sexism Archives - The ClearOut

Dolly, Dolls, and Puppets – The Ageless Beauty of Female Icons – Episode 264

In this episode, Dara is joining the dots between some recent topical news stories. He talks about a female icon of American entertainment – blonde, beautiful, independent, diminutive and unknowable; who else could it be other than Miss Piggy! And what does that embodiment of female power have in common with the late Dolly Parton? Quite a lot actually, but of particular interest is the nature of their apparent agelessness and consistency.

Dolly, Dolls, and Puppets – The Ageless Beauty of Female Icons – Episode 264 Read More »

Dogs, Dogs, and More Dogs! The Epstein Files 2.0 – Episode 238

Leave a Comment / Podcast / Dara Clear

With the latest release of Jeffrey Epstein files, Dara feels he wants to weigh in on the latest revelations and the famous people implicated. What can be so powerful to cause people to utterly disregard the female victims of Epstein’s trafficking operation? Is it a comment on the high society movers and shakers, or on the young women much further down the food chain? Or both?

Dogs, Dogs, and More Dogs! The Epstein Files 2.0 – Episode 238 Read More »

All the Damaged Boys – Where’s the Love At? – Episode 197

Leave a Comment / Podcast / Dara Clear

In this episode, Dara is trying to get his head around the obnoxious appearance of Conor McGregor at the White House over St. Patrick’s Weekend. Trump’s presidency seems to function as a magnet for a particular type of male performance, greenlighting as it does a validated version of masculinity that revels in belittling others, trash talking enemies, and leering, swaggering braggadocio. It is definitely connected to a particular understanding of straight maleness as being under attack and needing to reassert itself as aggressively as possible. But is it also a product of the tech age when the perception of consequences has been skewed by the amount of time spent in online spaces?

All the Damaged Boys – Where’s the Love At? – Episode 197 Read More »

Staying with the Female Experience of Violence and the Power Imbalance – From Looking for Mr. Goodbar to Woman of the Hour – Episode 179

Leave a Comment / Podcast / Dara Clear

In this episode, Dara considers violence against women and the recent clear-eyed responses to it by Hollywood regulars Anna Kendrick and Saoirse Ronan, as seen in Kendrick’s impressive directorial debut ‘Woman of the Hour’, and as heard in Ronan’s bulletproof interjection on the Graham Norton show. After reviewing Kendrick’s chilling movie and contextualising Ronan’s comments, he recalls a key moment of Rachel McAdams’ character in the second season of True Detective which laid out with absolute clarity the power differential between men and women.

Staying with the Female Experience of Violence and the Power Imbalance – From Looking for Mr. Goodbar to Woman of the Hour – Episode 179 Read More »

What the Hell Is That! The Audacious Grotesquerie of ‘The Substance’ – Episode 177

Leave a Comment / Podcast / Dara Clear

In this episode, Dara is still reeling after watching Coralie Fargeat’s astonishing film ‘The Substance’, a scarifyingly vicious body-horror satire on the pressure that results from the extreme demands of celebrity and the beauty expectations inflicted on women. The film is centred around a TV fitness personality whose middle-age renders her undesirable in the eyes of the network. In a ferocious performance by Demi Moore we bear witness to the lengths a woman will go to to preserve her looks and corresponding status.

What the Hell Is That! The Audacious Grotesquerie of ‘The Substance’ – Episode 177 Read More »

What Is a Man, Anyway? Part 5 – Episode 159

Leave a Comment / Podcast / Dara Clear

In this final part of his series on masculinity, Dara tries to bring things to a reasonable end. He talks about his lifelong attempt to embody a particular type of masculinity that was a direct response to sexist and reductive attitudes to men that he was exposed to in youth and early adulthood.

What Is a Man, Anyway? Part 5 – Episode 159 Read More »

How To Make a Raspberry Cheesecake – From the Kitchen to a Religious Sect to 90s Hollywood Misogyny – Episode 152

Leave a Comment / Podcast / Dara Clear

Dara begins this episode by sharing his go-to recipe for making cheesecake, raspberry cheesecake, specifically. Don’t ask why – it just felt like the right thing to do. Perhaps he was trying to flaunt his ‘new man’ credentials in advance of discussing male attitudes to high-profile, successful women in the not-so-distant past.

How To Make a Raspberry Cheesecake – From the Kitchen to a Religious Sect to 90s Hollywood Misogyny – Episode 152 Read More »

The Cost of Neglect, or For Whom Will You Wear a Yellow Flower? – Episode 101

Leave a Comment / Podcast / Dara Clear

In this episode Dara moves from very light to very dark. Recorded on his 20th wedding anniversary, Dara feels duty bound to reflect on that special day in 2003, and he revisits some of the standout moments, including an unlikely mode of transport for the first night of his honeymoon.

The Cost of Neglect, or For Whom Will You Wear a Yellow Flower? – Episode 101 Read More »

The Helpless Gobshite Episode! A Defence of Men – Episode 76

Leave a Comment / Podcast / Dara Clear

In this free-roaming episode, Dara attempts to thread the needle from poor mental health to perceived male incompetence and on to a celebration of non-toxic men.

The Helpless Gobshite Episode! A Defence of Men – Episode 76 Read More »

Going Down in Flames – The Fall and Fall of Marilyn Monroe – Episode 73

Leave a Comment / Podcast / Dara Clear

In this episode Dara assesses the recently-released Marilyn Monroe biopic, ‘Blonde’. Written and directed by Andew Dominik, and based on the 2000 Joyce Carol Oates book of the same name, the film has been widely panned by critics and Marilyn fans, but Dara found a lot to recommend in the performance as Marilyn of Ana de Armas. He argues that de Armas imbues her characterisation with such sympathy and emotional honesty that she effectively insulates herself from many of the less subtle aspects of the film’s storytelling.

Going Down in Flames – The Fall and Fall of Marilyn Monroe – Episode 73 Read More »

sexism

Dolly, Dolls, and Puppets – The Ageless Beauty of Female Icons – Episode 264

Dogs, Dogs, and More Dogs! The Epstein Files 2.0 – Episode 238

All the Damaged Boys – Where’s the Love At? – Episode 197

Staying with the Female Experience of Violence and the Power Imbalance – From Looking for Mr. Goodbar to Woman of the Hour – Episode 179

What the Hell Is That! The Audacious Grotesquerie of ‘The Substance’ – Episode 177

How To Make a Raspberry Cheesecake – From the Kitchen to a Religious Sect to 90s Hollywood Misogyny – Episode 152

The Cost of Neglect, or For Whom Will You Wear a Yellow Flower? – Episode 101

The Helpless Gobshite Episode! A Defence of Men – Episode 76

Going Down in Flames – The Fall and Fall of Marilyn Monroe – Episode 73

Support me on Patreon

Privacy Policy