In Bed With The Right

Latest Episodes:

Episode 106 -- Spousal Rape and the Rideout Case Nov 11, 2025

Show notes

In this episode, writer Sarah Weinman walks Moira and Adrian through the story of the 1978 case Oregon v. Rideout and how spousal rape became a crime in the US. Weinman's book about the case -- Without Consent -- is out now. A moving, upsetting story about how the judicial system keeps pace (or doesn't) with legislation; how media shape how we think about social progress; and how that progress can come from strange places. PLEASE NOTE: This one comes with basically all the trigger and content warnings.

Episode 104 -- Project 1933, Part VIII: October 1 - October 31 Nov 04, 2025

Show notes

On the episode we mention our LIVE SHOW: if you're interested in joining us in San Francisco on November 20, tickets can be purchased here.

A selection of books we consulted for or referred to in this episode:

Adam Tooze, The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy

Albrecht Ritschl, "Deficit Spending in the Nazi Recovery, 1933-1938"

Götz Aly, Hitler's Beneficiaries: Plunder, Racial War, and the Nazi Welfare State

Christiane Kuller, Bürokratie und Verbrechen: Antisemitische Finanzpolitik und Verwaltungspraxis im nationalsozialistischen Deutschland

Episode 102 -- Powers of Horror (Film), Part 2 Oct 28, 2025

Show notes

To get you ready for spooky season, here's In Bed with the Right with a second look at some classic horror films, asking: What's scary about gender? And what's gendered about fear in these movies? The second part of our "Powers of Horror (Film)" two-parter dives into two more classic 1970s horror, into changing workplaces and fairy tales, into gialli and mouths with mouths in them. Our focus is on 1977's Suspiria and 1979's Alien. Hope you enjoy!

Episode 101 -- Powers of Horror (Film), Part 1 Oct 21, 2025

Show notes

Just in time for spooky season, here's In Bed with the Right with a look at some classic horror films, asking: What's scary about gender? And what's gendered about fear in these movies? In keeping with the Halloween theme, we got way into this and watched way too many scary movies. And so we made a two parter. This first part dives into 1973's The Wicker Man and 1976's Carrie. The second part will be about Suspiria (1977) and Alien (1979).

Here are the texts we refer to in this episode:

Laura Mulvey, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema"

Carol Clover, Men, Women and Chainsaws (1992)

Julia Kristeva, Powers of Horror (1982)

David Sanjek, "Twilight of the Monsters: The English Horror Film 1968-1975"

Episode 100 -- Mailbag, Part 2 Oct 14, 2025

Show notes

You guys, IBWTR just hit 100 episodes! And we'll be honest, this milestone snuck up on us. We'll be celebrating this anniversary over the next few episodes -- including a deep dive into CBS News' new boss, another Wagner-show, and a Live Show in San Francisco! But for now we thought we'd kick off our festivities by tackling more questions from you, our amazing listeners! We ended up with a far-ranging conversation about #MeToo, cinema, bodies, hormones and Doing the Reading! Hope you enjoy! (Oh, and Adrian's Substack post on Tár can be found here.)

Episode 99 -- Fetal Personhood Oct 07, 2025

Show notes

Fetal personhood is one of those doctrines that have moved from the fringes of the conservative legal movement (and even from the fringes of right wing theology) to the center. While it is not clear how much support there is at the US Supreme Court for the idea that fetuses are people and have rights under the 14th Amendment, this once-obscure doctrine has been filtering into abortion and pregnancy criminalization since the Dobbs decision. In this episode, Moira walks Adrian through the strange history of this doctrine, and through its awful consequences for pregnant people or those who can become pregnant. (Content Warning: discussions of pregnancy loss and sexual violence)

Here is a list of the books we relied on in researching this episode -- all of these are very much worth your time:

Mary Ziegler, Persohood: The New Civil War Over Reproduction(2025)

Jennifer Holland, Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement (2020) (you can also watch a 2021 conversation between Adrian, Jennifer Holland and Melissa Murray here)

Leslie J. Reagan, When Abortion was a Crime (new edition 2022)

Michelle Goodwin, Policing the Womb(2022)

Lauren Berlant, The Queen of America Goes to Washington City (1997)

Pregnancy Justice, Pregnancy as a Crime: A Preliminary Report on the First Year After Dobbs

Episode 98 -- Project 1933, Part VII: September 1 - September 30 Sep 30, 2025

Show notes

A selection of books we consulted for or referred to in this episode:

Jürgen Trimborn, Leni Riefenstahl: A Life

Dagmar Herzog, Sex after Fascism

Kate Elswit, Watching Weimar Dance

Claudia Schmölders, Hitler's Face: The Biography of an Image

Susan Sontag, "Fascinating Fascism"

Adrian Daub, "Hannah, Can You Hear Me?"

Episode 96 -- Phyllis Schlafly, Part 2 Sep 23, 2025

Show notes

This is the second part of our epic deep dive into the life of Phyllis Schlafly -- the far-right firebrand who brought down an amendment and arguably helped transform a political party. In Part 2, Moira walks Adrian through Schlafly's attack on the Equal Rights Amendment, and how she pioneered a whole new style of politics to defeat what had been essentially a done deal -- or carried it into the mainstream, at any rate.

Here is a list of books we'll be referring to in both parts of this episode:

Andrea Dworkin, Right Wing Women

Jane J. Mansbridge, How We Lost the ERA

Marjorie J. Spruill, Divided We Stand

Donald T. Critchlow, Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism

Phyllis Schlafly, A Choice Not an Echo

Phyllis Schlafly, Strike from Space

Episode 94 -- Phyllis Schlafly, Part 1 Sep 16, 2025

Show notes

In this episode, Moira walks Adrian through the life and times of Phyllis Schlafly -- the far-right firebrand who brought down an amendment and arguably helped transform a political party. This first part charts Schlafly's path before she launched her crusade against the Equal Rights Amendment, focusing on: Paleoconservatism, America First, the John Birch Society, Cold Warriors, Goldwater Gilrls and space-based weaponry (for some reason).

Here is a list of books we'll be referring to in both parts of this episode:

Andrea Dworkin, Right Wing Women

Jane J. Mansbridge, How We Lost the ERA

Marjorie J. Spruill, Divided We Stand

Donald T. Critchlow, Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism

Phyllis Schlafly, A Choice Not an Echo

Phyllis Schlafly, Strike from Space

Episode 93 -- Project 1933, Part VI: August 1 - August 31 Sep 02, 2025

Show notes

For this episode of In Bed with the Right, Adrian and Moira return to the year 1933. They continue the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. Reminder: We're going month by month for these episodes. This sixth installment covers August 1 to August 31, 1933. Meaning: This is a summer episode. It finds many of the institutions the Nazis have subjugated on summer break, the ongoing processes of synchronization and Nazification either already completed or about to kick into high gear. So this is an episode about the little stuff, the summer things: what our bodies do as the institutions betray us, how external pressures create coalitions, but also open up fissures, how old identities disappear without anything quite ready to take their place. And of course: what happens to our sense of time at times of peril. It's an episode full of small, interpersonal dramas, nervousness, regret and fear for the future -- punctuated by sudden outbursts of state-sanctioned violence and political cruelty. It is, in other words, a perfect episode for the summer of 2025.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected