Feminine Chaos: The Feed

Kat and Phoebe discuss the controversy over a "vitriolic, violent" Twitter thread that resulted in a YA author's cancellation (no, not the worms guy), before answering burning questions from listeners about who's causing all this drama, the impact of young adult fiction shenanigans on the culture at large, and the craziest MeTooing Kat ever witnessed in her years on the YA beat.Links:The inaugural article on all things YA Twitter: The Toxic Drama on YA TwitterKat in Refinery29: How The OwnVoices Movement Is Changing YA LiteratureAnother rundown of the Jessica Cluess/ Lorena German beef: What is #DisruptTexts?The Sarah Dessen controversy: Sarah Dessen & Brooke Nelson Twitter Controversy, ExplainedOne book blogger's writeup on the Tristina Wright debacle:

Kat and Phoebe discuss the jailbird-journalist love affair between reviled "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli, and former crime reporter Christie Smythe. (Production note/apology: Kat's mic went wonky at about 30 minutes in, this slightly tinny result is the best we could do on short notice.)Links:The original Elle storyChristie Smythe's Twitter accountFollowup interview with Smythe at ElleThe Cut story on Shkreli's harassment of female journalists

Kat and Phoebe are joined by Jessa Crispin, literary critic and culture writer, to talk about dewy ingenues, the young-adultification of literature, and why that one guy on Book Twitter was screaming about worms.Links:Jessa on age gaps in the Boston Review: Pathologizing DesireJessa's essay on the Underground Railroad vs Normal People, both for childrenDavid Bowles' epic "disgusting worms" Twitter meltdownKat's 2017 (but still relevant) primer for understanding YA's internecine conflicts: The Toxic Drama on YA TwitterJessa's website

Phoebe and Kat discuss Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, now cancelled for intellectual pick-up artistry. Is putting your best foot forward a violation of consent? Will the stigma against duplicity-in-dating usher in a new era of unwashed, farting suitors who start every relationship by confessing their worst sins? Then, the ladies talk about the liberal feminists who are forcing women everywhere to endure lousy sex, and the murder mysteries that soothe the soul in the midst of dreary quarantine.Links:The Obama-as-predator take that broke TwitterRefinery29: We Need To Know Who The “Ethereal Bisexual” Woman Was In Barack Obama’s MemoirLouise Perry at Unherd: Is casual sex immoral?Phoebe at The Globe and Mail: Surviving the pandemic with murder mysteries

Kat and Phoebe discuss the cultural appropriation controversy surrounding a Toronto-based broth bar, and whether having your lunch made fun of in fourth grade is a source of permanent trauma. Then: is this equal pay controversy between two LA Times food critics as simple as it seems? (Spoiler: Nope, it never is.)Links:Phoebe on the cultural appropriation of broth: No Soup For You. Can you even culturally appropriate… | by Phoebe Maltz Bovy | Nov, 2020LA Times Responds to Accusation of Paying Discrimination