Radical Feminism · Audio
Gender Troubles
Gender Troubles is a podcast hosted by Emma Austin and Eva Espenshade, dedicated to deconstructing feminist academic discourse and reexamining gender theory and cultural phenomena from a critical leftist perspective. The show covers pornography platformization, sex wars, abortion rights, ethical consumption, and feminist canonical text rereading, emphasizing knowledge democratization and critical thinking.
Listening notes
“Gender Troubles” is a podcast that examines feminist theory through a critical leftist lens, hosted by Emma and Eva. The show excels at making complex theoretical debates accessible while maintaining intellectual rigor and political engagement.
The podcast tackles pornography platformization and anti-sex work policy critique through interviews with Maggie MacDonald from Toronto Sex Work Action Project, analyzing how digital capitalism transforms sexual labor while examining policy responses that often harm rather than protect sex workers. Their exploration of “sex wars” revisits internal feminist debates over pornography and sexual politics through rereading canonical texts by Gayle Rubin, Andrea Dworkin, and Catharine MacKinnon.
Abortion rights receive comprehensive treatment through their response to the Roe v. Wade decision leak, providing both immediate political analysis and resource organization for listeners. Their collaboration with Pullback podcast discussing “Porn Work” examines ethical consumption and capitalist sexual labor critique, questioning how consumption choices relate to broader structural change.
The show’s fall feminist reading lists feature cultural recommendations including Andrea Lawlor, Jenny Odell, and Michaela Coel, demonstrating how feminist theory intersects with contemporary cultural production. Their approach consistently emphasizes knowledge democratization, making academic feminist discourse accessible beyond university settings.
Suitable for audiences interested in radical feminism, capitalism critique, anti-sexual violence advocacy, and media representation critique, particularly communities interested in gender politics and academic discourse deconstruction. The show’s theory-dense, critically sharp style makes it an important platform for feminist knowledge democratization, bridging academic feminist theory with broader political movements and cultural conversations.
Explore another medium
- Books
King Kong Theory
Virginie Despentes
Virginie Despentes' 'King Kong Theory' is a punk-rock manifesto of modern feminism. Part memoir, part critical theory, it is a raw, angry, and undeniably powerful examination of gender, sexuality, and violence. Despentes writes from the margins—as a former sex worker, a rape survivor, and a punk artist—challenging the sanitized, respectable versions of feminism to embrace the 'ugly', the 'unfuckable', and the dangerous.
Radical Feminism · Anti-Sexual Violence - Films
The Substance
Coralie Fargeat
A body horror film directed by Coralie Fargeat, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. Following washed-up actress Elisabeth who, after being fired due to ageism, uses a mysterious drug to create a younger, perfect version of herself. Through extreme body horror aesthetics, the film deeply explores crucial issues including ageism, beauty standards, body politics, female self-hatred, and patriarchal control over women's bodies, becoming a representative work of contemporary feminist horror cinema.
Capitalism Critique · Media Representation Critique
Continue through the issues
Related theme · No. 07
Why must she be likeable?
Beginning with Unlikeable Female Characters, we revisit women who are angry, desirous, and unwilling to comply. Who sets the terms of likability—and when does rebellion reproduce someone else’s oppression?
Media Representation Critique
Related theme · No. 09
Who is allowed to desire?
Beginning with The Right to Sex, we ask whose desire is treated as natural and whose requires moral permission. Power shapes desire, but desire gives nobody a claim to another person’s body. Attraction, love, solitude and care have no single answer. Across sexual hierarchies, erotic writing, asexuality and situated experiences, we make room for exploration, uncertainty, refusal and a change of mind.
Gender Politics
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