Diabolical Lies

• The Womanosphere Claims It's Winning Young Women—But Is It?

  In this conversation…It’s the grassroots sensation sweeping the internet and, by extension, the culture—proof that conservative values are mainstream, conservative women are hot, and their rapidly proliferating attendant movement is finally overpowering the excesses of liberalism. “We aren’t running from culture anymore,” as Alex Clark put it, “We’re running it.” They’re courageous enough to stand up for countercultural ideas like, “Women should be wives and mothers,” or, “White people are superior,” and there’s one thing they want to make absolutely sure you know: They’re taking over.…or are they?What do “conservative values” mean in this context? What does it mean to be a conservative, when the tent has metastasized beyond the point of recognizable cohesion? And most importantly, is there any proof that this “movement” is growing more popular with young women? Diabolical Lies investigates. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com/subscribe

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• Sabrina Carpenter & the Politics of Pop Star Sexuality

  This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comIn this conversation…When Sabrina Carpenter shared the album cover for her highly anticipated seventh studio album, Man’s Best Friend, the internet suffered an algorithmic nosebleed. An extremely high-stakes cultural debate unfolded: Was the photo (and correspondingly, her entire vibe) supposed to be funny? A form of edgy political satire? Or was Carpenter cashing in on our cultural history of fetishizing domestic violence/pedophilia/women’s suffrage/[insert infuriating clickbait term here]?In response to the foaming masses, Carpenter released a second alternative album cover — this one “approved by God.” But the question remains: did she do something wrong to begin with? What do pop stars owe the public, anyways — and what does our seemingly eternal frustration with them say about us?References in This EpisodeIt’s not technically true that Sabrina Carpenter “became a pop star” in 2024. She’s been rising and grinding for over a decade now, moving through the Disney Industrial Complex with seemingly tireless pluck: First she starred in Girl Meets World, then she released five studio albums (casual), then she featured as “that blonde girl” in the Olivia Rodrigo diss track heard round the world, and then, finally, she got her big break. Well, technically two big breaks: she opened at the Eras Tour, and then she rebranded herself as a sixties, Bardot-esque character alongside the release of her sixth studio album, Short n’ Sweet. Boom. A star is born, etc. …but of course, the rules of stardom are clear: you cannot become a deeply famous, deeply marketable, deeply accessible Female Pop Entity without also becoming vaguely despised by feminists and evangelicals alike. Neat! Carpenter’s first major foray into controversy happened thanks to this W Magazine photoshoot, which featured Carpenter emulating the visuals of…

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• Bonus: Media's Mamdani Meltdown

  This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comIn this (bonus) conversation…Reporting live from the basement where Annie Lowrey is chained to a radiator while a six-foot-tall sentient copy of Abundance holds a gun to her head, Caro & Katie review four pieces in major newspapers and magazines that were published in the days leading up to the New York City mayoral race when it became clear that the progressive Democrat who somehow managed to lead the polls without throwing trans people or immigrants under the bus might actually win.

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• Liv Schmidt & the Sexless Allure of SkinnyTok

  In this conversation…SkinnyTok is full of contradictions: You’ll hear you need to work hard to lose weight so you can be effortlessly chic; you’ll discover a world of corporeal obsession in which attaining a “hot body” is the ultimate form of pleasure. So why does it all feel so sterile? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com/subscribe

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• Taking Sex Differences Seriously

  This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comIn this conversation…In 2015, Caro took a politics course at the University of Virginia called “Sex Differences.” This is her story. *law and order theme music*

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