Culture Club - The Demise of Girl Boss Culture

00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Culture Club, a weekly chat about pop culture,

00:00:14.660 current affairs, the internet and our lives by Mida Slashy's Maggie and Jasmine.

00:00:19.980 We would like to begin by recognising that the Wurundjeri, Turbul and Boon Wurrung people

00:00:24.940 are the traditional custodians of the land where we work, live and create.

00:00:29.360 We respect elders past, present, and emerging, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

00:00:36.820 So Jasmine, I have heard that you're watching a particular TV show for the second time. What is it?

00:00:45.100 I am currently re-watching The O.C. during coronavirus lockdowns with my little sister,

00:00:53.360 and we figured out accidentally that we're both watching it at the same time. I think you're a

00:00:59.340 right? You're on season four? I just started season four and it's, oh my God, shot off

00:01:04.320 straight into absolute hell. So I actually had to binge watch a few episodes and I never really

00:01:10.700 binge watch. It's so full on. And yeah, this is my first time watching it. So living it for the

00:01:17.800 first time. Yeah. I watched the OC back in, when I was in high school during my exam periods,

00:01:25.200 like when I was really stressed out so maybe it's not an accident that I'm re-watching again during

00:01:29.940 this time being set in the 2000s I'm like oh before Trump was president before coronavirus

00:01:35.840 what a time 2004 what a time to be alive I mean we were literally children but like we can

00:01:42.500 fantasize it still yeah I do when I was in high school around exam season I watched Gossip Girl

00:01:50.940 and Gilmore Girls for the first time oof so good I actually also watched I started watching Zoella

00:01:57.760 back then and I still watch her now and you know she's very controversial yeah I know I still do

00:02:04.240 I think especially like in this time it's just like calming and quite nostalgic so you know going

00:02:11.080 back to that I actually read a post the other week that people who are anxious or have anxiety

00:02:18.420 tend to watch the same shows over and over again because you know what's going to happen

00:02:22.660 and there's not that like stress of yeah figuring out what's going to happen so I actually find the

00:02:29.240 OC so stressful um and there's so much drama in it so I think this is so bad people are going to

00:02:35.780 hate me but I'm guilty of if it's about to head into an intense scene and I can sense it coming

00:02:41.780 I will like scrub over the bar and like look at what happens throughout the whole episode and I'm

00:02:46.880 like oh okay now I can watch it because I spoiled it for myself I do that too do you not all the

00:02:54.060 time if it's really stressful and I feel like I need to turn it off I also just like run my mouse

00:03:00.400 really quickly over and see if anything major major happens yeah I don't know that must be an

00:03:05.220 anxiety thing yeah that's so funny we both do it like our dirty little secret like reading the last

00:03:10.380 page of a book I wouldn't go that far I wouldn't do that no no way but with a tv show it's like

00:03:15.440 yeah that's so funny anyway I'm halfway through season three so a little bit behind but it's such

00:03:22.380 a not even a guilty pleasure it's just a pleasure watch yeah exactly character summer I think I like

00:03:29.140 summer she's really fun to watch oh no sorry what am I saying Sandy Cohen is like the best dad ever

00:03:35.260 I love him I mean I think season three he you know he's a little bit iffy but just overall he's 0.99

00:03:41.140 probably one of my favorites um I also like that it's a Jewish family as well and there are little

00:03:47.120 quirks thrown in as well what about you who's your fave yeah I kind of flip as well but um

00:03:53.720 I feel like Sandy Cohen is the glue that holds everyone together he's such an angel but Summer

00:03:59.860 is my fave I just watched the episode where they're choosing universities and she's kind of

00:04:05.400 realizing her own intelligence and that just because she likes shopping and like laying in

00:04:11.880 the sun doesn't mean that she can't like get good grades at school and I feel like in the 2000s that

00:04:16.780 was such like you had to be one of the other and now we're kind of like you know you can be whatever

00:04:21.060 you want to be if you if we want to talk about fashion doesn't mean that we can't talk about 0.97

00:04:25.880 like feminism or whatever you know she reminds me of Blair Baldor from Gossip Girl as well and they 0.98

00:04:32.240 look very similar as well so yeah love it yeah I read something that Summer was meant to be a side 0.85

00:04:38.840 character but she was so like watchable they made her one of the main like four yeah and now she's

00:04:44.760 a fave and a fashion icon talking about Summer Roberts it's kind of what we're going to be

00:04:50.440 chatting about today right we're going to be taking a bit of a dive into girl boss culture

00:04:55.160 of the 2000s and 2010s and how it's played out in the news this week with the new documentary

00:05:02.240 from channel four called inside misguided made in manchester we saw it floating around instagram

00:05:08.080 and it is a four-part documentary about misguided who are a fast fashion company and basically in

00:05:16.360 the trailer you know it starts off and you know this blonde haired girl is like this is misguided 1.00

00:05:22.180 it's a wait that's an American accent anyway it's a place where me and 229 badass bitches 1.00

00:05:29.240 work our asses off 24 7 and that's how it starts without the really cringy Americanized accent 1.00

00:05:37.200 just there and in the short trailer that's on Instagram you know they have panning shots of

00:05:43.680 lush shoots and makeup studios and celebrity collabs and cool offices with really fashionable

00:05:49.680 young women and that's kind of what we see yeah so misguided uh obviously most listeners would

00:05:56.480 know a fast fashion brand they were made famous last year especially for releasing a one pound

00:06:02.660 bikini last summer in the uk which is literally two dollars they have been called out many times

00:06:08.480 for fast fashion practices in general but it was just really interesting the fact that they've made

00:06:14.500 this documentary for channel four in the uk and it's the whole thing is meant to be about empowering 0.98

00:06:21.160 women and being boss bitches but they're literally stepping on the backs of garment workers and 0.90

00:06:29.760 especially with all the news during coronavirus about garment workers not being paid correctly 0.99

00:06:34.140 or all orders being like not fulfilled and then people not getting paid it's really the documentary

00:06:41.400 shouldn't be made at all in my opinion but it's particularly bad timing given everything that's

00:06:45.620 going on with the fast fashion world and the outcry at the moment also we haven't actually

00:06:50.940 seen this so we don't want to speak too much on it we're kind of because it's based in the uk we

00:06:56.500 actually can't watch it without a vpn but it has made the news a lot this week and we kind of

00:07:03.240 wanted to explore the topic of female empowerment and girl boss culture and how rampant it is and

00:07:09.600 how everything's connected like that meme we posted the other day everything is connected

00:07:13.520 whether it's black lives matter garment workers and empowering women exactly and i think we've

00:07:19.700 seen the crossroads of that you know we see these five dollar t-shirts with the slogan feminist

00:07:24.460 written across the front and i found it quite interesting on misguided's website uh this is

00:07:31.100 what they say their mission is so quote our mission is to empower females globally to be

00:07:36.220 confident in themselves and be who they want to be.

00:07:39.900 Misguided is a bold, straight-talking and forward-thinking fashion brand

00:07:43.680 inspired by real life that aims to do exactly that.

00:07:46.840 And also, do exactly what?

00:07:48.700 I don't understand.

00:07:50.680 And later on in their little bio, they even mention this.

00:07:54.640 They say, quote, it's not just fast fashion, it's rapid fashion.

00:07:59.420 I find that so strange.

00:08:01.420 so even though fast fashion has such a negative label associated with it they've kind of owned

00:08:07.940 that in a weird way also to add to that last year about this time Kim K sued Missguided and it was

00:08:15.720 quite funny actually Kim K you know posted a photo of her in this dress that I think like Kanye

00:08:21.640 designed and a few hours later Missguided posted a photo on their Instagram of a similar dress yeah

00:08:28.680 and it said you know worked hard but misguided works harder or something like that that's how

00:08:35.000 fast they work it's how fast they move but the thing with this documentary is that they're saying 0.97

00:08:43.300 they are boss bitches and they're getting the work done and everything but what's missed is that the 0.95

00:08:50.500 ceo and the majority of the other top level executives are all men so it's painting this 0.99

00:08:56.780 picture of women in fashion women in business but this is just like at this one level if you go 0.68

00:09:02.840 higher it's all men so this week days posted an article titled on inside misguided girl boss 0.56

00:09:10.160 culture masks the reality of fast fashion and that was by sophie benson but they talk about

00:09:15.900 the financial imbalance between the workers behind misguided and the influences that

00:09:20.620 promote it so i'll just quote a bit from the article so sophie says we're supposed to cheer

00:09:26.420 when a buyer knocks a price per unit of a dress down from £7.75 to £7.40. Shelley's done a great

00:09:35.600 job of getting it down to £7.40. Nice one, girl, the narrator says. Sorry, I can't help but put on

00:09:42.640 like an American accent every time I read these quotes. Anyway, continuing on the quote,

00:09:47.480 low prices are the name of the game for Miss Guided to make a profit. But in the very same

00:09:52.440 episode we witnessed a brand offer love island star molly may 350 000 pounds plus an 80 000 1.00

00:10:01.920 pound car seemingly some women are worth their investment it's actually so disgusting like that 1.00

00:10:09.880 amount of money and not just that like molly may you get that bag like if someone's willing to give 1.00

00:10:16.120 that to you that's your thing you're a love island star but the fact that they then don't pay their

00:10:21.640 workers who are making these clothes a living wage like actually makes me feel sick like this 1.00

00:10:26.400 massive disparity between these two women like this white woman with millions of followers 1.00

00:10:32.180 versus a woman of color working in a factory in bangladesh you know but in episode three i did

00:10:38.140 read that they went to a factory and they walked around and they said after being called out in

00:10:43.020 2017 that they are trying to be more on top of their ethics but it really didn't go into much

00:10:49.520 detail but no matter how misguided frames are whether they're green washing or they're paying

00:10:57.220 this they finally start paying their staff a living wage they're still promoting this rampant

00:11:02.400 consumerism like if every day there's new stock on a website and they're telling women that they

00:11:07.860 need more and if you want to be a boss babe like the babes from misguided you need to buy these

00:11:13.700 clothes that you see in the instagram feed then i think there's something really wrong with that 0.76

00:11:18.460 culture that they're promoting and I'm also a bit disappointed in channel four for like their

00:11:23.480 journalistic practices as well because they don't have a journalist going in and being the narrator

00:11:29.200 like Louis Theroux or someone it's actually one of the workers um the creative director I think

00:11:35.700 yeah treasure narrating treasure is narrating the whole thing and then they have talking heads

00:11:43.080 like in the kardashians as well so it's kind of got more of a reality tv feel than a documentary

00:11:48.880 but one thing that was interesting is that it is set in manchester um rather than london so a lot

00:11:57.540 of these girls come from working class backgrounds and they were given these opportunities that they

00:12:02.540 couldn't have accessed in london so it kind of harks back to our chat about classism and fashion

00:12:08.520 again but no matter where these women have come from the background they have whether they're in 1.00

00:12:13.600 Manchester or London they're still giving off this brand of feminism that's like treading on 1.00

00:12:19.720 the backs of other women that's actually so interesting to hear about Manchester because 1.00

00:12:24.300 I didn't understand the social class like disparity there it's interesting because in 1.00

00:12:29.680 the short trailer we do follow Treasure who yeah she's a 29 year old creative director or head of 0.94

00:12:35.600 creative and they touch on this kind of rags to riches story um for her so she left school when

00:12:42.760 she was 16 and she mentioned that no one in her family has had opportunities like this before

00:12:47.440 so it's quite weird because they acknowledge privilege in a weird way saying like oh their

00:12:53.600 workers haven't been afforded privilege but then it's quite ironic when you do look at their

00:12:57.520 the actual workers who make the clothes the tv show reminded me of the 2017 netflix show girl

00:13:04.800 boss did you ever watch that yeah I was a big Sophie Amoruso fan and yeah I bought girl boss

00:13:13.320 the book and I watched the show it's that exact same thing it's girl boss culture it's a hustle

00:13:20.560 and getting ahead no matter who you disadvantage to get to that point and it's weird because I

00:13:26.280 know nasty gal and um what the girl boss tv show mainly focuses on is like the origin story um and

00:13:34.420 basically she sells vintage clothes so it's not technically like unethical and stuff but i still

00:13:40.440 think even in that regard even though it was selling vintage clothes they still do focus and

00:13:46.580 sell that girl boss narrative i feel like it's quite biased and they're selling this aspirational

00:13:52.120 lifestyle of like having lunch with kylie jenner and flying across the world for these photo shoots

00:14:00.280 and like getting they say they have like two hours sleep and that's like normal for them 1.00

00:14:05.160 but it's literally just a case study in how white women in particular will step on the backs of 0.77

00:14:10.940 lower class and women of color to get ahead and feel empowered while lining the pockets of wealthy

00:14:17.120 white men like especially when you look at all the executives being really high up but it also 0.77

00:14:22.360 plays into the hustle grind and girl boss culture that we've really seen the downfall of during 2020 0.92

00:14:28.640 especially during Black Lives Matter. It felt like every day you'd wake up and another CEO 0.96

00:14:34.040 had stepped down. Do you want to talk a bit about the origins of girlboss culture? Because I actually

00:14:40.400 don't know too much about it, but in our notes, we briefly mentioned that it came about after the

00:14:46.400 presidential elections in 2016. So the term girlboss kind of came around with Sophia Amoruso

00:14:54.040 in the 2010s in a quote by lee stein for the end of girlbosses here being a girlboss is described 1.00

00:15:03.760 as the millennial embodiment of unapologetic ambition her greatest pleasure was success 1.00

00:15:09.860 being underestimated only motivated her to trounce her doubters she's elections tracy flick at 30 1.00

00:15:16.360 with nicer clothes she's emily weiss getting 11 no's from male venture capitalists before her 0.76

00:15:21.700 first yes to launch Glossier. To the Girlboss, Yahoo exec Marissa Mayer's 130-hour work week 0.99

00:15:28.260 was an aspirational metric. Hashtag rise and grind workaholism was part of a Girlboss's DNA. 1.00

00:15:34.800 So I feel like that was such a thing in the 2010s, 2013, 14, and then it kind of hit its peak around 0.79

00:15:42.820 when Trump was elected with the women marches. But now it's kind of crumbling a bit. I think

00:15:50.700 maybe it's because I look I feel like I'm not very good at speaking on this topic because I'm

00:15:55.720 thinking back to 2013 I was 13 and 14 years old like definitely I know um I always forget actually

00:16:03.960 yeah it's actually so easy for me to know all my ages because whatever year it is so let's say it's

00:16:09.300 2024 I'll start that year as 24 years old um for the first two months so it's really easy so I know

00:16:15.000 in 2060, I'll be 60 years old. Anyway, sorry about that, take note. Fun fact, Maggie can do maths.

00:16:22.900 Yeah, literally. But I find it interesting because I know there is obviously a serious issue with 0.99

00:16:29.340 payment gap between men and women, right? That's obviously something that's still prominent today.

00:16:37.260 So women have been failed by the workforce, but I think the way that we've been taught to overcome

00:16:42.180 it is to excel in the same system that fails us and I think you're right in recent years we're

00:16:48.760 starting to question the systems that we're actually in and if it actually is helpful for 0.85

00:16:53.660 any of us also a lot of these girl bosses are white women and they come from quite wealthy

00:17:01.160 or middle-class backgrounds and then it's they're lauded as these like overnight successes or these

00:17:08.500 like ladypreneurs or whatever and you don't sorry oh most of the time it makes people whether

00:17:18.160 they're working class or lower class whatever makes them feel worse because it's like well

00:17:24.420 if she's doing she's saying you can have it all you if you want something if you work hard enough

00:17:28.880 you can have it all without disclosing like if you got funding from someone or if your dad gave

00:17:36.240 you 50 grand to start a business you know Sophia Amoruso was different in that she did start 0.99

00:17:42.000 selling her clothes on eBay and flipping them but that kind of all came crumbling down she was 1.00

00:17:46.600 declared bankrupt and nasty gal had heaps of issues and they were also under fire for being 1.00

00:17:54.300 unethical within like fast fashion the fast fashion realm and then Sophia started her own

00:18:00.800 brand called girl boss she wrote a book about how she got to where she was and then now it's like an 0.97

00:18:07.180 online networking space and she's also just stepped away from that during coronavirus citing like

00:18:14.420 financial issues i personally think girl boss culture is crumbling because everything is being

00:18:20.280 exposed at the moment whether it's because of cancel culture or workers feel like they have

00:18:26.000 more of a voice through social media more confidence um I think people are being fed up

00:18:32.360 of being trodden on as I said before for wealthy people to line their pockets and we're moving into

00:18:39.140 an era now of lifting other women up and sharing the mic to all types of women rather than just

00:18:45.960 this one ideal of what womanhood is and especially wealthy white women and I think it's been so easy

00:18:55.080 in the past to say all these beautiful nice marketing terms like girl supporting girls and

00:19:00.920 solidarity and feminism and all these quick you know quick snappy terms and I feel like especially

00:19:08.500 with the campaign pull up or shut up so pull up for change sorry I think that's the actual name

00:19:13.620 which kind of demanded transparency into who works within headquarters especially in beauty

00:19:19.140 industries I think they might have expanded into fashion and other industries now but I think just

00:19:24.860 as consumers we're sick of just being sold all these beautiful ideas without any evidence or

00:19:32.880 transparency to back it up like it's so easy just to be like girl supporting girls but actually not

00:19:37.420 really leaving that behind the scenes so I hope that's a change that we can you know expect more

00:19:44.600 yeah I think that's happening so much in 2020 as well so back in June Audrey Gelman the founder of

00:19:52.740 the women-only co-working space, The Wing, she resigned over an uproar from staff and members 0.76

00:19:58.760 about low pay, racial microaggressions from members, and just poor treatment towards staff 0.97

00:20:04.300 members in general. And that was such big news because they literally built a brand for the last

00:20:09.740 how many years, few years, of women supporting women and being intersectional as well. It wasn't

00:20:16.520 just wealthy white women but their membership fees were massive so yeah I did essentially only 1.00

00:20:23.180 cater to one type of woman but then they had these scholarships that people could apply for 1.00

00:20:27.720 so that was one good segue I guess but yeah if your feminism isn't accessible to the majority 0.92

00:20:35.840 of women then what are you really championing you know oh no yeah I was just gonna ask as well 0.77

00:20:41.480 was it true that um the staff employed there were told that they would be able to like access the

00:20:46.940 women who were um members there and you know create connections with people in the industry 0.91

00:20:52.060 yeah i think that's true 100 um but yeah they had staff members who were usually hispanic or

00:21:01.000 women of color and apparently they were treated really poorly like like maids essentially to

00:21:06.980 these white women who were like in this really trendy co-working space in New York or wherever

00:21:12.080 they've opened up so many venues now um so that was a very interesting development and it's just

00:21:18.760 disappointing you know and then it happened the same same again with Man Repeller's founder Leandra

00:21:24.340 Medin which was personally very disappointing because I've looked up to her for years um she

00:21:31.140 stood down after a backlash from her audience and former staff members um lots of stories came out 0.95

00:21:37.540 about her just being mean and firing women of color unfairly unfair dismissal claims 0.79

00:21:44.240 being quite performative in her um anti-racism and um feminism and then also just this week 0.97

00:21:52.940 we have uh glossier and into the gloss uh being called out for this a similar type of thing and

00:21:59.920 it's really interesting seeing all these massive massive brands and like brands that millennial

00:22:05.880 women really look up to being the curtains are being opened and you're seeing what actually

00:22:13.100 goes on behind the scenes and it makes me feel a bit icky you know I thought Glossier was such

00:22:17.660 an aspirational brand it's really recent news we don't know all the stories yet but I'm already

00:22:23.940 like, oh, that's just disappointing, you know? And last year at the end of December,

00:22:30.940 the aspirational direct-to-consumer luggage brand Away was also under fire as well. It was so

00:22:37.440 interesting. So look, there's a part of me that finds it quite interesting that we're so

00:22:42.860 not just invested, but how do I say it? So when brands are exposed, I feel like it's a little

00:22:50.440 bit of a mean girls high school mentality where we're all like did you hear about this did you

00:22:55.420 hear about that and it's kind of juicy and um turned into all not a fluff piece but it's something

00:23:02.800 that's gossipy right even though these are usually horrible accusations that have come under fire

00:23:10.160 like I know in the wing there were um like sexual misconduct um allegations and for instance away

00:23:17.340 there were really horrible accounts of abuse that the staff went through um so for those who don't

00:23:25.160 know away is just like literally a suitcase company but they're really big on instagram

00:23:29.720 they always do collaborations with celebrities and they have um just over half a million followers

00:23:36.120 and yes in december the vervs published an expose on them and it was actually so juicy and

00:23:44.160 it was very in-depth like they had interviewed multiple employees and gotten a really kind of

00:23:50.180 holistic view of what's been happening so some things that they did were the founders or you

00:23:56.240 know people in higher ups would publicly just abuse employees over slack so in public forums

00:24:03.200 where all everyone else could see you know there were really long hours that they had to work over

00:24:08.680 holiday periods one example that they had a screenshot of was one of the customer service

00:24:14.020 team people I think were like hey babes like remember to show your selfie of you working in

00:24:19.500 bed and that was at 1 a.m like they were expected to carry their work home yeah exactly and oh it

00:24:27.620 was it was really really sickening to read but I've actually worked in a few startup

00:24:32.800 um companies and I have had not the same but like similar experiences and I can definitely see that

00:24:40.700 um hustle mentality turned into something that's really toxic play in yeah not just overseas but

00:24:47.060 even in Australia and even in like small small brands yeah yeah it's that hustle culture and

00:24:53.900 that's what's what misguided is um advertising as well in a documentary they're saying like 0.98

00:24:58.880 we don't sleep and we eat breathe and shit misguided and it's just not healthy you know 0.89

00:25:04.900 but I think yeah that's what I mean the age of girlbots is coming to an end in that 0.95

00:25:09.020 people are just tired people don't want to be working around the clock I think people are 0.86

00:25:14.660 making more boundaries with um working from home and realizing that you have to have this like

00:25:19.840 difference between when you're at work and when you're not at work which can be really hard to do

00:25:24.780 because you feel like if you just can just work from your laptop you should be technically doing

00:25:28.160 it all the time but now I think people are realizing what's important and hopefully we're

00:25:33.880 stepping away from that and also stepping away from this like idealized version of feminism and 1.00

00:25:40.540 like what it means to be a girl boss or a boss bitch it doesn't have to mean that you are the 1.00

00:25:46.920 CEO of a company and you're really wealthy and you have this really aesthetic Instagram feed 0.99

00:25:52.300 like that can be a part of it sure but it's just disappointing I think I think we've just

00:25:58.140 just put productivity on a pedestal for way too long and hopefully that shine and sheen of that

00:26:05.680 is slowly wearing off and I think you know the rise of slow living and you know slower paced

00:26:12.420 lives lifestyles I think that's been you know in the works for ages it's just come in different

00:26:17.260 forms but hopefully that makes us rethink what's important in life I definitely know I place too

00:26:25.660 much value on like job titles or what I'm doing in my career. But it's such a big part of my

00:26:31.900 identity. But in all actuality, it shouldn't be. And I really don't think I'll find fulfillment

00:26:37.560 if I continue on that path. So it's good to reflect on. Yeah, definitely. Especially with

00:26:43.460 the demise of all these companies. And it's not that they have to shut down forever and they're

00:26:48.620 cancelled. Like cancel culture can be really vicious. But if workers are coming to CEOs with

00:26:54.180 a list of demands, you know, things haven't been good for a number of years.

00:27:02.400 What have you been consuming this week, Maggie?

00:27:06.080 A lot of podcasts. So that is what my recommendations will be this week. The one that I first started

00:27:12.540 listening to is called Nice White Parents. And that is a podcast by the New York Times.

00:27:18.500 I think that is such a cool name. It's such a genius name. I don't know. It really just like

00:27:22.760 enwrapped me instantly but is that even a word enthralled me instantly um but it's quite

00:27:30.640 interesting so it actually copped a lot of backlash before it even went to air but why

00:27:37.440 don't I just tell you what it's about first that might make more sense so it is a five-part series

00:27:42.220 that looks at the American public school systems and why they don't actually really guarantee equal

00:27:48.820 education to children you know usually based on race but instead of focusing on the kids or the 0.66

00:27:55.260 teachers it actually turns the attention to the powerful force behind the systems that is white

00:28:00.640 parents it's actually so different to our Australian school system I think I'm not too sure if it's

00:28:06.640 because I've lived in predominantly white areas but I have not had similar experiences as what

00:28:12.900 they have so usually the public school systems from what I gather from the first few episodes 0.99

00:28:18.840 are made up of BIPOC kids whereas the private schools are made up of white and yeah oh my god 1.00

00:28:25.780 just from the name they have copped so many bad reviews so if you look at you know the star rating

00:28:32.020 a thousand and I opened it today and read some of the one star and people like this is so racist and

00:28:39.040 they hadn't obviously listened and that was quite ridiculous so it sparked some controversy

00:28:43.640 but yeah it's only got five episodes and I've listened to three of them and I found it really

00:28:49.800 interesting um it's kind of it unfolds almost in real time like the journalist that narrates it

00:28:57.600 you know she goes to a lot of the PTA meetings and has recorded conversations throughout quite

00:29:03.460 a few months I'm guessing so yeah I'm enjoying that so far it's quite different to what I usually

00:29:08.660 listen to that sounds so interesting I love podcasts like that let like take a deep dive 0.76

00:29:13.920 into one topic and so funny the white fragility is popping out on the reviews so oh my god I know

00:29:21.140 people not surprising privilege doesn't exist in all these like all these all these comments it's

00:29:27.440 a lot um but at least it's given it some more um airtime I guess it's like any PR is good PR

00:29:34.360 but what about you what have you been reading watching or listening to this week

00:29:38.640 i felt like i couldn't talk on the podcast this week without mentioning wow i am so into that

00:29:47.640 song it's been all over the internet this week so we have to talk about it if you don't know yet

00:29:52.200 cardi b and megan the stallion released this highly anticipated song last week

00:29:56.820 called where else pussy and um you've probably also seen a lot of the backlash towards it 0.97

00:30:02.680 and it is so funny mostly conservative men getting really worked up over these powerful sexually 0.98

00:30:09.140 empowered women who are saying what they want but i read a really good piece by nima cotrain for

00:30:15.440 refinery 29 called hip-hop's arrested social development it's time for the rap game to grow up

00:30:21.740 it's all about exploring rap's huge issue with misogyny so it explores the hypocrisy of two

00:30:28.540 chains dropping a track literally hours before whoop which featured thong clad strippers and

00:30:34.020 explicit lyrics to little to no outrage and also the beef between j cole and no name earlier this

00:30:40.800 year as well as megan the stallion being shot in the foot a month ago and people making memes and

00:30:47.140 fun out of her did you hear that no i'm not really involved in this but oh but like imagine if taylor

00:30:55.400 we've got shot in the foot by her boyfriend literally it would literally be major major

00:30:59.400 news we'd still be like seeing all these pieces about it it would be like front page news but

00:31:05.200 because it was a black woman of course it was made fun of or people were like you're so strong

00:31:10.380 you're so resilient you can get through this there's just like so much racism on the internet

00:31:14.020 as always what a surprise but yeah I could read a little bit of the article

00:31:18.720 rap's disdain for women has manifested in the art through lyrical and visual content

00:31:23.800 and in practice through the erasure of and normalised violence against women.

00:31:29.340 As social dialogue has evolved over the last several years

00:31:32.160 during the Black Lives Matter and the Me Too movements,

00:31:34.920 hip-hop finds itself at a crossroads.

00:31:37.380 While rap artists and the hip-hop generation are dominant voices

00:31:40.380 in this era of social justice, the overall culture lags far behind

00:31:44.200 in conversations about sex, gender and agency.

00:31:47.900 Rap celebrates the strip club and covets video models,

00:31:51.180 now instagram models but condemns and shames actual strippers sex workers or even just women

00:31:56.740 who empower themselves through their sexuality so it's really really good overview and a look into

00:32:03.160 like all these intertwining themes that what has brought out in our culture but it's just so funny

00:32:09.160 like the amount of years that we've lived through men or rappers being like you already know i want 0.99

00:32:16.380 to fuck you or r kelly and all this stuff and then as soon as two women do it it's like this is 0.99

00:32:22.820 immoral they are not good role models it's like they're not trying to be role models they're just 1.00

00:32:28.260 trying to like have fun and be sexually empowered and sing about good sex so sorry what do you think 0.92

00:32:34.760 about it yeah oh my god i'm so late to the party i only just watched the music video and i loved it

00:32:41.700 it was so great and you know what else I specifically loved about it there were no

00:32:47.200 males in the video that I can recall right and it was all just about female liberation and they

00:32:54.020 owned it it was so odd when Cardi B did you see her like leopard print outfit with her boobs cut 0.92

00:33:00.180 out and like do you remember that anyway the nipple tassels and everything it was a piece of

00:33:06.800 art it was quite I love how produced it was as well it was quite like quirky and saturated and

00:33:13.600 it was fun you know what I mean I think that's the that's the message as well yeah it's literally

00:33:18.920 fun and it's not also in the way that male hip-hop can kind of talk down to women or treat women like

00:33:25.560 objects I feel like they're not really treating men like objects they're kind of just saying like

00:33:30.100 this is what I want this is what feels good and if you can do that then great let's go I would

00:33:34.980 recommend that article if you want another look into the culture behind why there's so much

00:33:40.820 outrage over what I'm not a prude I always have to start every conversation like I'm not a prude

00:33:45.120 but when I was like listening to I'm like like I was like giggling alongside even though I love 0.95

00:33:50.120 it but I'm also like oh my god like dropping my pussies but it's great you know I really I really

00:33:57.440 enjoyed it actually you might not want to play in front of your parents but oh my god I feel like 0.96

00:34:02.120 dancing around a room since we can't dance in clubs or like going on a run. I was listening

00:34:07.280 to it on a run the other day and I was like, go girls. That's actually very good. I need to do

00:34:11.520 that. On a very different note, my other recommendation is the podcast do go on. I have

00:34:19.700 two specific episodes I want to bring up, but I love this podcast. So this is the first podcast

00:34:24.880 I listened to that really got me into podcasts. And it is a fact-based comedy podcast hosted by

00:34:31.340 three melbourne comedians matt stewart jess perkins who is a presenter at triple j and dave

00:34:38.180 bornicky and each week they take it in turn to research a topic and report it back to the other

00:34:43.600 two so they are so great they're like the funny friends you wish you had they're super wholesome

00:34:50.300 and quick-witted and it's just a fun way of digesting information about like a historical

00:34:55.680 event or a famous person and it's just super fun like i just i just love it and i hadn't listened

00:35:01.640 to it in a while so it was good to get back into it the two episodes i really liked were um called

00:35:08.180 the real lord of the flies and the miracle in the andes and they're both really um they're both

00:35:15.360 survival adventure stories that are quite life-affirming it's really interesting so

00:35:19.820 as you can probably guess from the name of the first one it explores like a story of a group

00:35:25.380 of boys they were like abandoned on an island together for 15 months and they survived and

00:35:32.120 everything well i don't know how many survived but like they survived oh i don't even know

00:35:37.740 they were tongan so it didn't really reach global news that much apparently um i have no idea what

00:35:46.240 it was yes so and they were purposely left on an island no sorry that was not the correct word i

00:35:52.020 think oh no they stole a boat and they were aged between like 13 and 16 they stole a boat and they

00:35:58.820 encountered like a massive storm so like I don't know they were like shipwrecked that's not the

00:36:03.420 word I don't know anything about boating they were just like in the ocean for like eight days or

00:36:07.680 something and then they yeah saw an island and maroon there I don't know if that's the word but

00:36:14.420 it was really interesting um and similarly the miracle in the andes is about a oh god is it

00:36:22.600 rugby i think yeah it's a rugby team that were in a plane crash in the andes and just really

00:36:29.460 interesting so some people know it because they do eat humans um that's what they had to go to

00:36:35.380 but it wasn't cannibalism because they didn't kill anybody but anyway it's actually really

00:36:39.760 interesting and life-affirming trust me i know these sound quite horrific but really fun to

00:36:45.440 listen to so i really enjoyed that this week i feel like that's so far removed from this podcast

00:36:50.440 and our lives in general that it would be really interesting and on that cannibalism note we can

00:36:57.500 end today's episode and if you've listened the whole way through would also really appreciate

00:37:04.440 a little subscribe or a rating on itunes or whatever you're listening on that would mean

00:37:11.720 a lot to us as well yeah thanks for listening everyone see you next week bye bye every week

00:37:19.280 ending so awkward

00:37:20.400 so hard

00:37:22.180 good go

Culture Club - August 17, 2020

The Demise of Girl Boss Culture

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Transcript