Reading the Comments Podcast

Bonus Episode: "I could've gone down the toxic masculinity rabbit hole"

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit readingthecomments.substack.com [https://readingthecomments.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] For all our faithful subscribers, we’re dropping into your inbox with a brand-new bonus episode on the Netflix series Adolescence, which has been getting lots of buzz. It’s currently the #1 show on Netflix with 42 million views last week! In this episode, we discuss the Reddit threads that have emerged in response to the show, most of which are positive,…

"What grown up wants to live with someone who's mentally a child just because they're hot?"

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit readingthecomments.substack.com [https://readingthecomments.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] It’s officially the holiday season— and the end of our official season! Look out for updates from us in the new year, including a request for your suggestions for more bonus episodes [https://readingthecomments.substack.com/p/bonus-episode-election-debrief]. In the meantime, you can subscribe now to listen to the full season [https://readingthecomments.substack.com/subscribe], including episodes on the Wicked press tour [https://readingthecomments.substack.com/p/holding-space-for-the-wicked-press], parental (but really maternal) burnout [https://readingthecomments.substack.com/p/all-of-us-should-have-access-to-the], what happens women women write earnestly about male loneliness [https://readingthecomments.substack.com/p/galsplaining], and what we discovered about the gender divide when it comes to marital sex [https://readingthecomments.substack.com/p/just-divorce-her]. We’d love to hang out in your ear as you escape from the holiday chaos. This week we’re doing a deep dive into one the many so-called “horny” romantic comedies we’ve been gifted this month, Netflix’s Hot Frosty, which is about a snowman who comes to life— with abs. It took us about ten minutes to get through the introduction to this episode because the title made us laugh so hard. But we edited most of that out and in this episode, we discuss in depth how chaste this film really is, the strange mother-son relationship that develops between a widow and a snow-man-turned-man-child, and why we love bad movies like this anyway. We also dig into how this movie—like others before it [https://readingthecomments.substack.com/p/holding-space-for-the-wicked-press]—taps into what women want, or what people think women want, post-election. And we ask all the burning questions that this movie alone could raise, such as: Are snowmen really genderless? Why is Lacey Chabert so cold? Is a woman paying for things and a man being nice but dumb really feminist progress? Do women just want a man who isn’t socialized as a man— but also, then, is kind of a baby—or is this actually a dark conservative view of female desire? Or has this strange (kinda hot but definitely not horny?) movie given us yet another narrative that demonstrates how heterosexual romantic love is built on the idea that women are expected to put themselves second and raise boys into men? You will never look at a snowman the same again. Happy holidays! ⛄ Subscribe to Reading the Comments 👀 now to listen to the full episode. [https://readingthecomments.substack.com/subscribe] Show notes: * “Hot Frosty [https://slate.com/culture/2024/11/hot-frosty-movie-netflix-dustin-milligan-lacey-chabert-christmas-snowman.html]’s Portrait of a Perfect Man,” Rebecca Onion, [https://slate.com/culture/2024/11/hot-frosty-movie-netflix-dustin-milligan-lacey-chabert-christmas-snowman.html]Slate [https://slate.com/culture/2024/11/hot-frosty-movie-netflix-dustin-milligan-lacey-chabert-christmas-snowman.html] * “Horny for the holidays (and the nuclear family),” [https://tracyclarkflory.substack.com/p/horny-for-the-holidays-and-the-nuclear] Tracy Clark-Flory [https://substack.com/profile/242417-tracy-clark-flory] * “Just How Formulaic Are Hallmark and Lifetime Holiday Movies? We (Over)analyzed 424 of Them,” [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/12/23/upshot/hallmark-lifetime-christmas.html] Alicia Parlapiano. New York Times.

"Holding space" for the Wicked press tour

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit readingthecomments.substack.com [https://readingthecomments.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] After our last two [https://readingthecomments.substack.com/p/what-even-is-identity-politics] episodes [https://readingthecomments.substack.com/p/bonus-episode-election-debrief] on the election, we were so happy to take a hard turn to talk about the subject on everyone’s minds: the Wicked press tour. We had so much fun recording this episode and truly feel we’ve reached peak podcast banter this week— so if you’ve been waiting to subscribe, now is definitely the time. Remember, you get access to all e…

The push to blame “identity politics”

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit readingthecomments.substack.com [https://readingthecomments.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] This week, we look at a brilliant post-election conversation between Tressie McMillan Cottom & Lydia Polgreen. Both conservative and liberal commenters dropped by to spill their own post-election analysis in the comments. Many had big feels about so-called “identity politics.” We dig into what this term even means, how it’s used as an insult, and why American politics have always been based on identity. We also consider whether there is indeed some mythological neutral apparatus out there called “the economy” that works the same for everyone. (Spoiler: nope!) Most importantly, we discuss the question of how we building a better political narrative on the left moving forward—without trading away people’s rights or compromising on progressive values. Subscribe to Reading the Comments 👀 now to listen to the full episode. [https://readingthecomments.substack.com/subscribe] Show notes: “Democrats Had a Theory of the Election. They Were Wrong," [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/07/opinion/presidential-election-2024-democrats.html] by Lydia Polgreen and Tressie McMillan Cottom If you have not yet upgraded your subscription, you’ll see a free preview of the episode until you upgrade. It’s just $15 for the whole season or $5/month. Paid subscribers get access to all six episodes, plus every bonus episode, threads, a subscriber chat, and the ability to suggest topics for future shows. **Huge thanks to our new founding members! You are making this work possible.

“Galsplaining”

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit readingthecomments.substack.com [https://readingthecomments.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] In this week’s episode, we’re unpacking the comments section of a popular article on male loneliness that was—gasp!—written by a woman. Spooky! 👻 Read the article, titled “Is the Cure to Male Loneliness Out on the Pickleball Court?”, [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/19/opinion/male-loneliness.html]and peruse the comments if you dare. Or, just listen to us break it all down for you—no prior reading required. As you can imagine, men had thoughts about this piece. Not all positive! But we still found a way to turn this cranky comments section into a fun, thoughtful, and timely conversation on play dates, “women’s issues”, community, gender relations, and of course… pickleball. We recorded this episode a few weeks ago, and lo and behold, male loneliness is back in the discourse again, just in time for the election. Next week is sure to be a wild one for democracy and discourse, but we’ll see you on the other side of Nov. 5 for better or for worse. We’re pretty sure we’ll all need the community and conversation no matter what happens. Subscribe to Reading the Comments 👀 now to listen to the full episode. [https://readingthecomments.substack.com/subscribe] Show notes: * The Surgeon General’s advisory on loneliness and isolation in the US [https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/05/03/new-surgeon-general-advisory-raises-alarm-about-devastating-impact-epidemic-loneliness-isolation-united-states.html] * Loneliness is, however, a global epidemic [https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/10/24/asia/south-korea-loneliness-deaths-intl-hnk] * Male loneliness [https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/young-men-voters-concerned-economy-jobs-election-2024-harris-trump-rcna177393] and masculinity [https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/on-the-ballot-american-manhood-c7e3dabb?msockid=20f412df202d6f43372607d6218a6ef7] have remained center stage as we try to elect the first woman president *sigh* * Clara [https://substack.com/profile/77647620-clara] says enough is enough [https://colormeloverly.substack.com/p/omg-enough-about-male-loneliness] and “white men are inching closer to losing their run of the place, and panic is thus ensuing” * We were thrilled to see this [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/25/opinion/what-trump-says.html] and very disappointed to see this [https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/25/washington-post-endorsement/] * We shared a bunch of voting resources in the show notes of our last episode [https://readingthecomments.substack.com/i/150427118/voting-resources] * Don’t forget to listen to our previous episodes on parental burnout [https://readingthecomments.substack.com/p/all-of-us-should-have-access-to-the] and marital sex [https://readingthecomments.substack.com/p/just-divorce-her] For those who have not yet upgraded their subscriptions: you’ll see a free preview of the episode until you upgrade your subscription below. It’s just $15 for the whole season or $5/month. You’ll get access to all six episodes, plus every bonus episode, threads, a subscriber chat, and the ability to suggest topics for future shows. If you’re already a paid subscriber to Mad Woman [https://open.substack.com/pub/amandamontei], you can become a paid subscriber to Reading the Comments 👀 at a discount. Info here. [https://amandamontei.substack.com/p/reading-the-comments-podcast-subscriber] And here’s info [https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/4519588148244-How-do-I-listen-to-episodes-on-my-podcast-app] on how to get every episode on your favorite podcast app once you’ve subscribed.