156. Rainbow Washing The Allusionist

From whitewash (the paint) we got whitewashing (the covering up of misdeeds) and from there greenwashing, redwashing, bluewashing, purplewashing, pinkwashing - and now rainbow washing, where companies will put Pride flags all over products and posts during the month of June, but behind the scenes will not necessarily be useful - and sometimes they'll be anti-useful. Mitra Kaboli, host of the new podcast Welcome to Provincetown, helps sort the real allyship from the rainbow-washing; and writer Sarah Schulman, who popularised the term 'pinkwashing', explains the more political meaning of that word.

This episode contains some swears.

Find out more information about the topics in this episode at theallusionist.org/rainbow-washing, plus a transcript and the full dictionary entry for the randomly selected word.

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The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The music is composed and sung by Martin Austwick. Hear Martin’s own songs via palebirdmusic.com.
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