Minus the City: Should We or Should We Not Call Her Daddy?

Call Her Daddy, a podcast that everyone has either listened to or at least heard of, is notorious for its incredibly explicit and raunchy conversations between Alexandra Cooper and her former co-host Sofia Franklyn. The two explore sex and dating from a female perspective and are extremely forthcoming when it comes to topics about the exploration of female sexuality. The podcast is essentially a “locker-room conversation” between women, which is pretty unconventional, to say the least. And because of this, one may regard the podcast as especially empowering for women, as these brutally honest conversations may give us newfound sexual and self-confidence. This is finally a way for adolescent women to gain leverage in feeling more comfortable about their sexuality. This podcast has helped normalize the idea that women aren’t just highly emotional relationship seekers and that we in fact do enjoy separating sex from any strings. So liberating. Isn’t this what we wanted? 

“You have to stop listening to Call Her Daddy,” Serena Shahidi aka @glamdemon2004 on TikTok remarks sternly and confidently, “Your standards are getting lower and lower every day.”

A popular creator on TikTok and current student at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), Shahidi radiates the energy of a mean but wise older sister from a New York City chic early 2000s coming of age/romance drama film. She proudly exclaims all of her unpopular opinions, especially her take on the renowned podcast, Call Her Daddy, “You’re going to wind up falling in love with the next man who texts you back more than once a month. Please. Your brain cells are dying.”

Some listeners are upset by her opinions, such as “Am I the only one who feels more empowered from CHD [Call Her Daddy]? Like, it helped me raise my standards for guys and know my worth when it comes to guys”, and, “She has a whole episode dedicated to telling women if they’re not pretty, they don’t deserve to be treated right and y’all still defend CHD… BYE!” Despite the criticism, most people seemed to agree with Shahidi, “Call Her Daddy convinced me to fall in love with a man who couldn’t remember my last name.” 

If I’m being completely honest, I’ve never actually listened to CHD. While a sex podcast seemed very intriguing and destigmatizing overt female desire is a passion of mine, something about a “feminist sex podcast” owned by Barstool Sports seemed pretty paradoxical. I stayed away. As I read synopses of certain episodes, I’m glad I did. There is an episode dedicated to teaching men how to escape the friendzone by preying on the insecurities of women, and another that attempts to teach women how to continue performing oral sex on a man when they begin to feel uncomfortable and queasy, rather than just stopping. The constant reinstatement that men are cheaters is not only a gross generalization, but also intensifies anxieties of women in committed relationships by compelling them to resort to toxic behaviors due to the suggestion that men cheating in relationships is a completely normal phenomenon. Further, the podcast implores their fan base to try their best to act like porn stars in bed to compensate for lack of beauty…never have I ever seen feminism in the form of such damaging, misogynistic and heteronormative ideologies. 

Anyways… stream the Seven Minutes in Heaven podcast hosted by Arielle Kaplan and Miryam Jivotovski, two incredibly amazing women who give the inside scoop on their sex lives, while also giving the latest on sex-tech and sex-research! You won’t regret it.