Ever feel superior for hating the mainstream? Same. In this episode of Messy Liberation, Becky and Taina dig into the hidden hierarchies we create when we judge popular culture, and how that feeds into white supremacy, fatphobia, and American exceptionalism. From YouTube vlogs and Hallmark movies to queer fanfiction and Audre Lorde, they explore how internalized systems show up in even our most frivolous pleasures. This is a funny, challenging, and honest convo about how true liberation means dismantling shit inside ourselves first—without killing joy in the process.

Discussed in this Episode

• Toxic traits around rejecting popular culture

• Fanfiction as a space for safety and creativity

• Hallmark’s evolving portrayal of queer characters

• Superiority complexes and gifted child syndrome

• Exceptionalism and American individualism

• Intersectional readings of pop culture (like Christmas in July)

• Fatphobia and anti-fat bias in medical systems

• Language policing and supremacy in grammar norms

• Audre Lorde’s ‘master’s tools’ and internalized systems

• How liberation work demands internal accountability

Resources Mentioned

• Ryan Trahan's 50 States in 50 Days YouTube Series

• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

• "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" by Paulo Freire

• "The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House" by Audre Lorde

• Somebody Somewhere on HBO Max

• "An Actress of a Certain Age" by Jeff Hiller

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