Is Call Her Daddy Really Empowering Women?

I'm all for supporting women, but when listening to Call Her Daddy, please take their advice with a grain of salt.

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Image by Maddy McEwen

As someone who truly values and appreciates all forms of entertainment and comedy, I love self-deprecating humor as much as the next person. However, the first time I listened to a snippet of Call Her Daddy I was instantly thrown by the blunt, provocative nature of the show.

If you’ve been living under a rock, Call Her Daddy is a podcast affiliated with the Barstool franchise hosted by Alexandra Cooper. You can follow her and the “daddy gang” along as they discuss relationships, sex, social scenes, and embarrassing moments. Popular with both men and women, the show is seen as revolutionary because it includes women into the conversation of casual sex and hook-up culture.

But I don’t think this show is the game changer people think it is.

Although Call Her Daddy claims to empower women, it ultimately upholds the rigid gender roles and power imbalances encouraged by our heteronormative society.

“I think the main issue with this so-called empowerment is that it’s discussions of sex and dating are grounded in a predominantly male perspective.” Maddy Gaucher, a recent graduate of UConn, stated.

The podcast’s claims of sexual liberation and female empowerment through sex are determined by its narrow definition of what sexual behavior is considered desirable. An ongoing theme throughout this podcast is the notion that women who aren’t turned on by being degraded during sex are inferior and are therefore not desirable. I mean, they literally sell merchandise with the words, “degrade me” slapped across the front.

If I had to describe this podcast in a few words for real, I would say the foundation of the show is based on women convincing other women to learn how to please men in the bedroom at the expense of their own wants and needs, hiding behind the fallacy of feminism.

In one episode, Cooper was even throwing shade on women for spitting and not swallowing during a blowjob. Just because you or I may swallow doesn’t mean it’s for everyone. There are 5.6 billion women on Earth. Some of them are bound to spit, and let’s be honest, do we really blame them?

Promoting sexual empowerment through maintaining one specific standard not only shames women who do not share these same preferences, but pushes them to forgo their own boundaries in order to conform and be seen as desirable to men.

Patrick Heffernan, a New York City resident said, “I mean it’s refreshing hearing things of a sexual nature from an empowered woman, but sometimes it’s just excessive and very grossly over the top.”

There is absolutely no shame in having casual sex, go crazy, fuck whoever or whatever you want, but I think it is irresponsible for Cooper to use her platform to enforce the idea that in order to be desirable, women have to compromise on their own wants and needs.

Cooper hypes up her audience and then in the same breath will tell girls to “brainwash yourselves into thinking that you are just a hole.” A hole to be used at the disposal of men.

Claire Spaller from Newburyport, MA said, “The show is entertaining but promotes so many negative stereotypes in so many ways.”

Cooper and her guest hosts are guilty of making wild generalizations and absurd claims and I’m sure a lot of it is just an online persona she created to fit her brand, but there are a lot of younger, less experienced people listening to this podcast that are internalizing everything that is being said. And that is what I worry about.

I understand that the foundation of this podcast was not built on enforcing feminism, and I’m sure the hosts had no malintent when they started their influencer journey, but damn, I think we need to read between the lines a little bit more.