

Slate Gender and Society
Slate Podcasts
A feed drawing from Slate’s podcast network, including The Waves and Outward, featuring episodes that take a critical eye to the world around us, how we define ourselves, and how gender itself is defined.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 24, 2023 • 38min
Dear Prudence: Sister Wants Me to Be Her Surrogate. Help!
In this episode, Prudie (Jenée Desmond-Harris) is tackling questions about text etiquette, whether or not to allow children at a wedding, and weighing the heavy decision of surrogacy for a sibling. Slate’s own Rachelle Hampton (host of ICYMI) joins dole out some words of wisdom. If you want more Dear Prudence, you should join Slate Plus, Slate’s membership program. Jenée answers an extra question every week, just for members. Go to Slate.com/prudieplus to sign up. It’s just $15 for your first three months. Podcast production by Kayla Lattimore and Daisy Rosario. Production help from Se’era Spragley Ricks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 23, 2023 • 29min
What Ballet’s Best Choreographer Destroyed
On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate senior editor Rebecca Onion is joined by Erika Lantz, host of the podcast The Turning to discuss the impact of ballet culture and the legacy of George Balanchine on dancers of all levels. In Slate Plus, how ballerinas and nuns have more in common than you think. Podcast production by Cheyna Roth and Tori Dominguez with editorial oversight by Daisy Rosario and Alicia Montgomery.Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com.Make an impact this Black History Month by helping Macy’s on their mission to fund UNCF scholarships for HBCU students. Go to macys.com/purpose to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 18, 2023 • 35min
Political Gabfest Reads: A Boarding School Thriller, But Make It Feminist
Emily Bazelon talks with author Rebecca Makkai about her new book, I Have Some Questions For You. They discuss why it’s so easy to suspend disbelief with this type of story, the “cancelled” subplot, and whether we’d be better off without Twitter.Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 17, 2023 • 36min
Dear Prudence: My Partner Might Be in Conversion Therapy. Help!
Slate’s Prudie (Jenée Desmond-Harris ) is on the mic answering questions about conversion therapy, awkward friends, and more. Slate’s own Nadira Goffe joins to lend her wisdom. If you want more Dear Prudence, you should join Slate Plus, Slate’s membership program. Jenée answers an extra question every week, just for members. Go to Slate.com/prudieplus to sign up. It’s just $15 for your first three months. Again, that’s Slate.com/prudieplus.Podcast production by Kayla Lattimore and Daisy Rosario. Production help from Se’era Spragley Ricks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 16, 2023 • 27min
What Next: Will Abortion Pills Be Banned?
A judge in north Texas is considering a lawsuit that could make access to abortion pills more difficult across the country. While anti-abortion activists can point to a string of recent successes, the existence of another, widely-used abortion medication would make medical abortions nearly impossible to ban outright. Guest: Christina Cauterucci, Slate senior writer and host of Outward.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Amicus—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 16, 2023 • 36min
The Waves: The Inherent Fear in Being a Woman
On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate senior producer Cheyna Roth talks all about fear with author Erica Berry. They discuss trying to navigate alone in the world as a woman, how one fairy tale tells you everything you need to know about women and fear, and Erica’s new book, Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell About Fear.In Slate Plus, Cheyna and Erica talk about how one wolf, OR-7, stole hearts across the nation. Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Daisy Rosario and Alicia Montgomery. With additional help from Tori Dominguez. Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 15, 2023 • 1h 23min
Outward: Are Throuples All That Different From Couples?
Love is in the air this month, so hosts Christina Cauterucci, Jules Gill-Peterson, and Bryan Lowder turn their attention to some very queer questions of love. First, they discuss a new Spanish film, Petit Mal, which explores the intimate drama and everyday feelings of three women in a throuple. Then they consider what is arguably the hardest kind of love: loving yourself in the wake of great loss or pain. Recent years have seen a huge growth in the applications of psychedelic drugs as a treatment strategy for PTSD, depression, anxiety, and more. Although psychedelics are becoming more popular with everyone, a lot of queer and trans people have pre-existing relationships with some of these substances, both in recreational and therapeutic contexts. The hosts are joined by Dr. Alex Belser, the leading researcher into queer people’s relationship with psychedelics, to discuss what these drugs might offer—and get back from—queers.Items discussed in the show:“Gay Bars and Hookup Apps”: The February 2021 episode of Outward that focused on Lex and other dating apps for womenThe official trailer for Petit MalQueering Psychedelics: From Oppression to Liberation in Psychedelic Medicine, edited by Alex Belser, Clancy Cavnar, and Beatriz C. Labate“Does the Queer Scene Have a Ketamine Problem?” by Delilah Friedler in Rolling Stone“10 Calls to Action: Toward an LGBTQ-Affirmative Psychedelic Therapy,” by Alex BelserGay AgendaChristina: Aftersun, written and directed by Charlotte WellsBryan: The legacy of Charles Silverstein, who died on Jan. 30, 2023Jules: Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals, by Saidiya V. HartmanThis podcast was produced by June Thomas.Please send feedback, topic ideas, and advice questions to outwardpodcast@slate.com.Make an impact this Black History Month by helping Macy’s on their mission to fund UNCF scholarships for HBCU students. Go to macys.com/purpose to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 14, 2023 • 34min
How To!: Find Your First Kiss at 38
Sharon is 38 and never been kissed. This, as she acknowledges, is “a bit weird.” As a nurse who loves ballroom dancing, Sharon is smart, funny, and attractive. At the same time, she’s deeply religious and has been waiting so long for the perfect man she worries that she’ll never find “The One.” In this classic How To! episode, founding host Charles Duhigg brings in one of New York City’s finest matchmakers, Lisa Clampitt, for some tough love. Lisa believes Sharon has a lot going for her, but in order to find her first kiss she needs to go on a lot more second dates. This is no fairytale, but sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs before you find your prince.Do you have a problem that needs a solution? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show.Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 12, 2023 • 42min
Working: A New Way to Tell Trans Stories
This week, host June Thomas talks to Chase Joynt and Morgan M. Page, co-writers of the new documentary Framing Agnes, which Chase also directed and appears in. The film depicts, through reenactments, conversations with trans patients who were part of a UCLA gender study in the 1950’s. It also features interviews with trans actors who portray the patients and multiple conversations between Chase, Morgan, and others about how to tell trans stories farily. In their interview with June, Chase and Morgan describe the many modes of the film and explain why they felt the need to venture so far outside the usual documentary conventions. After the interview, June and co-host Karen Han talk more about Framing Agnes and documentary filmmaking. They also discuss best practices for conducting respectful interviews. In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Chase and Morgan talk about some of the people they collaborated with to make Framing Agnes. Works referenced in this episode include: Errol Morris’ documentary series WORMWOOD.The Handler, an edition of the BBC’s Assume Nothing series. The Teacher’s Trial podcastSend your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675.Podcast production by Cameron Drews. --Make an impact this Black History Month by helping Macy’s on their mission to fund UNCF scholarships for HBCU students. Go to macys.com/purpose to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 9, 2023 • 34min
The Waves: How ADHD Disorients Women
On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate supervising producer Daisy Rosario is joined by stand-up comic Blaire Postman to discuss their journeys as women with ADHD, from receiving a diagnosis to the many ways it affects their everyday lives. In Slate Plus, how Blaire navigated living with ADHD in the pandemic-era social media boom of all things ADHD content. Podcast production by Cheyna Roth and Tori Dominguez with editorial oversight by Daisy Rosario and Alicia Montgomery.Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com.Make an impact this Black History Month by helping Macy’s on their mission to fund UNCF scholarships for HBCU students. Go to macys.com/purpose to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices