In Retrospect with Susie Banikarim and Jessica Bennett

Get ready for more In Retrospect! From the dramatic dethroning of the first Black Miss America to the enduring legacy of four caftan loving Golden Girls, we’ve put together a whole new batch of episodes about the retro pop culture we all love – and love to pick apart. So dig up your leg warmers and break out the Aquanet, season 2 drops next week!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was an era bookended by Anita Hill and Monica Lewinsky. It gave us MTV’s “boxers or briefs,” popularized the MILF, and spawned the first-ever “sex tape.” But what did 90s culture really teach us about love and sex? Jess is joined by sex educator and bestselling author Emily Nagoski, whose new book, Come Together, is out this month.  

Guests:

• Emily Nagoski, sex educator and bestselling author 

Further reading:

• She wrote a bestseller about sex. Then her own sex life fell apart. (NY Times)
• Come Together by Emily Nagoski (her new book)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’re looking for a little comfort this holiday season, look no further than a classic Hallmark Christmas movie. There you’ll find an uncomplicated world of quaint small towns covered in snow, magical family moments with hot cocoa and single girls looking for love in all the right places. Why are these films so popular despite their somewhat retrograde ideas about what everybody wants? In this special holiday episode, Susie will explain to Jess why she watches these sweet, simple movies despite - or maybe because of - how silly they often seem.

In Retrospect is taking a little break for the holidays. Thank you for listening to our first season and look for new episodes starting Feb. 2, 2024!

FOR MORE:

• How Hallmark Took Over Cable Television (The New Yorker, 2019)
• Nobody Told Hallmark Channel That Cable Is Dead (New York Magazine, 2023)
• Christmas Under Wraps Trailer (Hallmark Channel/YouTube, 2014)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why didn’t she fight back? Why did she stay? For as long as abuse and sexual violence have existed, there have been questions about how victims are “supposed” to act in their aftermath. In our last episode, we explored the public vilification of Robin Givens but there was more to say. This week, Susie and Jess chart our national obsession with “perfect” victims — and why that obsession persists. Plus, Jess talks about  E. Jean Carroll’s assault case against Donald Trump, which she covered for the Times.

FOR MORE: 

• Why Didn’t She Scream? And Other Questions Not to Ask a Rape Accuser (New York Times, 2023)
• What People Misunderstand About Rape (New York Times, 2023)
• Robin Givens on Domestic Violence: 'Why I Stayed' (Time, 2014)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robin Givens’ honesty about her violent marriage to Mike Tyson led to a nasty backlash. In the aftermath of that explosive interview with Barbara Walters, Givens was portrayed as an evil gold digger who, as the tabloids put it, had become the “most hated woman in America.” But Givens endured, filing for divorce and rebuilding her life despite the vitriol. In this episode, Susie and Jess examine that cruel public reaction, what it teaches us about America’s misunderstanding of domestic violence at that time and the role that race played in it all.

Guest:

• Salamishah Tillet, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and professor of Africana Studies and Creative Writing at Rutgers University

FOR MORE:

• ‘Boomerang’ at 30: Think of It as the Robin Givens Rom-Com (New York Times, 2022)
• Robin Givens on Domestic Violence: 'Why I Stayed' (Time, 2014)
• Ms. Magazine Cover: Battered Wives (1976)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1988, the actress Robin Givens and her husband Mike Tyson, the heavyweight champion of the world, gave a television interview to Barbara Walters addressing persistent tabloid rumors that their marriage was violent. In a stunningly honest moment, Givens admitted, with Tyson by her side, that she was tormented by her husband's physical abuse. In this episode, Susie and Jess revisit that interview, the vicious public response and what it revealed about what it means to be a victim in America.

FOR MORE:

• Mike Tyson And Robin Givens Are Interviewed Amid Rumors (ABC News)
• Robin's Sad Song (People, 1988)
• The Woman America Loves To Hate (Sun Sentinel, 1988)
• Through the Storm: Robin Givens (Essence, 2020)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The men in the office called them “Dollies,” and they had had enough. In 1970, 46 women who were not allowed to be writers sued Newsweek magazine for gender discrimination – paving the way for generations of women journalists to follow. Jess reflects on discovering that story when she was a young staffer at Newsweek four decades later, and how it led to her first book, Feminist Fight Club, which was inspired by those women. Plus, Susie asks what’s changed for women reporters today. 

FOR MORE: 

• Are We There Yet? Forty Years Later, Revisiting a Landmark Sex Discrimination Suit (Jessica Bennett, Jesse Ellison and Sarah Ball, Newsweek, 2012)
• The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace (Book by Lynn Povich)
• Good Girls Revolt (Amazon TV series based on the book)
• Feminist Fight Club: A Survival Manual for a Sexist Workplace (Book by Jessica Bennett)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Part 1, Jess and Susie dissected how a salacious Newsweek report about women’s likelihood of getting married sparked a national panic. Here they share their own views on marriage – and unpack what we’d make of that silly story today. (If you haven’t listened to Pt 1, we recommend starting there!)

Guests:

• Sharon Attia, associate producer for IN RETROSPECT and resident young millennial

FOR MORE:

• Revisiting Newsweek’s ‘More Likely To Be Killed By a Terrorist Than Marry’ Story (The Atlantic, 2016)
• ‘I Don’t’: The Case Against Marriage (Jessica Bennett and Jesse Ellison, Newsweek, 2010)
• Modern Love: Missing the Love Boat (Jessica Bennett, NY Times, 2012)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was a 1986 cover story with a claim that spread like wildfire: A single woman over 40 was “more likely to be killed by a terrorist” than to get married. Jess and Susie unravel the origin of that salacious report — later retracted — and dissect how such a line went from reporter’s notebook to reference point in films such as “Sleepless in Seattle” and “When Harry Met Sally.” Plus: How that Newsweek story inspired Susan Faludi to write her blockbuster feminist classic, Backlash.

Guests:

• E. Jean Carroll, journalist, longtime Elle advice columnist and author of “What Do We Need Men For?” 
• Susan Douglas, professor of media studies at the University of Michigan and author of “Enlightened Sexism”

FOR MORE:

• Single, Female, and Desperate No More (NY Times, 2006)
• Revisiting Newsweek’s ‘More Likely To Be Killed By a Terrorist’ Story (The Atlantic, 2016)
• Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi (1991)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A recent Republican debate stirred up an age-old discussion about high heels: Who is allowed to wear them, how high they can be, and what they can tell us about gender politics in 2023. In this episode, Jess & Susie unravel the long history of high-heeled shoes (originally designed for men!) and how they’ve been used as a political insult and weapon.

FOR MORE:

• Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, and Those Stilettos (Jessica Bennett, The New York Times)
• Penis Politics, a podcast from The Waves (Slate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.