In Bed With The Right

Happy Holidays from In Bed with the Right!!! Unfortunately, the festive season has gotten away from us and the two remaining episodes on our schedule are absolute monsters (the two-hour final (!) installment of Project 1933, and our episode on the media hubbub around "American Canto"), so to tide you over while we record and edit we thought we'd do a re-release of one of our Patreon magna opera from the Patreon. So this week, feast your ears on Part 1 (today) and Part 2 (Thursday) of our deep dive into the life and times of Andrew Sullivan -- editor, blogger, Iraq War hawk, and noted gender conservative! Our deep dive is -- fair warning -- about 3 hours long. But we felt Sullivan -- who is, as Moira put it, sort of "gender conservatism's Forrest Gump" -- was worth spending time with. He intersects with so many strands and trends, so many institutions and pathologies of the last forty years. Specifically, we're going through his complicated work by focusing on specific texts, by situating them in their moment and explaining their legacy. This first episode covers Sullivan's early years, 1980 - 1996: Oxford, Harvard, The New Republic, The Bell Curve, and Virtually Normal.If you like what you've heard, and you haven't already, consider subscribing to our Patreon at patreon.com/InBedWiththeRight! We have a lot of cool episodes coming up, including the aforementioned one on NuzziGate, RFK Jr., and structures of impunity.

It's cold outside, the Holidays are here, and you know what that means: It's Cursed-Discourse Awards-Season, motherf@ckers! Not-even-close-to-live from a theatre miles away from the Dolby Theater, it's the Third Annual Cursties!!! For the third year in a row, Moira, Adrian and special guest Michael Hobbes give out awards for the most cursed discourses around sex and gender for 2025. Problem is: we've dealt with so many cursed discourses around sex and gender in 2025, and pretty much all cursed discourses seem to have with gender panic these days. And In Bed with the Right has covered so so so so many of them!So we decided to narrow our noms to one particular genre of cursedness this year, and to present awards for ... drumroll ... achievements in anti-wokeness.! From queer tieflings to kids getting coddled in the 4th dimension, from socialist mayors (and not the one you're thinking of!) to French people teaching Americans how to islamophobia, to the world's creepiest Blue Man Group, this one has something for everybody!Some links to articles we mention:-- Matt Bernstein's in-depth episode on the long dark road of Debra Messing can be found here-- Adrian's New Republic article about a row over "islamogauchisme" in France can be found here-- Michele Goodwin's interview with Jess Michaels as part of her series Surviving Epstein can be found here

Moira walks Adrian through the strange, diagonalist history of the idea of "natural birth" -- from 1930s eugenicists to hippie communes, from radical feminist spaces to MAHA and the "wild birth"-movement. This episode comes with a bunch of trigger warnings -- please make sure you're in the right headspace before diving in!Some of the texts we refer to in the episode:Grantly Dick-Read, Natural Childbirth (1933)Adrienne Rich, Of Woman Born (1977)Barbara Ehrenreich, Witches, Midwives and Nurses (1972)Ina May Gaskin, Spiritual Midwifery (1975)

For this episode of In Bed with the Right, Adrian and Moira return to the year 1933. They continue the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. Reminder: We're going month by month for these episodes. This ninth installment covers November 1 to November 30, 1933. It's about democracy after democracy. On November 12, the Nazis held an election, the second after Hitler had become chancellor, but the first since the Enabling Laws had fully established a dictatorship. This episode is about this bizarre exercise, about how average Germans experienced it, and about how émigrés reacted to a country that was fusing more and more with its ruling regime.One quick content note: Adrian moved a little quickly through the election results about 25 minutes in. The first set of numbers he's talking about are the ones for the parliamentary election (where basically only Nazis could be voted for, but some non-Nazis were on the ballot). The second set of numbers are about the referendum about leaving the league of nations. Our apologies if this didn't become clear!

To celebrate our 100th episode (belatedly), your intrepid hosts recently took to the stage of San Francisco's Swedish-American Hall for a special live Moral Panic Bingo Night. Moira and Adrian were joined by the amazing Sarah Marshall (of You're Wrong About) and Matt Bernstein (of A Bit Fruity) to talk about moral panics big and small, and how they continue to fuck up our lives. Stanley Cohen's Folk Devils and Moral Panics is linked here, sans awesome original cover. Sarah Marshall's 8-part CBC series The Devil You Know can be found here.

In this episode, Moira walks Adrian through "The Great Feminization" -- a recent talk/essay that took the right wing by storm, and that subsequently got its author invited to discuss women ruining things in the New York Times. The essay posited that women's entry into the American workforce is to blame for ... wokeness? General societal disorder? The Decline of the West (TM)? Among the topics this episode touches on: the reasons why ideas like these are catching on at this particular moment; the reconceptualization of class distinction through (supposed) gender markers; the history of the "Great Feminization" thesis, and its relationship to "anti-liberal" and other "anti-woke" thinking on the Right.A few links:-- Helen Andrews, "The Great Feminization"-- "Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace?", Helen Andrews in Conversation with Leah Libresco Sargeant and Ross Douthat-- Becca Rothfeld's review of Leah Libresco Sargeant's The Dignity of Dependence, which Moira mentioned in the episode, can be found here.

In this episode, writer Sarah Weinman walks Moira and Adrian through the story of the 1978 case Oregon v. Rideout and how spousal rape became a crime in the US. Weinman's book about the case -- Without Consent -- is out now. A moving, upsetting story about how the judicial system keeps pace (or doesn't) with legislation; how media shape how we think about social progress; and how that progress can come from strange places. PLEASE NOTE: This one comes with basically all the trigger and content warnings.

For this episode of In Bed with the Right, Adrian and Moira return to the year 1933. They continue the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. Reminder: We're going month by month for these episodes. This eighth installment covers October 1 to October 31, 1933. It's all about the economy: about how the Nazis tackled (or pretended to tackle) the economic problems in Germany; how monetary policy interlocked with rearmament; and how everyday Germans experienced the economy versus the Nazi party and the elites.On the episode we mention our LIVE SHOW: if you're interested in joining us in San Francisco on November 20, tickets can be purchased here.A selection of books we consulted for or referred to in this episode:Adam Tooze, The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi EconomyAlbrecht Ritschl, "Deficit Spending in the Nazi Recovery, 1933-1938"Götz Aly, Hitler's Beneficiaries: Plunder, Racial War, and the Nazi Welfare StateChristiane Kuller, Bürokratie und Verbrechen: Antisemitische Finanzpolitik und Verwaltungspraxis im nationalsozialistischen Deutschland

To get you ready for spooky season, here's In Bed with the Right with a second look at some classic horror films, asking: What's scary about gender? And what's gendered about fear in these movies? The second part of our "Powers of Horror (Film)" two-parter dives into two more classic 1970s horror, into changing workplaces and fairy tales, into gialli and mouths with mouths in them. Our focus is on 1977's Suspiria and 1979's Alien. Hope you enjoy!

Just in time for spooky season, here's In Bed with the Right with a look at some classic horror films, asking: What's scary about gender? And what's gendered about fear in these movies? In keeping with the Halloween theme, we got way into this and watched way too many scary movies. And so we made a two parter. This first part dives into 1973's The Wicker Man and 1976's Carrie. The second part will be about Suspiria (1977) and Alien (1979). Here are the texts we refer to in this episode:Laura Mulvey, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema"Carol Clover, Men, Women and Chainsaws (1992)Julia Kristeva, Powers of Horror (1982)David Sanjek, "Twilight of the Monsters: The English Horror Film 1968-1975"

You guys, IBWTR just hit 100 episodes! And we'll be honest, this milestone snuck up on us. We'll be celebrating this anniversary over the next few episodes -- including a deep dive into CBS News' new boss, another Wagner-show, and a Live Show in San Francisco! But for now we thought we'd kick off our festivities by tackling more questions from you, our amazing listeners! We ended up with a far-ranging conversation about #MeToo, cinema, bodies, hormones and Doing the Reading! Hope you enjoy! (Oh, and Adrian's Substack post on Tár can be found here.)

Fetal personhood is one of those doctrines that have moved from the fringes of the conservative legal movement (and even from the fringes of right wing theology) to the center. While it is not clear how much support there is at the US Supreme Court for the idea that fetuses are people and have rights under the 14th Amendment, this once-obscure doctrine has been filtering into abortion and pregnancy criminalization since the Dobbs decision. In this episode, Moira walks Adrian through the strange history of this doctrine, and through its awful consequences for pregnant people or those who can become pregnant. (Content Warning: discussions of pregnancy loss and sexual violence)Here is a list of the books we relied on in researching this episode -- all of these are very much worth your time:Mary Ziegler, Persohood: The New Civil War Over Reproduction (2025)Jennifer Holland, Tiny You: A Western History of the Anti-Abortion Movement (2020) (you can also watch a 2021 conversation between Adrian, Jennifer Holland and Melissa Murray here)Leslie J. Reagan, When Abortion was a Crime (new edition 2022)Michelle Goodwin, Policing the Womb (2022)Lauren Berlant, The Queen of America Goes to Washington City (1997)Pregnancy Justice, Pregnancy as a Crime: A Preliminary Report on the First Year After Dobbs

For this episode of In Bed with the Right, Adrian and Moira return to the year 1933. They continue the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. Reminder: We're going month by month for these episodes. This seventh installment covers September 1 to September 30, 1933. It's about culture: about how the Nazis took over the culture sector, how the émigrés began to establish an alternative, and how our modern picture of the Third Reich began to emerge.A selection of books we consulted for or referred to in this episode:Jürgen Trimborn, Leni Riefenstahl: A LifeDagmar Herzog, Sex after FascismKate Elswit, Watching Weimar DanceClaudia Schmölders, Hitler's Face: The Biography of an ImageSusan Sontag, "Fascinating Fascism"Adrian Daub, "Hannah, Can You Hear Me?"

This is the second part of our epic deep dive into the life of Phyllis Schlafly -- the far-right firebrand who brought down an amendment and arguably helped transform a political party. In Part 2, Moira walks Adrian through Schlafly's attack on the Equal Rights Amendment, and how she pioneered a whole new style of politics to defeat what had been essentially a done deal -- or carried it into the mainstream, at any rate.Here is a list of books we'll be referring to in both parts of this episode:Andrea Dworkin, Right Wing WomenJane J. Mansbridge, How We Lost the ERAMarjorie J. Spruill, Divided We StandDonald T. Critchlow, Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots ConservatismPhyllis Schlafly, A Choice Not an EchoPhyllis Schlafly, Strike from Space

In this episode, Moira walks Adrian through the life and times of Phyllis Schlafly -- the far-right firebrand who brought down an amendment and arguably helped transform a political party. This first part charts Schlafly's path before she launched her crusade against the Equal Rights Amendment, focusing on: Paleoconservatism, America First, the John Birch Society, Cold Warriors, Goldwater Gilrls and space-based weaponry (for some reason).Here is a list of books we'll be referring to in both parts of this episode:Andrea Dworkin, Right Wing WomenJane J. Mansbridge, How We Lost the ERAMarjorie J. Spruill, Divided We StandDonald T. Critchlow, Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots ConservatismPhyllis Schlafly, A Choice Not an EchoPhyllis Schlafly, Strike from Space

For this episode of In Bed with the Right, Adrian and Moira return to the year 1933. They continue the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. Reminder: We're going month by month for these episodes. This sixth installment covers August 1 to August 31, 1933. Meaning: This is a summer episode. It finds many of the institutions the Nazis have subjugated on summer break, the ongoing processes of synchronization and Nazification either already completed or about to kick into high gear. So this is an episode about the little stuff, the summer things: what our bodies do as the institutions betray us, how external pressures create coalitions, but also open up fissures, how old identities disappear without anything quite ready to take their place. And of course: what happens to our sense of time at times of peril. It's an episode full of small, interpersonal dramas, nervousness, regret and fear for the future -- punctuated by sudden outbursts of state-sanctioned violence and political cruelty. It is, in other words, a perfect episode for the summer of 2025.

It's taken us forever to do this, but here it is at last: In Bed With the Right's first ever mailbag episode! We asked our Patreon supporters to send in questions, and they sent tons and tons. All of them were brilliant and fun, and because we wanted to answer as many of them, and because we couldn't shut up when answering them, it's only Part 1! This episode delves into how the podcast came to be, our main takeaways from Project 1933, the history of HR departments, identity politics, the "girl code", and what gives us hope for the future (yes, really!).

Historian Quinn Slobodian (Crack-Up Capitalism, Hayek's Bastards, and the forthcoming Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed) walks Moira and Adrian through the fate of IQ on late 20th century and early 21st century right wing thought. How did this concept bring together the nationalist right and self-described libertarians? How did it become a load bearing self-identifier for many a "gifted" kid of the 1990s? And how did it take hold so thoroughly among the Silicon Valley elite?

For this episode of In Bed with the Right, Adrian and Moira return to the year 1933. They continue the story of how Hitler seized power, what it did to society, what it felt like to live through it, and -- as always -- what role gender and sexuality played in events. Reminder: We're going month by month for these episodes. This fifth installment covers July 1 to June 31, 1933 -- and is devoted entirely to two separate, but intertwined phenomena: Nazi collaborators and the Catholic Church. We cover the different valences of resistance and collaborations in Germany in 1933 -- from culture war stuff, to Nazification, to practices like the Hitler salute. But we also cover the tricky situation of the Catholic Center Party in 1933, and the "Reichskonkordat", a treaty concluded in July that gave the Catholic Church a measure of autonomy within the Nazi state ... but at the cost of an oath of loyalty to Hitler's state.

2025's strangest scandal involves facts that have been known for years and absolutely no new information. And yet it has managed to keep consummate bullshitter Donald Trump seemingly flatfooted. In this episode, Patrick Blanchfield (co-host of Ordinary Unhappiness) joins Moira and Adrian to talk Epstein, the files, the coverup, Trump and the return of the not-at-all repressed. The conversation touches on the gender politics of revelation, conspiracies real and imagined, blood libel, and the long shadow of #MeToo. Lots and lots of trigger warnings obviously!