4 Stars out of 5
There is a phenomenon that has been taken up among college girls (and guys) across the country, and it is so wrong it’s right. Alexandra Cooper and Sophia Franklyn’s “Call Her Daddy,” a weekly podcast with episodes each Wednesday, is filthy, raunchy and in some ways a feminist’s nightmare, but it’s nearly impossible not to listen to, and even harder not to laugh at. Despite some of the blatant honesty and hot takes that could be perceived as rude (because they often are), the podcast has somehow found a way to be empowering and something to band girls together.
If you’re just tuning into “Call Her Daddy” for the first time, and you’re anything like me, you might listen to about three minutes and think, “this is awful.” This summer, after hearing about it constantly for months and dragging my feet so as to not hop on the bandwagon and support Barstool Sports, I finally, begrudgingly, put my headphones in and decided to give it a shot.
In under a minute, I was already rolling my eyes, questioning how girls listen to this. Aren’t we better than this? I asked myself. Haven’t we evolved past this attitude of do-anything-for-boys, this need to be “hot” or “cool” specifically for the opposite sex and this fixation on reputation and looks? I continued to scoff at not only what they were saying, but also their style of delivery. The girls use profanity nearly every other word, and they do not shy away from the vulgar topics. I was certainly rolling my eyes… but I was also still listening.
After seven minutes or so, they’d won me over. Their direct style, though appalling at first, becomes impressive as you realize that these girls aren’t pretending — they really do not care about what they’re saying or how they’re perceived. Their episodes discuss sex, reputation, looks and more, containing tips and advice on all of the above. Their honesty is shocking, sometimes brutal; in a recent back to school episode, “College Life: Being Hot vs. Not,” the girls discussed the social scenes at various schools and how to navigate them and play to your strengths.
“Know your interests and stay in your lane,” they advise in the episode. “Maybe you don’t wanna f—in’ go to the humongous athlete party.”
Throughout the episode, they also address the so-called “scale” to rate girls, and how it differs between schools.
“Pay attention to the school you are at because the school is going to determine where you are on the scale,” they say, before advising how to act depending on where on this scale you fall.
Explaining that, even typing those words, sounds incredibly degrading; I cringe when I think about it. However, there’s something about the way Cooper and Franklyn address these topics that just works. The pair address how awful what they’re saying is, they admit it and they say it anyways – because, let’s face it, they clearly have the social scene figured out. They deliver their horrific advice in such a blunt manner it’s impossible to not only laugh with them but to also kind of agree with them.
“This sounds a little f—ed up,” they often preface their messages with. Or, as they at one point say in the College episode, “this is gonna hurt feelings, this is gonna rub people the wrong way – but it’s the f—ing truth.”
At the end of the day, it’s their shamelessness that makes their messages acceptable. Their brutal honesty carries over into their stories about their own lives as they completely overshare, giving listeners the chance to realize that though these girls seem to have it all figured out, they had plenty of cringe-worthy experiences to get there.
So although not everybody’s made for the “Daddy Gang,” as they call their fan base, the podcast is worth checking out, but allow yourself at least three minutes of eye-rolling before you judge their content. And try not to take it too seriously.
