35. Women vs. Women! Girls Against Boys! It’s Cage Fight 2022 (with Russian Trolls)

Sarah interrupts Madame Nancy in the middle of a seance, but hey, no better time for a podcast. After a brief discussion of their top five liquids (inspired by a recent interview with Malcolm Gladwell), they turn toward a 4000-word New York Times story about how Russian trolls might have influenced the implosion of the Women’s March. Nancy thinks the story whitewashes the leaders’ excesses and prejudices, particularly the anti-semitism of Linda Sarsour. Sarah finds the prospect of outside forces stoking civic discord legitimately worrisome, but both agree the Women’s March fell apart because of in-fighting over ideology, money, and mismanagement.

We turn toward a story in the Atlantic that argues against sex segregation in sports, making some head-scratching assertions about girls’ ability to compete with boys. Sarah thinks it’s yet another failure to balance equal opportunity with biological difference, while Nancy points out that even Serena Williams admitted to David Letterman she’d lose every game to tennis champ Andy Murray since men were faster and stronger — none of which makes women inherently inferior, since women have other assets. Have we mentioned we love breasts?

In the hot box this week: Crying in H Mart, a memoir that explores a complicated mother-daughter relationship and how food connects us, and Michael Moynihan chatting with Andy Warhol’s right-hand man, Bob Colacello.

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