Sarah Wheeler and Garrett Bucks, a real life adult woman and man who are friends, unpack the world of cis, hetero, nuclear family life and culture, with jokes and hand gestures.
Normally, these Ask Breeders Anything episodes, where Sarah and Garrett leave each other voice mails exploring all manner of gender-adjacent curiosity, are just for paid subscribers. BUT, this one is going to all of you. You’re welcome. And also, we’re sorry, because yes this is in place of what would normally be a full episode. You’re not getting one of those because, for the past couple weeks, both hosts have been navigating a combination of spring break and illness.
What did we talk about? CPAPs, antidepressants and other aphrodisiacs, of course. Was there ever any doubt? It all started because Sarah asked for Garrett’s thoughts, as a CPAP user, on a recent Saturday Night Live mock ad for the medical device. Yes, Garrett had opinions, less about that skit itself than the extremely odd phenomenon of actual innuendo-laden CPAP advertisement. So many adoring wives, giving come hither looks to their elephant-masked heavy breathing spouses. We’ll share some examples below, because oh buddy. How’d we eventually get to the antidepressant part? Well, you have to listen to the episode for that.
Also, do you like episodes like this? Well, you know who gets more of them? Paid subscribers. The absolute best folks around, if you ask us.
Ready for some CPAP ads? If you’re reading this on any non-Substack podcast ep, mozey over to this post at thisweekinbreeders.org and enjoy!
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How well do you know your man... osphere?
Thursday, March 26, 2026 • Duration 01:32:38
Man oh manosphere. Odds are, you’ve heard that there’s a wildly popular Louis Theroux documentary on Netflix these days, one where the extremely British documentarian spends an ungodly amount of time with prominent reactionary dude influencers. Garrett watched it, Sarah didn’t, so join along as he takes her on a journey through a strange world of washboard abs, one-way monogamy and, well, some of the worst imaginable opinions and actions. The big question: Do we really need to spend time with these guys? Or is there a more interesting story right outside the frame.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
Men lie, women lie, but This Week In Breeders will never lie (especially not to Gen Z)
Thursday, March 12, 2026 • Duration 01:19:46
Oh wow. What great faces we’re making in that thumbnail image. It looks like we’re extremely concerned.
And with good reason, actually, because this week we too are considering whether the kids all right. Hard to say, honestly. On one hand, there’s a new poll out that reveals that Gen Z men have more conservative politics than their grandfathers. And oh buddy are there far too many bad faith dude whisperers trying to convince young fellas to join the He Man Women Hater’s Club. But the Breeders can’t help but root for our slightly younger compatriots. We too are figuring it out.
This was a fun episode. Sarah interviewed Garrett about a recent piece he wrote about that study. This dovetailed into a discussion of a critique that Garrett often gets, when he makes arguments about how it’s more important for guys to care about being better neighbors than being “better men.” Namely, that young guys aren’t going to listen to all that potluck-based pablum. What if they need somebody to appeal directly to their manhood? What if they’ll ignore folks like Garrett who aren’t willing to talk to them about masculinity specifically?
Interesting questions, for sure. Pretty good fodder for a podcast, actually.
Also discussed: Various places Andie Macdowell has lived; whether the movie Groundhog Day holds up; Garrett’s birthday (and the best age to have a birthday); Garrett’s entire taxonomy of the manosphere in less than five minutes; Sarah’s first ever boundary; a movie that is not out in theaters yet but that Sarah has already pre-analyzed; consensual open mouth stranger kissing… and a very bizarre novelty t-shirt.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
Coming of age... with the Breeders
Thursday, February 26, 2026 • Duration 01:33:17
Ready to go for a ride? We’re covering some ground today: Two co-hosts. Reminiscing about four moments in their lives. Rapid fire (well, rapid fire with tangents). I think you’ll pick up the format pretty quickly, but the basic idea is that we each remembered back to when we were 5, 15, 25 and 35 and reflected on who, during that time, was our model for how to be a man or a woman. As we yelled out loud (with airhorn) on the episode… IT’S A JOINT REFLECTIVE EXERCISE.
You know what was interesting about this? Just about everything. The two of us know each other pretty darn well. And yet, we were surprised and intrigued in a new way. Should you try this with your friends? Oh yeah. And as Sarah mentioned, we also wouldn’t hate it if you wanted to share some of these reflections with us as well.
Topics discussed: Claire Danes, the 1987 Jefferson County (Montana) Cross Country Team, trying on your mom’s clothes, vicarious keg stands, older siblings, the motherhood internet, our moms, our dads, literally taking bites out of Infinite Jest, and of course, getting knocked down, and getting up again, because you’re never gonna keep us down.
Links:
* An Instagram reel (from Garrett) about what he packs for kids at his speaking events.
* If you’re ever in Oakland when Sarah and her husband are hosting trivia, you should go!
* Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks (a much better remembered real song!).
* The trailer for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (since you don’t have the opportunity to watch the 1987 Jefferson High School Cross Country video).
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
The stars are out for mixed-gender feminist podcasting's most glamorous event of the year
Thursday, February 12, 2026 • Duration 01:47:23
You all! It’s here! Our most anticipated episode of the year (according to the two of us, and only the two of us). The This Week In Breeders Oscars Spectacular.
Friends, there was so much gender in the movies last year. There were women having mental breakdowns and/or founding religions. There were men (so many men) being sad, playing sad baseball, doing sad art heists, reanimating sad corpses, making sad albums about the death of the American dream, becoming dads, being sad about being dads, realizing they were sad dads and it was time to suddenly become happy dads… truly, so much gender (especially that one gender). Also, there was at least one movie that truly changed Sarah’s life, and also a couple guys we’d definitely let babysit our kids (all our love to you, Benicio Del Toro, and also the sweet projectionist Grandpa in The Secret Agent).
Plus: The greatest surprise gift/musical interlude in podcasting history? Potentially! You need to listen to the end! We’re not just saying that!
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
Talk less, laminate more.
Thursday, January 29, 2026 • Duration 01:19:29
So, has this ever happened to you?
You and your cohost are recording a podcast. You’ve planned for this podcast. It’s going to be about the Oscars, a topic of intense mutual interest. And then, at the top of the episode, you start to talk about navigating this moment in American authoritarianism as a parent and before you know it you’ve decided to punt the Oscar talk to another week because this is literally all you can talk about now.
Oh, just us? Well, here you go then. We’re really proud of this one, because it feels like the present-tense contents of our heart literally split open. With jokes, still. And a heaping helping of affirmation and inspiration, because we really get into why this moment requires a wide variety of actions and activities. Is your contribution enough? Not alone, of course, but as one puzzle piece amongst several, absolutely!
What about the Oscars episode? Oh it’s coming. You better believe it’s coming. But in the meantime, thanks friends. Keep up the good work, even if it feels like it’s not enough. We love you.
[Full disclosure, there’s a little jump in the recording at the point where we decided to pivot the topic, but it’s just a blip and we hope it’s not too distracting].
Links:
* Want to give to the Minneapolis rental assistance project that Garrett talked about? It’s here! Thank you!
* Want to check out Garretts’s Love Letters To Minneapolis project (and add in your own)? It’s here!
* And here are some pictures of a few of those love letters, now hung up across the city of Minneapolis.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
Fox News says that "gangs of wine moms" are taking on ICE in Minneapolis... but where are the men?
Thursday, January 15, 2026 • Duration 01:35:52
Hi all, we’re back! It’s our first episode of the year, and our most timely one to date. We recorded this yesterday, with both the protests and the heinous ICE repression in Minneapolis deeply on our hearts.
This goes without saying, but these are simultatneously frightening and inspiring times. We wish that none of our neighbors had to stand up to this level of repression, but we’re unspeakably grateful for those who are. We’re also noticing something (and we’re definitely not alone here): In Minneapolis, as was the case in Chicago, Charlotte and LA, the care and resistance networks standing up to ICE are disproportionally led by women (especially moms) and trans people. That’s not to say that there aren’t plenty of cis men showing up (particularly in direct confrontations with agents), but there’s a pattern at play, one that should be familiar to anybody who's ever attended both PTA and DSA meetings. What’s going on? And what do we make of it? We’re proud of how we wrestled with a whole bunch of the relevant layers, and we hope you enjoy it.
Also: we didn’t just talked about fascism and its discontents (us, we are the discontents). We also leaned into our roles as hip coastal sophisticate (Sarah) and salt of the earth frozen Midwesterner (Garrett). Can you guess which one of us talked a bunch about ice skating and which of us attended an all mom dance party where she didn’t do drugs but only because nobody offered? Oh, you can guess? Well, you’re correct. Also: Rose Byrne gets a bearded lizard. And childless young people roast the hell out of us old childed weirdos.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
Girls Can Be Demon Hunters, But Can Boys Share a Pair of Traveling Pants?
Thursday, December 18, 2025 • Duration 01:12:56
If you expected that the first ever This Week In Breeders movie episode would be a placid, predictable affair… oh buddy, get ready. Here’s an incomplete accounting of nonsense that went down over the course of our recording:
* Sarah revealed the extremely inappropriate film that she and her siblings watched during a childhood snow day.
* A few minutes later, we pause the episode because Sarah needed to buy Lily Allen concert tickets super urgently, and then we debrief every single possible element of that experience.
* Sarah then reveals the EXTREMELY CONTROVERSIAL way that she got revenge on a super mean man she encountered on a plane.
Huh! When we put it like that, it sounds mostly like this was a Sarah Gone Wild Episode, and, sure, but (1). Who doesn’t want that? (2). It’s not like Garrett didn’t also go on multiple tangents (again!) about that character from K-Pop Demon Hunters whose only personality trait is “abs” and (3). None of that prevented us from peeling back so many layers about the movies that raised us, the movies that are raising our kids, and what they did and didn’t teach us about what boys and girls are allowed to do/be/feel.
Links:
* If you’re wondering… was it really THAT impressive that Sarah successfully purchased Lily Allen “West End Girl Tour” tickets, the answer is YES! Those puppies went fast!
* Shout out to our pals at Dire Straights ( Tracy Clark-Flory and Amanda Montei), who you too can join for a Lily Allen concert in San Francisco for the low price of a one million dollar premium subscription to both of our pods.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
"It's The Most [Gender Discourse Filled] Time.... of The Year!"
Thursday, December 4, 2025 • Duration 01:25:56
Friends, it is here. The Holiday Season. A time of to-dos, both explicit and implicit. A time of joy and stress. A time when we say “the holidays” but mostly mean Christmas. A time when Garrett is told that he needs to stop playing Monster Mash because apparently it’s not that holiday season. And, oh yes, a time of gender discourse.
Our conversation? It was fun. What a knotty topic. On one hand, it’s obvious, right? In heterosexual couples, the holidays are a time of disproportional work for moms. Just layers of societal expectations, piled on top of one another like a Martha Stewart trifle. But also: when does social construction stop and actual enjoyment begin? What if you like hosting the cookie exchanges, earnestly? And what about the holiday cards? We (Garrett and Sarah) don’t want you to feel like you have to send us one, but man oh man do we love hanging yours up.
Are we the only podcast discussing gender and the holidays this year? No! But are we the only podcast that talks at length about Dr. Ann Burnett’s holiday card archive at North Dakota State University? And where there’s also an extended, not safe for work or children digression where Garrett tries to explain the difference between South Dakota State University (home of the Jackrabbits) and NDSU (home of the Bison) and Sarah offers a VERY UNEXPECTED musical interlude? Yes, without a doubt. That’s the This Week In Breeders promise.
Links:
* “All I want for Christmas is you” is objectively the best holiday song, but Garrett would not be the exact kind of white dude he is if he didn’t also admit that his personal favorite is, of course, “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
"Talking about how hard we work is like drag brunch for straight guys"
Thursday, November 20, 2025 • Duration 01:17:31
Listen up, grindset alpha males and hard hustling girl bosses, have we got an episode for you! This week, Sarah and Garrett woke up at 4:00 AM, did 1000 crunches, closed some deals in the Tokyo office, plowed a field, and split a cord of wood, all to bring you the definitive podcast about ambition and gender.
Ok, that isn’t quite true. We only did 950 crunches. We did, however, have a real blast talking about men and women’s relationship to ambition at work. Does ambition look differently across gender lines? Is the provider myth killing men slowly? What can a vintage 1989 Outburst Jr. game teach us about gender socialization (and also types of cookies)? And oh my god, does the subject of VENOMOUS ANIMAL CONTACT enter the chat?! All this, and more, answered this week by America’s favorite breeders.
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* Shout out “It’s Your Move Games” in Oakland (for the record, Garrett’s favorite game store is, with excellent locations throughout the Milwaukee metro area).
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
* Too many people (Garrett included) have opinions about the fox and bunny’s relationship in Zootopia 2.
More:
* This Week In Breeders is a podcast! And you can listen to it wherever you like to listen to podcasts (Apple; Spotify; at the gym, where you’re working to turn your soy arms into tempeh arms).
* But if you really want to stay updated, you should go to thisweekinbreeders.org and subscribe, so that you get episodes delivered directly to your inbox.
* And then, after you do so, you should be like “but now I really want to support this podcast, and I’d also love to listen to their bonus episodes, like the recent one, where we were brave enough to ask POLYAMORY OR MOVING TO THE MIDWEST,” opt for apaid subscription.
* Or maybe you want another way to help us out, which is very kind of you. Would you consider dropping us one of those five star reviews on your preferred podcast app? Or telling your friends? Thank you!
* Elvis Presley, who, whether we want to admit it or not, embodies how both Sarah and Garrett would act on stage if they were international pop superstars.
* This Week In Breeders is a podcast! And you can listen to it wherever you like to listen to podcasts (Apple; Spotify; the very feminism-friendly DJ booth at Tufts University in the late 1990s, etc.).
* But if you really want to stay updated, you should go to thisweekinbreeders.org and subscribe, so that you get episodes delivered directly to your inbox.
* And then, after you do so, you should be like “but now I really want to support this podcast, and I’d also love to listen to their bonus episodes, like the recent one where Sarah Wheeler shared what snacks she sneaks into movies and also asked Garrett “‘so, does your wife dress you?'” opt for apaid subscription.
* Or maybe you want another way to help us out, which is very kind of you. Would you consider dropping us one of those five star reviews on your preferred podcast app? Or telling your friends? Thank you!
* Garrett does not need this very expensive Testament of Ann Lee shirt (and Ann Lee would be disappointed in him if he did buy it), but you can understand why he’s torn, right?
* Most importantly of all: The complete lyrics to “Gonna be hostin,” so that you too can sing along when Sarah performs it live on stage at the Oscars.
* Garrett would like to offer his apologies for mixing up the Skarsgards, and also for calling Ronald Bronstein “Richard,” but appreciates that Sarah was able to correct him.
* BREAKING NEWS: The number of living Shakers (reported by us as two) HAS RISEN TO THREE! LET’S GOOOOOO!
More:
* This Week In Breeders is a podcast! And you can listen to it wherever you like to listen to podcasts (Apple; Spotify; in your gothic bell tower where you reanimate corpses).
* But if you really want to stay updated, you should go to thisweekinbreeders.org and subscribe, so that you get episodes delivered directly to your inbox.
* Or maybe you want another way to help us out, which is very kind of you. Would you consider dropping us one of those five star reviews on your preferred podcast app? Or telling your friends? Thank you!
* Since we didn’t do Oscars this week and because Garrett referred to his account as “my bonsai tree,” here are Sarah and Garrett’s letterboxd accounts.
More:
* This Week In Breeders is a podcast! And you can listen to it wherever you like to listen to podcasts (Apple; Spotify; in a church basement, in hour four of a community organizing training, with your kid tugging at your jeans telling you they’re hungry and bored).
* But if you really want to stay updated, you should go to thisweekinbreeders.org and subscribe, so that you get episodes delivered directly to your inbox.
* Or maybe you want another way to help us out, which is very kind of you. Would you consider dropping us one of those five star reviews on your preferred podcast app? Or telling your friends? Thank you!
* Collectivism and Individualism in Status Hierarchies, an article by Vincenzo Iacoviello and Fabio Lorenzi-Cioldi, two Italian men whose names we pronounced really well (International Review of Social Psychology).
* This Week In Breeders is a podcast! And you can listen to it wherever you like to listen to podcasts (Apple; Spotify; or in the back corner of a Fox News Studio, while Jesse Watters keeps yelling “WHERE’S MARK RUFFALO” at you for some reason).
* But if you really want to stay updated, you should go to thisweekinbreeders.org and subscribe, so that you get episodes delivered directly to your inbox.
* Or maybe you want another way to help us out, which is very kind of you. Would you consider dropping us one of those five star reviews on your preferred podcast app? Or telling your friends? Thank you!
* This Week In Breeders is a podcast! And you can listen to it wherever you like to listen to podcasts (Apple; Spotify; or delivered in the pocket of a pair of traveling pants).
* But if you really want to stay updated, you should go to thisweekinbreeders.org and subscribe, so that you get episodes delivered directly to your inbox.
* Or maybe you want another way to help us out, which is very kind of you. Would you consider dropping us one of those five star reviews on your preferred podcast app? Or telling your friends? Thank you!
* This Week In Breeders is a podcast! And you can listen to it wherever you like to listen to podcasts (Apple; Spotify; or performed for you, at your doorstep, by carol singers).
* But if you really want to stay updated, you should go to thisweekinbreeders.org and subscribe, so that you get episodes delivered directly to your inbox.
* And then, after you do so, you should be like “but now I really want to support this podcast, and I’d also love to listen to their bonus episodes, like the really incredible one they just did about the Gen Alpha “six seven” phenomenon, and opt for apaid subscription.
* Or maybe you want another way to help us out, which is very kind of you. Would you consider dropping us one of those five star reviews on your preferred podcast app? Or telling your friends? Thank you!
* This Week In Breeders is a podcast! And you can listen to it wherever you like to listen to podcasts (Apple; Spotify; inside your tractor, so you can listen while you joylessly circle your fields for hours on end, the raptors circling overhead).
* But if you really want to stay updated, you should go to thisweekinbreeders.org and subscribe, so that you get episodes delivered directly to your inbox.
* And then, after you do so, you should be like “but now I really want to support this podcast, and I’d also love to listen to their bonus episodes, like the really incredible one they just did about how they used to spend recesses in elementary school” and opt for apaid subscription.
* Or maybe you want another way to help us out, which is very kind of you. Would you consider dropping us one of those five star reviews on your preferred podcast app? Or telling your friends? Thank you!
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