Culture Study Podcast

Anne Helen Petersen
Culture Study Podcast

A podcast about the culture that surrounds you — with Anne Helen Petersen and a bunch of very smart co-hosts culturestudypod.substack.com

  1. 3 DAYS AGO

    Why is Montana So in Love With Itself?

    Montana’s unofficial tagline is “the last best place” — which should tell you something about the way the state thinks about itself. It’s a political frankenstein, incredibly beautiful, increasingly filled with tourists, and a twelve-hour drive from one corner of the state to the other. Oh, and just over a million people total live there. Including Chris La Tray, who’s just finishing his tenure as Montana Poet Laureate, and one of my favorite thinkers on what makes Montana so easy to fall in love with — but not always a very easy place to live. In this episode, we talk about our favorite, most contradictory, and most hostile parts of Montana culture, from exorbitant housing prices to what it’s like to live in a place that falls in love with its own area code. If your vision of Montana culture comes from Yellowstone, this is a great corrective… that will also make you want a huckleberry milkshake. Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode! Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoc.com/culture to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today Blissy is offering 60 nights risk-free PLUS an additional 30% off when you shop at Blissy.com/CULTUREPOD Get 40% off Beam’s best-selling Dream Powder at shopbeam.com/CULTURE and use code CULTURE at checkout Switch your cleaning products to Blueland and get 15% off your first order by going to Blueland.com/culture Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com
    1h 3m

  2. 9 JUL

    Why Is Katy Perry So Embarrassing?

    At some point in late April, near the apex of the memes and jokes and ridicule of Katy Perry’s recent “women’s empowerment” trip to space, Melody and I wondered: is it even worth doing a Katy Perry episode? Do we have anything to say, other than wow, all of this — the new album, the tour visuals, the trip to SPACE, is hilariously bad? But then we asked Zach Stafford if he had anything to say, and when his response was an immediate YES, we decided to turn the episode over to your (as always, very insightful) questions and probe deeper. Yes, all of this recent promotional tour is cringe, and the album is not good — but cringey people with bad albums still get their singles played on the radio. So what is it about Perry that makes her such a target in this moment? Join Zach and me as we try to figure it out (and decipher what’s happening with those Lifetimes costumes). Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode! Head to moshlife.com/CULTURE to save 20% off plus free shipping on the best sellers trial pack or the new plant-based trial pack Head to Ollie.com/CULTURE, tell them all about your dog, and use code CULTURE to get 60% off your Welcome Kit when you subscribe today Go to zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY and use CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics Visit ARTICLE.COM/culture to get $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit culturestudypod.substack.com/subscribe
    1h 6m

  3. 25 JUN

    Why Are Men's Clothes All Earth Tones

    Why do men wear shirts under their shirts? Are you forever doomed to wear the same clothes as your 32-year-old self? Why isn’t male fashion more fun? Why are all these moms still buying clothes for their adult children? WHY IS EVERYTHING IN EARTH TONES? This week we welcome Jason Diamond to the show to answer all these questions — with side trips into slutty dad jorts, aspirational dad fashion, the joys of good tailoring, what it feels like when you put on something and really feel yourself, and just generally figuring out your style as an adult. This one’s very fun and very funny — a perfect summer listen. Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode! Start your risk-free trial of the Mill food recycler at mill.com/culture Add Graza Olive Oil to your summertime patio party arsenal. Visit https://graza.co/CULTURESTUDY and use promo code CULTURESTUDY today for 10% off of the TRIO! Get $35 off your first box of wild-caught, sustainable seafood—delivered right to your door. Go to https://www.wildalaskan.com/CULTURE Your dog deserves the best. Get 60% off your first box of Ollie at ollie.com/culture, and enter code CULTURE Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com
    52 min

  4. 18 JUN

    How Private Equity Destroys the Companies You Depend On

    Chances are high that you’ve heard about the way that “private equity” has acquired, hollowed out, and bankrupted some service, product, or company you depend on. For years, I understood the work of private equity only in the vaguest terms — that it was bad, and that it f*cked stuff up. I had to learn a lot more when I was writing Can’t Even, because private equity acquisitions are one of many reasons work has become a burnout factory for so many. But I didn’t fully understand the breadth and the depth of private equity’s impact on our current economy until reading Megan Greenwell’s Bad Company — which she started writing after resigning from her position of editor-in-chief of Deadspin after private equity acquired the site and began excavating and eliminating the very core of what it made it work. In today’s episode, Megan joins me to answer your questions about how private equity actually works, how it affects industries, what companies it’s historically targeted and who it’s targeting now (hello, dental and vet care!) This episode will make you feel like you understand a structuring reality of our culture better — and will also help you understand why so many experiences and services just feel shittier. It’s a hellscape of an episode but a deeply enlightening one! Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode! Get 15% off your order at ZBiotics.com/culturestudy, promo code CULTURESTUDY Get better sleep, hair and skin with Blissy and use CULTUREPOD to get an additional 30% off at blissy.com/CULTUREPOD Get $75 off a Mill food recycler at mill.com/culture Get rid of the Sunday Scaries by signing up for the Raw Signal Group newsletter at worldssecondbestnewsletter.com Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com
    1h 12m

  5. 11 JUN

    Let's Unpack Some Intensive Parenting Trends (In a Way That Will Not Make You Feel Like Crap)

    People often ask me why I care so much about parenting when I am not, myself, a parent. This question is always so weird to me — of course I care about parenting norms, because I’m surrounded by parents! The choices that parents make (in the voting booth, as consumers, as community members, as friends) have so many direct and indirect effects on my life and everyone’s lives. Plus I’m always interested in how people try and make sense of a ton of contradictory information and “best practices” about how to be in the world, and whew, that is contemporary parenting right now. I’m so pleased that Melinda Wenner Moyer, author of Hello, Cruel World!, agreed to join us to unpack your questions about contemporary parenting trends — she is so good at balancing empathy (for why we gravitate towards certain strategies) with reassurance (less is almost always more). So if you want to talk about the weird ways gentle parenting rhetoric has seeped into the playground, the pressure to overschedule, and the deeply annoying professionalization of kids’ sports, whew is this the episode for you. And if you’re not a parent but affected by parenting practices: you’ll also find so much here. This week’s discussion is gonna be a good one. Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode! Raw Signal Group: If you’re a manager doing good in the world, and you want a better toolkit for how you’re showing up for your community, go to worldsbestmanagementtraining.com to find out more Make the switch to Blueland today! Get 15% off your first order by going to Blueland.com/culture Head to Ollie.com/CULTURE, tell them all about your dog, and use code CULTURE to get 60% off your Welcome Kit when you subscribe Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. Visit ARTICLE.COM/culture and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com
    49 min

  6. 4 JUN

    How 2000s Culture Messed Us Up

    Is it weird that I really love talking about all the ways the formative culture of my teens screwed me up? Maybe it’s just cathartic — talking with someone else who’s spent time in the postfeminist ideological trenches, trying to unpack all of the contradictory messaging about who we should be and how we should act. Sophie Gilbert has been deep in that muck for years writing her new book, Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves, and is here to help answer your excellent questions on how all of this took root in the ‘90s, the slutty cool baby girl ideal, the weird dude raunch movies, why we don’t know how pants are supposed to fit, the abomination of Bride Wars, and much, much more. Listen and let’s navigate all this accumulated sludge together. Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode! Get 40% off Beam’s Dream Powder at shopbeam.com/CULTURE and use code CULTURE at checkout. Go to zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY and use CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics. Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoc.com/CULTURE to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit culturestudypod.substack.com/subscribe
    1h 9m

  7. 28 MAY

    What is SoCal Culture?

    For each of these culture-of-place episodes, we look for someone who both adores a place, are very much a product of that place… and are also very much at home talking s**t about that place. They see its difficulties, drawbacks, and hostilities clearly — and can hold all of that alongside their deep and abiding love for the place. And that’s Gustavo Arellano, who’s been writing about SoCal culture with verve and humor and great skill for decades. (Such great skill that just a week after we taped this episode, he was named as a finalist for this year’s Pulitzer Prize in commentary). I can’t wait for you to join us as we talk about making dioramas of missions out of sugar cubes, car culture, conspiracy-curious crunchy-fascists in Orange County, and so much more. Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode! Get $35 off your first box of wild-caught, sustainable seafood—delivered right to your door. Go to https://www.wildalaskan.com/CULTURE Head to moshlife.com/CULTURE to save 20% off and get FREE shipping on the Best Sellers Trial Pack Get $75 off a Mill food recycler at mill.com/CULTURE Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoc.com/CULTURE to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com
    41 min

  8. 21 MAY

    Everything We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Periods

    This isn’t a bleak episode about period pain. Yes, we talk a LOT about death cramps — and all sorts of other symptoms that accompany menstruation. But we also talk a lot about how ridiculous it is that we don’t talk about these things — at least not publicly, and often not even with our close friends and family members. Kate Helen Downey, host of the incredible new podcast Cramped, joins me to talk very openly about all the things we usually don’t talk about and why. I learned so much in this episode. But I also laughed a lot, too. Pain isn’t funny, but hanging out with others who get it — it’s like a giant, glorious sigh of relief. Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode! Get $75 off the Mill food recycler at Mill.com/CULTURE. Ancient Nutrition is offering 25% off your first order when you go to AncientNutrition.com/CULTURE. Head to Graza.co and use promo code CULTURE to get 10% off of TRIO which includes Sizzle, Frizzle, and Drizzle, and get to cookin’ your next chef-quality meal! Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world. If you're already a subscriber-- thank you! Join us in the discussion thread for this episode! Got a question or idea for a future episode? Visit culturestudypod.substack.com To hear more, visit culturestudypod.substack.com
    1h 8m
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Hosts & Guests

About

A podcast about the culture that surrounds you — with Anne Helen Petersen and a bunch of very smart co-hosts culturestudypod.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Anne Helen Petersen
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2025
  • Episodes
    82
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Anne Helen Petersen
  • Show Website
    Culture Study Podcast

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