This week we talk about Barbie (2023) — was the endlessly hyped film a feminist masterpiece, or just a massive toy commercial? Or perhaps, something else?

We discuss the history of Barbie, the film’s gender theory and the queerness of Allan, and line it all up against Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble.

Soaliha: @soalihaofficial & Linktree

Mitch: @mitchs.miscellanea & Linktree

Email: heresthethingthopodcast@gmail.com

PayPal: PayPal.me/soaliha

Sources:

Mattel, Inc. History

Meet Lilli, the High-end German Call Girl Who Became Barbie

Guys Who Think The Barbie Movie Hates On Men Clearly Didn't Watch It

Judith Butler, Gender Trouble, 1989

Patriarchy According to The Barbie Movie

This week we talk about celebrities, PR disasters and the difference between what celebrities give us, and what they owe us.

We talk about the It Ends With Us film adaptation (and the surrounding drama), Blake Lively’s dumpsterfire of a press tour and Chappell Roan’s latest assertion of boundaries.

Soaliha: @soalihaofficial & Linktree

Mitch: @mitchs.miscellanea & Linktree

Email: heresthethingthopodcast@gmail.com

PayPal: PayPal.me/soaliha

Sources:

Blake Lively on Fame, Family, Good Fortune—And Becoming a Glamorous Jewel Thief for Baz Luhrmann

Blake Lively's hair care secret is using no conditioner! Should you skip it too?

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively apologize for plantation wedding

https://www.bustle.com/articles/44052-blake-lively-website-preserve-editorial-called-allure-of-antebellum-is-absolutely-inexcusable

Blake Lively says she's 'so proud' of It Ends With Us and that she 'took playing domestic violence victim seriously' amid backlash to her 'tone deaf' press tour | Daily Mail Online

Alcohol/drug-involved family violence in Australia (ADIVA): key findings

Factors associated with FDSV - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

Ryan Reynolds and Justin Baldoni’s ‘It Ends With Us’ Drama

The Screenwriter Of "It Ends With Us" Reacted After Blake Lively Said Ryan Reynolds Wrote A Key Scene

This week we talk about ‘tradwives’: what are they, where did they come from, and why is their content so popular right now?

We discuss the ahistorical nostalgia that tradwives are predicated on, the politics of their labor and the neocolonial nature of homesteading. Really, we ask the question: does the ‘tradwife’ as we know her actually exist, or is she a mythic projection?

Soaliha: @soalihaofficial & Linktree

Mitch: @mitchs.miscellanea & Linktree

Email: heresthethingthopodcast@gmail.com

PayPal: PayPal.me/soaliha

Sources:

Kamala Harris selects Tim Walz, pro-Israel Minnesota governor, as her running mate | The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle

I'm a trad woman. I think other women secretly wish they were too | SBS Insight

From Scratch | Verso Books

'Don't do this to yourself': Meredyth warns young 'trad wives' they could be on a risky path | SBS The Feed

Unpacking The Ballerina Farm Discourse & What it Means For The Tradwife Movement – Centennial World

Far-right 'tradwives' see feminism as evil and push back against what they see as 'the lie of equality' - ABC News

We're back!

This week we discuss the internet frenzy around presidential candidate Kamala Harris and our collective amnesia surrounding her previous (and conservative) policies.

We talk about her contradictory political history, the abject failure of US democracy and whether radical change can truly be enacted via electoral politics.

Soaliha: @soalihaofficial & Linktree

Mitch: @mitchs.miscellanea & Linktree

Email: heresthethingthopodcast@gmail.com

PayPal: PayPal.me/soaliha

Sources:

Report: The War on Marijuana in Black and White | American Civil Liberties Union

How Kamala Harris Fought to Keep Nonviolent Prisoners Locked Up - The American Prospect

Opinion | Kamala Harris Was Not a ‘Progressive Prosecutor’ - The New York Times

Kamala Harris’ A.G. Office Tried to Keep Inmates Locked Up for Cheap Labor

Kamala Harris laughed about jailing parents over truancy. But it's not funny | Nathan Robinson | The Guardian

Twitter thread of Kamala Harris' speeches on truancy and criminal justice reform

Kamala Harris Takes 'Responsibility' for Opposing Trans Surgeries

US to allow migrants from Mexico as critics slam ‘kids in cages’ | Migration News | Al Jazeera

The Pitfalls of Liberalism (1969)

Woke Scientist on Instagram.

Hello friends! This week's episode is a repost from SBS's five-part podcast series My Ramadan, which Soaliha appeared on last week and we've added a preamble to. SBS has given us permission to reshare it here, the following is their description of the episode:

From intermittent fasting to Sydney’s iconic Lakemba markets, Ramadan has developed a mainstream visibility and hipster cachet it didn’t used to have. How do Gen Z Muslims in the West square this with historic Islamophobia? Journalist and podcaster Soaliha Iqbal and writer Lina Ali discuss the hipsterfication of Ramadan with host Sarah Malik.

Enjoy!

Soaliha: @soalihaofficial & Linktree

Mitch: @mitchs.miscellanea & Linktree

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

Email: heresthethingthopodcast@gmail.com

PayPal: PayPal.me/soaliha

Facebook Group: Here’s The Thing, Tho With Soaliha Podcast Group

This week we discuss James Cameron’s infamous Avatar films, specifically focusing on the second film and its fetishisation of colonialism. Buckle up folks, it’s a wild ride.

We talk about colonialism and environmental destruction as a spectacle, the myth of the Noble Savage and the White Messiah, nuclear families and heteronormative depictions of intimacy and domination, and of course, the usual topics of sexism, racism, misogyny and cultural appropriation.

Recommendations:

It’s Not About The Burqa — a collection of essays edited by Mariam Khan. My favourite chapters:

• On The Representation Of Muslims: Terms and Conditions Apply by Nafisa Bakkar
• Between Submission And Threat: The British State’s Contradictory Relationship With Muslim Women by Malia Bouattia
• A Woman Of Substance by Saima Mir

Soaliha: @soalihaofficial & Linktree

Mitch: @mitchs.miscellanea & Linktree

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

Email: heresthethingthopodcast@gmail.com

PayPal: PayPal.me/soaliha

Facebook Group: Here’s The Thing, Tho With Soaliha Podcast Group

Sources:

'Avatar 2' Production Designers Explain Every Vehicle in 'The Way of Water,' From SeaDragons to Skel Suits

'Avatar 2' VFX Team on the Evolution of the Tulkun and Simulating Water for Performance Capture

'Avatar 2' Cast: What 'The Way of Water' Cast Really Looks Like - Variety

Indigenous people slam Avatar (again) for tropes and inaccuracies

Opinion | The Messiah Complex - The New York Times

Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 1981

Warning: This episode contains discussions of sexual assault and image-based abuse.

This week we discuss the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent months and its political implications with respect to labour, capitalism, racism, and sexism.

We also discuss how new AI technologies are being used to perpetuate violence against women in the case of deepfake pornography.

Soaliha: @soalihaofficial & Linktree

Mitch: @mitchs.miscellanea & Linktree

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

Email: heresthethingthopodcast@gmail.com

PayPal: PayPal.me/soaliha

Facebook Group: Here’s The Thing, Tho With Soaliha Podcast Group

Sources:

Vic Police Defends Protective Services Officer Who Slapped 11YO Across The Face During Arrest

Yes, Black officers killed Tyre Nichols. What is the correct response to that? | Reverend William Barber and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove | The Guardian

AI generated image wins Australian photo comp

Why Don’t We Treat Non-Consensual Deepfake Porn Of Women As Rape?

How an Evil Clown, a Haitian Trickster Spirit, Two Wizards, and a Cast of Dozens Turned a Database Into a Society

Researcher Says Her Avatar Was Raped On Meta's Metaverse Platform

Where Does Meaning Come From? | Alexander R. Galloway

Soaliha’s book recommendation: Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone

This week we discuss the pervasive notion of “reproductive futurism” and how it relates to current issues such as abortion rights, queerphobia, and climate change.

We talk about how reproductive futurism – the dominant political order which privileges future children over everything else – structures all aspects of our society and shapes both progressive and conservative thought.

Soaliha: @soalihaofficial & Linktree

Mitch: @mitchs.miscellanea & Linktree

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

Email: heresthethingthopodcast@gmail.com

PayPal: PayPal.me/soaliha

Facebook Group: Here’s The Thing, Tho With Soaliha Podcast Group

Sources:

No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive, Lee Edelman, 2004

1 in 3 American women have already lost abortion access. More restrictive laws are coming. - The Washington Post

How 1970s Christian crusader Anita Bryant helped spawn Florida's LGBTQ culture war