The Discourse

Courtenay Roche

A deep-ish dive into the cultural conversations dominating our screens week-to-week. Twin sisters Courtenay and Cecile wield the fading remnants of their liberal arts educations to take on such vital topics as: Is there a male loneliness epidemic? Did liberal feminism ruin the workplace? Will generative AI be the death knell of the influencer era? Does the world really need another podcast helmed by two white Zillennials? Let's discuss.

Episodes

  1. 5d ago

    Pop Culture Lightning Round, Live from Peru

    **NO VIDEO** After scouring the internet for the juiciest headlines, Courtenay, Cecile, and returning guest host Cousin Caroline play a riveting round of pop culture court where opinions are bared like teeth and knowledge gaps are ruthlessly exposed. This episode comes to you from deep in the Peruvian Andes, but you'd never guess! We remain plugged in to the continental topics du jour, from Taylor Swift's tacky MSG wedding to Taylor Frankie Paul's Bachelorette season—and all the Taylors in between. Pour yourself a pisco sour and settle in for a lively cultural discourse painstakingly uploaded on 1GB of wifi (hence the audio-only!!!) 3 xoxo

    1h 16m

  2. Jun 18

    Yesteryear Deep Dive: Let Women Be Awful!

    C + C take on the buzziest release of the year in this special Book Club edition of The Discourse. Yesteryear is writer-cum-podcaster Caro Claire Burke's debut novel, a satirical portrayal of tradwife influencing taken to its extreme. Since its April release, Yesteryear's detestable protagonist and undeniably compelling premise have been the subject of much online discourse.  The book is told from the perspective of Natalie Heller-Mills, a popular “tradwife”-style influencer whose life and work revolves around her picture-perfect Idaho farm, aptly named “Yesteryear.” She and her husband Caleb—the spoiled youngest boy from an American political dynasty that appears to be part-Kennedy, part-Bush in its inspiration—have five kids between them (put a pin in that), and a sixth on the way. The crux of the novel arrives when Natalie wakes up one morning in 1850 and is forced to confront the harsh reality of the “traditional” life she claims to want. Bitter cold mornings, rock-hard bread, and a husband who is all-too-eager to slap her around for her misdeeds. Can she survive the real yesteryear ? Join C + C for yet another romp through the world of tradwifery, religious fundamentalism, and the subjugation of women—this time through the lens of our antihero narrator, Natalie Heller Mills. This far-ranging episode (our longest yet!) covers everything from the author's backstory—she was Court's fav podcaster before she was a bestselling author!—to jealous reviewers' many bad-faith critiques, to our pet theories about Natalie (gay?? autistic????? amish???). Whether you've already devoured the book and want to go deeper, OR you're sick of feeling left out of the conversation, this is one you'll want to tune in to.

    2h 5m

  3. Jun 2

    Gen Z Is Wearing G Strings To Work?! And Other Corporate Etiquette Conundrums

    Why don’t you just get your ass up and WORK? It seems like nobody wants to work anymore!!!! Clock in for today's episode to hear the discourse around remote work, corporate etiquette, Gen Z’s unconventional approach to workplace fashion, and the existential threat AI poses to white-collar careers. We’ll also ~circle back~ to past episodes via some listener feedback—of both the innocuous and hurtful variety.  But let’s not boil the ocean here. We’ll give you some time back by keeping our description short and sweet. Ready to get the ball rolling?

    1h 33m

  4. May 16

    The Engagement Hot Takes That Might Get Us Cancelled

    Courtenay’s engaged!!! And more importantly, we've got opinions about it: Lab-grown diamonds? Yes. Danielle Bernstein? No. Mountaintop proposals? Sometimes. Balloon arches on the beach? …Reluctantly. But we’re here for more than just hot takes. Two weeks of expertise in being a fiancée has emboldened Courtenay to take on the entire wedding industrial complex in an attempt to decide whether changing social norms around proposals represent newfound freedoms or the corruption of true intimacy. With the added perspective of an old, married, anti-feminist hag (Cecile*), this convo offers a truly comprehensive analysis of engagement culture in 2026—one you’ll be tempted to drop in the comments of every collabed Insta proposal post you see this summer. If you do, just make sure to tag @supremecourtenay for creds 😘 xoxo *Cecile would like it to be known that she is, in fact, 30 seconds YOUNGER than Courtenay

    1h 31m

  5. Apr 29

    Is This the End of the Infinite Scroll?

    SOUND ISSUES FIXED! Mark Zuckerberg is evil. Social media is soul-destroying. Water is wet. Tell me something I don’t know!  Despite our collective disdain for the careless and money-hungry antics of Meta and friends, the social media giants have enjoyed over two decades of near immunity from legal recourse thanks to a little legislative life preserver called Section 230.  Last month, all that changed. After Meta was found guilty in TWO landmark lawsuits targeting the platform for its exploitative and addictive design, legal experts and tech execs across the country are reeling, wondering what comes next.  The question on everyone’s lips: Is this big tech’s big tobacco moment? The jury’s still out. But who better to probe this unprecedented legal maelstrom than C + C? (Don’t answer that!) In addition to the minutiae of internet regulatory policy, we also cover:  ➡️ What’s actually legal and illegal on the internet  ➡️ The slot machine-ification of social media ➡️ FMK: McKinsey, Meta, and Lockheed Martin  ➡️ The book that made Courtenay concede to her lifelong opp ➡️ Why social media addiction is NAWT your fault ➡️ The new cast of SLOMW OC (somehow relevant) Buckle up! The Discourse is about to get… meta  ;)

    1h 8m

  6. Apr 10

    There's No Crying in Mountaineering (Everest Part 2)

    ...But there might be a little bit in this episode. In Everest Part 1, we covered Courtenay's decision to climb Everest, her intense training regimen, her therapist's wisdom, and her acclimatization rotations. In this episode, we're taking you all the way to the top—29,029 feet up, to be exact! But first, Courtenay drops some "well, actually" truths about the mountain's biggest controversies, from trash to sherpa compensation to...baking soda insurance fraud?! Finally, we'll hear from Courtenay about the fraught nature of achieving your dreams—and the grief of remembering those climbers who never made it back down.

    1h 10m

  7. Mar 30

    I Climbed Everest Because Grad School Wasn't Expensive Enough (Part 1)

    On May 23rd, 2024, your favorite pod host, Courtenay, summited Mt. Everest. Today, she finally entertains the question on everyone's lips: Why??! Short answer: She didn't want to go to grad school. Long answer: Well...you'll have to give it a listen! In part one of this two-part series, we'll dive into the discourse surrounding this highly controversial mountain, including how much it costs, how to train for it, the "luxurious" base camp amenities, and how dangerous it really is. Cecile will offer her perspective on the difficulty of supporting your loved ones' terrifying dreams, and how to resist any Tonya Harding-esque urges to play saboteur. Climb on!

    57 min

  8. Mar 15

    We Mogged Clavicular—And Other Illegible Sentences

    Courtenay, Cecile, and guest host "Cousin Caroline" explore the bizarre and disturbing community of "Looksmaxers"—men who are obsessed with optimizing their appearance by any means necessary. In just under an hour, you'll get a survey of the manosphere, from meth injections to gigchads to Clavicular's wildly nonpartisan reasons for backing Gavin Newsom in the 2028 election. Snuggle into your red light mask and get ready for us to mog every other podcast on the internet.

    57 min

  9. Feb 28

    A Tradwife, a Mormon, and a Girlboss Walk Into a Bar...

    This started as an episode about influencers and ended with a fight over the (debatable?) nazi tendencies of pronatalists. Buckle up—the discourse is about to get a little spicy 👀

    1h 3m

  10. Feb 14

    Why is Gen Z So Lame?

    Gen Z should be at the club...and we don't mean run club! In this week's episode, we dive into the Gen Z sobriety discourse: Alcohol consumption amongst young people is at an all-time low, and everybody is pointing fingers. The TikTok girlies say it's a health-conscious choice, the stoners say it's a substance preference, and Millennials say it's merely the sign of their young counterparts' social isolation. We dissect all these theories—but not before sharing our own very unusual relationship with alcohol in adolescence (lore drop). Follow us on Instagram!! @supremecourtenay & @cecilejackonis

    48 min

  11. Feb 1

    Is BookTok Reviving Literature...or Ruining It?

    As its compelling literary content has bled through the cracks of our cultural discourse, BookTok has transformed from merely an internet subculture to a powerful market force that has upended the publishing world as we know it, debatably revived the brick-and-mortar bookstore, and fueled the production of some of the most popular movies and TV shows of the last few years - including the hit new series "Heated Rivalry." What started as a benign TikTok subculture composed of (mostly) women who make and consume content about books has since become a cultural watershed: Is the TikTokification of literature a harbinger of intellectual decline, or a glimmer of hope for a dying medium? Before taking on the intellectual merits of smut, Courtenay & Cecile take a trip into the belly of the beast, starting with some delicious prose depicting a taboo dive bar hookup. We define some terms—"tropes," "spiciness," and "MCs" among them—and try our best to get acquainted with the source material. Next, we start in on the critiques: Is BookTok glorifying consumerism? Can you judge a writer by their number of Instagram followers? Is the publishing industry failing its readers by serving them unedited slop? We take a look at a few major scandals, including the discourse around "Lightlark," the viral video-turned-YA novel that divided the BookTok community. Finally, we look at what the experts have to say: Is there any inherent value in reading, or is it no better for your brain than bingeing the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives? (The answer—according to journalists and psychologists—might surprise you!)

    1h 10m
  • 11 Episodes

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

A deep-ish dive into the cultural conversations dominating our screens week-to-week. Twin sisters Courtenay and Cecile wield the fading remnants of their liberal arts educations to take on such vital topics as: Is there a male loneliness epidemic? Did liberal feminism ruin the workplace? Will generative AI be the death knell of the influencer era? Does the world really need another podcast helmed by two white Zillennials? Let's discuss.

Information

  • Creator
    Courtenay Roche
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    11
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Courtenay Roche
  • Show Website
    The Discourse

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