In Bed With The Right

Episode 49: The Second Annual Cursties, Part I Dec 17, 2024

2024's hottest awards show is THE SECOND ANNUAL CURSTIES. Conjured up by Adrian, Moira and special returning guest Michael Hobbes, this all-gay gabfest has everything. Rapid onset transphobia! How to divorce Matt Walsh! The White Lotus! That thing where a heterosexual is so heterosexual it ... seems kind of gay?

Stay tuned for the second half of this episode (and for another Episode Note referencing an SNL skit that's so old it can now legally apply for a learner's permit) next week!

Episode 47: Trans Kids Dec 10, 2024

Moira walks Adrian through the right wing fixation on trans kids and the way it is reshaping our politics. In early December, the US Supreme Court heard US v. Skrmetti, and is almost certain to uphold a Tennessee law banning most forms of gender-affirming care for minors. In 2016, a trans bathroom ban in North Carolina led to a nationwide outcry and boycotts. Eight years later, laws like Tennessee's SB1 have passed in a majority of US States, and the outcry is comparatively muted. What happened?

Episode 46: Live from City Lights Books it's THE CANCEL CULTURE PANIC Dec 03, 2024

Back in September, Adrian and Moira did an event at San Francisco's legendary City Lights Bookstore for an event launching Adrian's new book The Cancel Culture Panic: How an American Obsession went Global. It was a memorable, energized and often delightfully weird evening that we're thrilled to bring you (slightly edited) as a special episode of In Bed with the Right.

Episode 44: So You Want to be a Right-Wing Grifter... with Matt Bernstein Nov 26, 2024

As a special holiday treat, podcaster extraordinaire Matt Bernstein (A Bit Fruity) joins Moira and Adrian to talk about the right wing grift machine. It's a tough world out there, so here's your step by step guide to completely selling your soul for some sweet, sweet reactionary billionaire cash! Detours include: Candace Owens, Oli London, Riley Gaines, Chaya Raichik, and various Twinks for Tr**p.

Speaking of grifting: If you like the show, consider supporting it via its brand new Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/InBedWiththeRight! It may or may not also a perfect gift for the red-pilled anti-wokester in your life!

Episode 42: 2024 Election Debrief, Part I Nov 19, 2024

Moira and Adrian delve reluctantly into the horror, the horror -- aka the results of the 2024 presidential election. We didn't realize it when we recorded it, but this will be first installment in a series. This episode touches on split ticket voting, post-election anti-wokeness debates, the "tech bro" narrative.

In the episode, we also mention Kate Manne's Substack essay "Trump's Election is a Triumph of Rape Culture" -- and we point folks to the new IBWTR Patreon! Like and subscribe, as they say!

Episode 41: George Gilder and the Birth of Right-Wing Silicon Valley Nov 12, 2024

Stanford researcher Becca Lewis talks Moira and Adrian through the life and influence of George Gilder, who started out as a standard anti-feminist and then reinvented himself as an evangelist for Silicon Valley, supply-side economics ... and also anti-feminism.

A Very Special Announcement from In Bed With the Right Nov 10, 2024

In Bed With the Right has an announcement: the show is coming to Patreon! You can sign up for extra content (2 episodes per month!) here! But our main feed (meaning episodes wherever you have been listening to us) will not be affected -- in fact, there's a new episode coming Tuesday. But if you'd like to hear Moira and Adrian talk their way through some weirder, wilder, more niche topics -- such as conservative fixations on Precious Bodily Fluids --, well, then check out the Patreon!

Episode 39: The Meme Wars with Morgan Sung Nov 05, 2024

Journalist Morgan Sung (who hosts the terrific podcast Close All Tabs ) talks Moira and Adrian through the memes, stan armies, influencers, hatewatchers, bots and trolls of the 2024 election. How has digital campaigning changed since 2016? How do the platforms influence our politics?

Episode 38: The 2024 Election Oct 31, 2024

Hey, did you know there's an election coming up? And that gender might have something to do with the outcome? In this special emergency episode (recorded on Oct. 30, 2024), Moira and Adrian talk about how gender is influencing the final stages of the campaign, as well as how gender influences how the campaign is being metabolized by the media. They also watch a clip shared by Elon Musk, so you don't have to.

Episode 37: We Need to Talk About Usha Oct 29, 2024

Moira and Adrian talk with New York writer and CNN contributor Irin Carmon about Usha Vance and the liberal-coded women in the orbit of the various MAGA men.

Episode 36: Jordan Carroll on Science Fiction and the Alt Right Oct 22, 2024

Jordan Carroll, author of the new book Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right (which you can buy here) walks Moira and Adrian through the connections between science fiction fandom, gender conservatism and the Alt Right. Space marines, aliens, Bene Gesserit, and insane God Emperors: this one has them all!

Episode 35: Talia Lavin on the Christian Right's View of Marriage/Parenting Oct 14, 2024

Author Talia Lavin (whose Wild Faithis out on 10/15/24) talks Moira and Adrian through the Christian Right's takeover of American life, through objects that are unlikely to appear on your bookshelf, but that nevertheless shape the way many Americans live and what policies they have to live with. From the parenting manuals like James Dobson's Dare to Discipline to Stormy Omartian's marriage guide Power of a Praying Wife, Talia lays out how an image of the family and child-rearing built on subservience, authoritarianism and often enough violence has become part and parcel of our American landscape. (A big trigger warning on domestic, physical and sexual abuse.)

Episode 34: The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Oct 09, 2024

Moira and Adrian grab their Stanley cup and identical hair extensions to follow guest Kate Kelly into the reality show phenomenon "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" -- an episode all about the gender politics of the LDS Church, mixed orientation marriages, and, for some reason, "soft swinging".

Episode 33: The VP Debate Oct 03, 2024

It's debate night in America, and you know what that means: MASCULINITY THUNDERDOME! In this special emergency episode, Moira and Adrian discuss the different styles of masculinity on display at the vice presidential debate. You can find Moira's article on this debate here.

Episode 32: In-Vitro Fertilization Oct 01, 2024

Moira talks Adrian through the latest fissure in the war on reproductive freedom: in-vitro fertilzation! A fixation of conservative Protestants and the Catholic Church alike, a stand-in for changing family structures, queer families -- but also a serious losing issue for the Republican Party! Come for a discussion of ensoulment, noctural emissions, and stay for St. Brigid, Saint and abortion provider!

Episode 31: Pro-Natalism Aug 27, 2024

In this episode of In Bed With The Right, Moira walks Adrian through the long, creepy history of pro-natalism, and its resurgence amongst conservatives. It is textbook 'weird'!

Episode 30: The Olympic Games (of Gender Panic) Aug 13, 2024

In honor of the Olympic Games in Paris and of the way conservatives seem intent to freak out about them almost daily, Adrian walks Moira through the various ginned-up controversies: drag queens recreating paintings! Female boxers boxing! People either conforming or not conforming to their gender!

Episode 29: Harris Jul 25, 2024

In another emergency episode in a veritable era of emergencies, Adrian and Moira discuss the gender politics surrounding Vice President Kamala Harris's presidential campaign, her potential VP picks, coconut trees, and those darn Democratic cat ladies á la J.D. Vance.

Episode 28: Richard Wagner: Act III Jul 23, 2024

Alex Ross, music critic for the New Yorker and author of the book ‘Wagnerism’ joins Moira and Adrian to talk about Siegfried, the Wagner clan, and Wagner’s complicated and multifaceted legacy.

Episode 27: Biden Jul 18, 2024

Moira and Adrian talk about Joe Biden's campaign, about the age question and the fallout from the calamitous presidential debate. NOTE: We recorded this before the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, which is why we don't talk about it here.

Episode 26: J.D. Vance with Gabe Winant Jul 16, 2024

In a special emergency episode, Moira and Adrian talk with historian Gabe Winant about J.D. Vance, Donald Trump's pick for vice president. Gender, class and the political ascendancy of creep masculinity.

Episode 25: Richard Wagner: Act II Jun 18, 2024

Adrian and Moira return for another episode on the life and works of Richard Wagner, investigating the radical political/philosophical influences that led him to some of the good, the bad, and the downright racist tropes in his operas.

Episode 24: LIVE SHOW Anita Bryant with Sarah Marshall of You’re Wrong About Jun 04, 2024

For this live show, Moira and Adrian blinking step into the big world and come face to face with other human beings! Specifically Sarah Marshall of the amazing “You’re Wrong About” podcast, and an audience of 60 lovely people on Stanford’s campus. Together they discuss the life and times of Anita Bryant, OG anti-gay crusader—and why we’re still living in an America she helped shape.

Episode 23: RFK Jr. May 28, 2024

Moira walks Adrian through the strange, tragic, enraging life of RFK Jr.—vaccine skeptic, presidential candidate, and literal brain worm survivor. Along the way, your hosts touch on Kennedy masculinity, American aristocracy, and the fine art of styling yourself as an outsider while the whole world can't stop deferring to you.

Episode 22: Richard Wagner: Act I May 14, 2024

Adrian leads Moira through the life and career of composer Richard Wagner—a not-so-great man with some of world history's worst fans. Aesthetics, politics, revolutionary zeal that curdles into something far more ominous! This one is—as befits its source material—epic!

Episode 21: "The Campus" in the American Imagination with Samuel Catlin May 04, 2024

Samuel Catlin (University at Buffalo) joins Moira and Adrian to talk about "The Campus" -- about the peculiar mental image Americans seem to have, how little it comports with reality, and the uncanny power of that it nevertheless exercises.

You can read Samuel's essay "The Campus Does Not Exist" over at Parapraxis magazine: https://www.parapraxismagazine.com/articles/the-campus-does-not-exist

You can read Moira Weigel's article "Hating Theory" (which we refer to in the episode) here: https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/21427

And you can pre-order Adrian's book "The Cancel Culture Panic" (which he's heavily cribbing from in this ep) here: https://www.amazon.com/Cancel-Culture-Panic-American-Obsession/dp/1503640841/

Episode 20: Conservatism's Daddy Issues Apr 30, 2024

Moira and Adrian speak to political scientist Jeff Dudas about his 2017 book Raised Right: Fatherhood in Modern American Conservatism. The conversation touches on campus panics, Clarence Thomas's many father figures, and neoconservative failsons.

Episode 19: Judith Butler's Who's Afraid of Gender? Apr 23, 2024

In this episode, Moira and Adrian delve into Judith Butler's latest book -- about the worldwide movement against "gender" and the role it plays in right-wing politics.

Episode 18: Trad Wives Apr 09, 2024

Moira guides Adrian through the strange, troubling world of tradwifery -- the latest trend in butter-churning, vaguely religious gender conservatism that's taken over your Instagram feed. Come for Adrian's immediate discomfort, stay for Moira's grand unifying theory that links Phyllis Schlafly, the #Girlbosses of the 2010s and unnervingly peppy women currently hand-weaving their childrens' sweaters for social media clout!

Episode 17: Otto Weininger, or Gender and Anti-Semitism Apr 04, 2024

Adrian takes Moira into the wild, wildly misogynist and deeply depressing world of Otto Weininger (1880-1903). A posterchild for all manner of fin-de-siècle neuroses, to say nothing for massive quantities of self-hatred, Weininger may be a footnote today -- but he was deeply and weirdly influential in his own time.

Episode 16: Kate Manne on Anti-Fatness Mar 04, 2024

Philosopher Kate Manne (Down Girl, Entitled) joins Moira and Adrian to talk about the politics of anti-fatness – where fatphobia came from historically, how it intersects with racism, sexism and transphobia, and how interpreting bodies according to moralizing principles remains a right-wing idea that succeeds even in the leftiest of spaces.

Episode 15: Taylor Swift Feb 13, 2024

Follow Adrian following Moira following various conservative pundits down what is already shaping up to be one of 2024 weirder rabbit holes: the Great Taylor Swift Conspiracy! What it says about electoral politics in 2024, shifting media ecosystems and the long history of masculinity-mysticism.

Episode 14: Prisoner of Sex – Norman Mailer vs. Kate Millett and Women Jan 09, 2024

In her 1970 book “Sexual Politics” feminist critic Kate Millett devoted 20 pages to a critique of novelist and public intellectual Norman Mailer. In this episode Moira guides Adrian through Mailer’s very cool, very level-headed response: a 250 page screed against Millett in particular and feminism in general.

Episode 13: The Cursties with Michael Hobbes Dec 22, 2023

2023 was a year rich in truly cursed discourses, In Bed With the Right has already analyzed many of them. In this episode — our first annual CURSTIES — your able hosts (with guest Michael Hobbes) analyze a few that have fallen through the cracks, and vote for the most cursed discourse of the year!

Episode 12: The Morehouse Man with Saida Grundy Dec 16, 2023

Founded in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, Morehouse College in Atlanta remains one of the most elite HBCUs. As Prof. Saida Grundy argues, the all-male college also sheds light on gender conservatism, Black masculinity and the politics of respectability.

Episode 11: Homocons Dec 04, 2023

Together with their guest, historian Samuel Hueneke, Moira and Adrian delve into the history of the homocons. Gay (and sometimes, very sometimes, lesbian) conservatives. Toggling between the beginnings of the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, the gay marriage fracas of the early aughts and today's anti-trans panics, they ask: is this an invariant of queer public life? Or is there a history and tradition here?

Episode 10: Nietzsche and his Heirs Nov 27, 2023

Moira and Adrian continue their earlier discussion of the thought and influence of Friedrich Nietzsche — morality and the critique of metaphysics, antisemitism and anti-feminism.

Episode 9: Marriage Boosters with Rebecca Traister Nov 15, 2023

Every few years, it seems, a set of academics and pundits discovers marriage as a panacea for a host of social ills — poverty, unhappiness, social cohesion, research assistants. Moira, Adrian and their guest, New York Magazine writer Rebecca Traister, are less-than-excited to report it’s back and just as threadbare as ever. But this time — since this is the 2020s — with a dollop of “this is something the woke left doesn’t want us to talk about”. A long conversation about feminism, capitalism, anti-feminism, the neocons, data and vibes.

Episode 8: Nietzsche Oct 16, 2023

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900) is one of the 19th century's most versatile, counterintuitive and ... well, misogynistic thinkers. Moira and Adrian talk about the legacy of his thought in later movements, both feminist and anti-feminist, and about a specific style of irony and contrarianism that Nietzsche pioneered and that seems to thrive in the internet age -- often enough in league with reactionary gender politics.

Episode 7: The “Transsexual Empire” with Susan Stryker Sep 25, 2023

Often considered the ur-text of trans-exclusionary feminism, Janice Raymond’s “The Transsexual Empire” came out in 1979, but rehearses a bunch of tropes you could just as well get off JK Rowling’s Twitter feed. In their conversation with historian Susan Stryker, Moira and Adrian explore the very specific milieu from which Raymond and her book emerged — a radical lesbian feminist theology deeply disappointed with the Catholic Church.

Episode 6: Perverts, Creeps and Priests! Sep 11, 2023

It's Moira and Adrian's version of a classic Cher-song: Perverts, Creeps and Priests! This episode takes deep dives into three texts that illuminate contemporary "crisis-of-masculinity"-debates: those that invoke the Bible, those that invoke science, and those that invoke only their own proudly flaunted neuroses. Where are these right-wing discourses about masculinity in agreement, where are they in conflict? Everyone agrees men are in crisis -- who gets to decide what exactly the crisis is?

Episode 5: Crisis of Masculinity Aug 24, 2023

Moira leads Adrian through the endless discourse about the "crisis of masculinity" -- where it comes from, what has motivated it in the past, and why we're having it again. Together, the two of them take a long tour de dudes: from Silicon Valley to Mike Pence's bedroom, from the Old West to Jordan Peterson's couch. What is the unique state of emergency that men find themselves in? Is it real? And why is it -- once again -- supposed to be feminism's fault?

Episode 4: Fag Hag with Moira and Adrian Aug 07, 2023

Ever since the 1960s, the figure of the “fag hag” — a (mostly) straight woman hanging around gay men — has been a mainstay in and around queer spaces. As a woman who refused heterosexuality she aroused the ire of social conservatives, but also critiques from within the community. In this episode, Moira and Adrian investigate: why did conservatives hate the hag? How radical was this figure really? And is she still a thing?

Episode 3: Susan Sontag with Merve Emre Jul 24, 2023

Susan Sontag (1933- 2004) was a writer, critic and activist, one who isn’t thought of (and didn’t think of herself) as conservative. In this episode, your hosts talk with Prof. Merve Emre to think through Sontag’s writing on gender and on the women’s movement. How do Sontag’s leeriness about identity and identification, her ambivalent attitudes to bodies, sex and beauty, and her elitism land in today’s political climate and landscape?

Episode 2: Midge Decter with Matt Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell Jul 10, 2023

Midge Decter (1927-2022) has often been called the "grandmother of neoconservatism" -- hers was in some ways a pretty classic trajectory, from New Deal liberalism to profound unease with the social movements of the 1960s, to the center of the conservative movement and Republican politics. But unlike most of her fellow neocons, Midge Decter always framed her trajectory quite openly in terms of gender: repulsion from a certain kind of women's liberation, and attraction to a certain kind of masculinity. In this episode, Moira and Adrian delve into the weird, cantankerous world of Midge Decter with the co-hosts of Know Your Enemy, Matt Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell.

Episode 1: Gay Marriage with Moira and Adrian Jul 10, 2023

For their inaugural episode, Moira and Adrian delve into right-wing (ahem) contributions to the gay marriage debate. Ten years ago the Supreme Court decided Windsor v. US and Hollingsworth v. Perry, which together spelled the beginning of the end of the gay marriage debate (gay marriage would be established nationwide in Obergefell v. Hodges two years later). But did the issue really go away? How did the terms of the debate back then on the right influence today's moral panics, how do they motivate a far-right Supreme Court?

In Bed With The Right - Trailer! Jul 10, 2023

Get a sneak-peek at the all new, upcoming show In Bed With The Right hosted by Adrian Daub and Moira Donegan.

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