Material Concerns: NPR's All Things Considered Pt. I | Ad-Free

Tradwives x Eugenics

Dust off your aprons and heat up your cast iron because it’s finally time for one of our most requested episodes yet! In this episode, Hannah and Marcelle dig deep into the tradwife phenomenon. Using the viral tradwife influencer Ballerina Farm as a case study, Hannah leads us through a discussion about eugenics, replacement theory, and clean living movements. They also get into influencer culture, the performance of farm life, and…milk. Whew! That’s a lot, and it’s ALL relevant. This episode is for those of you who love to hate tradwives, are curious about their meteoric rise in popularity over the last few years, or have never even heard of them! Related listening: 9 to 5 x Labour Feminism with Zena Sharman [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9-to-5-x-labour-feminism-with-zena-sharman/id979059619?i=1000754501008] Get Out x Horrifying Whiteness [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/get-out-x-horrifying-whiteness/id979059619?i=1000724587487] Witch, Please: Book 7, Ep. 6 | Eugenics [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-7-ep-6-eugenics/id979059619?i=1000586218305] Works Cited: Agnew, Megan. “Meet the queen of the ‘trad wives’ (and her eight children.” The Times 20 July 2024: https://archive.ph/YHB08 [https://archive.ph/YHB08].  “Clean living movement.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_living_movement [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_living_movement]. Accessed 14 May 2026.  Elster, N., Parsi, K., & Caplan, A. Guest editorial. “Laundering Public Health: Using Autism to Revive Eugenics.” The American Journal of Bioethics (2026): 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2026.2659519 [https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2026.2659519].  “Eugenics and Scientific Racism.” National Human Genome Research Institute 18 May 2022. https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/Eugenics-and-Scientific-Racism [https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/Eugenics-and-Scientific-Racism]. Accessed 14 May 2026.  Luse, Brittany. “Mormon Moms: Unpacking a national obsession.” It’s Been A Minute (NPR) 12 November 2024: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1212541651 [https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1212541651].  Moskin, Julia. “Tycoon or Tradwife? The Woman Behind Ballerina Farm Makes Her Own Path.” The New York Times 3 December 2024: https://archive.ph/Q9j2J#selection-489.0-489.70 [https://archive.ph/Q9j2J#selection-489.0-489.70].  Petersen, Anne Helen. “The Edenic Allure of Ballerina Farm.” Culture Study 10 February 2022: https://annehelen.substack.com/p/the-edenic-allure-of-ballerinafarm [https://annehelen.substack.com/p/the-edenic-allure-of-ballerinafarm].  Sykes, Sophia and Dr Veronica Hopner. “Tradwives: The Housewives Commodifying Right-Wing Ideology.” Global Network on Extremism & Technology 7 July 2023: https://gnet-research.org/2023/07/07/tradwives-the-housewives-commodifying-right-wing-ideology/. [https://gnet-research.org/2023/07/07/tradwives-the-housewives-commodifying-right-wing-ideology/]  Valverde, Mariana. The Age of Light, Soap, and Water: Moral Reform in English Canada, 1885-1925. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1991. *** To learn more about Material Girls, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! [https://instagram.com/ohwitchplease!] Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca [https://ohwitchplease.ca/]. We'll be back next week with a Material Concerns episode, but until then, go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease! [https://patreon.com/ohwitchplease!] Patreon is how we produce the show and pay our team! Material Girls is a show that makes sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand. *Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both. Music Credits: “Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020 Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Material Concerns: He He Ha Ha Pt. I

Hannah, Marcelle, and Gaby get equal parts silly and earnest with it in this episode of Material Concerns, beginning with a classically long check-in before digging into what’s in their Apocalypse Toolkit. Head over to Part II for Okay, Hear Me Out and another secret segment that we can’t publicly name. Intrigued?? Get over there and find out what we’re talking about! Support Material Girls To learn more about the show, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! [https://instagram.com/ohwitchplease!] Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca [https://ohwitchplease.ca] (you can also find transcripts here!). You can gift a Patreon subscription at this link: https://www.patreon.com/ohwitchplease/gift! [https://www.patreon.com/ohwitchplease/gift!] Music Credits: “Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020 Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Nirvana x The Culture Industry with Marshall Watson

Smells like the commodification of teen spirit! In this episode, we welcome beloved friend of the pod and returning guest Marshall Watson (he/him) to talk all about Nirvana and the grunge culture of the 90s. Together, Marcelle, Hannah, and Marshall dig into the anti-establishment ethos of Nirvana, the grunge genre as an act of musical resistance, and what happens once counter-culture becomes mainstream. To do this, they’ve obviously gotta dig into Adorno and Horkheimer’s theory of the culture industry (and talk a little bit about Reagan, which they only do when Marshall is here…). If your young adult years were soundtracked to Nevermind or you just love railing against the mainstream, you’re going to dig this episode. Related listening: Golden Girls x Sex Positivity with Marshall Watson [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-golden-girls-x-sex-positivity-with-marshall-watson/id979059619?i=1000678300766] The Craft x Feminist Rage [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-craft-x-feminist-rage/id979059619?i=1000733869925] Works Cited: Adorno, Theodore, and Max Horkheimer. 2019. “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception,” in Philosophers on Film from Bergson to Badiou: A Critical Reader, ed. Christopher Kul-Want (Columbia University Press, 2019), 80-96. “Bleach (Nirvana album).” Wikipedia. May 11 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach_(Nirvana_album). [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach_(Nirvana_album).] “David Geffen.” Wikipedia. April 23 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Geffen. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Geffen.] “Geffen Records.” Wikipedia. May 2, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geffen_Records. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geffen_Records.] Scarborough, Joe. 2014. “Reagan: A Legacy of Optimism and Common Sense.” TIME. June 4, 2014. https://time.com/2815630/reagan-a-legacy-of-optimism-and-common-sense/. [https://time.com/2815630/reagan-a-legacy-of-optimism-and-common-sense/.] *** To learn more about Material Girls, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! [https://instagram.com/ohwitchplease!] Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca [https://ohwitchplease.ca]. We'll be back next week with a Material Concerns episode, but until then, go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease! [https://Patreon.com/ohwitchplease!] Patreon is how we produce the show and pay our team! Material Girls is a show that makes sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand. *Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both. Music Credits: “Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020 Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Material Concerns: Baby on Board Pt. I

Gaby is behind the wheel doing producer duties this month and it gets as silly as you might expect with the resident wittle baby in charge!! In Part I, Hannah, Marcelle, and Gaby start with a check-in and then do some Consumer Retorts. Head over to Part II for Fixation Station and Oops All Oops!! We'll be back next week with a regular format episode! Support Material Girls To learn more about the show, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! (https://instagram.com/ohwitchplease!) Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca (https://ohwitchplease.ca/) (you can also find transcripts here!). You can gift a Patreon subscription at this link: https://www.patreon.com/ohwitchplease/gift! Music Credits: “Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020 Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Pixar x Affective Economics

When Hannah and Marcelle go to Disneyland, you can pretty much bank on them returning happier, out some cash, and deep in the throes of processing the experience! So what better return to the pod than an episode about Pixar and Henry Jenkins' theory of affective economics. Tune in for a conversation, led by Hannah, about CGI, John Lasseter, the impact of Pixar's first CGI feature Toy Story (1999), the fantasy of living outside of capitalism, and what Jenkins' theory of affective economics (Convergence Culture, 2006) can do to help us make sense of it all! Related Listening Disney x Pinkwashing [https://shows.acast.com/oh-witch-please/episodes/disney-x-pinkwashing] Appendix: Fan Studies Revisited (Witch, Please) [https://www.materialgirlspod.com/witch-please-episodes/appendixepisodefanstudiesrevisited] Works Cited “Computer Animation Production System.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Animation_Production_System [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Animation_Production_System]. Visited on 28 April 2026.  “John Lasseter.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lasseter [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lasseter]. Visited on 28 April 2026.  “Pixar.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar]. Visited on 28 April 2026.  Sandlin, Jennifer A. and Julie Garlen Maudlin. “Disney’s pedagogies of pleasure and the eternal recurrence of whiteness.” Journal of Consumer Culture 17.2 (2017): 397-412. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/10.1177/14695405156023. [https://doi-org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/10.1177/14695405156023.]  Music Credits: "Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020 Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.