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Sorry but...the "Girl Math" is not adding up.And by "Girl Math" we mean the class fantasies of young women; the dream of achieving financial freedom by being frivolous with finances (because 'I'm just a girl!')... and rely entirely on their husband or partner (with no backup plan!).You see these fantasies peddled in romance novels, divorce memoirs, and, of course, tradwife content. According to Chelsea Fagan, author and CEO of The Financial Diet, these are all part of our culture's obsession with class fantasies. While we may believe much of our social and romantic desires are solely rooted in love, Chelsea wants to encourage women especially to interrogate their financial status and future. Brittany is joined by Chelsea to answer the question: is it really love if you don’t have the financial ability to come and go as you please? (0:00) Unpacking the infantilization of "girl math" and women's financial fantasies(1:58) Financial fantasy brain rot: relying on a wealthy man(05:18) How 'Just Getting Good' got started(08:55) How 'Just Getting Good' debunks financial myths(12:05) How romance novels peddle regressive class fantasies(17:28) How fictional fantasies bleed into real life(24:55) How voluntary financial ignorance harms women(30:32) Building relationships with financial clarity and equityWant more on financial fantasies or relationships? Check out these IBAM episodes: Money can make or break your relationshipThe embarrassing truth of dating menSupport Public Media. Join NPR Plus.Follow Brittany on Instagram: @bmluseFor handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Is fanfiction mainstream now?If you are anywhere near fan spaces online, you’ve probably seen people talking about fanfiction. And it's also behind some of the biggest books of the last decade – some of the publishing industry's greatest hits are fanfic adaptations. But even as fanfic seeps into the mainstream, there’s a battle inside fanfic communities over whether it should be kept private – and a larger culture war brewing over what gets published and who’s reading it. Brittany gets into the gendered, economic, and cultural forces pushing fanfiction to the fore with Ashley Reese, writer, cultural commentator and fanfic veteran, and Eli Cugini, culture writer, Ph.D. student and author of a Defector article called “Fanfiction’s Total Cultural Victory.”Want to hear more about the state of literacy? Check out these episodes: Have we lost the art of reading?Yes, romance & fantasy novels are political.Books vs. Brain Rot: why it's so hard to readSupport Public Media. Join NPR Plus.Follow Brittany on Instagram: @bmluseFor handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Do you think you have good taste?Having a good sense of taste is something like a cultural badge of honor: the result of hard work understanding what you find beautiful and why it moves you. Silicon Valley tech bros are latching onto taste as a new buzzword, and some are even suggesting that their products can give you a fast track to refining your own taste. Brittany is joined by Kyle Chayka, staff writer at The New Yorker, and Kate Wagner, architecture critic at The Nation, to find out whether or not taste can be created from terabytes of AI data. You can read Kyle's piece, titled, 'Why Tech Bros Are Now Obsessed with Taste' in The New Yorker.Want more about Tech and Culture? Check out these episodes:The false promise of a tech job.Can you trust AI search results?Support Public Media. Join NPR Plus.Follow Brittany on Instagram: @bmluseFor handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy