Since the podcast’s fruition in 2018, Call Her Daddy has earned a national platform with millions of fans calling themself the “Daddy Gang”. This podcast, started by two young womxn, offers dating and sexuality “advice” along with their own personal anecdotes. Though this podcast has been suggested to me multiple times, I have never been able to finish an entire episode. While I was originally all for a podcast normalizing womxn’s sexual experiences, I quickly realized this show had a much different framework. Instead of creating a safe space for womxn to learn about sexual relationships, Call Her Daddy is packaging up the male gaze and presenting it to womxn as an empowerment podcast.
Don’t get me wrong, Call Her Daddy is, if not anything else, entertaining. Each Wednesday, the hosts (now currently just one host following a dramatic fallout) would go into great detail about their sex life and adventures as young womxn in the dating scene. They use their own personal experiences as segways to larger sexual topics and offer “advice” to their (often) young listeners. This advice, however, is rooted in misogyny and harmful expectations on womxn. For example, Call Her Daddy constantly reminds listeners that if they are a “5 or 6” in terms of attractiveness, they “may need to work overtime in the bedroom” to ensure their partner doesn’t leave them. These toxic comments feed into the insecurities most womxn feel in their relationships, and perpetuate the idea that young womxn are only as relevant as their sex lives.
This podcast epitomizes the idea of the Madonna-Whore complex. Call Her Daddy teaches womxn that to be sexual, they are expected to degrade themself. The hosts would remind viewers that “women must meet every archaic sexual expectation that men have dreamt up, [including] hiding their sexual pasts to make up for ‘being unattractive’”. They even have an episode called “just a hole”, enforcing the dangerous and degrading stereotype that men only see womxn as sexual objects.
Beyond the degrading language and ideas, Call Her Daddy directly feeds into the gender power dynamic the podcast claims to combat. The show capitalizes off female competition surrounding men and diminishes early adulthood to sexual relationships rather than personal growth. While this podcast claims to expose the secrets of the “daddy code”, I would urge anyone listening to this podcast to take their information with a grain of salt. If you are looking for a feminist, sex-positive podcast, I would suggest listening to “Guys we F***ed” or “The Sexually Liberated Woman”. Happy Listening!