On this episode of Critical Baby Theory, host Francesca Root-Dodson sits down with childhood friend Anna Durrett, a New York City-based communications consultant, to unpack how billionaire wealth has quietly redefined what it means to be a "moderate" Democrat—particularly in the hothouse of San Francisco tech politics.

Also discussed: tracing San Francisco's arc from pandemic-era "progressive nihilism" to a billionaire-funded surveillance state, the sinking Millennium Tower as a symbol of zoning compromise gone wrong, the death of the middle-class creative life, why leaning on philanthropy instead of taxation might be the most dangerous political bet of all, growing up in San Francisco, terminal diagnoses, drug addiction in the Tenderloin, and why Francesca thinks billionaires should be a lot more frightened of history than they currently are.

Discussed:

“How San Francisco Became a Failed City” by Nellie Bowles in The Atlantic 

“The Billionaire Who Wired San Francisco” by Lauren Smiley in New York Magazine

“The Strange Emptiness of the Crowded Governor’s Race in California” by Nathan Heller in The New Yorker

The first half of every episode of CBT is free wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to become a subscriber and hear the second half, please go to www.patreon.com/criticalbabetheory. Thank you for your support xo

The first half of my conversation with Adam de Picot—founder of the international youth advocacy and policy making group MESA—about the brave new world we’re entering, and how the 1.2 billion young people on the planet can shape it.

Also discussed: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, proud globalism, the eating practices of the Maasai Mara, soft alphas, being a part-time apiarist, the Cockroach Revolution, “we have never elected so many autocratic leaders by democratic means,” peace & security vs free & democratic elections, lest we not forget the U.S. doesn’t follow international law, the moral responsibilities of postcolonial powers, exclusive economic zones and how they’re the real prize, the tragedy of USAID cuts, globalization is economists’ wet dream, the 4B movement in South Korea, condoms for Hamas, what happens if the dollar is no longer the global reserve currency, Francesca explains the art of the knuckleball, (of course) climate change, and the hard hitting question: why should Americans care about the world?

The MESA Institute for Global Impact

4B Movement

The first half of every episode of CBT is free wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to become a subscriber and hear the second half, please go to www.patreon.com/criticalbabetheory. Thank you for your support xo

Justin Charles—former member of the national board of the Democratic Socialists of America—comes on the show to discuss the recent congressional victory in New York City and what it means for the future of the left.

Also discussed: white people crying after the 2016 Trump win, why socialism is still a scary word, Sarah Palin is the only woman who could ever have become President, Obama governed in “limp dick prose,” what a society looks like when we prioritize shareholder value over all else, Cuba is not the mastermind of left-wing terrorism, Mamdani is the guy in real life that he is on TV, street meat shame, “be harsh with systems be gentle with people,” date-inflation, single mom economies, the Dems are committed to bad pantsuits, Francesca becomes educated about Martha’s Vineyard, the White Devil Theory, the market=mammon, and the question underneath it all: do we really need the rich?

The first half of every episode of CBT is free wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to become a subscriber and hear the second half, please go to www.patreon.com/criticalbabetheory. Thank you for your support xo

To finish our Hetero Month programming, we go back to the beginning of the war of the sexes: the prehistorical suppression female-centered religions and the casting of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute by the early church. Bri O’Reilly—Irish cradle Catholic—comes on the show to discuss how the sex wars are as old as history itself, and how we can approach true egalitarianism in our faith and in our relationships.

Also discussed: the first conspiracy theory, fistfights at Catholic school, the time Francesca accidentally got witnessed to Christ, Hillary Clinton feminism, Paul as off-brand commentary, a matrifocal society (equals communism), “it’s been 5000 years of men on top,” Pope Gregory created the myth that Mary Magdalene was a whore in 591 AD, Francesca draws the line with Epstein conspiracy theories, the Rosicrucians, the real nature of the relationship between Christ and Mary Magdalene, exposing the free birthing fallacy, the garden of Eden re-examined, and finding the God of your own heart.

Fact check on Wayfair child trafficking conspiracy and how it was promulgated—the conspiracy was not true, and diverted resources from real trafficking efforts.

Books referenced:

The Gospel of Mary by Jean-Yves Leloup

When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone

The first half of every episode of CBT is free wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to become a subscriber and hear the second half, please go to www.patreon.com/criticalbabetheory. Thank you for your support xo

In the third installment of Hetero Month, filmmaker Shervin Nassi and I have a frank conversation about dating—and we find that men and women are having the same problems in relationships, and explore what we mean when we say true partnership.

Shervin's film ONLY GOOD FEELINGS will be premiering this fall in NY & LA, for screenings and more information, please visit Onlygoodfeelingsfilm.com

Also discussed: the Kardashians demonstrate remarkable family unity, anti-coffee propaganda, Timothée Chalamet is too soft to be the Lisan al-Gaib, “nobody can take over your life unless you let them,” ie. adults are not victims, Shervin’s peptide stack, 1 Corinthians 13:11, the war of the sexes is going to keep us alone, is personality in the blood line?, the desire-industrial-complex, “life is easier and people are nicer to you when you look better,” the fantasy of dating in your ethnicity, dousing yourself in cinema, male looksmaxxing media diet, motherhood made Francesca more grounded, “bring coke energy into the marijuana realm,” and the eternal question: how can we lead to male flourishing?

The first half of every episode of CBT is free wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to become a subscriber and hear the second half, please go to www.patreon.com/criticalbabetheory. Thank you for your support xo

In the second installment of Hetero Month, Dani Druz—actress, producer, and mental health advocate—comes on the show to discuss the new era men find themselves in, and how we as women can relate to them better. 

Also discussed: “there is a plague of low T men terrorizing women,” testify for peptides, Rosie the dog digestive drama, what we love about junkies, did Kelloggs put chemicals in the food to make men sleep around less?, a 101 on Shakti energy, men wanting the male gaze,  DL vs artistic, “vanity looks better on women,” countries cutting down on their dog consumption, holding masculine space, the fruit of your labor is what enriches your life, neo-feminism, “respect is to men what oxygen is to lungs,” it’s good to take breaks from dating, “why don’t you try on the idea that he has every right to be how he’s being?,” radical acceptance, and as Marianne Williamson says: “love brings up everything unlike itself.”

The first half of every episode of CBT is free wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to become a subscriber and hear the second half, please go to www.patreon.com/criticalbabetheory. Thank you for your support xo

The first half of my conversation with Brock Colyar, features writer at New York Mag, about their recent article “The Big Little Penis Panic”—and how size anxiety is dominating the American male psyche. Be warned: this episode is very NSFW.

Also discussed: catching print, is skinny to women what dick size is to men?, growers vs showers, get good at the native sex you’re having, pleasure-maxxing, porn is ruining men’s self esteem, dick size in art reflects the political climate of the time, you can be so big it’s a liability, Clan of the Cave Bear as sex-ed, “almost every woman I talk to says they don’t care about size,” we need to take looksmaxxers more seriously, working on our personalities, “the call is coming from inside the American house,” the sexual rigidity of BDSM, feeder fantasies, Hitler’s size was tabloid fodder in his day, soyboybetacucks, traditional yearning for hard masculinity, the gays are the real size queens, and Francesca relates her peak erotic experience.

“The Big Little Penis Panic” by Brock Colyar in New York Mag

The first half of every episode of CBT is free wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to become a subscriber and hear the second half, please go to www.patreon.com/criticalbabetheory. Thank you for your support xo

The first half of my conversation with Carrigan Miller, writer and editor of KGB Lit, about the looming schism in the Catholic Church between traditionalists and reformers—and how SSPX, Peter Thiel and conservative American bishops are emblematic of the tensions in Rome post-Vatican II.

Also discussed: “you have a soul, act like it,”only fools want schism, fifth base is letting the person you’re seeing watch you pray, “we’re looking for the seamless garment out there,” letting Christianity scandalize you, “Catholicism is like communism,” the Marian apparition at Fatima, dogmatists vs pastoralists, throwing white boy Arabic into the group chat, being a guy with an eyeliner-y look, Never Forget has been totally forgotten, the real target of the encyclical is realpolitik and Henry Kissinger, girls with rosaries at the club, grace is countercultural, and one of the little-known selling points of early Christianity was that it would free you from the shackles of astrology.

Referenced:

Pope Leo’s Encyclical Letter Magnifica Humanitas

Peter Thiel’s essay for First Things

Jack Hanson’s Harper’s article: “Radical Reformation”

The first half of every episode of CBT is free wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to become a subscriber and hear the second half, please go to www.patreon.com/criticalbabetheory. Thank you for your support xo

The Democrats claim to be the “moral” party—that’s why they abandoned Platner. But is a party that facilitated the genocide in Gaza, allowed Ted Kennedy to serve in the Senate for 47 years after killing a girl, and is led by Nancy Pelosi—who clearly engages in insider trading—really the party that can demand their candidates be pure? An argument with political strategist and former Congressional staffer Matt Landini about what the Democrats mean when they say they’re the party of morality—and if they have what it takes to win.

Also discussed: grievance politics works, “do we want hot candidates or do we want good guy candidates?”, bootstrap Dems, anti-Canadian immigration, crisis comms & posting through the pain, Francesca rereads Machiavelli, the gayest beach anywhere ever, real talk about SA, “one senate seat does not the republic make,” DSA works in NYC but not in the heartland, Dems being a big tent means they have a lot of constituents to please, “pedophilia is a bipartisan issue” and the greatest question of all: what is the calculus of moral culpability?

Fact check: Troy Jackson did start his political career as a Republican. And here’s the best accounting of who funds AIPAC, many of whom have ties to the state of Israel: https://www.trackaipac.com/donors

The first half of every episode of CBT is free wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to become a subscriber and hear the second half, please go to www.patreon.com/criticalbabetheory. Thank you for your support xo

Murtaza Hussain, senior reporter at Drop Site News, comes on the show to talk about the war in Iran. But (of course) we end up talking about Israel—and how they’re scrambling to keep war in the Middle East going at any cost.

Nota bene: this was taped on July 3rd. Since then the ceasefire between the US and Iran—in so much as there was one—has collapsed.

Also discussed: when the goal is the creation of chaos, ethnic religion, draining down the bank of moral capital, the strength of a diasporic people is that they’re not all concentrated in one place, moving from offshore balancing to Israeli hegemony, don’t forget the evangelical component, underestimating the continuity of Persian civilization, the state of Israel as pastiche, “you’re into the Abrahamic or you’re not,” TM-ing ideas, how Mamdani doesn’t ever have a cunt-y moment, how the institutional memory of the Catholic Church puts everything in perspective, suppressing the student protests is suppressing future elites at their most impressionable moment, “Israel is trying to race to the end of history,” using Gaza as a verb, and the real question: is Iran coming out on top here?

The first half of every episode of CBT is free wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to become a subscriber and hear the second half, please go to www.patreon.com/criticalbabetheory. Thank you for your support xo