The creators of the feminist podcast Witch, Please are launching a new show called Material Girls. Hosts Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman are shifting their focus from Harry Potter’s world to broader cultural phenomena. The show aims to examine the reasons behind the popularity of various elements in pop culture by asking pertinent questions like “Why this, why now?”
In Material Girls, McGregor and Kosman use their academic experience to explore the undercurrents that bring certain cultural artifacts into the spotlight. The podcast promises to delve into various aspects of pop culture, offering a nuanced perspective on why certain trends or products gain traction.
The inaugural season, launching on July 25th, will cover a range of topics including Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, and Tender Masculinity, the TV series Bridgerton, and the Oxford English Dictionary’s 2022 Word of the Year, ‘Goblin Mode’.
McGregor said, “In every episode we begin with a piece of pop culture that has been a major part of the zeitgeist, whether that’s the Queer Eye reboot in 2018 or Barbie dolls in the 90s, and then we ask what was happening in the world at that moment that drew us to that piece of culture.”
Kosman added, “Our favorite part of podcasting is how it brings together the best of our work as feminist researchers and scholars by allowing us to map out the often-invisible webs of influence that make up the zeitgeist, while making complex theory accessible to mainstream audiences.”
