A Bit Fruity with Matt Bernstein

What does “gender ideology” have in common with ISIS? Well, they are both… things, arguably. As more people become aware of opportunities to commodify their trauma into anti-trans right-wing media bait, the race for those opportunities is getting more competitive, and the results are… fascinating. Today, veteran trans YouTuber Kat Blaque and I interrogate the right’s shiniest new detransitioner, Maia Poet — an ex-trans October 7th survivor, kind of. In doing so, we take a closer look at what detransition means and looks like, and the right’s ultimate goal in selling “stories” like Maia’s. COME SEE A BIT FRUITY LIVE! Tickets are on sale here.   Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Get an exclusive 60% on Incogni! Subscribe to Kat Blaque on YouTube.  Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4 Apr 1h 25min

When Gwen Stefani made a tacit endorsement of Tucker Carlson earlier this month, I felt like somebody had knocked the wind out of me. Had the iconic 90’s ain’t-no-hollaback girl made a not-so-sweet escape to the dark side? Dizzy and disturbed, I set out to journey Gwen’s path from early aughts punk rock princess to… spokeswoman for a conservative billionaire’s anti-abortion prayer app. I learned a lot about how she’s changed — and perhaps more importantly, how she hasn’t. COME SEE A BIT FRUITY LIVE! Tickets are on sale here. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/factorpodcast.  Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity.  Subscribe to Kat's journalism at Spitfire News. Subscribe to Taylor's journalism at User Mag. Listen to Taylor’s podcast on YouTube. Essays mentioned: The New Gwen Stefani Is A Lot Like The Old One by Anne Helen Petersen Gwenihana by Mihi Ahn Harajuku Girls by Margaret Cho Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

21 Mars 1h 22min

To the mainstream news, she’s the mother of three of Elon Musk’s children. To a certain type of extremely online Tumblr user in the year 2012, she once approximated God. Today, we take a challenging look at the strange tapestry of Grimes’s life and unearth stories about the Internet era that shaped millennials, pipelines to right-wing radicalization, and domestic abuse as a public spectacle. COME SEE A BIT FRUITY LIVE! Tickets are on sale here. :-) Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off.  Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity.  Subscribe to Taylor's journalism at User Mag. Subscribe to Kat's journalism at Spitfire News. Subscribe to Taylor's YouTube channel! Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7 Mars 1h 17min

Elon Musk just (allegedly) had his thirteenth child with a fourth woman — a 26-year-old “conservative” influencer named Ashley St. Clair. In a past version of the “traditional family values” party, this might’ve been a career-ending event. Today, it hardly generates coverage. In this episode, Moira Donegan and Adrian Daub (of In Bed With The Right) help me make sense of the right’s impossibly contradictory code of sexuality: is MAGA the movement of the hot, virile new youth, or is it the movement attempting to ban contraception and abortion? Are women supposed to spit on that thang or dress modestly? And what does Elon’s public humiliation of Ashley St. Clair reveal about a woman’s place in the New Right? Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Thanks to today's sponsors! Protect yourself online, wherever you go. Get a discount on NordVPN at https://www.nordvpn.com/fruity.  Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity.  Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

21 Feb 1h 15min

Quiet luxury. Clean girl. Old money. Trad living. Kylie Jenner’s pivot from Black culture vulture to glass skin pilates princess. College youth dressed like polyester Shein replicas of Reagan-era prepsters. Something’s happened, and I’m uncomfortable. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off.   Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity.  SUBSCRIBE TO KAT'S NEWSLETTER! SUBSCRIBE TO TAYLOR'S NEWSLETTER! Listen to Taylor's podcast, Power User. Follow me on Instagram. Follow A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7 Feb 1h 3min

Our country is now run by a bunch of spineless billionaires who were cast out as nerds in college so they launched a vendetta against humanity. Today, Edward Ongweso Jr. of This Machine Kills helps us understand the tech bro-ligarchy’s key overlords, why they are so far up the president’s rectum, their deranged philosophy on life, and their apocalypse escape plans.  Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50.  Get an exclusive 60% on Incogni! https://incogni.com/fruity Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

24 Jan 1h 28min

The first episode of this podcast ever recorded was about Amber Heard and the online public’s inability — or unwillingness — to distinguish between their organic feelings about celebrity abuse allegations and their participation in a strategic, well-funded smear campaign against a woman coming forward. Since that episode, journalist Kat Tenbarge and I have become best friends. She’s also reported on this exact news cycle over and over again with different women. Today, we break down the new yet familiar legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni and attempt to sharpen our critical thinking skills, because the decisions we make online matter — and the success of these misogynistic campaigns can end with us. Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at www.rocketmoney.com/fruity.  Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at www.blueland.com/fruity. Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 Jan 1h 34min

The remarkable dissonance between the public’s embrace of UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione and the mainstream media’s outward disdain for both Luigi and the public’s martyrization of him has been… bizarre. In a rare moment where the culture war has been traded in for the class war, billionaire-owned media corporations and politicians alike seem to be panicking. That panic should be a moment of clarity for everyday Americans. Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon! Listen to Taylor’s podcast, Power User.  Subscribe to Taylor’s newsletter, User Mag. Subscribe to Ken Klippenstein’s Substack. Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at www.factormeals.com/fruity50.  Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at www.rocketmoney.com/fruity.  Me on Instagram. A Bit Fruity on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

19 Dec 202457min