Culture Club - Tradwife Irony, The Devil Wears Vogue & Man Repeller Slop

00:00:00.000 Anna Wintour's in her personal brand era, Leave Ori Plaza Alone, and the irony of the 0.70

00:00:10.440 Tradwife movement. I'm Maggie Zhao. And I'm Jasmine Wallace. And you're listening to Culture

00:00:15.120 Club, where two writers and editors talk pop culture, current affairs, the internet, and

00:00:20.600 our lives. Today, we're on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin

00:00:24.780 Nations. We would like to pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend this

00:00:29.400 to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander listeners today.

00:00:36.600 This week has felt like a long week, but in the best way ever.

00:00:40.000 I've been out like every night at the Melbourne International Comedy Fest.

00:00:44.160 I feel like the Melbourne Comedy Fest is like almost a fashion week for you,

00:00:48.580 but especially Tom.

00:00:49.760 We actually call it Tom's Fashion Week.

00:00:52.460 Yeah, every year we see a lot of shows.

00:00:55.120 I think I probably clocked eight shows last year.

00:00:57.680 this year it's nine and counting so impressive and you this is not like gifted media like you

00:01:04.420 are paying for the ticket I'm paying for the customer I love it so much I think there's

00:01:09.520 something so wonderful about being in a room with strangers sitting down for an hour often not

00:01:15.880 knowing what you're going to get and then like hearing somebody somebody's story somebody's

00:01:20.780 jokes like somebody on stage doing what they love I think it's very like oh my god can I compare it

00:01:26.060 the astronauts it's very Artemis Artemis too you've been loving the astronauts this week haven't you

00:01:32.440 I have when they first launch I was like guys we have enough going on like do we need to do this

00:01:39.660 obviously they would have been like working towards it for years and years and years

00:01:42.420 but I kind of was like oh that's cool anyway and then as they've like gone on their journey like

00:01:47.960 they've been sending the photos back down I've been getting more and more invested and I just

00:01:52.580 think it's such a beautiful moment of humanity and like human progress space exploration etc

00:01:58.660 and i think with project hail mary coming out at the same time it almost feels like a barbenheimer

00:02:03.720 moment again in a in a better way like i'm not in a marketing way especially like where we are at

00:02:10.260 the moment in the world it's like a nice heartwarming moment of humanity and like we can

00:02:15.200 imagine a better world yeah and especially like a nice palette cleanser after last year's katie

00:02:20.700 prairie etc um space exploration exhibition whatever you want to call it this is like a

00:02:27.260 good reminder that hey space travel is for astronauts and people in stem and people who

00:02:32.520 work their ass off their whole lives are like dedicated to this and also the women element of 0.95

00:02:38.160 us of it as well so last time that americans went to the moon like women couldn't have their own 1.00

00:02:44.440 credit card they couldn't buy a house etc and now there are so many women on this team there is a 0.80

00:02:48.700 woman in space at the like looking at the moon so i think looking at the moon looking at the moon

00:02:53.340 that's their mission right like to like get the information about the moon for the first time in

00:02:58.220 like 50 years or something sorry this is so not research no i love it yeah i think that's a lovely

00:03:04.580 element as well of like we are making progress as a society even though it sometimes feels like we

00:03:08.800 are going backwards i'm also going to comedy fest i bought tickets for laurie his birthday's on

00:03:14.160 Saturday and so we're going to see Chloe Petz perform as well who you saw yes I love Chloe

00:03:19.880 Petz she's such a funny UK comedian like does a lot of sports like sorry specifically like soccer

00:03:26.040 football reporting so charismatic so funny you're gonna have like such a good time and that's also

00:03:32.400 why I got tickets for Laurie because I was like British soccer sport comedy let's go something I

00:03:38.340 saw on your instagram story this week made me stop in my tracks can you tell us about what has

00:03:44.300 happened to the man repeller instagram page i also stopped in my tracks when i was scrolling because

00:03:49.800 i saw this crappy clearly ai generated like post with four female white actresses on the cover and

00:03:58.780 it was like these four actresses look the same i think that's a common ai like clickbaity thing

00:04:04.860 that goes around a lot and it's always like margot robbie and samara weaving and stuff i was like why

00:04:10.160 am i following this page like i would never follow an ai slot page like this and i click into it and 0.70

00:04:15.600 it's fucking repeller they rebranded from man repeller post 2020 racism allegations and like 0.90

00:04:22.200 bullying in the workplace we did a whole episode on that like at the time it came out so go back 0.98

00:04:27.580 through our archives if you want the lowdown but they rebranded to repeller they tried to make that

00:04:31.420 work. It just didn't work. And the account went dead. And now it's been bought or taken over

00:04:38.080 somehow by this AI slop. And it is so bad. For reference, I'm looking at their page right now. 0.94

00:04:45.240 Some of the headlines, if you want to call it, I'll read out. So for instance,

00:04:49.860 man couldn't afford a diamond ring, so he proposed with a tiny kitten instead.

00:04:55.660 Another one like, a couple actually dressed as Shrek and Fiona for their dream fantasy wedding.

00:05:01.420 like the most random things and guys I actually enjoy scrolling on Facebook but this is the stuff

00:05:06.240 I would see on my Facebook you enjoy that though on Facebook yeah unfortunately that's like my

00:05:10.880 guilty like pleasure social media I don't love it but I find myself scrolling on Facebook sometimes

00:05:17.600 yeah it's such slop and the repeller description has now changed to news and memes so it's got

00:05:24.980 2.2 million followers because it used to be the iconic 2010s independent women's media company

00:05:31.660 Man Repeller and I just feel like this is such a representation of the state of media at the moment

00:05:38.500 tell me about it because the founder of Repeller Leandra Medin she came across my like social

00:05:46.300 media this week because she's actually working with Zara and for those of you who don't know

00:05:51.100 leandra was at the forefront of like fashion blogging more more than blogging but she was

00:05:56.600 one of the pioneers of that like new york city influencer fashion scene she did face her own 0.89

00:06:02.080 controversies around 2020 i hadn't seen much of her leandra kind of went quiet after the 2020 1.00

00:06:08.660 allegations it was pretty dramatic at the time and she then started her own substat called the

00:06:14.020 cereal aisle which is like a fashion newsletter it's very man repeller very leandra at medin

00:06:19.400 and now through that she's kind of in this like other part of her career she still is very very

00:06:24.380 popular still has millions of followers like it's a very popular fashion sub stack and now she's

00:06:30.000 collaborated with Zara which I'm not surprised by are you? Well I never followed her that closely

00:06:35.080 but I think she was such a like pioneer or advocate for personal style and she's got quite like quirky

00:06:41.060 personal style so to see her collaborate with this very mainstream fast fashion conglomerate was

00:06:47.720 like a bit surprising especially because they did probably like big photo shoots and she's kind of

00:06:54.460 like talent in Zara's marketing not just like oh she's doing an Instagram like sponsored post with

00:07:01.200 them it's gone a step beyond that there's also a like Leandra Medin Cohen edit on Zara so yeah I

00:07:09.720 just I just feel like for me the reason why I wanted to bring it up as well as like it just

00:07:14.040 feels like this um highlights a state of like the fashion scene at the moment where a lot of

00:07:20.860 the big like innovators in the space are kind of just like working with every single fast fashion

00:07:28.480 brand and it's like can we be surprised by it anymore the thing with man repeller though is that

00:07:34.720 they've always been that way they've done collaborations in the past like we know how hard

00:07:40.500 media can be of like making money working with advertisers so this isn't anything new i think

00:07:47.160 for leandra to collaborate with brands like the gap or cause places like that i think it's just

00:07:54.120 a new era for the cereal aisle this is kind of similar but i want to talk about the whole

00:07:59.320 anna wintour meryl streep crossover that we've been seeing for the devil wears prided to promo

00:08:05.120 so Vogue's mate issue sees Anna Wintour on the cover with Meryl Streep like this has never

00:08:11.000 happened before no Anna has been on other industry titles but she's never been on her own cover

00:08:17.720 and actually Chloe Mal who is the new editorial director at Vogue was the one who pitched the

00:08:23.620 idea to Anna Wintour in the back of a car like a very Devil Wears Prada and apparently Anna this

00:08:29.500 is according to The Guardian Anna was like no no no I'm not going to do that like I'm not the talent

00:08:33.540 and then it was Meryl Streep who was the one who like convinced her oh I love that I would do

00:08:38.580 anything Meryl Streep tells me oh me too I have seen mixed opinions about this my own gut reaction

00:08:46.300 is like oh I don't really like it I feel like it's a bit like cheesy and cringy the the cover's cool

00:08:52.620 it's like them both sitting down and the text reads seeing double when Miranda met Anna but it

00:08:58.320 just felt like so self-referential that like we didn't need we didn't need it so explicitly like

00:09:04.240 we all know the um that Anna Wintour is like the inspiration for Miranda Priestly's character and I

00:09:11.200 just feel like it was just a bit much the funny thing is though that Anna Wintour rejected the

00:09:16.660 comparison of Miranda Priestly when the movie first came out and the book first came out

00:09:21.220 in 2006 so the rumor is or it's not even a rumor it's true that the author of The Devil Wears

00:09:28.260 Prada by Lauren Weisberger she worked as an assistant to Anna Wintour at Vogue and then

00:09:34.300 went on to write this book and at the time Anna was like who even is that girl like after it came 0.99

00:09:39.820 out that was kind of the the attitude of it the fashion world didn't even want to dress

00:09:45.960 uh the characters they were definitely like rejecting this kind of like Disney-ish movie

00:09:53.280 and now 20 years on how the tables have turned i think it's fascinating to look at that of like

00:09:59.460 how brands have power how corporations have power over like these creative fashion editorial types

00:10:09.160 now your point there is so interesting because you're right when the first film was coming out

00:10:13.160 like the costuming department struggled to get um getting items loaned from fashion houses but on

00:10:18.320 the cover of this Vogue of course Anna Wintour and Meryl Streep are both wearing Prada. In the Guardian

00:10:24.960 article that I read they spoke with Mark Bukowski who is a press consultant and an author and Mark

00:10:30.760 suggested that Anna Wintour on the cover and kind of like embracing the Miranda Priestly comparison

00:10:36.260 is part of a new beginning to separate Anna from the Vogue brand because we know that she is

00:10:41.980 leaving Vogue? Maybe like less separating from her and the brand but removing her from back of 0.94

00:10:48.480 like behind the scenes to being in front because like I feel like this is still really identifying

00:10:54.780 her with Vogue but it's like a different role now. Well it's like she's talent now. The employee

00:11:00.140 generated content like really comes to everyone including Anna Wintour. Oh my god it's a matter

00:11:05.900 of time before she fronts the TikTok.

00:11:11.980 the hannah montana of the publishing industry has been unwigged freedom mcfadden the author

00:11:24.600 of domestic thrillers like the housemaid has publicly come out with her real identity number

00:11:31.200 one did you even know that this was a fake name i haven't read the housemaid this is the one that

00:11:36.260 got made into the movie with sydney sweeney and amanda seyfried i haven't read it so i didn't

00:11:40.880 know that this was a pseudonym I didn't know that there was mystery around this but when I saw it

00:11:45.740 I was like this is amazing this is amazing because sometimes when you hear of authors using pseudonyms

00:11:52.480 sometimes it's like a woman having to use like a male name just to kind of overcome some of the

00:11:58.300 hurdles that come with being a woman writer but I feel like she has come out this author has come

00:12:03.740 out on top so her real name is Sarah Cohen and she is a doctor who treats brain disorders that's

00:12:10.860 incredible. I would say that I would think that you'd use a pseudonym if you're like ashamed of

00:12:15.480 your identity. Whereas this is like the opposite. You know what I mean? Yeah. So why did she use a

00:12:20.580 pseudonym? So Sarah said that she only created the pseudonym because she didn't want her writing

00:12:24.760 career to conflict with her like her hospital job. So there's a quote that she gave to USA Today.

00:12:31.520 She said, I'm at a point in my career when I'm tired of this being a secret. I'm tired of people

00:12:36.440 debating if i'm a real person or if i'm three men i am a real person and i have a real identity and

00:12:42.520 i don't have anything to hide so she wanted to keep this a secret until she was ready to step

00:12:47.620 back from her doctor job and in late 2023 she stopped working full time so now she's just

00:12:53.820 working um her doctor shifts once or twice a month she says what a legend like who has the time to

00:12:59.880 write a book and be a doctor like that's so impressive multiple books as well especially

00:13:05.280 like to the level of being such a best-selling author and such a beloved author like herself

00:13:10.640 I also saw a headline this week about her wig and she said in an interview with USA Today

00:13:17.900 she wears a wig when she's at public appearances not because she's trying to hide who she is but

00:13:24.060 because she has no idea how to style her hair that was a straight quote she gave and I think that

00:13:28.940 is just so endearing other people have other publications have talked about the fact that

00:13:34.260 she wears like these rectangle glasses and they're like it might look like a disguise but she actually 0.87

00:13:38.680 wears glasses. Sarah says she still plans to use Frida McFadden even though her identity is now

00:13:44.360 out in the open but now we know. We love that for you Sarah.

00:13:57.220 Aubrey Plaza is pregnant and expecting her first child with the actor Christopher Abbott.

00:14:02.900 Yeah, this was big news that broke this week that you can imagine garnered some mixed, very unsympathetic responses.

00:14:12.840 So for those who might not remember, just over a year ago, back in January of last year, her husband, screenwriter and director Jeff Boehner, died by suicide.

00:14:23.940 According to documents from TMZ, though, the couple had been separated since September 2024.

00:14:31.260 That was obviously really tragic news and Aubrey did talk about it on the Good Hang podcast with

00:14:37.940 Amy Poehler and she talks really endearingly and beautifully about grief I think and I am so happy

00:14:46.200 for her with this and it makes me really sad all of the negativity around it especially because

00:14:53.460 even if they hadn't split up she's 41 first of all obviously there is a biological clock that

00:14:59.080 women have second of all men do not get the same treatment at all did you know there's actually a

00:15:05.460 phenomenon where husbands and partners of women who are terminally sick have higher rates of

00:15:11.980 divorce and leaving their wives when they're sick like before they've even passed they're already

00:15:18.360 like out the door because like they can't cope with like caregiving and like they don't just

00:15:23.140 don't want to do that so I think for people to kind of say like oh Aubrey's not like respecting

00:15:27.860 his memory or whatever when like that's what not all men but like that's what men can do there's

00:15:35.180 actual studies to back this up as well completely it's more likely for a man to do this I've seen

00:15:39.920 this study where in the first year after a spouse's death 54% of men have a sexual relationship

00:15:46.820 compared with 7% of women we're not trying to shame anyone in that equation anyone you can do

00:15:52.180 what you like but it is more likely that a man would quote-unquote move on faster I was very

00:15:58.380 disappointed at news.com.au's headline about this this was this was the headline for this story

00:16:04.260 star pregnant 15 months after hubby's death the hubby is pretty loaded there completely I think

00:16:11.860 so too and I think they know exactly what they're doing let's talk about Christopher Abbott he's

00:16:17.080 also an actor he was in girls that's what i know him from well this is a thing because i was like

00:16:22.400 this man looks so familiar to me and a lot of the other publications are talking about his more

00:16:27.780 recent projects so for instance he's on broadway at the moment in death of a salesman he was also

00:16:33.600 in poor things the testament of ann lee and wolfman so he's busy but he's charlie in girls

00:16:40.340 Marnie's boyfriend in the first season yeah I don't know if he comes back don't I'm in season

00:16:47.520 two no spoilers yeah and I feel like it's really nice to see um this pair kind of connect so Aubrey

00:16:58.180 and Christopher have worked together a couple times one was the off-Broadway revival of Danny

00:17:03.580 and the Deep Blue Sea and also the 2020 film Black Bear I wish her nothing but happiness I think

00:17:09.500 to go through what she's gone through would be horrific and she deserves happiness leave aubrey

00:17:16.060 alone in this week's segment of culture shock we're talking about youtuber and content creator

00:17:31.780 elena taber who has been caught posting a reddit thread about herself let's talk about elena because

00:17:39.900 we both follow her we do follow her for years i like her content she's a u.s creator isn't she

00:17:45.620 yes um she has lived a lot of places overseas notably paris she's known for her travel

00:17:51.180 lifestyle even like money and fashion content she has like she covers a lot of ground yes

00:17:57.820 And she's also now dating Stranger Things actor Jamie Campbell Bauer.

00:18:01.880 Yeah, who plays Vecna.

00:18:03.520 It's wild.

00:18:05.120 Seeing that drop, like when their relationship was announced,

00:18:07.540 really did take me aback because I'm like,

00:18:09.640 this is a girl I've watched on YouTube for maybe like from a decade ago.

00:18:15.040 Anything can happen.

00:18:16.520 So Elena posted in the famous New York City Influencer Snark Reddit thread,

00:18:22.320 which we've spoken about on the podcast before.

00:18:24.280 it's famously mean like famously people will like rip influences to shreds in that thread

00:18:31.940 the word snark is like so intense hey yeah like there's been articles written about this thread

00:18:36.780 it's huge so under a post titled elena taber updates question mark she wrote this relationship

00:18:43.260 isn't new news but i need someone to talk about this with lol i haven't kept up with her as much

00:18:48.820 but she used to be one of my favorites back in the day and i keep seeing her pop up with jamie

00:18:53.020 Campbell Bower and it's so crazy to me. I loved her vibe alongside Moyamawini and Margot Lee and

00:18:58.780 those girls who seem cool and kind etc. She seemed to be one of the few influencers who at least

00:19:03.120 attempted a level of more research interesting content like the history lessons or the financial

00:19:07.620 education or just traveling to more unique parts of the world and showing the culture by connecting

00:19:12.220 with locals. She continues writing even if a bit pseudo-intellectual sometimes I really appreciated

00:19:18.220 that there was more substance than so many of the other New York City consumerism final boss

00:19:23.520 influences I follow. I kind of stopped keeping up as much when she left NYC for Paris but she

00:19:29.580 doesn't seem to post as much and maybe has gone more private because of her relationship. It's

00:19:34.900 insane seeing so much unhinged hate she gets for just existing and dating someone famous. 1.00

00:19:39.960 I saw this TikTok recently and I'm like damn this would suck lol. That TikTok question was like 0.99

00:19:45.100 about how bad would it be like to date a celebrity this is how she got called out people because when

00:19:50.780 you share a tiktok while you're linked to an account while you're logged into your account

00:19:54.200 it comes up with like a pop-up banner when the other person receives it being like do you want

00:19:58.500 to follow blah blah blah blah or like this was sent to you by blah blah blah and it was her account

00:20:02.980 oh this is brutal brutally embarrassing this is a really tough read and I was cringing so

00:20:15.040 hard because it would absolutely suck finding out that the rest of the world knew that you wrote

00:20:22.120 this about yourself allegedly some users as well figured out that elena was not only posting on

00:20:28.280 about herself but also allegedly joining in on snarky conversations around other rival influencers

00:20:34.100 so why did we want to talk about this because i know it's not really our style to be like gossipy

00:20:39.440 podcasts like influencer stuff but we both have followed her for a long time I think it's really

00:20:46.780 interesting just how even the most like cool girl lovely people can get swept up in the like

00:20:58.840 mess of the influencer world and like despite being like very successful and dating a celebrity

00:21:07.020 an actor having brand deals etc there is still that underlying like insecurity clearly and oh

00:21:15.160 it's it's it was a culture shock for me because I was like this is emblematic of like a deeper

00:21:20.540 like there's so many things like a deeper issue of like how people see themselves like self-esteem

00:21:25.780 how like imposter syndrome maybe and even the snark pages on reddit like that culture might

00:21:32.260 have made her think think in this way and she wants to like really really know what people think

00:21:37.700 to the point that she's like posting it about herself yeah I think you're right I think this

00:21:43.240 just really shows the depth of the influencer trap the comparison trap where you're feeling

00:21:49.400 like unworthy or you're always fighting for attention I would have said if you'd asked me

00:21:55.940 before this happened I'd be like oh yeah she's probably at the top of her game at the moment

00:21:59.020 like she on the outside looks like she's living like the best life she has ever lived and when 0.97

00:22:05.420 the reality sees her in other threads being mean about people who are supposedly have friends in

00:22:11.800 the industry and then having to post something like this about yourself to try drive up like

00:22:16.880 engagement or just interest in your own life I think it like hurt like it hurt me to read it

00:22:23.840 it was it made me uncomfortable if that makes sense or did it make you feel empathetic for her

00:22:27.780 of like oh this is embarrassing yeah it was mainly that like embarrassment factor that obviously she's

00:22:34.240 someone who cares deeply about what other people think about her so for this to be outed in this

00:22:39.060 way like that would hurt doubly have you ever searched on reddit for yourself yeah and i'll

00:22:47.500 admit it and i have i think um i wouldn't even just put it down to reddit like it's it's hard

00:22:53.660 to kind of I'm thinking like where else I might have done activity like and I never would have

00:22:57.720 posted anything I haven't posted anything about myself but it's like in our job where we're

00:23:03.100 managing our post personal social media accounts as well as culture club I will actually look at

00:23:07.560 our accounts and like check for comments or reviews and stuff every single day and that

00:23:12.100 feeds into this mentality I just gotta sometimes it is checking to make sure like Loki like there's

00:23:17.620 not a racist comment there or something problematic we need to delete but I my brain is tuned into

00:23:23.440 being like oh like have we um like increased in the podcast charts oh have we like hit a new

00:23:30.040 follower milestone but I'm like thinking about this very regularly is that similar I feel like

00:23:35.200 that's like analytics of social media but have you ever like searched yourself in like a what

00:23:41.900 do people really think of me way I've looked up my name nothing came up yeah Culture Club was

00:23:47.480 nicely recommended a few times on Reddit though in nice threads in nice threads being like podcast

00:23:53.340 recommendations like that what about yourself have you i've looked up culture club okay not my name

00:23:58.860 not famous enough not on reddit well nothing came up for me so i was like oh my god loser

00:24:05.540 someone snark no don't no don't you'd cry someone actually did that though i think if there is a

00:24:14.660 human nature element of it as well it's natural and normal to wonder what people think about you

00:24:20.500 i'm working very hard at the moment to be seen so like we are doing video on youtube and social

00:24:27.860 media at the moment and i'm so used to just having our like safe space of the pod like the podcast

00:24:32.860 audio bit of social media stuff but like having your voice in your face on youtube and stuff

00:24:37.560 that's like a real stretch for me in my comfort zone at the moment and you do think like i'm sure

00:24:42.340 majority people like don't care but you just think it just has that other layer of like am i being

00:24:46.900 perceived correctly and being perceived the way I want to be. So if you have like hundreds of

00:24:51.360 thousands or millions of followers, I can imagine it's a whole other anxiety if you're like a

00:24:55.340 naturally anxious person as well. So despite the fact that people listening to this, even us in

00:25:00.940 our chairs, that has not done what Elena has done, I think we can all relate to it in at least a

00:25:07.340 micro way of that fear, of that insecurity, of that like want to be perceived in a way that you

00:25:15.100 want to be. So I hope after all this backlash, Elena can hopefully just continue to live her

00:25:21.960 best life and worry less about what is being said on the internet. 0.98

00:25:35.800 Is the trad wife trend dying down or has it reached a new level of normalcy? We've touched

00:25:41.920 on the Tradwife trend a few times over the years, but if you weren't across, it is essentially an

00:25:47.940 internet trend and a societal shift that's taken place in the post-pandemic years of the 2020s.

00:25:54.080 From baking bread and making food from scratch to promoting heteronormative traditional values,

00:26:00.740 the Tradwife is a response to right-wing politics swinging back into power and wanting a sense of 0.99

00:26:06.060 control in this increasingly unstable world one of the most famous faces of the trad wife movement

00:26:13.780 has definitely been nara smith yes and trad wife stands for traditional wife as well in case you

00:26:20.400 didn't know so nara smith is only 24 years old she's married to model lucky blue smith who is

00:26:26.860 a mormon together they have four children um and her post you would have been familiar with them

00:26:33.720 she speaks in like this whisper like asmr and then yeah she's the one who's making things from

00:26:38.840 scratch but like to such an extreme point she's like making like chewing gum from scratch you

00:26:43.540 know and she's always like so beautiful and every pose she's in it's like meticulous and perfect and

00:26:49.540 it's all it's all made to look curated yeah so last july nara was a guest on jay shetty's podcast

00:26:55.760 on purpose where she actually rejected being the face of the trad wife trend the interview took

00:27:01.620 place last July but now one ex-user Chidema has brought it back up and it sparked this new wave

00:27:07.660 of discussions. We'll play the clip here. They use me as this poster child of this like very

00:27:13.320 traditional wife and I'm not. There's nothing truly traditional about us as a couple apart

00:27:18.280 from maybe that we chose to have kids young and get married young but apart from that we split

00:27:22.420 chores 50-50. There's things that Lucky does that I guess traditional men wouldn't do like do the

00:27:28.240 dishes or get the kids dressed and there's things that I do like having a full-time career and

00:27:32.740 having lucky be home watching the children while I travel for two weeks. It's interesting to see

00:27:37.400 her speak out about this because famously she's quite docile in her content that she chooses to

00:27:44.580 put out so for her to be like taking a stance also even saying that you know her husband does

00:27:49.940 half of the chores I'm like mate how are we supposed to know that you don't show that

00:27:53.500 i'm not in your house australian mate mate how you supposed to show that

00:27:59.220 so nara smith is accusing people of projecting onto her but then she's the one who's projecting 1.00

00:28:05.800 and she has this curated image that she has heavily monetized like they are so wealthy

00:28:12.140 yes lucky blue was a model but you know she is really like making the money here now one ex-user 1.00

00:28:19.780 the Noah's letter said her full-time job is selling the fantasy of being a trad wife having 0.99

00:28:25.080 100 kids and doting on them 24 7 being submissive to a husband and looking gorgeous while she does 0.72

00:28:30.720 it it's the same thing no matter how she tries to spin it what I find interesting is that I 1.00

00:28:35.880 remember last year there was a massive wave of her content but also like copycat similar types

00:28:42.000 of accounts and we were seeing a lot of this I feel like my for you page isn't serving me

00:28:48.900 much of this or even discourse around this as much and I do wonder like is it that this content is

00:28:56.660 just becoming more normalized in our feeds and it's a kind of it's being softened as well because

00:29:01.920 hers was so exaggerated and like it was all it was almost like a skit I read them as a skit but

00:29:06.420 I was like no I think she's she's being legit as well it is interesting to see that this clip in

00:29:11.400 particular has come about again when perhaps her popularity is like declining or her relevancy

00:29:17.120 isn't as high i also think it's interesting in that podcast she uses her normal speaking voice

00:29:23.440 which i think shows that she is playing an exaggerated character on tiktok people are 0.58

00:29:29.120 also calling out the irony of these super successful trad wives so at the top of our heads 0.85

00:29:34.600 you have someone like erica kirk who is charlie kirk's widow and spouts this like traditional 1.00

00:29:41.680 values like the families everything like be a great mother etc etc and she is now like the

00:29:49.440 CEO of this company and she had kids and got married after the age of 30 but Turning Point

00:29:55.780 which is like the organization that they run it was going around to like colleges etc like

00:30:01.120 telling young women in their early like 20 year olds to like get married and like that is the

00:30:06.640 best thing you can do in this life and like linking religion to it as well so that's you 0.94

00:30:11.100 know one example and of course Nara Smith now a multi-millionaire businesswoman brand deals on 0.92

00:30:17.620 Jay Shetty's podcast. It's very clear that these women are profiting off the ideas and the visuals

00:30:23.420 of being a trad wife not necessarily like living that out for themselves because being a full-time 0.57

00:30:30.600 homemaker as well as being a full-time businesswoman is a very difficult reality that they 1.00

00:30:36.200 would find themselves in and obviously we don't know what's happening inside erica kirk and nara

00:30:42.040 smith's home but i'm assuming they have help they have hired help and staff to help them 1.00

00:30:47.020 quote-unquote have it all now that the modern trad wife has been in the zeitgeist for a couple

00:30:53.620 of years we are now seeing like further explorations of the phenomenon so one of the most highly

00:31:00.420 talked about books of the year is yesteryear and it's by debut author caro claire burke

00:31:05.880 caro is the co-host of diabolical lies which is a politics and culture podcast alongside a fellow

00:31:12.880 author katie gatty tassen this book sounds amazing it's out in april and it follows this protagonist

00:31:19.800 natalie who becomes a treadwife social media influencer and she like operates a farm where

00:31:25.840 she raises chickens and bakes bread before an audience of millions it's very much giving

00:31:30.640 ballerina farm but what happens in the book is that natalie wakes up in a strange version of

00:31:36.740 reality like a home her family they'll they're there but something's off it feels like she could

00:31:42.460 be in a different like parallel universe is it a hoax is it a test from god like who knows i think

00:31:48.960 this is such an interesting premise and i can't wait to read it i was scratching around for an

00:31:55.520 arc this week I was like who has Harper Collins email like messaging Eilish who I saw she posted

00:32:03.500 on her socials I was like where is this book because it's not out until like April 28 it

00:32:08.300 sounds so good Anne Hathaway has already signed on to star in and produce the film adaptation

00:32:14.220 wow so this book is getting so much hype and Caro the author told LUS that quote the figure of the

00:32:23.540 trad wife sits at the intersection of everything about womanhood that interests me even before i

00:32:29.400 became interested in feminist theory or politics or culture far before i was doing a podcast about

00:32:35.020 it caro also notes that this is a particularly poignant time to write a book about the trad

00:32:40.400 wife which we agree with hence why we're doing this segment she said because there are so many

00:32:45.480 women who want to talk about this now with the secret lives of mormon wives the conversation 0.91

00:32:49.940 is endless and it's a fascinating social experiment to see just how many women force 1.00

00:32:55.100 and contort themselves to try to fit into a lifestyle that is fundamentally unnatural 1.00

00:32:59.700 even though it is billed as fundamentally natural oh i love that end quote that is so true

00:33:06.740 we have seen the criticism and analysis of trad wives in the movie the stepford wives have you

00:33:14.340 seen that no so good that's like 20-ish years old and it does it's like nicole kidman's character

00:33:22.660 like goes to this like well it's kind of like don't worry darling yes this world and like

00:33:27.100 everything is not what it seems and they're all trad wives in the 50s like going to the supermarket

00:33:31.100 so there has been some like satire made about this topic because i think it is a really like

00:33:35.800 interesting topic and now we're in this new phase in the 2020s of uh marriage and heteronormativity

00:33:41.680 and The Trad Wife. So I'm very excited to read Yesteryear and let's see where Nara Smith and co

00:33:49.220 go as people are rejecting The Trad Wife a bit further.

00:34:02.920 Now it's time for Bookmarked where we share something we've loved watching,

00:34:06.880 reading or listening to. Maggie, what do you have for us this week?

00:34:10.420 I have a movie recommendation I'm recommending the film I swear which came out last year so this

00:34:17.940 is a British biographical drama film about a Tourette's advocate and he follows his life so

00:34:25.020 it's based on the true story of John Davidson so he's a British man who has had Tourette's since

00:34:31.240 he was a like child this movie was just such a moving and like important film it was uh directed

00:34:41.920 written and produced by kirk jones so john grew up with a tourette syndrome um and he was born

00:34:48.320 in the 1970s so you can imagine like awareness was literally on the floor and this movie really

00:34:54.620 follows him in his family dynamic how he navigates school how he navigates um like friendships 0.79

00:35:00.440 with Tourette's I think this was really like sensitively done um I think it was very honest

00:35:08.180 and it could be quite confronting at times but it was always treated with like compassion I just

00:35:14.380 I think they did this so well because I it definitely didn't like infantilize him or it

00:35:18.740 wasn't like being wasn't like patronizing yeah and it definitely wasn't I think it was a very

00:35:24.360 like honest portrayal of Tourette's and I think it's a very poignant time of course because during

00:35:30.420 the Golden Globes when we had the Tourette's incident with a man yelling out the n-word

00:35:35.740 it was John wasn't it it was John yeah yes and that's the thing this film doesn't shy away from

00:35:41.640 the fact that ticks can come about contextually right so people were like pointing that out during

00:35:47.360 the the golden globes but this is part of the reality of Tourette's um it was so emotional

00:35:53.720 and just also a visually beautiful film very funny and light in parts as well um and I would

00:36:01.360 really recommend it did you watch it at the cinema I went to the cinemas to watch this one and I would

00:36:06.820 recommend that yeah so it's still out because I thought yeah if it's come out last year yeah that's

00:36:11.380 I'm keen to watch it I just have one of those one there's been so many good movies this season that

00:36:16.200 I feel like I can't keep up with all the movies so I it's definitely on my list and now it's time

00:36:22.180 for your recommendation Jazz I'm recommending Lost Lambs which is a novel by Madeline Cash

00:36:28.840 we put this in our books to read for this year our episode about like our most excited books of

00:36:35.420 2026 of course yeah and you actually brought it to the table yeah and I read it first I haven't

00:36:40.680 read it I haven't cracked it open yet but you will because our book club is going to do it this month

00:36:45.360 and I was like great I'm ahead of the homework this never happens so Lost Lamb is a very timely

00:36:51.200 American novel it follows the three Flynn sisters Abigail the eldest Louise the middle and Harper

00:36:58.440 is the youngest their parents marriage is failing they're trying to open the marriage the kids are

00:37:04.400 all teenagers as well so the eldest is like about to finish high school I thought it was a very

00:37:09.440 heartwarming and human story but it also touches on a lot of themes that we are living through at

00:37:16.180 the moment so it touches on billionaires uh conspiracy theories class and religion as well

00:37:23.980 so all of those intertwined but like throughout there is the core of this like lovable but odd

00:37:31.220 family and at first you're like i'm not gonna relate to them like this sounds very american

00:37:37.540 but I think Madeline is such a great writer that she definitely like gets to the heart of the

00:37:42.620 characters and you end up feeling like a sense of like maternal instinct or like some sort of care

00:37:48.280 for them which is you know hard to do and she also is a very funny writer so there are times

00:37:54.020 I was like laugh laugh out loud but it's not it's like a drama comedy I guess this book has already

00:37:58.780 been picked up by A24 so it will be getting made into a series or a movie which is exciting

00:38:03.700 but this is madeline's debut book i think she's about my age so pretty crazy like launch month

00:38:12.660 for her i really recommend it yes it is very american i think one of the things in our book

00:38:17.640 club where like we definitely try to un-americanize our culture sometimes or what we're consuming

00:38:23.720 because it's very easy to do so in australia we're so highly influenced by the u.s but i think it's

00:38:28.960 definitely worth a read so i'm excited for everyone to chat about a book club too yes i'm

00:38:33.240 excited i didn't realize that the three main protagonists were teenagers still like they

00:38:37.480 were the children um but if you liked it then i have faith i'm excited to read this thank you so

00:38:44.120 much for listening to culture club today we hope you enjoyed and if you did maybe give us a little

00:38:49.620 like and subscribe and review over on spotify and apple and we are also on youtube thank you so much

00:38:56.000 and we'll catch you very soon bye

00:39:03.240 you

Culture Club - April 13, 2026

Tradwife Irony, The Devil Wears Vogue & Man Repeller Slop

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