A few months ago, a close friend of mine shared an Instagram profile with me and texted in all caps, “You absolutely have to check these girls out.” Influenced by the power of the caps lock, I immediately followed an account that turned out to be a whole movement in the world of podcasts—Call Her Daddy. After a few weeks of content with explicit sexual humour flooding my Instagram feed, and watching a couple of short videos where hostesses Alex Cooper and Sofia Franklyn discussed sex, men, and life with a cynicism that made me cringe. I proceeded to unfollow the account and wondered if I should check on my friend in case she had gone insane.
The situation backtracked last week, after I faced a dating crisis that pushed me to search the three outrageous words, “call her daddy,” on Instagram again. I then binge watched the short introduction videos that Cooper and Franklyn posted on their Instagram page. The videos gave me mixed feelings: they were superficial yet bold, offensive yet hilarious, frivolous yet so informative. I was hooked by their bipolarity and downloaded iTunes Podcasts for the first time in my life. I listened to a few episodes without any regrets. Call Her Daddy is not a feminist movement, nor is it a misogynistic podcast; it’s a project that is as honest and relevant as it is scandalous.
While the internet and the TV industry are filled with self-help content that focuses on relationships, makeup, clothes, or just gossip, it is hard to find any informative advice for women regarding sex and relationships. Call Her Daddy shocks their listeners with wild sexual stories told from a female perspective, most of which are drawn from Cooper and Franklyn’s own experiences.
The stories are accompanied with unapologetic jokes and comments on society’s perception of women. Normalizing female sexual struggles and desires are an excellent way to change social prejudices regarding sexually active women and to inspire women to become more vocal about their needs and concerns. In other words, Call Her Daddy is a powerful podcast against slut-shaming.
When listening to Call Her Daddy, I became fascinated by the ease with which the podcast’s hostesses spoke about the objectification of women and the social expectations that girls in their twenties have to face daily. A perfect example of this is their discussion on “How to Preserve Your Reputation in College,” where Cooper and Franklyn openly spoke about the tendency of college men to only build friendships with women they would want to have sexual intercourse with, and the lengths to which some women would go to in order to fit in. Cooper and Franklyn talk about these sensitive topics as if they are pre-drinking at the bar with their close friends: all facts and no censorship. I find this approach very refreshing, especially in a society where the need to be politically correct has become the core of most social norms.
The heartfelt, experience-based, practical advice that Call Her Daddy provides in their podcasts is what I find most beneficial. The “founding fathers,” as Cooper and Franklyn like to call themselves, not only deliver sexual and relationship tips in a hilarious, casual way, but they also focus on helping women figure out their dating problems.
I remember feeling helpless and confused during high school when I had to deal with questions about my sexuality and relationships with guys. I relied on help from my friends—people who had little understanding of the issues we were all dealing with and were unqualified to give advice. It is shocking how hard it is to find honest, useful advice regarding men, so when I discovered Cooper and Franklyn’s personalized, unique, and very specific self-help podcast, I thought I had stumbled upon The Holy Grail of Wisdom.
To recap, Call Her Daddy is a hilarious podcast where two experienced women share their views on men and society and share practical advice about the dating world. What makes the project unique is how Cooper and Franklyn push their listeners to think about serious societal problems and prejudices in a way that seems accidental. They encourage women to acknowledge the pressures put upon them only to disregard them and embrace their sexuality.
Although the podcast is not so much inspirational as it is comedic, the refreshingly casual and unfiltered tone is what leaves room for listeners to project their own concerns and give meanings to each episode.
