So far in my niche I have come across concepts such as white feminism and pretty privilege as well as conversations on financial equality and consent issues. Body positivity is also a key theme.
These are all key issues that my niche discusses, articulates and aims to inform not just through the podcasts but through audience participation and interactions.
The podcasts that I have listened to so far are:
- Mamma mia podcasts – SOTM
- Nova podcasts – It’s a Lot
- ABC radio – Fierce girls
- Spotify studios – Flex’s Semi Factual History Lessons
- iHeart radio – There are no girls on the internet
- A Guardian Podcast – What would a feminist do
- ABC radio – The Signal
I have decided to narrow my niche to Australian feminist podcasts, this ties into my DA which will have an Australian focus because while conversations about feminism in general are valuable, most of my personal experience is within the context of being Australian and the people that I am interviewing are focused on Australian feminist issues as well.
I thought it would be important to research the news style podcasts as it is an industry that I hope to work in. My podcast is structured similarly to The Signal where the primary focus is interviews and the journalist is more of an authoritative voice delivering facts and contextualising quotes.
REACTION CONTENT
The first epiphany that I want to emphasise from my research is that a lot of content particularly on Tik Tok is reaction based. Both fans reacting to podcast content and personas reacting to misogynistic or misinformed attacks from comments or other content creators.
The personas either address them or use the opportunity to affirm that these reactions exist which I believe solidifies the points that these women are making in the first place. At least that is my experience when I see this type of content. It further perpetuates my belief that because women are so open to judgement and hate on the internet that they need to have strong voices calling out bad behaviour. Though unfortunately this usually leads to worse behaviour.
I have collected all my evidence on reaction based content in a screen shot appendix, this includes screenshots of reviews, websites and Tik Toks.
A key example from this collected evidence is from Flex Mamis Tik Tok. She is an African Australian media personality who is reacting to blatant misogyny that was taken from Fresh and Fit Miami on Youtube. To sum up the stupidity of their video, men are saying that there is no such thing as a high value woman and that their only value is their ability to attract high value men. Disgusting.
She is reacting to a Tik Tok that was already a reaction that was criticising the original youtube video and encouraged the audience to report them.
And as expected the calling out behaviour saw a worse reaction from men in the comments.
Here is a map of how I saw this interaction.
As someone observing this experience, I have gained further insight into what can be a dangerous context for this type of content to exists within.
“As an outsider an observer will notice things that have become routine to the participants themselves, things that may lead to understanding the context.”
(Merriam, Sharan B. and Tisdell, Elizabeth J 2016, p.139)
MY LISTENING EXPERIENCE
The second epiphany is centred around my listening experience. Let me paint a picture. The last time I listened to It’s a Lot I was in my car as I was waiting in line to get a covid test. I was gripping my phone with my foot on the brake, typing in my details into a digital processing form. As I was waiting I realised this would be the furthest I would be going from my house until next week when I needed to get tested again. I was finding comfort in listening to Abbie and her guest speaker Flex.
I decided to journal my listening experiences because it is insight into the behaviour of listeners are consuming this media.
“Behavior must be attended to, and with some exactness, because it is through the flow of behavior–or, more precisely, social action-that cultural forms find articulation.”
(Geertz, C 1973, p.17)
I view listening to feminist podcasts in general as part of a passion of mine to better myself. I want to be informed, aware and able to articulate feminist issues. It is a small part of this kind of ideal identity that I picture for myself. Though it is a passion it is also self work. This identification as a certain type of listener can be linked to the concept that you can take on different types of roles when interacting with media. This was the case in Comerford’s (2021) article on personas in animal crossing.
I have recorded other experiences in my listening diaries blog post.
FINDING THE RIGHT VOICE
References
Comerford, C. (2021). Coconuts, Custom-Play & COVID-19: Social Isolation, Serious Leisure and Personas in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Persona Studies, 6(2), 101-117.
Geertz, Clifford (1973) ‘Thick description- Toward an interpretive theory of culture,’ in The Interpretation of Cultures, Basic Books New York
Merriam, Sharan B. and Tisdell, Elizabeth J. (2016) Being a Careful Observer, in Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation, Jossey-Bass: San Fransisco.
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