The Podcast I Never Imagined Making
Introducing Conspiracy, She Wrote!! 🕳️🐇
Conspiracy theories captivate public discourse like never before. Just this year, we’ve bounced from a Taylor Swift Super Bowl psyop to the spring of #WhereIsKate, followed by Kamala’s brat coup summer. And as I’ve discovered over the past four years, to understand today’s conspiracy-pilled pop culture and politics, you’ve gotta look for the women.
Enter my new(ish) podcast Conspiracy, She Wrote!!
It’s a show I never would’ve made had it not been for a fateful conversation in a baby pool, which you can hear all about in episode 2. My professional obsession is figuring out why things are the way they are when it comes to women, gender and intersectional feminism. What could that possibly have to do with conspiracy theories? A lot, it turns out.
For one, conspiracy theories are often narratives of power and control—hence the recurring cabals, puppet masters and binaries of good versus evil. And something that’s struck me in my research and reporting is how often women and gendered frameworks of power drive those narratives and who participates. That also helps explains why misogyny, sexism and misogynoir fuels them. As I recently discussed in depth with the brilliant Anne Helen Petersen on
, it’s not that women are more or less susceptible to engaging with conspiracies; it’s how constructs—girlhood, womanhood, motherhood, etc—and their side effects cultivate conditions for conspiracy theories to (temporarily) soothe what ails.But these gendered dynamics and the spider web of women’s roles in Western conspiracy culture as fabulists and peddlers on the one hand and shadowy villains and evildoers on the other, has gone largely overlooked until now. So, on Conspiracy, She Wrote, I’m talking to scholars, reporters and misinformation experts to unravel it. Because whether we’re talking about Pastel QAnon, celebrity pregnancy truthers or climate change deniers, even the most absurd fictions reflect important realities about what we choose—and refuse—to believe and why.
Grab your red string and follow along. You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and everywhere else you find podcasts. Oh, and did I mention this is a 100% independently produced show? That means I could use all the follows and five-star reviews you can find in your heart to bestow and THANK YOU!!