Feminine Chaos

Kat and Phoebe share stories about mushrooms (not that kind), and mushrooms (yes, that kind.) Then: an allegedly scandalous review of Brandon Taylor's new novel, and the ensuing literary brouhaha.

Links:

The infamous review!

https://slate.com/culture/2023/05/late-americans-brandon-taylor-twitter-novel-review.html

Brandon Taylor in the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/25/books/review/brandon-taylor-interview.html

More on The Late Americans: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671348/the-late-americans-by-brandon-taylor/

Anger over the review:

https://twitter.com/nameshiv/status/1661037581289803776

https://twitter.com/BigMeanInternet/status/1661015873728159746

https://twitter.com/shallowbrigade/status/1660684755828895744

https://twitter.com/LCvonHessen/status/1661379868800548866

https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/1661093017443287040

Other commentary: 

https://twitter.com/SonnyBunch/status/1661020086344503298

Brandon responds to the responses to the review:

https://twitter.com/blgtylr/status/1661710305758519299

With early access for premium subscribers! Kat and Phoebe discuss a New Yorker article about a party for the post-cancelled and the extremely normal responses to it from fellow journalists.

This Party Is Cancelled: https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/the-party-is-cancelled

Readers having a normal one:

https://twitter.com/jeffihaza/status/1659278954014945280

https://twitter.com/MikeIsaac/status/1658933551365234692

https://twitter.com/1followernodad/status/1658947976973398016

Jesse Singal on Dappergate:

With early access for premium subscribers! Kat and Phoebe discuss the death of a man on the New York City subway, and the discourse that ensued.

Links:

Freddie deBoer on fear:

Jamelle Bouie on some key facts:

https://twitter.com/jbouie/status/1655725142809387008

Elizabeth Spiers defends the honor of the subway:

https://twitter.com/espiers/status/1655548648875237376

Kat on the #MeToo angle: https://unherd.com/2023/05/what-kind-of-woman-rides-the-new-york-subway/

Phoebe on the Canadian angle: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-vigilante-injustice-cannot-be-the-answer-to-city-conflicts/

Kat and Phoebe discuss the pros and cons of the downstairs loo, the rise and fall of the momfluencer, and whether society will ever flush itself of the ritual privilege check.

Links:

Caitlin Moran’s toiletless existence: 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/64d060fe-d204-11ed-b1cd-5223fe349502

Phoebe on momfluencers:

https://unherd.com/2023/04/momfluencers-wont-absolve-your-mom-guilt/

Kat and Phoebe discuss a recent series of branding controversies, how protoinfluencer Julia Allison walked so Dylan Mulvaney could run, and whether we can get a toilet sponsorship for Phoebe's yard raccoon. 

Links:

Dylan Mulvaney on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dylanmulvaney

Dylan Mulvaney's tampon content:

Caroline McCarthy on Mulvaney's brand relationships:

https://twitter.com/caro/status/1645795995303956480

Julia Allison, explained: https://www.wired.com/2008/07/howto-allison/

The Nike Women and Bud Light brouhahas, explained:

https://nypost.com/2023/04/12/burn-bra-challenge-on-tiktok-over-dylan-mulvaney-nike-ads/

https://nypost.com/2023/04/11/bud-light-boycott-has-legs-as-sales-outlook-thrown-into-doubt/

https://www.vox.com/money/2023/4/12/23680135/bud-light-boycott-dylan-mulvaney-travis-tritt-trans

Snopes on Mulvaney and Tampax: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tampax-hires-trans-star-dylan-mulvaney/

Feminine Chaos on Tampax's previous branding imbroglio:

Kat and Phoebe discuss divisions of labor, poet finances, and the zombie discourse about reaction GIFs that makes us want to peel our faces off.

LINKS:

Anne Helen Petersen and the ongoing gospel of "men suck"

Maggie Smith (the poet, not the Dame) on viral poetry and divorce

Kat requests a cease-and-desist on digital blackface op-eds

Phoebe on husband discourse

Kat and Phoebe discuss the controversies we didn't mean to start, the Jewish tradwife philosopher polycules we shall not be participating in, and the fancy NYT real estate section stools we can't afford to sample.

LINKS:

Wait, is that price per stool?

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/07/realestate/georgetown-home-renovation.html

Kara Kennedy interviews Estee Williams, maker of husband’s sandwiches: https://thespectator.com/life/confessions-tiktok-tradwife-estee-williams/

Phoebe on the Jewish angle: https://thecjn.ca/perspectives/tradition-tradition-phoebe-maltz-bovy-in-search-of-a-jewish-tradwife/

Philosophical philanderess Agnes Callard: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/13/agnes-callard-profile-marriage-philosophy

Kat and Phoebe discuss the greatest genderfluid fashion heist of our time. Then: the bowdlerization of Roald Dahl, the controversial banning (or is it?) of pornography (or IS it?!) from school libraries, and the illustrated dildo heard round the world. 

LINKS:

Asyakhamsin brings the receipts:

Sam Brinton, they/them, deputy assistant secretary of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy from June to December 2022

Kat argues that all the problematic books should go in a bonfire: https://www.foxnews.com/video/6320888386112

Phoebe yes-ands and says it should be a really big bonfire: https://thecjn.ca/arts/james-and-the-unremarkably-sized-peach-phoebe-maltz-bovy-on-roald-dahl-censorship-and-antisemitism/

"And there is certainly nothing wrong with that":

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/18/roald-dahl-books-rewritten-to-remove-language-deemed-offensive

I am feel uncomfortable when we are not about me?

How a Debut Graphic Memoir Became the Most Banned Book in the Country: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/01/books/maia-kobabe-gender-queer-book-ban.html

Kat and Phoebe are joined by Leigh Stein to discuss why TikTok is the next big thing for books, why high-falutin’ literary folk are so loathe to join the platform, and why her essay about this made everybody Mad Online.

Links:

Leigh's essay at Lithub: https://lithub.com/booktok-is-good-actually-on-the-undersung-joys-of-a-vast-and-multifarious-platform/

The saga of Stone Maidens: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/02/19/stone-maidens-book-bestseller-daughter-tiktok/11251731002/

Kat and Phoebe discuss a viral incident of racism-or-is-it on the long prairie road to Canada, the socialist darling who was cancelled for flouting the Covidian Collective, and the blondes of TikTok who may be having more fun but who are not having the last word on blondness in the pages of the New York Times.

Links:

“Old Racist Karen” is not a song title but the news in Canada: https://www.blogto.com/travel/2023/01/racist-karen-westjet-flight-toronto-caught-typing-complaints-black-women/

Phoebe's essay about getting artisanal small-batch covid from a local craftsman:

Tressie McMillan Cottom vs blondes: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/19/opinion/the-enduring-invisible-power-of-blond.html