Raising Questions

This episode is fantastic! Austin is so kind and vulnerable, and the amount that he cares about his friend really shines through. He details fixing a friendship after a friend breakup, reconciling with himself what he'd done wrong, and appreciating the way it's changed his friendship. He's so introspective and focused on personal growth, and it was such a treat to discuss friend breakups with him. You'll also catch a glimpse of his very sweet dog.

My guest this week is wonderful. Kattoo tells a really juicy story about a friend breakup with a college friend, who she later lived with as an adult (for the second time). We talk friend breakups when there's a large group of friends, friends who grow apart as their lives diverge, how friend breakups are different from romantic breakups (for better & for worse(, and what we can learn from them. Kattoo is so funny, but she's also not afraid to be sincere and vulnerable about the challenges of friend breakups, and I really valued her honesty. Thanks for listening!

Since I know you'll love Kattoo, I recommend you check out her new podcast, One Pod, a recap of Netflix's live action adaptation of One Piece, and you can find her on Twitter/IG at queenkattoo

Welcome to Season 3 of Raising Questions! In this season, I'm investigating friendship—and to start with, friend breakups.

My guest this week is FANTASTIC. I asked people to shares stories of friend breakups, and Aaron delivered. His breakup happened many years ago, but the details are so specific and vivid that you will feel like they're happening to you. It involves a faked robbery, rotted food, a sudden move out, and a friendship that grew apart—first slowly, then all at once. Aaron is so easy to talk to and witty; I absolutely loved his story. I also learned a lot about Canadian culture, and you will too, unless you're Canadian, in which case, thanks for listening.

Enjoy!

This week, brilliant cartoonist & satirist Jason Adam Katzenstein joins me to discuss his own masculinity—something he tries not to think about. We discuss what distinguishes someone as a man, why it's hard for masculinity not to be toxic, and what he learned from his college friends. Jason is so funny and thoughtful, but he's also open to having his mind changed, which I really appreciated. He's the creator of my all-time favorite cartoon, which he discuss at length.

For more from Jason, find him on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j.a.k._/?hl=en

This episode is so fun! I invited Blythe Roberson on because a) she's one of my favorite writers b) I consider her an expert on men. She's the author of How to Date Men When You Hate Men, which means she has a very well-informed opinion on how women can turn men into the best versions of themselves (for everyone's benefit, not least of all, those of us who date them). We discuss how to help men embrace positive masculinity, odd reactions she's gotten to her writing, her great American road trip, and why Harry Styles song about going down on women makes him a positive masculine role model. Blythe is so smart and funny; you're going to love this episode.

When you've finished listening, buy both of her books:

America the Beautiful?

How to Date Men When You Hate Men

and find her on Instagram here. 

This episode is enlightening. Comedian Will Hines does something impressive—he presents a very clear, specific example of what's harder about being a man, and he explains exactly what men are useful for. In many ways, this is exactly what I'm seeking with this whole season, and he manages to do it in a way that's 0% obnoxious. He talks about learning from his mistakes, being called out, and the trouble with men who identify as "nice guys." We also discuss Larry David and why he should be a liberal positive masculine icon. Will is both wise & hilarious, you're going to love this ep! 

Find him on Instagram @williebhines

This episode is fantastic! Andrew is so open with me about his career in construction, why he loves it, and how fatherhood changed his views on masculinity. He discusses the need to make the construction industry less toxically masculine, while also acknowledging that he's able to succeed in a variety of work environments—which means he has a distinct role to play in helping improve the industry. Towards the end, we get into some much deeper conversations about spirituality, faith, and of course, ayahuasca. Andrew is so fun to chat with—you'll love this interview!

This week's guest is wonderful. Nick comes on the show to discuss how cancer took away certain parts of his masculinity, and how that changed the way he thought about it. We talk personal growth, fatherhood, journalism, how to unlearn the messages of toxic masculinity, and why women are better listeners (we all know they are...but why?). Nick is so open and vulnerable in discussing his regrets and mistakes he'd made. I was really touched by his honesty, and I feel so grateful that he came on the show. Thanks for listening, and enjoy!

This episode is so fun! Brilliant comedian Django Gold joins me to talk all things masculinity, including how his hippie upbringing influenced his ideas about masculinity, why he doesn't think there's anything hard about being a man, and why Mr. Rogers is an iconic masculine role model. We also discuss Django's new comedy special, which is dropping in September, and all the problems modernity creates.

Find him on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/django or on his website here: http://www.djangogold.com/ to get his special as soon as it drops! 

This week's episode was amazing! The brilliant Miriam Clayton-Erickson comes on to discuss "expansive masculinity"—the topic of her PhD thesis. She tells me about how traditional ideas of masculinity are limiting to men, and when we expand the idea, we can create a type of masculinty that works better for everyone. We discuss how an unequal distribution of housework got her interested in the topic, what the most interesting findings in her research were, what parts of the conversation about masculinity need to change, and why men who don't want kids should consider vasectomies. Miriam's an amazing communicator; I learned a ton in this interview, and I'm very grateful she came on.

Miriam is a well of knowledge, and as any good academic does, she cited many sources. Here are a few of them:

Miriam's thesis: https://www.proquest.com/openview/53cc88ad468c22fac240f188f11ac47d/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y

Article on men's engagement with communal roles: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1088868314564789

Anne-Marie Slaughter's Atlantic article: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-cant-have-it-all/309020/

The history of home economics: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/04/books/review/secret-history-of-home-economics-danielle-dreilinger.html

Research into restrictive masculinity: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1471-6402.t01-1-00066

The hilarious and very insightful Dan Rosen joins me to discuss all things positive masculinity. He prepared a lot for this interview, and it shows—he's very knowledgable and offers some great reading recommendations. We cover a lot, including: how younger men don't have good positive influences, who those influences could be, the effects of testosterone, and why he doesn't often think about being a man. Unrelated to positive masculinity, I also inquire about what men think about immediately before sex, because it occured to me that I'd never...asked. And this season is about me asking men to describe their experiences.

Dan is a brilliant stand up comedian, filmmaker, and cartoonist. 

You can find him here on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedanrosen?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Or TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cannibalmilkshake?lang=en

This episode is so fun! Camille & I talk all things positive masculinity, from her childhood in Atlanta, the intersection of racism & misogyny at the University of Alabama (and other places), her Fulbright Scholarship in Turkey, and her career as a screenwriter in Los Angeles. We discuss the current strike (and as she predicted, the actors did go on strike to join the writers), and what men in Hollywood need to do to get their act together. Camille does have hope for positive masculinity, and we talk about who a good positive masculine role model could be. Camille is hilarious; you'll love this episode.

She's also insanely prolific. You can find all her work here: https://www.camillecorbett.com/

Her amazing pilot Crystal & Chelsea here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QV4UP80fEA&feature=youtu.be

And on every social media platform @TheWittyGirl (which is how I first came across her brilliance)

This episode, I have the absolute pleasure of talking to Mayor Joe Signorello of Roselle Park, NJ! We cover how he got into politics, what both the left & the right (but mostly the right) get wrong about positive masculinity, what positive masculinity means to him, why men with cats do poorly on dating apps, and why Captain America is a masculine icon. We also discuss his campaign for Senate, which has morphed into a very exciting campaign for Congress—and why America needs its male political leaders to think critically about masculinity. Joe brings such a compassionate and thoughtful perspective to the topic of positive masculinity.

You can find the Mayor on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/JoeSignorello3

And learn more about his campaign to be NJ-7's Congressperson here: https://twitter.com/signorellofornj

This is an incredible episode for the history buffs or anyone who's just curious how we came to decide that marriage was the right way to form a family. Dr. Coontz is the Director of Research and Public Education for the Council on Contemporary Familie, emeritus faculty of History and Family Studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, and the author of five books on gender, family, and history. I found her work through Marriage, A History: How Love Conquered Marriage, which was cited in the US Supreme Court decision on marriage equality. 

We cover so much ground—we literally get from the paleolithic era to now—but a few highlights are why we’ve developed views about what a “traditional” marriage looks like, why those views are often wrong, and what we can learn from the past about how to rethink marriage in the future. I was particularly captivated by the discussion about how a traditional 1950s view of marriage a) only existed for about a decade and b) was also bad for men, not just women. 

This interview blew my mind, and I hope it does yours, too. Thanks for listening, and enjoy!

Marriage, a History: https://www.amazon.com/Marriage-History-How-Love-Conquered/dp/014303667X

All of Dr. Coontz's work: https://www.stephaniecoontz.com/books

Essay on Season 2 of Raising Questions: https://ginnyhogan.substack.com/p/raising-questions-the-rebrand

I'm so excited to close out this season with We Are Childfree founder Zoe Noble! She came on the pod to discuss her amazing storytelling community of childfree people all over the world. Zoe is a photographer by trade, and after a ride with a particularly intrusive cab driver, she realized the world needed to see what a life without children actually looks like—so she started taking photos. In this interview, we discuss being childfree in different cultures, misconceptions about being childfree, the role of ambivalence in the childfree community, the power of stories, and more. Zoe is amazing, you're going to love this interview - enjoy!

Zoe: https://www.zoenoble.com/

We Are Childfree: https://wearechildfree.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RaisingQuestions

This episode is amazing! Laura details her journey to not becoming a mother, including how she knew at a young age that she wanted to be childfree, what effect her Midwestern upbringing had on the decision, how happy she is to not have children, and what society expects of women without children. We discuss how the pressure her husband faces pales in comparison to hers, and why she often sugarcoats her choice. She also tells a horrific story of a doctor forcing her into a more invasive procedure to protect her fertility. Laura is warm and bubbly, and I really loved talking to her. Thanks for listening!

This is the first episode I ever recorded! Miraculously salvaged by my brilliant editor Brendan Weathers, as I didn't know anything about audio recording at the time. Josh told me about his path to becoming a father. He discussed all the concerns he had ahead of time, and why he decided to go ahead with it anyway. We discuss overthinking, the service industry, doing your 20s in your 30s, waiting for signs from the universe, and why women shouldn't write off DJs! (Well, he says he's a DJ, and that leads me to conclude women shouldn't write them off). Also, because this is my first recording, you'll get to see how my interview style has changed. Or hasn't. Maybe I'm not getting any better. Either way, enjoy!

https://www.patreon.com/RaisingQuestions

This week's ep is a double header! The hilarious duo Noel & Maude join me to discuss how to fit a baby into a creative lifestyle. Noel is a hilarious comedy friend (and frequent collaborator) of mine, and Maude is a new friend who's worked in TV, podcasts, ads, and more. We discuss fears about how having a child might inhibit our crafts, how our childhoods affects our thoughts on starting a family, whether or not women need to achieve their goals before having children, what we're looking forward to about aging, and more. Enjoy!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RaisingQuestions

This episode is amazing! Andrea Bartz, one of my favorite thriller writers, joins me to discuss being childfree, coming out at age 34, how our culture/media tells women what lives to want, and how scary it is to upend that heteronormative status quo. We discuss her new thriller, The Spare Room, and how Andrea's life inspired the story. We also talk about how badly reviewers react to work that lets women not have children— everything from Sex and the City to Andrea's own work.

I LOVED the Spare Room, and fortunately, it's out TUESDAY JUNE 20th, which may well before after you read these show notes. Links to everything here:

• The Spare Room: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/645864/the-spare-room-by-andrea-bartz/
• Andrea's other work: https://www.andreabartz.com/
• Sex and the City and Us by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong (author of several books we mentioned): https://www.amazon.com/Sex-City-Us-Single-Changed/dp/1508264155
• You Should Have Told Me by Leah Konen: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/709709/you-should-have-told-me-by-leah-konen/
   
• The Nap Ministry: https://thenapministry.com/