Matthew sits down with sex-work veteran and social justice advocate Esme Providence Brown for the first of two chinwags about our famous New Age / wellness antifeminist, Kelly Brogan, and how her craven politics bolster the permission structure for Trumpian misogyny.
They track her political and aesthetic journey from labcoat-wearer to wellness pole dancer to BDSM cosplayer—a spiral through deepening layers of appropriation, disavowal of responsibility, and cringe-tastic ideas.
This is only Part One!
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Welcome to Conspirituality, where we investigate the intersections of conspiracy theories and spiritual influence to uncover cults, pseudoscience, and authoritarian extremism.
I'm Matthew Remsky.
I am Esme Providence Brown.
Yes, our fearless correspondent from the world of sex work and social justice returns.
Thanks so much for coming back.
I'm so happy to be here.
We are on Instagram and threads at ConspiritualityPod, and you can access all of our episodes ad-free, plus our Monday bonus episodes on Patreon or just the bonus episodes via Apple subscriptions.
We really appreciate your support.
How are you doing?
And can you reintroduce yourself really quickly and remind us of all of your previous studies with us?
Absolutely.
So I was a sex worker, specifically in professional domination and kink services, erotic bodywork, for 20 years off and on, mostly based in New York City.
And then I entered into the world of yoga teacher training and that whole...
Adventure and journey.
And now I am writing a memoir, reflecting on all of that.
And I think that a lot of my experiences really mirror what conspirtuality has been doing for the last four years in terms of just bringing to the surface some of the very important questions of where those two spaces intersect.
Today, we're looking at somebody that I know is fascinating to you, but also has been at the heart of the beginning, the origin story of this podcast, actually.
That's Kelly Brogan.
So our episode is called Kelly Brogan's Divine Dungeon, and we'll talk about why that is.
And we started planning this out a long time ago.
But so much has happened.
So much has happened.
Especially through the fall campaign.
And so I just want to run down a few of the lowlights in relation to our topic today that I think make it even more, I would say, pressing.
Absolutely.
So first of all, the Harris campaign.
You know, she lost.
There was a failure to mobilize around the Dodd decision.
There was this open-door opportunity to really seize the day with regard to codifying Roe v.
Wade, and that wasn't really taken.
There was a failure to stand up to attacks on trans people, and now there really isn't much, I would say, political will or fortitude to...
I mean, with the Trump administration, we're looking at full national bans on gender care, medication, and, you know, persecution of doctors.
And then, of course, we've got a trans congressperson, Sarah Bright, who's not even going to be able to use the bathroom as she goes to work.
And I don't think we're going to see a lot of resistance from Democrats on that because there isn't really the sort of...
Moral credibility at this point to stand on.
Trump ran in part on belittling Harris's intelligence.
J.D. Vance ran on, you know, make trad wives great again.
Tucker Carlson gave a speech in which he fantasized about Trump being, you know, daddy coming home to spank woke 15-year-old girls.
I know that we had an exchange.
And you said something like, yeah, that's an incredible moment.
And with regard to my particular beat, how close to home could that get, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
Then Trump wins.
He's now nominated four admitted or alleged sex offenders to cabinet.
Pete Hegseth, RFK Jr., Elon Musk, and Linda McMahon, who is accused of allegedly turning the other way as boys were abused ringside in the 1990s as part of their work in the WWE.
So today, that's the backdrop for catching up on Kelly Brogan and what has been going on for her, what she's moved into.
And I suppose off the top, Esme, I just want to ask, what is your 101 hot take on the role that Brogan and...
Her post-feminist politics plays in the permission structure of the shit show that's unfolding at this point.
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