🎧 Episode 57: Domination (MEN, Part 11) | Scene on Radio

Listened to Episode 57: Domination (MEN, Part 11) by John Biewen from Scene on Radio

Host John Biewen dips into the world of sports talk radio, where guys talk not just about sports but also about how to be a man in twenty-first-century America. What John finds is more complicated than he expected, with revelations both encouraging and sobering. With co-host Celeste Headlee and experts David Nylund and Terry Real.

The lie of patriarchy is dominion. The lie of patriarchy is hierarchy—that you’re above the world you’re above nature and you’re imposing your will like a doctor on a patient, or a mechanic on a car—you are above the system. This is called hubris.
Terry Real, psychologist

Running away from your vulnerability is like running away from your rectum.
—Terry Real, psychologist [33:20]

🎧 Episode 56: The Juggernaut (MEN, Part 10) | Scene on Radio

Listened to Episode 56: The Juggernaut (MEN, Part 10) by John Biewen and Celeste Headlee from Scene on Radio

Writer Ben James and his wife Oona are raising their sons in a progressive and “queer-friendly” New England town. They actively encourage the boys to be themselves, never mind those traditional gender norms around “masculinity” and “femininity.” All was well. Until the elder son, Huck, went to sixth grade. Story by Ben James, with hosts Celeste Headlee and John Biewen, and psychologist Terrence Real.

🎧 Episode 55: Be Like You (MEN, Part 9) | Scene on Radio

Listened to Episode 55: Be Like You (MEN, Part 9) by John Biewen and Celeste Headlee from Scene on Radio

Lewis Wallace, female-assigned at birth, wanted to transition in the direction of maleness—in some ways. He shifted his pronouns, had surgery, starting taking testosterone. None of that meant he wanted to embrace everything that our culture associates with “masculinity.” Story written and reported by Lewis Wallace, with co-hosts John Biewen and Celeste Headlee.

Brings up interesting ideas about why we do or don’t expect people who are born women and transition to also take on the toxicity traits of maleness. Why can’t we just be who we are?
As I listen to Scene on Radio’s series Men, I’m a bit jarred when they use the word “virtue” without acknowledging its provenance in relation to their topic.

Virtue’s etymology includes the Latin word vir meaning man, which is also the stem of the Latin word virtus meaning valour, merit, moral perfection, and even strength or manliness. These are also, not coincidentally, the antecedent words for the modern English word virile, which has a more in-your-face relationship with men.

I’m thinking we need a more modern “femina”-centered word meaning moral perfection…

🎧 Episode 54: American Made (MEN, Part 8) | Scene on Radio

Listened to Episode 54: American Made (MEN, Part 8) by John Biewen and Celeste Headlee from Scene on Radio

American history—law, economics, culture—has built different notions of masculinity (and femininity) for people of varying races and ethnicities. A trip through a century of pop culture and the stereotyped images that white supremacy has manufactured and attached to Asian and African American men. With scholars Tim Yu and Mark Anthony Neal and co-hosts John Biewen and Celeste Headlee.

Now I’m even more sad that Bruce Lee died an early death.

🎧 Episode 53: Himpathy (MEN, Part 7) | Scene on Radio

Listened to Episode 53: Himpathy (MEN, Part 7) by John Biewen and Celeste Headlee from Scene on Radio

Several years after Janey was sexually assaulted by her former boyfriend, Mathew, she told some of her closest friends, and her mother, what Mathew had done. Janey was so troubled by her loved ones’ responses, or lack thereof, that she went back to them years later to record conversations about it all. In this episode: Janey’s story, and philosopher Kate Manne, who coined the term “himpathy” in her 2017 book, Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny. With co-hosts John Biewen and Celeste Headlee.

To hear more of Janey Williams’ story and the conversations she had with friends, check out her podcast, “This Happened”, available on most podcast apps and at thishappenedpodcast.com.

This is a painful and rough story, but very revealing about how our culture covers up for men who perpetrate sexual assault.

🎧 Episode 52: Warriors (MEN, Part 6) | Scene on Radio

Listened to Episode 52: Warriors (MEN, Part 6) by John Biewen from Scene on Radio

Do nations fight wars because men are naturally violent? Or do societies condition men to embrace violence so they’ll fight the nation’s wars?

Along with co-hosts John Biewen and Celeste Headlee, this episode features reporting by Barry Lam of the Hi-Phi Nation podcast, with scholars Joshua Goldstein of American University, Tom Digby of Springfield College, and Graham Parsons of the United States Military Academy, a.k.a. West Point.

🎧 Episode 51: More Than Paper Cuts (MEN, Part 5) | Scene on Radio

Listened to Episode 51: More Than Paper Cuts (MEN, Part 5) by cdsduke from Scene on Radio

The #MeToo Movement has shed a harsh light on sexual harassment in the workplace. Just how bad, and how pervasive, is sexism on the job in the U.S., from day-to-day expressions of disrespect all the way to rape? Spoiler: It’s bad.

Reported by Ibby Caputo. With researchers Hannah Riley Bowles of Harvard Kennedy School, Meg Bond of UMass Lowell, Peter Glick of Lawrence University, and Mily Treviño-Sauceda of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas.

🎧 Episode 50: Feminism in Black and White (MEN, Part 4) | Scene On Radio

Listened to Episode 50: Feminism in Black and White (MEN, Part 4) by John Biewen, Celeste Headlee from Scene on Radio

The struggles against sexism and racism come together in the bodies, and the lives, of black women. Co-hosts Celeste Headlee and John Biewen look at the intersections between male dominance and white supremacy in the United States, and the movements to overcome them, from the 1800s through the 2016 presidential election. Guests include scholars Glenda Gilmore, Ashley Farmer, and Danielle McGuire.

This has a great historical story (not widely known) about a rape that preceded the bus boycotts which, in all likelihood, made them much more effective than they would have been otherwise.

🎧 Episode 49: Skeleton War (MEN, Part 3) | Scene on Radio

Listened to Episode 49: Skeleton War (MEN, Part 3) by John Biewen and Celeste Headlee from Scene on Radio

A few hundred years ago, the great thinkers of the Enlightenment began to declare that “all men are created equal.” Some of them said that notion should include women, too. Why did those feminists—most of them men, by the way—lose the fight? How did the patriarchy survive the Enlightenment?

Co-hosts John Biewen and Celeste Headlee look into these questions, with historians Londa Schiebinger of Stanford and Toby Ditz of Johns Hopkins, and sociologist Lisa Wade of Occidental College.

Music by Alex Weston, and by Evgueni and Sacha Galperine. Music and production help from Joe Augustine at Narrative Music.

🎧 Episode 48: Ain’t No Amoeba (MEN, Part 2) | Scene on Radio

Listened to Episode 48: Ain’t No Amoeba (MEN, Part 2) by John Biewen and Celeste Headlee from Scene on Radio

For millennia, Western culture (and most other cultures) declared that men and women were different sorts of humans—and, by the way, men were better. Is that claim not only wrong but straight-up backwards?

Co-hosts Celeste Headlee and John Biewen explore the current state of the nature-nurture gender debate, with help from Lisa Wade of Occidental College and Mel Konner of Emory University.

Music by Alex Weston, and by Evgueni and Sacha Galperine. Music and production help from Joe Augustine at Narrative Music.

🎧 Episode 47: Dick Move (MEN, Part 1) | Scene on Radio

Listened to Episode 47: Dick Move (MEN, Part 1) by John Biewen and Celeste Headlee from Scene on Radio

Launching Scene on Radio Season 3 series—MEN—co-hosts John Biewen and Celeste Headlee look at the problems of male supremacy. And we visit Deep Time to explore the latest scholarship on how, when, and why men invented patriarchy.

Featuring Meg Conkey of UC-Berkeley, Mel Konner of Emory University, and Lisa Wade of Occidental College.

Music by Alex Weston, and by Evgueni and Sacha Galperine. Music and production help from Joe Augustine at Narrative Music.

🎧 Season 3: MEN Trailer | Scene on Radio

Listened to Season 3: MEN Trailer by John Biewen and Celeste Headlee from Scene on Radio

Scene on Radio opens its Season 3 series, MEN, with this preview. Host John Biewen introduces the series with series co-host Celeste Headlee. Music Evgueni and Sacha Galperine. Theme music by Alex Weston. Music and production help from Joe Augustine at Narrative Music.