In Bed With The Right

Donald Trump is issuing executive orders faster than people seem to be able to metabolize what's happening. And many of them have to do with gender, sexuality and wokeness! So Moira and Adrian turn to an expert -- Slate.com's intrepid legal reporter Mark Joseph Stern -- to make sense of at least some of the ones we know about in this special emergency episode. Check out Mark's article on the bizarre (and since possibly rescinded) "spending freeze" at Slate here, Adrian's run-down of the EO on gender affirming care here, and Moira's more hopeful note on the opposition all this will run into here.

The Moynihan Report (1965) written by later New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003) is an important document in the backlash against the Civil Rights era, but it constitutes an important document in gender conservatism as well. In this episode, Adrian and Moira read through the report in some detail, and talk about the many brilliant critiques level at Moynihan and his project pretty much from the start. You can find the report here, and Hortense Spiller's brilliant dissection of it here. [Note: there are a couple of words in this episode that we weren't wild about saying. Just be warned.]

In what is already being described as a Festivus miracle, we present you -- at long last! -- the second part of the Second Annual Cursties! It's Moira, Adrian and special guest Michael Hobbes doing the annual airing of the grievances (we're deferring the feats of strength until next year). Featuring the most cursed discourses of this particularly cursed-discourse rich year: with walk-on cameos by Octavian George Collins, the Power Gay, Charli XCX and many many more.

2024's hottest awards show is THE SECOND ANNUAL CURSTIES. Conjured up by Adrian, Moira and special returning guest Michael Hobbes, this all-gay gabfest has everything. Rapid onset transphobia! How to divorce Matt Walsh! The White Lotus! That thing where a heterosexual is so heterosexual it ... seems kind of gay? Stay tuned for the second half of this episode (and for another Episode Note referencing an SNL skit that's so old it can now legally apply for a learner's permit) next week!

Moira walks Adrian through the right wing fixation on trans kids and the way it is reshaping our politics. In early December, the US Supreme Court heard US v. Skrmetti, and is almost certain to uphold a Tennessee law banning most forms of gender-affirming care for minors. In 2016, a trans bathroom ban in North Carolina led to a nationwide outcry and boycotts. Eight years later, laws like Tennessee's SB1 have passed in a majority of US States, and the outcry is comparatively muted. What happened?

Back in September, Adrian and Moira did an event at San Francisco's legendary City Lights Bookstore for an event launching Adrian's new book The Cancel Culture Panic: How an American Obsession went Global. It was a memorable, energized and often delightfully weird evening that we're thrilled to bring you (slightly edited) as a special episode of In Bed with the Right.

As a special holiday treat, podcaster extraordinaire Matt Bernstein (A Bit Fruity) joins Moira and Adrian to talk about the right wing grift machine. It's a tough world out there, so here's your step by step guide to completely selling your soul for some sweet, sweet reactionary billionaire cash! Detours include: Candace Owens, Oli London, Riley Gaines, Chaya Raichik, and various Twinks for Tr**p.Speaking of grifting: If you like the show, consider supporting it via its brand new Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/InBedWiththeRight! It may or may not also a perfect gift for the red-pilled anti-wokester in your life!

Moira and Adrian delve reluctantly into the horror, the horror -- aka the results of the 2024 presidential election. We didn't realize it when we recorded it, but this will be first installment in a series. This episode touches on split ticket voting, post-election anti-wokeness debates, the "tech bro" narrative. In the episode, we also mention Kate Manne's Substack essay "Trump's Election is a Triumph of Rape Culture" -- and we point folks to the new IBWTR Patreon! Like and subscribe, as they say!

In this engaging discussion, Becca Lewis, a Stanford researcher specializing in right-wing influences in Silicon Valley, delves into the intriguing evolution of George Gilder from an anti-feminist critic to a tech evangelist. She highlights the complex ideological landscape of Silicon Valley leaders, contrasting their progressive public personas with reactionary beliefs. The conversation explores Gilder's entrepreneurial vision during the Reagan era, the emergence of conservative voices in tech, and how this legacy shapes today's culture, especially concerning gender politics.

In Bed With the Right has an announcement: the show is coming to Patreon! You can sign up for extra content (2 episodes per month!) here! But our main feed (meaning episodes wherever you have been listening to us) will not be affected -- in fact, there's a new episode coming Tuesday. But if you'd like to hear Moira and Adrian talk their way through some weirder, wilder, more niche topics -- such as conservative fixations on Precious Bodily Fluids --, well, then check out the Patreon!