightup
Borrow responsibly. £15 a month. 18+ and UK only. Rep 66.0% APR var. T&Cs apply.
Get 20% off the adaptogenic coffee that changed our lives, London Nootropics, using our code straightup at londonnootropics.com
Try BookBeat for free for 60 days (w 40 hrs of listening) and stream millions of audio using our code straightup at bookbeat.com
Recs/reviews
- Sydney Sweeney, Dr Squatch ad
- The Elysian, Elle Griffin, Substack
- The disappearance of literary men should worry everyone, New York Times
- Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver
- The Principle of Moments, Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson
- Evenings and Weekends, Oisín McKenna (audiobook on BookBeat)
- The Gift, BBC Radio 4 podcast
- You’ve found a lost relative. Now what? Vox
- The Better Sister, Prime Video
- Long Bright River, c4
- Overcompensating, Netflix
- And Just Like That, NOWTV
- The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Disney +
- Mormon wives on swinging scandals, friendship fallouts and religious backlash, BBC
.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.