Man-woman, top-bottom, resilient-vulnerable

Myself and Ashley had a conversation that went all over the shop: from the suffocating political consensus, to the roots of social contagions, to why autogynephiles want to wear the frilly apron but don’t want to do the cooking. Listening back (don’t ever listen back) I can hear my brain desperately trying to connect synapses and failing, and I speak far too fast, so I apologise for all the brainfarts (especially to all the non-English speakers trying to keep up with me). Ashley is so interesting that all the questions I ever had came tumbling out all at once. An awesome woman. Enjoy.Do you think it matters that sex is being replaced by self-declaration of something called ‘gender identity’? I do, and I was fired for it. I made a bet that other people care about it too. So this newsletter is my new job. If you think my work is important, please take out a paid subscription.Show notes (AI generated)Episode OverviewIn this episode of Peaked, Róisín Michaux speaks with sociologist, writer, and editor Ashley Frawley about therapeutic culture, social conformity, identity politics, family life, citizenship, and the social dynamics underlying contemporary gender ideology.Drawing on her work in sociology, social problems theory, and the medicalisation of social life, Frawley examines how particular ideas become dominant within institutions and public culture, how social movements emerge and evolve, and why certain forms of identity and vulnerability have become culturally privileged in contemporary Western societies.The conversation explores the “Brussels consensus” inside European institutions, the changing relationship between capitalism and family life, therapeutic models of citizenship, historical moral panics, social contagion, the rise of gender identity ideology, and the social conditions that make particular belief systems culturally persuasive.Throughout the discussion, Frawley argues that contemporary social conflicts cannot be understood purely through biology or psychology, but must also be understood as products of wider historical, cultural, political, and institutional processes.Ashley FrawleyTwitter 🔗https://x.com/AshleyAFrawleyPatreon🔗 https://www.patreon.com/AshleyAFrawley🔗 Compact Magazinehttps://www.compactmag.com/contributor/ashley-frawley/Frawley serves as Senior Editor at Compact, a publication focused on politics, culture, economics, and contemporary social debates.🔗 Bloomsbury Author Pagehttps://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/author/ashley-frawley/Significant Emotions: Rhetoric and Social Problems in a Vulnerable Age🔗 Bloomsburyhttps://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/significant-emotions-9781350026810/🔗 Google Scholarhttps://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1q-G24wAAAAJAshley Frawley is a sociologist, author, and editor whose work focuses on social problems, therapeutic culture, wellbeing discourse, family policy, emotions, and contemporary political culture.She is Senior Editor at Compact Magazine, Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Kent, and Visiting Research Fellow at MCC Brussels.Organizations & InstitutionsMCC Brussels🔗 Official Website https://brussels.mcc.hu/Jonathan Haidt🔗 Official Websitehttps://jonathanhaidt.com/Referenced during a discussion about social science, moral psychology, and the replication crisis.Daniel Kahneman🔗 Nobel Prize Biographyhttps://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2002/kahneman/facts/Referenced in relation to behavioural science and contemporary psychology.🔗 Michelle Remembershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Remembershttps://www.amazon.com/Michelle-Remembers-Smith/dp/0722179588The Replication Crisis🔗 Nature Overview https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Remembershttps://www.nature.com/articles/533452aThe discussion examines methodological and reproducibility problems affecting psychology and related social sciences.The Communist Manifesto🔗 Full Texthttps://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/Referenced during discussions about family structures, labour mobility, and capitalism.David Goodhart — The Road to Somewhere🔗 Publisher Pagehttps://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/the-road-to-somewhere/Referenced during discussion of “Somewheres” and “Anywheres”, mobility, local attachment, and identity.John Stuart Mill — The Subjection of Women🔗 Full Texthttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27083Referenced during discussion of women’s citizenship, reason, education, and public life.Historical Parallels & Social ContagionThe Satanic Panic🔗 Encyclopaedia Britannicahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_panic🔗 Repressed Memoryhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8935987/Ian Hacking🔗 Encyclopaedia BritannicaGender, Citizenship & VulnerabilityHow Society Got a Sex Change🔗 Compact Magazinehttps://www.compactmag.com/article/how-society-got-a-sex-change/Frawley references her essay examining changing social ideals surrounding sex, gender, citizenship, and identity.Topics discussed include:• stereotypical femininity• vulnerability as a social ideal• masculinity and socialization• changing gender norms• citizenship and identityThe “Women Are Wonderful” Effect🔗 APA Recordhttps://psycnet.apa.org/record/1994-33384-001Discussed in relation to cultural expectations surrounding femininity, morality, accommodation, and vulnerability.HostRóisín Michaux🔗 X (Twitter)https://x.com/RoisinMichaux🔗 Apple Podcasts — PeakedListen & Subscribe🎧 Peaked is available on Substack and major podcast platforms.🔗 This is a public episode. 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