Critical Babe Theory

Molly Crabapple, author of the NY Times bestseller Here Where We Live Is Our Country, comes on the show to discuss her book on the Bund—the revolutionary Jewish socialists in the former Russian Empire—and what their successes and failures can teach us about the left today.

Also discussed: Zionist fragility, what America does to its immigrant kids, how everyone saying they feel “unsafe” destroys dialogue, the sexy socialist alternative to the Olympics, the Jewish population in Poland went from 3.3 million before WWII to around 7000 today, the chicest Wall Street Journal denunciation, the recent (alarming) far-right leaders elected to office in Germany, a Jewish majority state always was predicated on ethnic cleansing, Francesca’s theory about the biblical Philistines, and as Ben-Gurion said: if the US had opened its doors after WWII to Holocaust survivors, Israel wouldn’t haven’t had enough Jewish people to found a state.

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

Political strategist and Lincoln Project co-founder Reed Galen comes on the show to explain why both the Democrats and Republicans are bleeding supporters; nearly half of Americans now consider themselves independent. We discuss how the Democrats don’t keep their promises to working people, because the donor class—not the base—is calling the shots.

Also discussed: Reed explains how the Lincoln Project tormented Trump during Covid, Francesca as a militant child atheist, why the American right harnessed the Tea Party while the left crushed Occupy Wall Street, what’s more American than Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”?, how the affordability crisis is radicalizing college-educated young people and rural conservatives alike, “Stalin was a quippy guy,” why establishment consultants are trying to rein in insurgent candidates like Maine's Troy Jackson, and how Reed’s nonpartisan work through Civic Forum aims to give everyday Americans a political home that neither party offers.

Find more of Reed’s writings on his substack The Home Front

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

Writer and cradle Catholic Jack Hanson (author of the Harper's cover story "Holy War" and the newsletter “Phantom Heresy”) joins host Francesca Root-Dodson to break down liberation theology: a "preferential option for the poor" built on the idea that God is most present among the marginalized, the church should stand in solidarity with common workers (rather than the elites), and that faith and justice aren't separate projects—they’re one and the same.

Also discussed: Jack explains why the American left needs to stop treating pro-life belief as a punchline, how Archbishop Romero was gunned down mid-Mass for putting liberation theology into practice, why woke politics became a scapegoat for the Democrats' deeper failures, and how Catholic labor movements prove that religion and radical politics were never mutually exclusive.

Jack’s talk Magnifica: Pope Leo and the Church in the 21st Century with Matthew Clemente at the Sheen Center September 30th at 7pm

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

#LiberationTheology #Catholicism #AmericanLeft #WokePolitics #Democrats #FaithAndPolitics #HarpersMagazine #CriticalBabyTheory #PoliticalPodcast #JDVance #Trump

Artist and self-described peace influencer Lucia Ribisi (@lucia4peace) joins host Francesca Root-Dodson to break down her philosophy of hot girl environmentalism—an eco-bimbo manifesto built on the idea that sustainability, empathy and passion for the planet are hot, that dreams do come true, pleasure is primary, and that peace is possible (if you're willing to fight for it).

Also discussed: Lucia tells us how to embrace the sensual side of nature, why she thinks the "personal carbon footprint" is a guilt trip invented by Big Oil, that Greta Thunberg can't be the only face of climate activism, and how icons like Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton prove that glamour and activism aren't mutually exclusive.

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

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