The Culture Study Podcast

I know a lot about historic Hollywood feuds. I could do an entire episode just on the magazine covers featuring Elizabeth Taylor, Eddie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds circa 1959. But to do any episode on Celebrity Feuds right — particularly one that airs just days before Kendrick Lamar performs at the Super Bowl — I knew I needed a different sort of celebr… Read more

We’re at the point where we know a bullshit attempt to commodify our burnout when we see it. No one’s buying the self-care spiel the bath bomb companies are selling us. But the rhetoric of self-care has crept into the workplace, family dynamics, and TikTok therapy speak, usually divorced from any critique of the systems that make self-care feel necessar… Read more

I grew up skiing at a mid-size mountain in the middle of Idaho. I wasn’t ever an athletic kid, but skiing — it made me feel fast and really good at something. I loved it: the routine, the long slog to the mountain, the Cup of Soup for lunch, the crappy hotels, the freedom. But the ski culture that I grew up with is largely gone, at least in the U.S. — a… Read more

Let me start with this: this is a dream interview. If, like me, you spent a lot of time in the 2000s and 2010s reading about celebrity online, Go Fug Yourself was an essential part of your online diet. Heather and Jessica were simply unrivaled when it came to celebrity fashion in general and red carpet fashion in particular. I idolized them the same way I idolized Lainey Gossip — both of whom I read alongside all of my graduate texts in star studies. The problem with those star studies is that they were always rooted in the past. But The Fug Girls and Lainey, they were doing the analysis now, on celebs who were desperately (and often unsuccessfully) attempting to navigate the new, digital gossip landscape — and that’s how they became part of my dissertation, on the history of celebrity gossip, themselves. That’s why it’s such an absolute f-ing treat to talk to Heather and Jessica about the present and future of celebrity gossip: they have the context. They know the history. We talk about Deuxmoi, sourcing, blinds, accounting for past shittiness, so much. Melody had to jump in like 17 times to make us explain various peak 2000s gossip terms here, so if you were part of that universe (HELLO, TOOTHY TILE) you will love this episode — but if you weren’t, and you just appreciate an introspective look at how celebrity discourse works, you’ll love this, too (in part because Melody made us explain stuff, she’s the best). Note: This episode was recorded just before the Blake Lively/New York Times bombshell so don’t get mad that we don’t mention it!! PEAK MID-2000S CELEB (via Getty) We are SO grateful to everyone who’s helped this show became sustainable through your monthly and yearly subscriptions. We can make this show as weird and varied as we like, following your whims and our own, because we are fully independent and not beholden to advertisers (or parent companies). Right now, we’ve made enough through subscriptions to pay Melody through MARCH (!!!) but without more… we can’t keep making the show. (And if you’re already a Culture Study newsletter subscriber, you get a screaming deal, but you have to click there to use it; it is *not* applied automatically). Subscribe nowAnd if you’d like to add the subscriber-only podcast to your podcast app, here’s how. Show Notes: GoFugYourself if you haven’t already visited — but make sure you check out Drinks with Broads, Heather and Jessica’s Substack for even more in-depth analysis (and recaps), plus open threads for big celeb events (like the Golden Globes). Subscribe below!!!Drinks With BroadsA Pop Culture Cocktail Served by the Fug GirlsBy Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan Here’s what I sent Melody when she was confused about what Toothy Tile was I liked this piece from Rebecca Jennings on DeuxMoi back in 2020The Fug Girls’ note on discontinuing royals coverage The subreddit devoted to Deuxmoi Re: Brad Pitt — I wrote about him and the stink of sad smut back in 2022 We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:Celebrity feuds, past and present, with Joel Anderson!!! (Yes this will come out around the time Kendrick headlines the Super Bowl halftime show)HISTORICAL ROMANCE (will neither confirm nor deny that we have a co-host whose confirmation made Melody faint) By popular request, all things fan fiction!Pre-teen influencersBudget Culture + Specifically Budget Advice You Find DubiousGetting into old movies!!!! Tell us why you want to get into them, why you find it difficult, and a few recent-ish movies so we can hand-pick recommendations for youDad culture, whatever that means to youAnything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment — WE REALLY NEED MORE!! You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) hereFor today’s discussion: What are *your* feelings about celeb gossip today? Where are your trusted sources, and what do you think we have (and haven’t) learned from the 2000s?

Thrifting has a smell, but it also has a feel. For me, the feel is of thick, almost indestructible rayon weaves; of dense, mothbally wool; of slick, ancient crinoline; of stiff and generously cut denim. It was the feel of handstitching on a dress made from a pattern, or a cracked logo on a company picnic shirt from 1975. It was not the feel of shopping … Read more

Explore the rise of therapy speak in modern communication, from social media to daily conversations. The discussion dives into how psychological jargon can oversimplify complex emotions while risking genuine understanding. Learn about the impact of terms like 'narcissist' and 'trauma' on personal relationships and societal discourse. Unpack the trivialization of mental health diagnoses and the consequences of misapplied labels. Additionally, discover how therapeutic language influences workplace dynamics and the need for authentic emotional support.

As an Registered Auntie, I get to watch kids’ toy trends from the backseat. I’ve bought annoying things (sorry, parent friends) and learned how to play new things (Beyblades, I rule) and passed down precious things (all of my My Little Ponies from the ‘80s). We could talk forever about the merits of various toys, past and present, but your listener ques… Read more

Sometimes we do episodes where I know a fair amount about the subject and end up on a three minute digression about picture palaces. And sometimes I’ve only started to learn about a topic — or read within a genre — and am absolutely thrilled to spend an hour listening to someone else’s expertise. That’s what we’re doing today with queer romance writer A… Read more

What is Quince and why is it everywhere? Who is running Albion Fit? Who buys clothes at Altar’d State? Why is Madewell so sad? This is an explainer episode, but it’s also a brands-feelings processing episode, because any time millennials try and talk about how J.Crew or Madewell has changed, they’re also talking about how their own feelings about fashio… Read more