This week, the girlies are armed with their No. 2 pencils to ask: what’s the current state of literacy, how did we get here, and are the kids okay??? They unpack how we went from clay tablets to BookTok fairy smut and trace how phonics, poverty, and the policy failures of the Bush administration shaped how we learn to read. Digressions include Zohran Mamdani socialist prom, the power of drawing portals, and empathy for Travis Kelce. This episode was produced by Julia Hava and Eliza McLamb and edited by Allison Hagan. Research assistance from Kylie Finnigan. We’re going on tour!!!! Find tickets at https://linktr.ee/binchtopia SOURCES: A Brief History of Summer Reading A Chapter a Day – Association of Book Reading with Longevity A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel American Children’s Reading Skills Reach New Lows America’s literacy crisis isn’t what you think Ancient customer-feedback technology lasts millennia Are men’s reading habits truly a national crisis? BookTok: A new era in the history of reading BookTok Statistics BookTok: The Dark Horse of the Economy Can Reading Make You Happier? Children and young people's reading in 2025 Exploring BookTok’s impact on literature How BookTok is Reviving the Era of Physical Bookselling How is the popularity of BookTok impacting the publishing industry? How Literacy Became a Powerful Weapon in the Fight to End Slavery How One Woman Became the Scapegoat for America’s Reading Crisis How the Second World War Made America Literate How TikTok Became a Best-Seller Machine Introduction to the Original Edition Literacy and History Illiteracy: “Another form of slavery” Literacy Rate in the US 2025: Top Picks National Reading Panel - Teaching Children to Read No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 No Child Left Behind: An Overview Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed at Fifty PEDAGOGY of the OPPRESSED by Paolo Freire Report finds ‘shocking and dispiriting’ fall in children reading for pleasure Share of TikTok users reading more books because of #BookTok in the United States as of May 2023, by state School Summer Reading Lists: A Brief and Nerdy History Sold a Story Soldiers Literacy Training Collection The History of Summer Reading The Influence of BookTok on Literary Criticisms and Diversity The Invention of Summer Reading and the Birth of the Beach Read The Literacy Crisis in the U.S. is Deeply Concerning—and Totally Preventable The Nation's Report Card The Rise and Fall of Vibes-Based Literacy The Subversive Joy of BookTok This is how much the global literacy rate grew over 200 years Why I Won’t Quit BookTok
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1:39:09
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1:39:09
Sleepover Simulation *TEASER*
This week, the girlies are cozied up in their Barbie sleeping bags, reflecting on the innocent beauty, brutal hierarchy, and core memories of sleepovers past in honor of the upcoming Summer Sleepover Tour. From the absolute shame of calling your mom to pick you up early to aspiring to be THAT girl with a basement, they unpack everything that made sleepovers a defining girlhood ritual. Digressions include: nerds rope slander, the power of children writing letters, and an immersive Bat Mitzvah experience. We’re going on tour!!!! Find tickets at https://linktr.ee/binchtopia This is a teaser for a Patreon-exclusive episode. To listen to the full episode and access over 50 bonus episodes, mediasodes, and monthly zoom hangs visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today.
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6:11
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6:11
Take Me To Qurch
For pride month, the girlies mount a defense against one of the largest threats to queer people today: transphobia. They trace the long history of trans existence and its erasure, unpack how moral panic is used to justify control, why transphobia exists on both the right and the left, and how the freedom to live outside the binary can liberate us from other systems of oppression. Digressions include: the highs and lows of plant parenthood, our no-phone summer so far, and a new candy shaking up the scene. This episode was produced by Julia Hava and Eliza McLamb and edited by Livi Burdette. Research assistance from Kylie Finnigan. To support the podcast on Patreon and access 50+ bonus episodes, mediasodes, zoom hangouts and more, visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today. RESOURCES: https://transharmreduction.org/ https://www.thetrevorproject.org/ https://translifeline.org/ https://transequality.org/ https://transgenderlawcenter.org https://pflag.org/get-support/ https://transreads.org/ https://www.elevatedaccess.org/ https://www.pointofpride.org/resource-library SOURCES: 2025 anti-trans bills tracker A History of Transphobia in the Medical Establishment A Lost Piece of Trans History A systematic review of TERF behaviour online in relation to sociopsychological group dynamics Advancing Transgender Justice: Illuminating Trans Lives Behind and Beyond Bars Anti-trans legislation has never been about protecting children’ Anti-Trans Moral Panics Endanger All Young People Better mental health found among transgender people who started hormones as teens Beyond Gender: Indigenous Perspectives, Muxe Beyond moral panic: how governments are ignoring centuries of trans history Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton Clayman Conversations: Three scholars examine the TERF Industrial Complex Fact Sheet: Transgender Participation in Sports Gender Identity in Weimar Germany Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy and Depressive Symptoms Among Transgender Adults Impact of Ban on Gender-Affirming Care on Transgender Minors India’s Relationship with the Third Gender Introduction: TERFs, Gender-Critical Movements, and Postfascist Feminisms Mental health benefits associated with gender-affirming surgery Mental Health Outcomes in Transgender and Nonbinary Youths Receiving Gender-Affirming Care Marxism, moral panic and the war on trans people “Moving Towards the Ugly” My Words to Victor Frankenstein by Susan Stryker Online Anti-LGBTQ Hate Terms Defined: “Transvestigation” On Liking Women by Andrea Long-Chu Othering, peaking, populism and moral panics: The reactionary strategies of organised transphobia Responses to Janice G. Raymond's The Transsexual Empire The “Empire” Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto The Epidemic of Violence Against the Transgender & Gender-Expansive Community in the U.S. The Forgotten History of the World's First Trans Clinic How historians are documenting the lives of transgender people The History of Two-Spirit Folks The Institute of Sexology and the Erasure of Transgender History The semi-sacred ‘third gender’ of South Asia The Supreme Court’s incoherent new attack on trans rights, explained Theorist Susan Stryker on One of Her Most Groundbreaking Essays, 25 Years Later The rise of anti-trans “radical” feminists, explained To protect gender-affirming care, we must learn from trans history Transgender History by Susan Stryker Transgender Lives in the Middle Ages through Art, Literature, and Medicine TV and films have long taught audiences transphobia What science tells us about transgender athletes Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law - More than 40% of transgender adults in the US have attempted suicide Woman says she was brutally attacked in Carpentersville, Illinois because she's a lesbian
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1:30:57
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1:30:57
Monolingual Shame *TEASER*
The girlies return from their summer break with a chatty episode recapping their travels, including our bodies yet again keeping the score, a shocking Alec Baldwin sighting, and the transcendent beauty of Nerds Gummy Clusters. Digressions include: Aura ring-induced health spirals, the evilness of snoring, and Baskin-Robbins’ haunting Trolli milkshake. This is a teaser for a Patreon-exclusive episode. To listen to the full episode and access over 50 bonus episodes, mediasodes, and monthly zoom hangs visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today.
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7:40
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7:40
Into the Mystery w/ Kate Twomey *TEASER*
Eliza welcomes back bestie of the pod and religious scholar Kate Twomey for a tender, sprawling conversation shaped by your questions about religion and spirituality. They discuss the alchemical origins of “soulmates,” the fine line between manifesting and spiritual psychosis, coming back to community, and much more. Check out some of Kate’s work here: https://kyoteworld.substack.com/ This is a teaser for a Patreon-exclusive episode. To listen to the full episode and access over 50 bonus episodes, mediasodes, and monthly zoom hangs visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today. We’re going on tour!!!! Find tickets at https://linktr.ee/binchtopia
If Plato and Aristotle had internet addictions and knew what "gaslighting" was, they'd probably make this podcast. Hosts Julia Hava and Eliza McLamb guide you through our current cultural hellscape, share sociological and psychological perspectives on pop culture, and deconstruct everything you've ever loved. Come have a laugh with us through the end times of late stage capitalism! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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