Astead Herndon

Can you define heteropessimism for us?

You know, and it reminds me of a conversation that happens in kind of my political reporting world about the growing gap, particularly among men and women and younger generations.

There's a lot of data that tells us that, you know, women have gone to the left as men have gone to the right.

We've seen this kind of explored in social media with trad wifey phenomenons versus a podcast, bro, red pilling.

You know, I wanted to put that in front of you, like, how much do we think this is a broader change in culture that's reflected in relationships versus how much is this being, you know, driven by the individuals?

All of them happening at once.

Yes.

You know, I wanted to ask about, like, fixes, solutions.

Like, some of this, you know, in the heteropessimism of it all can feel just like a growing divide that shows no signs of getting closer.

Is that how you see it?

Like, are there any answers to this gap beyond, you know, don't be straight?

They'll be friends with women.

Thank you so much for your time.

We really appreciate it.

Jane Ward's book is The Tragedy of Heterosexuality.

Today's show was produced by Avishai Artsy and edited by Amina El-Sadi.

Laura Bullard was on fax.

Patrick Boyd engineered.

I'm Ested Herndon, and this is Today Explained.

Okay, so you may have heard.