Episode 18

In this episode, the studio is graced with the presence of Kezia Noble, seductress extraordinaire! On opening, Paul struggles to make a point about Monica Bellucci’s character in the new Bond movie Spectre. He asks if such undeveloped female characters are reflective of a culture of Tinder, Facebook and globalization – a culture of surfaces – or if his perspective has changed now that he’s married… Kez and Pete hijack the topic to discuss their favorite Bond girls, and what makes Bond so alluring. Next, we discuss how “bonding rituals” are different for boys and girls, and what that says about gender stereotypes. Peter and Paul are fascinated to learn that women must disparage themselves in front of other women, if they hope to be accepted. Men’s bonding rituals are much simpler and often involve sports and career, veering away from deeply emotional subjects. Such superficial connection allows for classic male bonding activities, such as pick-up basketball wherein strangers come together to play sport and then disperse. Pete describes the male-only environment of the cigar lounge, and Paul brings out the short-story compilation “Men Without Women” by Ernest Hemingway. Finally, we end on a discussion of work-life balance piqued by an October 10th Economist article “Juggling mums and halo dads,” a review of Anne-Marie Slaughter’s new book. Slaughter offers a riposte to the tired refrain that women can have it all if they just prioritize and work hard; she identifies the root of the problem as “a systematic imbalance in the esteem granted ‘two complementary human drives: competition, the impulse to pursue our self-interest…and care, the impulse to put others first.” Kezia and the men discuss.