Culture Study Podcast

Megan Greenwell, a freelance journalist and former editor of Deadspin, sheds light on the complications of private equity in today's economy. She discusses how private equity acquisitions have hollowed out vital services, particularly in media and healthcare, leaving consumers facing deteriorating experiences. With insights from her book, 'Bad Company,' Megan reveals how companies like Toys R Us have been driven to ruin by debt-laden strategies and explores the chilling impact on industries like dental and veterinary care — fueling a necessary call for community-focused solutions.

Melinda Wenner Moyer, a science journalist and author of 'Hello, Cruel World!', dives into the intricate world of contemporary parenting trends. She discusses the mental health toll of conflicting parenting advice and the rise of over-parenting. Melinda highlights the impact of cultural pressures on parental guilt and the necessity of evidence-based guidance. She critiques the trend of overscheduled activities, advocates for the importance of unstructured play, and reflects on how parenting styles evolve across generations while balancing empathy and accountability.

Sophie Gilbert, a staff writer at The Atlantic and author of 'Girl on Girl,' dives into the cultural chaos of the 2000s. She unpacks how media iconography, from slick pop stars to raunchy films, shaped toxic narratives about femininity. The conversation explores the complexities of women's sexuality, the impact of the Me Too movement, and the enduring competition sparked by societal ideals. Gilbert critiques how these stereotypes enforce internalized misogyny and emphasizes the importance of unlearning these damaging cultural templates.

For each of these culture-of-place episodes, we look for someone who both adores a place, are very much a product of that place… and are also very much at home talking shit about that place. They see its difficulties, drawbacks, and hostilities clearly — and can hold all of that alongside their deep and abiding love for the place. And that’s Gustavo Arellano, who’s been writing about SoCal culture with verve and humor and great skill for decades. (Such great skill that just a week after we taped this episode, he was named as a finalist for this year’s Pulitzer Prize in commentary). I can’t wait for you to join us as we talk about making dioramas of missions out of sugar cubes, car culture, conspiracy-curious crunchy-fascists in Orange County, and so much more.Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!Get $35 off your first box of wild-caught, sustainable seafood—delivered right to your door. Go to https://www.wildalaskan.com/CULTUREHead to moshlife.com/CULTURE to save 20% off and get FREE shipping on the Best Sellers Trial PackGet $75 off a Mill food recycler at mill.com/CULTUREStop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoc.com/CULTURE to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today.Show Notes:Read Gustavo’s wonderful (free!) weekly newsletter, I promise it will become a highlight of your SaturdayRe: elementary school student mission diorama project — you can see a bunch here. As of 2017, the California Department of Education now recommends against the diorama project as a way of teaching fourth graders about the missionsYou can read Gustavo’s (Pulitzer Prize nominated!!!) Los Angeles Times column hereFor more on the idea of “Spanish fantasy heritage” — check out Phobe S. Kropp’s California ViejaA fantastic Mother Jones profile of Jessica Reed Kraus, the woman behind House Inhabit, and her SoCal-borne (and deeply paranoid) approach to pop cultureThe column Gustavo mentions in the AAA segment re: the anniversary of KKK city council members getting recalled in AnaheimAlta Baja Market!Mitla Cafe!So many Original Tommy’s!We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:MONTANA Culture, MONTREAL/Québécois Culture, and Philly Culture for our ongoing culture-of-place series (different eps don’t worry)Evangelical Summer Camp, past and presentVariations of American accents/dialects/linguisticsAnything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) hereFor this week’s discussion: What parts of SoCal Culture do you love — and what OTHER restaurants would you recommend?

This isn’t a bleak episode about period pain. Yes, we talk a LOT about death cramps — and all sorts of other symptoms that accompany menstruation. But we also talk a lot about how ridiculous it is that we don’t talk about these things — at least not publicly, and often not even with our close friends and family members. Kate Helen Downey, host of the incredible new podcast Cramped, joins me to talk very openly about all the things we usually don’t talk about and why. I learned so much in this episode. But I also laughed a lot, too. Pain isn’t funny, but hanging out with others who get it — it’s like a giant, glorious sigh of relief.Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!Get $75 off the Mill food recycler at Mill.com/CULTURE.Ancient Nutrition is offering 25% off your first order when you go to AncientNutrition.com/CULTURE.Head to Graza.co and use promo code CULTURE to get 10% off of TRIO which includes Sizzle, Frizzle, and Drizzle, and get to cookin’ your next chef-quality meal!Show Notes:Listen to Cramped (if you go to the website, there are also full transcripts and citations!)Learn more about Kate’s work here, and follow her on Instagram and TikTokThe collection of readers’ fibroid experiences I published on Culture StudyThe INCREDIBLE theme song from Cramped (by Farideh)The Culture Study thread I mention re: menopauseThe New Yorker olive oil profile I mentioned in the Graza adSteve Sando’s The Bean Book (where Bobby got the BIG WHITE BEAN recipe)We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:TEXAS Culture, MONTANA Culture, and MONTREAL/Québécois Culture for our ongoing culture-of-place series (different eps don’t worry)Evangelical Summer Camp, past and presentHow/Why Private Equity is Fucking Everything UpThe intersection of technology and parentingCan we have a smart conversation about Katy Perry??Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) hereFor this week’s discussion: This is a BIG FEELINGS episode, so tell us where this discussion led you.

Tove Danovich, a freelance journalist and author of 'Under the Henfluence', dives into the fascinating world of backyard chickens. She discusses the cultural and emotional layers of chicken ownership, highlighting community resilience in urban farming. Tove probes into the economics of small-scale poultry versus industrial production and the ethical concerns tied to animal welfare. With humor, she also reflects on the nostalgia versus the harsh realities of homesteading while emphasizing the joy and challenges of being a steward to these beloved birds.

Tate McRae is one of the most popular artists in the world — but millions of my peers have only the faintest idea of who she is. Alternately, they’re baffled by her. Is she Britney rebooted? Is she talented? What does she mean? Does it matter? After listening to Reanna Cruz guide listeners through McRae’s sound on Switched on Pop, I knew I wanted them to come on the show and work through more of McRae’s image. We talk about her sound, of course, but also consider her through the lens of her Canadianness, her Gen-Z-ness, her ‘organic’ songwriting success on YouTube, and her popular girl vibes.Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit ARTICLE.COM/culture and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout.Go to zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY and use CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics. ZBiotics has a 100% money-back guarantee, so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason they will refund your money, no questions asked.Show Notes:Listen to the episode of Switched on Pop (re: Tate) that made me desperate to have Reanna come on the showReanna on TwitterThe referenced video for Sports Car which is trying to do….somethingPerforming Greedy at the NHL All-Star Game:https://youtu.be/hq64R4RU1msThe goalie pads on the wrong legs on the album cover for Think Later:If you want a sense of McRae’s dancing start at the two-minute mark here:https://youtu.be/cr4wnsLI_XwVery early McRae songwriting:https://youtu.be/pBk0VFLz9_sWe’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:What 2000s pop culture did to women’s understanding of themselvesWhat’s going on in AMERICAN PARENTING CULTURE (broadly conceived) right now (with Melissa Wenner Moyer!)TEXAS Culture, MONTANA Culture, and MONTREAL/Québécois Culture for our ongoing culture-of-place series (different eps don’t worry)Evangelical Summer Camp, past and presentHow/Why Private Equity is Fucking Everything UpThe intersection of technology and parentingDark Academia (as in, the literary genre)Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) hereFor this week’s discussion: What did you learn about Tate McRae in this episode? Or: what still befuddles you?

Here at Culture Study we’re launching a new series on culture of place — it could be a state, a region, a city, so long as it has place-ness. The first in the series features Josh Gondelman, one of the place-iest comedians I know, and exactly what we’re looking for when it comes to co-hosts in this series: people who love a place dearly, who are deeply intimate with its peccadilloes, but who can also generate some analytical distance from that place as we talk about insider/outsider dynamics, how race and class intersect with a place’s understanding of itself, accents, tells, code-switching, cliches, and so much more.For this episode, listeners gave us so many excellent questions — from three-way beef and the allure of Dunkin, to how a city does or does not jettison a racist reputation. And because our co-host is Josh, it’s also very funny. I can’t wait to argue (with grace) about Boston in the comments with all of you.Thank you to the sponsors of today’s episode!Get 15% off OneSkin with the code CULTURE at https://www.oneskin.co/Ancient Nutrition is offering 25% off your first order when you go to AncientNutrition.com/CULTUREShow Notes:Subscribe to Josh’s newsletter which I promise will be the best thing in your inbox every Monday:Follow Josh on InstagramThe North Shore Roast Beef Sandwich: a Scientific Study (this is WONDERFUL additional reading if Josh’s description of the three-way piqued your interest and/or you already love the three-way)I love Josh’s piece on “The Nirvana of Ben Affleck” from 2021The Dunkin Robe in questionJosh’s new pug Maggie!!!!We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:What 2000s pop culture did to women’s understanding of themselvesWhat’s going on in AMERICAN PARENTING CULTURE (broadly conceived) right now (with Melissa Wenner Moyer!)TEXAS Culture, MONTANA Culture, and MONTREAL/Québécois Culture for our ongoing culture-of-place series (two different eps don’t worry)Evangelical Summer Camp, past and presentHow/Why Private Equity is Fucking Everything UpDark Academia (as in, the literary genre)Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) hereFor this week’s discussion: How did this discussion mesh with your own experience/understanding of Boston? And the question we’re going to keep returning to throughout this series: how do clock people as insider/outsider where you’re from?

So many of you have been asking for an episode on plastic surgery culture for so long — but I knew I couldn’t do it until I had the perfect co-host. Someone deeply familiar with the allure and contradictions that infuse the world of plastic surgery… but also conversant in plastic surgery as a form of gender and class performance. I needed Arabelle Sicardi — and was so thrilled when they agreed to come on the show. This conversation will take you to some very unexpected places: it will challenge you, alarm you, and I can promise you’ll never look at Elon Musk the same again. This is one of my favorite episodes we’ve recorded — I think you’ll quickly see why.Thank you to the sponsors of today’s episode!Celebrate Earth Month and make the switch to Blueland today. Get 15% off your first order by going to Blueland.com/cultureStop putting off those doctors appointments! Go to Zocdoc.com/culture to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor.Show Notes:Subscribe to Arabelle’s excellent newsletterThe piece from Arabelle’s newsletter I reference re: “Beauty is Going Backwards”A write-up of the BYU study of Utah women and plastic surgery that Arabelle referencesOn Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: my piece in Culture Study and the Culture Study Pod episode I did with Sara Petersen:Will MomTok Even Survive This?!?!My conversation with Sam Sanders re: Nicole Kidman’s Resting Rich Face:Nicole Kidman's Resting Rich FaceAnd now some PLASTIC SURGERY ASMR!!!***And if you want the running belt I mention in the AAA section — this is it.***We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:What’s going on in AMERICAN PARENTING CULTURE (broadly conceived) right now (with Melissa Wenner Moyer!)TEXAS Culture for our ongoing culture-of-place seriesHow/Why Private Equity is Fucking Everything UpDark Academia (as in, the literary genre)Van/Skoolie/RV LifeAnything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) hereFor this week’s discussion: How has your thinking on plastic surgery changed over time?

Whether you’ve been deep in the fanfic world for years or have only heard others talk about it — we’ve worked really hard to make this episode for all of you. Yes, you might have to hear someone define what slash is (very useful for newbies!) but then we go deep on how fanfic is influencing genres, general fanfic mainstreamification, how and why AU (alternative universe) fics work more or less effectively with different texts, and, best of all, WHERE TO FIND THE GOOD STUFF.This is a classic case of the Culture Study Pod making the argument that even if you’re not super into a cultural object/phenomenon (and especially if you are) there is so much interesting stuff to talk about — you just have to the find the right people, like our brilliant cohosts Emily and Vee, avid fanfic writers (and theorists) and cohosts of Mind the Tags.Thank you to the sponsors of today’s episode!Take your food to the next level with Graza Olive Oil. Visit https://graza.co/CULTURE and use promo code CULTURE today for 10% off of TRIO!Dogs deserve the best, and that means fresh, healthy food. Head to Ollie.com/CULTURE, tell them all about your dog, and use code CULTURE to get 60% off your Welcome Kit when you subscribe today!Show Notes:Listen to MIND THE TAGS!Highlighting this great episode on AO3And another on Kirk/Spock and the Genesis of SlashMy interview with The Pudding about “Who Gets Shipped and Why”And the piece that inspired that interview (and prompted the email exchange that led to this episode): Who Gets Shipped and WhyEmily and Vee recommend using the extensive tagging system to find your first fic on AO3Read more about the Organization for Transformative Works, the non-profit that runs AO3We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:TATE MCRAE (who is she, how did she get so popular, why is calling her the New Britney imprecise, take this wherever you want)SoCal Culture (broad, I know, but whew there’s so much — we’ll be talking with the great Gustavo Arellano, formerly an investigative reporter for The OC Weekly and current columnist for the Los Angeles Times, who pleads to consider this theme as broadly as possible! )Dark Academia (as in, the literary genre)Van/Skoolie/RV LifeAnything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) hereFor this week’s discussion: What’s your favorite piece of fanfic, and where can others find it?