Culturally Determined

Magdalene Taylor, a senior editor at Playboy Magazine who writes about sexuality and culture, talks about whether we are finally sick of dating apps, whether AI will change social interactions, the forces encouraging men and women to hate each other, the decline of the manosphere, and Trump's strange performance of masculinity.Recorded January 20, 2026LINKSMagdalene's newsletter, "Many Such Cases"https://www.sexual-culture.com/Aryeh and Magdalene's 2021 conversationhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/juggalos-simps-and-cat-guys-with-magdalene-taylor/id981282353?i=1000517814150NYT on a woman who fell in love with a chatbothttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/technology/ai-boyfriend-chatgpt.htmlMagdalene's piece, "Do Men Even Like Women Anymore?"https://www.sexual-culture.com/p/do-men-even-like-women-anymoreMagdalene's piece, "Do Women Even Like Men Anymore?"https://www.sexual-culture.com/p/do-women-even-like-men-anymorePuck on young men and Trumphttps://puck.news/why-young-men-are-souring-on-trump/Follow @magdajtaylorFollow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

Adam Gurri, editor-in-chief and cofounder of the website Liberal Currents, discusses his recent piece about the fight against Trump titled "We Are Going to Win." Recorded January 6, 2025LINKSLiberal Currentshttps://www.liberalcurrents.com/Adam's piece, "We Are Going to Win"https://www.liberalcurrents.com/we-are-going-to-win/Adam's piece, "Impeach and Remove the Bastards"https://www.liberalcurrents.com/impeach-and-remove-the-bastards/Reporting on Stephen Miller ordering more ICE arrestshttps://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/3425297/stephen-miller-eviscerated-ice-officials-deportation-numbers/Adam on "The Reconstruction Papers"https://www.liberalcurrents.com/a-preview-of-a-project-well-pursue-if-fully-funded/Follow Adam on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/adamgurri.liberalcurrents.comFollow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

Leigh talks about her new novel, a modern gothic with a satirical edge about an unemployed Millennial journalist who becomes the manager of a hype house for Gen Z content creators — one of whom goes missing. Aryeh and Leigh also discuss whether the internet is bad now.Recorded September 3, 2025LINKSLeigh's new novel, "If You're Seeing This, It's Meant for You"https://www.amazon.com/Youre-Seeing-This-Its-Meant/dp/0593983645Profile of TikTok star William Whitehttps://www.inverse.com/input/culture/will-white-tiktok-fandom-gen-x-middle-age-women-drama/ampJia Tolentino's review of Elizabeth Gilbert's new bookhttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/09/01/all-the-way-to-the-river-love-loss-and-liberation-elizabeth-gilbert-book-reviewLeigh's Substack, "Attention Economy"https://leighstein.substack.com/Follow Leigh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leighstein/Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

Gina Tron discusses "Suspect," her recent memoir about her childhood growing up as an outsider in a small Vermont town and the bad teenage joke that led everyone to think she was planning to be a school shooter.Recorded Feb 20, 2025Follow Culturally Determined (still) on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSGina's book,"Suspect"https://www.ginatron.net/suspect/Gina's websitehttps://www.ginatron.netFollow Gina on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ginatron.bsky.socialFollow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

Aryeh and Phoebe discuss Bluesky, the newly popular Twitter alternative—and how Phoebe's mild critique of the site went mega-viral. Aryeh explains why he finally, finally quit Twitter. Is Bluesky for anti-Trump social media "refugees," or a retirement home for posting addicts? And are people on there actually nice?Recorded December 20, 2024Follow Culturally Determined (still) on Twitter @CulturallyDetLINKSPhoebe's piece, "The problem with Bluesky: It won’t broaden our horizons"https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-problem-with-bluesky-it-wont-broaden-our-horizons/Aryeh and Phoebe's May 2023 episode about Twitterhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/twitter-taught-us-it-was-okay-to-be-weird-with-phoebe/id981282353?i=1000611578059Montreal man dies after leaving hospital following six-hour waithttps://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article612894.htmlPhoebe's piece, "Does this book read as too parochial—or too ‘Zionist’? The pitfalls of Writing While Jewish"https://thecjn.ca/opinion/zibby-vs-philip/Waikiki Wanda says Bluesky is hospice for postershttps://bsky.app/profile/wanda.bsky.social/post/3lcmbzupslk2vPhoebe's Substackhttps://phoebemaltzbovy.substack.com/Feminine Chaos podcasthttps://femchaospod.substack.com/Bonjour Chai podcasthttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bonjour-chai/id1555600279Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.socialFollow Phoebe on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/phoebebovy.bsky.social

Aryeh talks with writer Hannah Gold about her reported essay in Harper's on the literary festival celebrating Philip Roth's 90th birthday, which was held in Newark, New Jersey last year.Recorded December 5, 2023Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDetLINKSHannah's piece, "Your Mind’s in the Hands of Everything: Letting Go of Philip Roth"https://harpers.org/archive/2023/12/philip-roth-newark-your-minds-in-the-hands-of-everything/Aryeh's interview with Laura Marsh on Blake Bailey's Roth biographyhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/culturally-determined/id981282353?i=1000519264087Follow @togglecoatFollow @aryehcw.bsky.social

Aryeh talks to Kiki Freedman, the co-founder and CEO of Hey Jane, the leading virtual reproductive and sexual health care clinic.Recorded July 16, 2024Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDetLINKSHey Jane websitehttps://heyjane.com/KFF on the Comstock Act and abortionhttps://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/the-comstock-act-implications-for-abortion-care-nationwide/Follow @kgfreedmanFollow @HeyJaneHealthFollow @AryehCW

Daniel discusses his recent Harper's cover story, "The Life and Death of Hollywood," which focuses on the economics of entertainment as private equity and streaming have changed the industry.Recorded May 24, 2024Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDetLINKSDaniel's piece, "The Life and Death of Hollywood"https://harpers.org/archive/2024/05/the-life-and-death-of-hollywood-daniel-bessner/Max Read on the piecehttps://maxread.substack.com/p/one-weird-trick-for-fixing-hollywood-6f0Sean Clements's podcast, "Subtitles On"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/subtitles-on-with-sean-clements/id1694805292Daniel's podcast, "American Prestige"https://www.americanprestigepod.com/Follow @dbessnerFollow @AryehCW