Back in 2018, the internet exploded in controversy over the newly released podcast: Call Her Daddy. Created by best friends Alexandra Cooper and Sofia Franklyn, this “advice and comedy” podcast featured explicit details of the 20-year-olds’ sex lives in New York City. Their earliest episodes are reminiscent of your high school girlfriends’ gossip sessions—with no topics off limits. Early episode titles include “If you’re a 5 or a 6, Die for that D*ck,” “The Gluck Gluck 9000” and “SEXT ME SO I KNOW IT’S REAL.”
Cooper and Franklyn’s deep dive into the most taboo of topics was enough to elicit more than a few wide eyes. The podcast amassed a die-hard fan base, yet was ranked a startling 2.3/10 on IMDb. When criticized for the podcast’s crudeness and negative impression on a young female audience, Cooper and Franklyn insisted the podcast was purely comedic and not to be taken seriously.
Yet, it became hard to discern between what was genuine advice and an utter joke. While early episodes did feature some blatantly ridiculous relationship advice, their call for women to reclaim power through sex, specifically with cis men, offered an unsettling modern twist on feminism. Cooper and Franklyn attributed their unshakeable confidence and liberation to promiscuity, encouraging their listeners to treat sex as transactional, through which they could feel “liberated” as a woman. Although the podcast appeared progressive in that it encouraged women to embrace their sexuality, it also placed women’s worth in their ability to perform sexually. For an advice podcast made for women, Call Her Daddy focused almost exclusively on men. Shouldn’t we be encouraging women, specifically young girls, to place their validation outside of their ability to perform sexually?
But we can’t place the blame exclusively on Cooper and Franklyn. After all, they were two young women who wanted to start a podcast. It was the modern listener’s obsession with the sexualization of women that caused the show to blow up. Call Her Daddy is currently the third most listened-to podcast in the world and is valued at $98 million. This is far more than anything Cooper, Franklyn, and the rest of the world could ever have imagined. This begs the question: is sexualizing yourself the only path to success as a woman in the entertainment industry?
While Cooper and Franklyn can attribute their early success to these shocking takes on feminism, the podcast at present has completely transformed. Following a 2020 scandal in which Franklyn accused Cooper of attempting to gain more control over the podcast behind her back, Franklyn left the podcast and Cooper carried on alone. In her “single father era,” Cooper continued to gain an immense amount of popularity, featuring guests like internet personalities Tana Mongeau and Hannah Berner, and model Emily Ratajkowski. Cooper went on to sign a $60 million deal with Spotify, making her one of the most successful women in the entertainment industry.
With her new platform, Cooper’s content slowly transitioned away from shock-value locker room talk to genuine advice on issues like sexual assault, abortion, LGBTQ+ struggles, abusive relationships, and mental health. Interviews with therapists like Esther Perel and Emily Morse offer genuine, informative advice for her young female audience, who may not be listening to therapy talks otherwise. Although the new Call Her Daddy still features enough raunchy sex advice to keep any listener on their toes, Cooper has ultimately shifted the focus away from men. In doing so, she asserts that women should be listening to their minds and bodies over anyone else, finding their validation within themselves rather than in their sexual performance.
To this day, Call Her Daddy remains extremely controversial. Yet, Cooper’s new use of her platform to give genuine advice which uplifts women has not become any less popular. Call Her Daddy continues to be one of the most highly-streamed podcasts of all time. In a sense, Cooper’s success redefines modern feminism. The first step in female liberation requires unearthing the taboo, making women less ashamed of their bodies. But we can’t stop there. It is not enough to simply say “women can be sexual just like men.” One must build on this and show that women’s worth does not come from their sexuality. The second step is reflected in Cooper’s use of her platform to spread awareness of issues involving women outside of their sexuality. Although Call Her Daddy is far from perfect, it’s well worth the listen.