New Discourses Bullets, Ep. 94

Queer Theory is one of the most destructive ideas ever to have been loosed onto our society from the halls of academia, as we have documented in the recent book The Queering of the American Child (https://amzn.to/3K2HovQ ). But do you know the definition of "queer"? Do you know that it's not possible to be queer, only to act queer? Do you know it has almost nothing to do with gay people? Do you know it's virtually guaranteed by definition to encourage pedophilia? All this and more is available in the original definition of "queer" as it is used in Queer Theory. Join host James Lindsay in this episode of New Discourses Bullets, where he reads and explains the original definition of "queer" from David Halperin's 1995 book Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography (https://amzn.to/4bmHaM2 ).

New book! The Queering of the American Child: https://queeringbook.com/

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© 2024 New Discourses. All rights reserved. #NewDiscourses #JamesLindsay #Queer

The Political Definition Of Queer

Dr. Michelle Berry is a historian and professor with dual appointments in the History and Gender & Women's Studies Departments at the University of Arizona. She is involved with the Public History Collaborative and passionate about creating engaging and accessible pathways for everyone to experience history in the making. Patricia Schwartz speaks with Dr. Berry about her critical frameworks, history as a practice, and the importance of understanding how more-than-human actors shape our histories. This interview kicks off a series of episodes focusing on historical forces, policies and movements that have shaped Southern Arizona today.

Michelle Berry: Practicing History from Diverse Perspectives

On sale January 28th, 2025

Breasts, clitoris, hymen, and womb. Across history, these body parts have told women who they are and what they should do. Although knowledge of each part has changed through time, none of them tells a simple story. The way they work and in some cases even their existence have been debated. They can be seen as powerful or as disgusting, as relevant only to reproduction or as sources of sexual pleasure.

In Immaculate Forms, classicist and historian Helen King explores the symbiotic relationship between religion and medicine and their twinned history of gatekeeping over these key organs that have been used to define “woman,” illustrating how conceptions of women’s bodies have owed more to imagination and myth than to observation and science. Throughout history, the way we understand the body has always been debated, and it is still shaped by human intervention and read according to cultural interpretations.

Astute and engaging, Immaculate Forms is for everyone who has wondered what history has to say about today’s raging debates over the human body and who is “really” female.

Immaculate Forms By Helen King Read By Elaine Claxton (Audiobook Excerpt)

Andrew and Vieves’ IRL anniversary inspires a show about the time-worn trope of forgotten anniversaries and the products that save the day. Plus, Indian ads might prove more baffling than Canada’s, and Jon Hamm steals the show as a chaos agent. 

Here are links to the ads we talked about on this week’s show: 

1-800-Flowers - Forgotten Anniversary
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/tXbE/1-800-flowers-com-gotten-anniversary

Jewlr - Anniversary
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/fxwn/jewlr-anniversary-song-by-richard-farrell 

Budweiser - Anniversary Card
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx8IJ0BwJ4M 

Jimmy Johns - Anniversary
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/7gOK/jimmy-johns-anniversary 

Esurance - Happy Anniversary (No Video)
https://commercialwith.weebly.com/why-is-the-wife-mad-esurance-anniversary-commercial.html 

Seagram's Imperial Blue Super Hits Music CDs - Anniversary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RId_UXL3rI8 

Seagrams Imperial Blue Superhits Music CDs 
https://www.amazon.in/Seagrams-Imperial-Blue-Superhits-Music/dp/B081KWGWSG 

iPhone - Forgotten Birthday Slideshow
https://youtu.be/A0BXZhdDqZM?si=ZuCf7Fb6K8n_N9Vq 

Skip the Dishes - I’m Canadian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv2HHac7fgs 

Skip the Dishes - Traffic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqMk3Ty3hYQ 

K-Mart - Sweaters
https://www.tiktok.com/@tikittytalk/video/7429489952708185387

#479  Forget-Me-Plots

On sale March 4th, 2025

A fun and fascinating social history of the famed Katharine Gibbs School, which from the 1910s to the 1960s, trained women for executive secretary positions but surreptitiously was instilling the self-confidence and strategic know-how necessary for them to claim equality, power, and authority in the wider world. 
 
It’s a safe bet that most of the secretaries on the TV series Mad Men would have attended the Katharine Gibbs School in New York City. The iconic institution was in its heyday in the 1950 and '60s synonymous with supplying secretaries—always properly attired in heels, ladylike hats, and white gloves—to male executives. In Expect Great Things! Vanda Krefft turns the notion of a “Gibbs girl” on its head, showing us that while the school was getting women who could type 90 words per minute into the C-suite, its more subversive mission was to get them out of the secretarial pool to assume positions of power on the other side of the desk. And Gibbs graduates did just that, tackling the sexism of the era and paving the way for 21st-century women to succeed in any profession.

Katharine Gibbs was one her own success stories. She started her school when, as a 46-year-old widow, she was left near-broke with two young sons. The school taught typing and stenography but Gibbs also hired accomplished professors from elite colleges to teach academic subjects—it was a well-rounded education that produced early feminists ready to tackle the sexism of their era. "Expect great things!" was her motto and her philosophy. Within a decade she’d opened schools in three elegant locations. With nostalgic period photographs throughout, Expect Great Things! takes us back to Katie Gibbs’s life and tells the stories of the women she influenced. We meet Gibbs graduates who worked for the Walt Disney, Marilyn Monroe, and Robert F. Kennedy. Others forged pathfinding roles as an Emmy-winning television star, a women’s rights advisor to four U.S. presidents, a writer of Wonder Woman comic books, the head of the Women’s Marines, a best-selling young adult author, and a U.S. Ambassador.

For readers of The Barbizon and Come Fly the World, Expect Great Things! reveals the seismic impact the Katharine Gibbs school had on the American workplace—and on women’s opportunities today.

Expect Great Things! By Vanda Krefft Read by Eliza Foss (Audiobook Excerpt)

बचपन में जिन माँ-बाप की बातें पत्थर की लकीर लगती थीं, बड़े होकर उन्हीं से असहमति होने लगती है। विचारों की यह खाई अकादमिक दुनिया से जुड़े लोगों के लिए और गहरी हो जाती है, जब उनके सिद्धांत घर की हकीकत से टकराते हैं।
“दिल की आवाज़ें” एपिसोड में एक माँ अपने बेटे—जो जेंडर स्टडीज के प्रोफेसर हैं—से अपने जीवन के संघर्ष साझा करती हैं। वह बताती हैं कि समाज की पहचान केवल किताबों से नहीं, बल्कि जीवन के अनुभवों से भी बनती है। माँ की बातों में एक हल्का-सा उलाहना भी है—“तुम पढ़कर जेंडर सिखाते हो, हम जीकर सीखते हैं। शायद मेरी ज़िंदगी के नोट्स तुम्हारी क्लासरूम में काम आएं।”
बड़ा होने के साथ-साथ हम अपने माता-पिता को सुनना कम कर देते हैं, जिससे वे धीरे-धीरे चुप हो जाते हैं। लेकिन इस एपिसोड में, एक माँ यह चुप्पी तोड़ती हैं—प्यार, फिक्र और समझ के साथ।
सुनिए “दिल की आवाज़ें”, “लिखे जो खत मुझे” के एपिसोड 3 में, सिर्फ़ रेडियो अज़ीम प्रेमजी यूनिवर्सिटी पर।
____________
In Dil Ki Awaazein (Sounds of the Heart), a mother shares her struggles with her son, a gender studies professor, offering a personal perspective on societal identity. She highlights the gap between academic theories and lived realities, reminding him, “You study gender; we women live it.”
As children grow, they often stop listening to their parents, silencing them unintentionally. In this poignant episode, the mother breaks that silence—chiding yet understanding. She urges her son to keep learning, just as she continues to evolve.
Listen to Episode 3 of Likhe Jo Khat Mujhe on Radio Azim Premji University.
CREDITS
Akshay Ramuhalli, Bijoy Venugopal, Bruce Lee Mani, Gorveck Thokchom, Narayan Krishnaswamy, Prashant Vasudevan, Sananda Dasgupta, Seema Seth, Shraddha Gautam, Supriya Joshi, and Velu Shankar
Mother voiced by M Joshi Himani 

दिल की आवाज़ें | Sounds of the Heart | EP 3 of Likhe Jo Khat Mujhe | Radio Azim Premji University

Sally Freedman, author of "Get Your T*ts Out for the Lads" on the sidelines of the 2024 Manly Writers' Festival. The book was shortlisted for the Football Book of the Year 2024, as part of the 2024 Sports Book Awards. 

Manly WF 2024: Sally Freedman - "Get Your T*ts Out for the Lads"

On sale May 6th, 2025

In the tradition of Three Women and Hidden Valley Road, international reporter and radio producer Abigail Leonard's page-turning work blends reporting, research and history as it follows four women—Anna from Finland, Tsukasa from Japan, Sarah from the U.S., and Chelsea from Kenya—through the first year of motherhood.

Tsukasa in Japan grapples with memories of a difficult childhood as she tries to chart a new, healthier path for her own daughter while balancing onerous cultural expectations. Chelsea in Kenya endures a devastating loss just before she gives birth and finds that without the traditional support of previous generations, motherhood can be grueling – but it can also provide emotional healing. Anna in Finland navigates a complicated relationship with her child’s father, but the country’s robust family policies allow her to still pursue the kind of parenthood that she envisioned. Sarah in the US leaves the religious community that raised her in order to create a less traditional family of her own only to find she’s largely confronting motherhood alone.
 
Utterly moving and propulsively readable from page one, Leonard interweaves these stories with a critically researched exploration of how parental support programs evolved in each country—and why some provide more help than others. As nations around the world debate programs like paid leave, universal daycare, reproductive healthcare, and family tax incentives, Four Mothers offers a uniquely intimate, moving portrait of what those policies mean for parents on the ground—and considers what modern families really want.

Listen Here

Four Mothers By Abigail Leonard, Read By Eleanor Caudill (Audiobook Excerpt)

Gleichstellungsarbeit und Genderstudies erleben antifeministische Kampagnen. Kleine Anfragen in Landtagen zeigen, welche politischen Angriffe durch die extreme Rechte noch kommen können. Was können  Universitäten und andere Institutionen tun? Darüber spricht Anneliese Niehoff von der Universität Bremen im Podcast Hinhören&Handeln

Über den Podcast:

Wenn eine Regierungsbeteiligung von extremen Rechten droht, muss man versuchen, das zu verhindern und sich gleichzeitig darauf vorbereiten. Die gute Nachricht: Man kann sich vorbereiten, sich bereitmachen. Schon jetzt sind rechte Angriffe und menschenfeindliche, autoritäre Politik Alltag. Damit müssen viele umgehen und auch dafür kann man sich bereitmachen. Bei Hinhören & Handeln sprechen wir mit Expert*innen über ihre Analysen und Handlungsempfehlungen.

Ein Podcast der Fachstelle "Bildungsallianzen gegen rechte Ideologien" der Heinrich-Böll-Landesstiftungen
Konzept und Gespräche: Hannah Eitel
Schnitt: Richard Pauly
Jingle: Richard Pauly mit Material von Antje Meichsner

Shownotes:
Über Anneliese Niehoff: https://www.uni-bremen.de/universitaet/profil/geschichte-1/50-jahre/programm/projekte/ichbinunibremen/anneliese-niehoff
https://bukof.de/inhalte/antifeminismus-und-hate-speech/ 
https://taz.de/AfD-hetzt-gegen-Hochschulen/!6116589/ 
https://scicomm-support.de 
„Profs gegen rechts“: https://www.uni-bremen.de/universitaet/hochschulkommunikation-und-marketing/aktuelle-meldungen/detailansicht/gefaehrdete-demokratie-ringvorlesung-an-der-universitaet-bremen
Scicomm-Support für Wissenschaftler:innen: https://scicomm-support.de
https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/genderverbot-bayern-100.html 
https://www.gleichberechtigt.org/sachsen-will-gleichstellungsbeauftragte-abschaffen 
Antrag der AfD-Fraktion Sachsen-Anhalt https://padoka.landtag.sachsen-anhalt.de/files/drs/wp8/drs/d5572aan.pdf 
Podcast und Themenseite: https://weiterdenken.de/de/hinhoeren-handeln

Wie Hochschulen sich für antifeministische Politik bereit machen können

A scholarly audio analysis examining Goddess by Raquel Reyes  as a foundational work of early trans literature. This recording situates the memoir within historical, psychological, and literary contexts, with particular attention to self-authorship, gender beyond dysphoria, and the absence of shame as a narrative force. For full audio and transcript, please visit goddess-raquel-reyes.carrd.co

goddess-raquel-reyes-revolutionary-work-trans-literature

You are listening to Radio Azim Premji University, our campus radio station. Azim Premji University was founded in 2010 with the vision to contribute to the realisation of a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society. On our channel, you can tune in to a variety of engrossing shows on themes ranging from democracy and culture, science and mathematics, and more. You can also experience a slice of campus life. If you are a seeking student, an arts aficionado, curious about science, or just passionate about India, subscribe and start listening.

Credits:
Akshay Ramuhalli, Bijoy Venugopal, Bruce Lee Mani, Narayan Krishnaswamy, Prashant Vasudevan, Sananda Dasgupta, Seema Seth, Shraddha Gautam, Supriya Joshi, and Velu Shankar

Grammy-winning audiobook publisher. Authors include James Patterson, David Baldacci, and Michael Connelly. Earbuds encouraged. Follow us on Twitter at @HachetteAudio.

Hosts Andrew and Vieves talk TV commercials with their listeners, the Ad Council, in this weekly podcast. As the slogan says, they've got "hot takes on commercial breaks." Find them at afterthesemessagesshow@gmail.com

Welcome to Fair Play Publishing, the home of really good books on Football, Fiction and Life, as well as the Football Writers Festival and the Manly Writers Festival.

The Journal of the Southwest Radio Hour brings the voices of researchers, educators, activists and community members working to better understand the region’s past and envision possible new futures.

Pursuing the light of objective truth in subjective darkness.

Weiterdenken ist der sächsische Teil im Verbund der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftungen. Wir sind Ideenwerkstatt und Engagementzentrale, wir sind Debattenplattform und Impulsgeberin.

New tracks tagged #gender studies