Corporate Egg-Freezing - And Whether Taylor Swift Is A Billboard for Trumpian Values

Thank you to everyone who enjoyed our special episode with Tina Brown last week - we had a huge response. We miss her already <3 This week in the Tina-free studio, we discuss whether corporations offering to pay for women to freeze their eggs - as happening in America and soon, Australia - is a generous health benefit, or a patriarchal attempt to stave off motherhood. Shouldn’t we improve conditions and parity for working mothers (subsidised nurseries, better paternity leave, flexi-hours) first? Also in this week’s episode: Taylor Swift has been accused of espousing Trumpian values, with her white feminism and political silence. We draw on several brilliant pop-culture writers, to discuss whether this theory has any value. We cannot help but wonder, in that Carrie Bradshaw way: when did it become possible for a popstar to just be, well, a popstar? Now, they must be a symbol, an icon, a vessel and a plate. As Greta Gerwig says on Fresh Air, when quizzed why she worked with Woody Allen - women are just terrified of saying the wrong thing and getting it wrong. Tiring, huh. Nuggets from The Top Line include the revelation that salted caramel is comparable to heroin; Christmas dinners are more expensive than ever before; and, devastatingly, that a third of women’s refuges are under threat of closure in the UK. There’s a slew of podcast episode, series, articles and exhibition recommendations this week - links all below - and in the run up to Christmas, a few requests: Who will help Pandora find a Father Christmas jumper, complete with patent belt, to spread across her pudding-like paunch? And, Adam Buxton, when will you come on our podcast? You can e-mail us [email protected] or tweet us @thehighlowshow. Reading/ watching/ viewing & listening this week: Laura Freeman on Modigliani for The Sunday Times Culture mag https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/art-review-amedeo-modigliani-nudes-tate-modern-mfn8mkvp2 Book tickets to Modigliani at The Tate Modern http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/modigliani Watch The Sinner, on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/80175802 Hadley Freeman on why feminist theory didn’t cure her anorexia, for The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/nov/25/wasnt-feminist-theory-cured-anorexia Eva Wiseman interviews Little Mix for The Observer mag https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/nov/26/little-mix-interview-new-album-we-embrace-who-we-are-not-perfect Dorian Lynskey on Taylor Swift for GQ mag (December issue, on sale now) Taylor Swift: An Envoy for Trump’s Values? By anon for The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/24/the-guardian-view-on-taylor-swift-an-envoy-for-trumps-values Greta Gerwig on Fresh Air: https://www.npr.org/2017/11/16/564579012/greta-gerwig-explores-mother-daughter-love-and-angst-in-lady-bird Ronan Farrow and Alexandra Schwartz on The New Yorker Hour: https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-new-yorker-radio-hour/america-after-weinstein/amp Jessie Ware’s Table Manners:  https://www.acast.com/tablemanners Micky Flanagan’s Desert Island Discs: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09fjls1 Josh Glancy’s column on Liz Smith: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/magazine/the-sunday-times-magazine/so-long-liz-smith-and-the-golden-age-of-celebrity-gossip-9t5fg77fn The Sunday Times Magazine’s interview with Morrissey: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/exclusive-interview-morrissey-on-sexual-harassment-and-why-he-defends-kevin-spacey-and-harvey-weinstein-07bj7f87q “Our Nightmare Week With Morrissey”. The Sunday Times Magazine’s podcast: https://www.acast.com/sundaytimesmagazine Why We Are All Sending Screenshots by Louisa McGillicuddy in The Sunday Times Style: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/why-we-re-all-sending-screenshots-now-9gljw59w5 For information regarding your data privacy, vis...