Witch, Please Productions

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Channel · 2 Shows

Parenting

Parenting

Updated Biweekly
Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Updated Biweekly

10/01/2024

Dopamine x Health Capitalism with Jesse Meadows

For this episode, we're joined by Jesse Meadows (they/them) to discuss the most zeitgeist-y neurotransmitter around: dopamine! Have you been targeted Instagram Reels and Tik Toks about increasing your dopamine levels or managing ADHD through pleasure abstinence? Well that may have more to do with tech bros, billionaires and health capitalism than you think! Tune in for a conversation about pseudo-science, "hedonic Calvinism," eugenics, Big Pharma, manipulative algorithms and more! Check out Jesse's Dopamine Dispatch: https://www.sluggish.xyz/t/dopaminedispatch! To read more of Jesse's work, we HIGHLY recommend subscribing to Sluggish: https://www.sluggish.xyz You can also find Jesse's video essays on Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@slug.town *** You can learn more about Material Girls at ohwitchplease.ca and on our instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Want more from us? Check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back next week with a bonus episode, but until then, we mean it — go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease! Patreon is HOW WE PAY OUR TEAM! We need your support to make the show. Thanks again to all of you who have already made the leap to join us on Patreon. Material Girls is a show that aims to make sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand. *Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both. Materialist critique is really interested in the question of why a particular cultural work or practice emerged at a particular moment. Music Credits: “Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020 Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
05/14/2024

Dirty Dancing x Nostalgia with Andrea Warner

In this episode, Marcelle and Hannah are joined by Andrea Warner (she/her), the author of The Time of My Life, an exploration of Dirty Dancing as a deeply feminist film. We begin with a conversation about sexy films that made our younger selves all hot and bothered before heading into the segment "Why This? Why Now?" Hannah guides us through the difficulty that writer and producer Eleanor Bergstein faced in getting this movie made and distributed. We talk Reagan, Roe v. Wade, and nostalgia for the 1960s. Hannah then introduces us to American literary critic Fredric Jameson, cultural historian Bill Osgerby, and Russian-American cultural critic Svetlana Boym. Together, Hannah, Marcelle and Andrea parse through their respective work about postmodernism, nostalgia, late capitalism and the construction of history to get a better understanding of why Dirty Dancing is such a compelling film. We end the episode with a discussion of the appropriation of Black music in the movie, the power dynamics within Baby and Johnny's romance and the unique representations of mutual aid. If you love Dirty Dancing, join the club (with Hannah and Andrea)! If you haven't seen it, you get to be in a club with Marcelle. FOR NOW (we will get her to watch it!). You can learn more about Material Girls at ohwitchplease.ca and on our instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Want more from us? Check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back next week with a bonus episode, but until then, we mean it — go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease! *** Material Girls is a show that aims to make sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand. *Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both. Materialist critique is really interested in the question of why a particular cultural work or practice emerged at a particular moment. Music Credits: “Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020 Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
6d ago

Re-Release: Goblin Mode x the Abject with McKayla Coyle

This week, in the spirit of Halloween, we’re re-releasing an episode from our first season of Material Girls: Goblin Mode x the Abject with guest expert McKayla Coyle. As you may remember, in 2022, Oxford English Dictionary’s Word of the Year was the term “goblin mode.” For anyone who was very online during the early years of the Covid-19 pandemic, this term probably sounds super familiar and relatable. Going Goblin Mode became a kind of shorthand for our more feral tendencies during an incredibly isolating time. In this episode, we were joined by McKayla Coyle, author of Goblin Mode: How to Get Cozy, Embrace Imperfection, and Thrive in the Muck. Together we dig into the term that took twitter by storm in 2022 - and Hannah offers us some theory about 'the abject,' a concept from Bulgarian-French feminist philosopher Julia Kristeva. We discuss the racialized and ableist construction of bodies and boundaries — and how that framework can help us understand the radical potential of going 'goblin mode.' We’ll be back next week with a Material Concerns episode and in two weeks, we’ll continue this season with a new, regular-format episode all about Godzilla! Until then, happy listening sweet Goblins. Transcript For More McKayla Coyle How to Get Cozy, Embrace Imperfection, and Thrive in the Muck. Mothman Is My Boyfriend: Ten Tales of Cryptid Love and Lust *** To learn more about Material Girls, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back next week with a Material Concerns episode! Material Girls is a show that makes sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand. *Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 20

Material Concerns: Just Us Pt. I

For this week's Material Concerns, Hannah and Marcelle are left to their own devices! Enjoy the first segment, A Nice Long Check-In, followed by Book Lewk (a newer segment named by patron Darcy K-E)! Go to Part II for more!! Books Referenced in This Episode B.K. Borison's Good Spirits Andre Aciman's Call Me by Your Name Alix E. Harrow's The Everlasting Erin Wunker's All the Waking Hours Dina Del Bucchia's Tougher Than the Rest Support Material Girls To learn more about the show, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca (you can also find transcripts here!). You can gift a Patreon subscription at this link: https://www.patreon.com/ohwitchplease/gift! Music Credits: “Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020 Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 15

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma x The Gaze

We simply could not pass up an opportunity to discuss queer filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun's latest horror, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. To make sense of the film and its engagement with sex, identity, femininity and transness, we dig into the history of gender representation in slasher films and spend most of the episode thinking through The Gaze, a concept coined by English art historian John Berger (in his 1972 book Ways of Seeing) that was later picked up by feminist film theorists. Hannah and Marcelle consider how cinema, and the experience of both watching and being watched, reinforces and potentially destabilizes sex differences — and further, ask how Schoenbrun's work as a trans filmmaker plays with that relationship in ways previously sidelined by theorists and other artists, alike. If you haven't seen Camp Miasma, no worries! There are no spoilers in this episode. All you really need to know is that the movie stars bicons Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder and that is probably 90% of the reason our team was really into it. *** Works Cited Clover, Carol J. “Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film.” Representations 20 (1987): 187-228. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2928507. Doyle, Jude. “Notes on Camp: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (Jane Schoenbrun, 2026).” The Jude Doyle Newsletter Experience 29 August 2026. https://jude-doyle.ghost.io/notes-teenage-sex-and-death-at-camp-miasma-jane-schoenbrun-2026/. “Jane Schoenbrun.” Wikipedia. Accessed 1 September 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Schoenbrun. Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Screen 16, no. 3 (1975): 6–18. https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/16.3.6. “Ray Blanchard.” Wikipedia. Accessed 1 September 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Blanchard. Steinbock, Eliza. “Towards Trans Cinema.” In The Routledge Companion to Cinema and Gender, edited by Kristin Hole, Dijana Jelača, E. Kaplan, and Patrice Petro. New York: Routledge, 2017. 395-406. *** Music Credits: “Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020 Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
12/07/2021

Book 5, Ep. 4 | Fan Studies with Amanda Allen

Well Witches, we finally did it — we recorded an episode about fan studies and fan-fiction. And our wonderful guest, Amanda K. Allen (she/her), made it possible! Amanda is a professor of Children’s Literature at Eastern Michigan University who she came onto the show to discuss fan fiction conventions and genre at the intersection of power, adolescence, and the early days of the internet. Join us as we explore the rich history and legacy of fan-fiction through Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Content Warning: We discuss the taboo nature of some fan fiction "ships" (i.e. Snape/Hermione and Hermione/McGonagall), as well as some tropes and conventions of non-consent, coercion and forced marriage and reproduction. For listeners interested in understanding the ethics surrounding fan fiction writers' tendency to include graphic and disturbing elements within fan fiction (rape, non-consensual situations, torture, etc.), an excellent and helpful text is Kristina Busse's Framing Fan Fiction: Literary and Social Practices in Fan Fiction Communities. In particular, listeners might be interested in the tenth chapter, "Fictional Consents and the Ethical Enjoyment of Dark Desires." [Busse, Kristina. Framing Fan Fiction: Literary and Social Practices in Fan Fiction Communities. U of Iowa P., 2017.] *** Don't forget, we are running a Holiday Patreon Drive! If we earn $5000 USD/month from our Patreon by January 1st, 2022, we are going to host a LIVE Witch, Please Tell Me (*Our q&a bonus content!*) for all Patrons at every tier! Join today at a monthly rate that works for you and you'll bring us one step closer to our goal! Our tiers range from $2-$13. Stay connected and follow Witch, Please on Twitter and Instagram @ohwitchplease and let us know what you think of the episode through a review on Apple Podcasts. Your support keeps this show running! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Apr 28

Material Concerns: NPR's All Things Considered Pt. I | Ad-Free

This episode has nothing to do with NPR's All Things Considered, but that's the kind of cuckoo behavior you get when Coach invites resident wittle babies, Gaby and Zoe, on mic. Hannah and Marcelle are off having a Disney adventure and while they're away, the freaks will play! Part II is over on patreon.com/ohwitchplease! Support Material Girls To learn more about the show, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca (you can also find transcripts here!). Want to support the podcast and our tiny, hard-working team? Check out all the content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease. Bonus episodes, bloopers, merch, watch-alongs, and more! Need a last minute gift for a friend or family member? You can gift a Patreon subscription at this link: https://www.patreon.com/ohwitchplease/gift! Music Credits: “Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020 Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
11/08/2021

Book 5, Ep. 2 | PTSD with Addie Merians

In this episode we are joined by the wonderful Dr. Addie Merians. Addie (she/her) is a postdoc in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. She has her PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Minnesota and her research focuses on trauma and resilience, especially in relation to systemic oppression. In Season One of our reboot, we spoke with Lucia M. Lorenzi, PhD, to unpack trauma theory and to explore gaps, inconsistencies, and unreliable narration as sites where trauma lives in the Harry Potter books. Now, as we think about The Order of the Phoenix, Addie helps us make sense of Harry's behavior in the aftermath of Cedric Diggory's death, the culture of PTSD and silence within The Order itself, and so much more. Content Warning: We speak explicitly about PTSD as a diagnosis, different types of trauma, and specific symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety. Please take care of yourselves and skip this episode if you need — and feel free to check out some helpful resources of support from our guest, Addie, below: Suicide Crisis Line: 1-800-273-8255 (Dial 1 if you are a veteran for the Veteran's Crisis Line) RAINN is the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization and leading authority on sexual violence. Call 800-656-HOPE for the National Sexual Assault Hotline. For more information on PTSD click here. The National Center for PTSD has information about PTSD for everyone, not just veterans. People can learn more about what PTSD is, different treatments, and find information for friends and family members of people with PTSD. PTSD Coach offers crisis resources, help finding local care, information about PTSD, symptom assessments, and a variety of tools to help manage symptoms. COVID Coach was developed to help folks with pandemic stressors and includes tools to manage stress and symptoms, information about a variety of topics related to mental health, assessments to track anxiety/depression/PTSD/well-being, and resources. *** Stay connected and follow Witch, Please on Twitter and Instagram @ohwitchplease and let us know what you think of the episode through a review on Apple Podcasts. As always, you can join our Patreon for exclusive content including bonus interviews, Q&As, Watch Alongs and more — our tiers range from $2-$13! For Witch, Please merch visit our TeePublic shop! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
08/07/2025

Building the Playground with Marcelle, Raimi, Reese and Coach

In this final episode of Gender Playground Season Two, the GP team gives listeners a peek behind the curtain! Marcelle and Raimi are joined by Coach and Associate Producer, Reese Carr, for a conversation about the making of this podcast! We also tackle two additional voicemails we didn't get to in our other episodes and then, as always, end on some recommendations! And that's a wrap on Gender Playground Season Two! Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with family and friends! For ad-free episodes and to show your support, head to patreon.com/ohhwitchplease! To support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review! Reviews help new listeners discover the show — and it gives us an idea of what you're liking about the new season! See you next week on the playground! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
07/31/2025

Why Our History Matters with Elio Colavito

In our penultimate episode of Season two, we are joined by friend of the pod, Elio Colavito (he/they)! Elio chats with Marcelle and Raimi about their doctoral research on the history of trans community-building and mutual aid. The group chat about the importance of being connected to community from the past into the present. In response to this week's listener voicemail, Marcelle, Raimi and Elio think through how to support kids when someone in their life comes out or transitions, including changing the pronouns used. Recommendations this week include children's musician Susan Salidor, the Digital Transgender Archive, and doing karaoke with your kids! You can find more of Elio at eliocolavito.org or on twitter @eliocolavito. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with family and friends! For ad-free episodes and to show your support, head to patreon.com/ohhwitchplease! To support the show for ZERO COST, leave us an Apple review! Reviews help new listeners discover the show — and it gives us an idea of what you're liking about the new season! See you next week on the playground! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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