Culture Study Podcast

A man with a fairytale castle in upstate New York who keeps trying to make a self-produced reality show about "princesses" happen — and become a modern-day Hugh Hefner. A man who got famous on YouTube for lawn care who ends up filming himself as a baby — and has a SWAT team called to his house. These stories form the backbone of Jon Ronson's journey into the world of "unraveling men." Those two men's stories are exceptional, but they're also an entry point into a subject area I like to think of as "WTF is going on with dudes right now."

Join Jon and me as we avoid the usual discussion about "toxic masculinity" and go deeper into friend-less-ness, algorithms, purposelessness, Sad Dads, and male buffoonery. It's a wild ride that felt like the beginning of a much longer conversation (that I hope we can keep having in the comments)!



Thanks to the sponsors of today's episode:

Use code CULTURE at jonesroadbeauty.com to get a free gift with your first purchase!

Taking care of your health just got easier – start here with Zocdoc: https://zocdoc.com/culture

Go to https://zbiotics.com/culturestudy and use CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.

Get 15% off OneSkin with the code CULTURE at https://www.oneskin.co/CULTURE

Show Notes:

Buy The Castle here!

You can read an excerpt of The Castle — specifically about the guy who started out as a lawn care influencer and then became The Third Baby — in the New York Times Magazine

Jon mentions his piece for GQ about the White House cage fight

Learn more about Jon Ronson's work (there's so much of it!) here

We mention So You've Been Publicly Shamed, Jon's previous book

I wrote a piece back in 2023 addressing some of Richard Reeves' findings re: men & ambition

I reference an episode of The Ezra Klein Show where he references his arguments being reproduced/distorted for engagement — it's the most recent Mailbag ep, which you can find here

We're currently looking for your questions on the following topics:

WHAT'S GOING ON INFLUENCER CULTURE? with Katie Sturino — what's going on with privacy, spon, monetization, politics, algorithm fatigue — anything you want to ask someone who's watched the influencing world transform from inside

THE LATEST IN BOOK TRENDS with Alyssa Morris (from our very popular BookTok episode!). Ask Alyssa about whatever you're seeing in the book world: covers, genres, how it's handling fan-fic, BookTok trends.....

JOURNO-INFLUENCERS with s.e. smith — yep, another episode on influencers, this time on how they're changing the norms of journalism. What journo-influencers do you follow and what makes them compelling? What's the future of journalism when it's wed to this style of promotion? Is it actually anything new? Ask away!

Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.
Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.
Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.
Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In June, I sent out a Friday Thread prompt that readers had been asking for, in one shape or another, for years: How do we talk about non-romantic breakups? Why do they sting SO MUCH? Why is the vocabulary around a friend breakup so paltry? I know many people found tremendous solace just reading through other people's stories and knowing that 1) friend breakups are part of life and 2) yes, as a culture, we are very bad at acknowledging them let alone grieving them.

For this month's subscriber-only bonus episode, Margaret and I decided to do a deep read of the thread — and a deep revisiting of our own friend histories — to talk about different "buckets" of friend breakups, how we process them in the moment and as we age, what facilitates them (bad communication!), and why they're sometimes necessary. Discussed therein: ghosting, sub-tweeting, sucky boyfriends, recurring dreams about long-ago friends, expectation mismatches, friendship promiscuity, the dearth of pop culture representations of (lasting, non-comedic) friend breakups, and more.

(And if you'd like access to this paid podcast-subscriber-only episode, you can upgrade your Culture Study subscription SO EASILY here. If you have any issues, just email me at annehelenpetersen @ gmail dot com)

Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.
Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.
Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.
Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Let's do some HAIR STUDIES! How does blondeness recruit and convey power? When is curly hair a signifier of unruliness — and when does it say Cool Girl? Will we ever be free of the tyranny of the beachy wave? What's the New Karen Cut? Should we talk about Julia Roberts' hair in Pretty Woman for a solid 10 minutes? (Yes!) Sarah Mesle joins the pod to talk about her new book, Tangled: Seven Iconic Moments in White Women's Hair and What They Tell Us About Power, Pleasure, and Complicity, parse "good" blonde dye-jobs, wonder what happened to the Old Lady cut, and answer all of your questions about the politics of white lady hair.

Thanks to the sponsors of today's episode:

Machine Washable Rugs, Made Better. For a limited time only, our listeners get 10% off + free shipping at tumbleliving.com/CULTURE

Use code CULTURE at jonesroadbeauty.com to get a free gift with your first purchase!

Get $35 off your first box of wild-caught, sustainable seafood—delivered right to your door. Go to:  https://www.wildalaskan.com/CULTURE

Ollie. Feed the Obsession. Go to ollie.com/culture and use code CULTURE to get 70% off your first box!

Show Notes:

Follow Sarah on Instagram here

Buy Tangled!!!!!!! It's so good!

How to submit your hair studies pitch to Avidly

A great short piece by Sarah on why hair studies matters

Tressie McMillan Cottom on blondeness

The episode of the Amy Poehler podcast I reference about blondes — with Leanne Morgan

And also the episode of Amy Poehler I reference re: Paula Pell and her beautiful hair

Sarah mentions the Dragon Prince series by Melanie Rawn

Sarah also references Sabrina Strings' excellent book Fearing the Black Body

Sarah also cites this article from Helana Darwin

The Dolly Parton and Miley in 2010 (!) singing Jolene (I also love this one that's part of Miley's Backyard Sessions)

We're currently looking for your questions on the following topics:

WHAT'S GOING ON INFLUENCER CULTURE? with Katie Sturino — what's going on with privacy, spon, monetization, politics, algorithm fatigue — anything you want to ask someone who's watched the influencing world transform from inside

THE LATEST IN BOOK TRENDS with Alyssa Morris (from our very popular BookTok episode!). Ask Alyssa about whatever you're seeing in the book world: covers, genres, how it's handling fan-fic, BookTok trends.....

JOURNO-INFLUENCERS with s.e. smith — yep, another episode on influencers, this time on how they're changing the norms of journalism. What journo-influencers do you follow and what makes them compelling? What's the future of journalism when it's wed to this style of promotion? Is it actually anything new? Ask away!

Anything you need advice for/want musings about for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything — it’s literally the name of the segment.

 

Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.
Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.
Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.
Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the first of our three-part series on BACK TO SCHOOL FASHION, which is really just an excuse for us to talk about style and clothes. Today, the incredible Sophie Strauss — aka, the stylist for regular people — joins us to answer your questions about finding that one piece that will solve all your fashion problems, letting go of the fantasy capsule wardrobe, what you're actually asking when you say "can I pull this off?," and, of course, our most popular question by far: how to figure out your style in your late 30s/40s. Sophie is the ideal Culture Study guest; I can't wait for you to get to know her (and her style philosophy). This is an episode about style that is not meant to make you feel bad about yours — what a revelation!

Thanks to the sponsors of today's episode:

Save 20% Off Honeylove by going to honeylove.com/CULTURE

Thanks to Article for sponsoring this podcast! Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit ARTICLE.COM/CULTURE and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout.

Get 40% off select Lola Blankets products at Lolablankets.com by using code CULTURE at checkout. Experience the world’s #1 blanket with Lola Blankets.

Ready to upgrade your eyewear to something functional, fashionable, fun, and affordable? Head to goodr.com/CULTURE to claim $10 off your first order.

Show Notes:

Follow Sophie Strauss on Instagram here

Get access to the Style School Classes Sophie references here

The Big Undies interview with Sophie ("that's not style, that's marketing")

The Virginia Sole-Smith work I reference: Are Capsule Wardrobes Just for Thin People?

We're currently looking for your questions on the following topics:

HOW TO FIGHT! Priya Parker has a new book on how to actually disagree (fruitfully!) with others, so this is your opportunity to ask all those questions about the people in your life who shut down when you disagree / escalate unnecessarily / immediately throw straw-men your way ('people in your life' can also include you, of course)

WTF IS GOING ON WITH DUDES/ DESPERATE MASCULINITY RIGHT NOW with Jon Ronson. You can read about his incredible new book here, but the gist is: the old order of masculinity is collapsing, and some very weird behaviors are emerging amidst that collapse. What have you noticed, what's alarming, what are your theories about how dudes are dude-ing the way they are — let's go.

FINANCIAL INTERDEPENDENCE with Maria Melchor, author of Always Have Enough. Instead of aiming for financial independence, what does it mean to try and build a sort of collective wealth for your family and community? How does the idea of wealth operate differently for first-generation immigrants — and what lessons should everyone adopt?

All things CODE-SWITCHING with Ari Shaprio and Audie Cornish (how do you change your voice, your posture, your demeanor, your subject areas, the way you talk about reality television, whatever, depending on layered context)

Anything you need advice for/want musings about for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything — it’s literally the name of the segment.





Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.
Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.
Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.
Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

More than a year ago, Melody put a placeholder in our shared podcast planning document: SOMETHING SMART ABOUT AI. We were sick, bored, or frustrated with the way so many podcasts were talking about it — usually because it involved dudes talking with other dudes and universalizing proclamations about whether artificial intelligence was going to usher in an age of utopia (doubtful) or kill us all (doubtful but more probable). We wanted someone willing to get into the gray areas of LLM and chatbot use in particular — someone with real experience with what they can do and real ambivalence about what they do to us.

That person is Vauhini Vara, author of Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age, and one of my absolute favorite thinkers working and writing today. In this episode, we talk about how LLMs short circuit the creative process, how they're changing the way students learn to think and discern, the specious argument that AI "democratizes creativity," really bad AI art, and why it's so hard to talk about AI usage just generally. I loved this conversation and keep coming back to the ideas, challenges, hopes, and frustrations we discussed — I think you will too.

AI comes for the Community Flyer

Thanks to the sponsors of today's episode:

Ollie. Feed the Obsession. Go to ollie.com/culture and use code CULTURE to get 70% off your first box!

Wake up with clearer skin, smoother hair, and cooler sleep. Use code CULTUREPOD for an extra 30% off at blissy.com/CULTUREPOD.

Use code CULTURE at jonesroadbeauty.com to get a free gift with your first purchase!

If you’re looking to make a small change in your routine, you can get 15% off your first order at Blueland.com/CULTURE**.**

Show Notes:

Follow Vauhini on Bluesky here and learn more about her work here

Buy Searches (which you know I LOVED!) here

Read my interview with Vauhini from last year about Searches here

Vauhini's essay in the The Believer that we repeatedly reference — "Ghosts"

Vauhini's piece in Bloomberg on chatbots and AI in kids' classrooms

You can find a transcript of this episode here

We're currently looking for your questions on the following topics:

HOW TO FIGHT! Priya Parker has a new book on how to actually disagree (fruitfully!) with others, so this is your opportunity to ask all those questions about the people in your life who shut down when you disagree / escalate unnecessarily / immediately throw straw-men your way ('people in your life' can also include you, of course)

WTF IS GOING ON WITH DUDES/ DESPERATE MASCULINITY RIGHT NOW with Jon Ronson. You can read about his incredible new book here, but the gist is: the old order of masculinity is collapsing, and some very weird behaviors are emerging amidst that collapse. What have you noticed, what's alarming, what are your theories about how dudes are dude-ing the way they are — let's go.

FINANCIAL INTERDEPENDENCE with Maria Melchor, author of Always Have Enough. Instead of aiming for financial independence, what does it mean to try and build a sort of collective wealth for your family and community? How does the idea of wealth operate differently for first-generation immigrants — and what lessons should everyone adopt?

All things CODE-SWITCHING with Ari Shaprio and Audie Cornish (how do you change your voice, your posture, your demeanor, your subject areas, the way you talk about reality television, whatever, depending on layered context)

Anything you need advice for/want musings about for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything — it’s literally the name of the segment.

Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.
Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.
Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.
Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.