#8: The Femcel: Part II

from Recurring Character · host Holly Friend

Let's wrap up Femcel Studies.In Part II, we explore how a post-Femcel internet has cultivated an appetite for online stalking, emotional scarcity, and sexual competition, and why this has left us in a crisis of disembodiment.We also spotlight two of the freakiest writers working today – Sheena Patel and Sayaka Murata – whose estranged heroines reveal what happens when romance loses its grip on reality. Expect questions like: is love entertainment? Is celibacy anti-establishment? Do anime boyfriends and emotionally unavailable men have more in common than we think?Show Notes:he needs me by The FemcelsPost-Femcel Femininity by Virginia KarnsteinI’m A Fan (2022) by Sheena PatelFandom with Sheena Patel by Literary FrictionPillion (2025)Sayaka Murata: The Cosmic Novelist by The GentlewomanConvenience Store Woman (2016) by Sayaka MurataVanishing World (2025) by Sayaka MurataSayaka Murata Inhabits A Planet of Her Own by Wired‘Marriage feels like a hostage situation, and motherhood a curse’ – Sayaka profiled in The GuardianThe rise of mixed-orientation marriage by ImpactWhat’s going on with straight women? by Dee SalminTo Rest Our Minds and Bodies (2025) by Harriet ArmstrongMimetic theory of desire by René GirardDoomers in Love by Mana Afsari

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published May 19, 2026

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#8: The Femcel: Part II

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