In this episode, Brett docks the conversation, asking what love looks like under patriarchy—and why so many men are, well, mid.

Nicole and Brett unpack how capitalism, masculinity, and social expectation shape the ways we love, labor, and stay. They talk about the pandemic’s impact on intimacy, the loneliness of settling, and why so many cultural narratives end at the chase but skip the realities of a relationship. The conversation explores emotional imbalance, accountability, and the tension between comfort and fulfillment. It’s a grounded and candid reflection on love as work, patriarchy as constraint, and what it means to build relationships that nurture our individual freedoms rather than limit them.

Show Notes

Brett’s Notes

• Love Actually (2003)

• bell hooks, All About Love: New Visions (2000)

• Marriage Story (2019)

• Annie Hall (1977)
  

Nicole’s Notes

• Moulin Rouge! (2001)

• The Materialists (2025, forthcoming)

• Hitch (2005)

• Pride & Prejudice (2005)

• Gone Girl (2014)

The Doc to Dock Podcast is produced by Dr. Nicole Mayberry and Dr. Brett Goldberg. Original music written and composed by Matt Bogdanow. Podcast artwork designed and illustrated by André Gonzalez.

For more or find us on https://linktr.ee/doctodockpod and follow the show at @doctodockpod on Instagram and YouTube.