Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Cobra Lily

Why do suburban white kids fantasize about the storied struggles of rap music? What happened when war lost its meaning? What is the path forward in today’s matrix of porn, sports betting, and misogynistic online content? Ella, Maria, and their Straight Male Correspondent Guy continue their discussion of bell hooks’ groundbreaking The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love with a focus on how patriarchy makes for good business.

Topics include:

• How The Sopranos, Succession, and Animal Farm beg the question: why should men want to compromise their privilege?
• How low-status, exhausting work can make masculine authority feel more appealing
• The relationship between boys and mothers in places of heightened male domination
• The nuances of commercialized female sexuality in a capitalist patriarchal framework

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Read Ella’s essay, “Leaving Love to the Market,” which inspired the episode

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Intro song by Ivy Frey at Shirkerism zine

Why are we obsessed with sex and violence? Why has feminism failed to land with so many men and women? How much is it testosterone and how much is it social conditioning? Maria, Ella, and their Straight Male Correspondent Guy crawl through the thickets of modern gender wars using visionary cultural icon bell hooks' The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love as a guide. Topics include:

• The relationship between testosterone, natural selection, and patriarchal conditioning
• What 2010's feminist messaging got wrong
• The Byzantine psychodrama of Marine Corps Boot Camp
• What does a good man look like to an avowed feminist?

Follow Cobra Lily on Instagram and TikTok

Check out the Cobra Lily website

Read Ella's essay, "I Actually Want to Live in a Society," which inspired the episode

Explore Ella's Substack

Intro song by Ivy Frey at Shirkerism zine

When did Crocs and sweatpants become restaurant attire? Why do people seem louder and ruder than ever? Should we bring back shame? In the debut episode of Cobra Lily, Maria and Ella discuss the collapse of shared behavioral standards in public American life. They connect this to the history of individualism, from Enlightenment ideas and Cold War politics to the human potential movement, self-help culture, and the rise of neoliberalism. Topics include:

• How funeral etiquette, movie theater behavior, and restaurant manners reveal a bigger cultural shift
• Why authenticity can become an excuse for selfishness in public spaces
• The dichotomies of individualism versus collectivism, and shame vs guilt cultures
• Why capitalism, neoliberalism, and the burnout economy leave people with no energy for social graces

Follow Cobra Lily on Instagram and TikTok

Check out the Cobra Lily website

Read Ella's essay, "I Actually Want to Live in a Society," which inspired the episode

Explore Ella's Substack

Intro song by Ivy Frey at Shirkerism zine