When the #MeToo movement exploded in 2017, journalist Ruth Whippman — nearly nine months pregnant with her third son — experienced a profound conflict. As a feminist, she celebrated the movement; as a mother, she worried: "How am I gonna raise these boys to be good?" This tension launched Ruth on a quest to understand modern American boyhood and what's not working. Ruth and her husband Neil Levine tell Anita about their journey of putting Ruth’s research into practice, working to give their sons the emotional tools to thrive in a changing world — and what’s at stake if we don’t shift our approach to raising boys.

Meet the guests:

- Ruth Whippman is the author of "BoyMom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity"

- Neil Levine is Ruth's husband

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Please note: This episode originally published May 8, 2025.

Kaila Yu spent years as an Asian American pinup model, singer and actress, leaning into a hypersexualized image of Asian femininity and burying her doubts about it. But after the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings, she started reckoning with how fetishization can lead to violence — and interrogating her own role in perpetuating harmful stereotypes. She talks with Anita about her new memoir. Plus, a sociologist breaks down how history and Hollywood built the stereotypes in the first place and what we can do to break free.

Meet the guests:

- Kaila Yu is a culture writer and the author of "Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism and Beauty"

- Nancy Wang Yuen is a sociologist and a professor in the department of ethnic studies at Crafton Hills College and the author of “Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism”

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Gen Z is anxious about climate change, and it’s impacting their family planning. Anita talks to researcher Jade Sasser, who's been studying young people’s attitudes about climate change and reproductive choices while unpacking her own experiences with climate anxiety. They’ll talk about how to manage climate emotions while making big life decisions, and how “the kid question” isn’t just about babies — it’s about what bringing new life into an uncertain world represents.

Meet the guest:

- Jade Sasser is the author of “Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question: Deciding Whether to Have Children in an Uncertain Future” and an associate professor at the University of California, Riverside

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Please note: This episode originally published May 15, 2025.

Update: Jade Sasser is working on a third book, tentatively titled “Climate Change Hates Mothers.”