Gender War Games Pt. 3: Say It Til It's True with Amanda Montell

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Unladylike Media

Society & Culture, Body Politics, Media Analysis, Feminism, Beauty Standards, Cultural Commentary, Gender, Womens Rights, Internet Culture, Personal Journals, Patriarchy, Intersectionality, Philosophy, Comedy

4.8 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When misinformation becomes a vibe, who gets caught in the crosshairs? In part 3 of Gender War Games, host Cristen Conger and linguist Amanda Montell (Sounds Like a Cult, Magical Overthinkers) decodes the cognitive glitches, language games, and algorithmic dynamics fueling today’s gender panic. From the illusory truth effect and magical thinking to the viral power of weaponized words, learn how belief is built—not by facts, but by feelings, aesthetics and repetition.

(00:00) "Gender War" Is a Shapeshifter

(03:22) Decoding the Discourse

(05:07) Cognitive Biases and Gendered Disinformation

(05:56) The Illusory Truth Effect

(06:40) The Rhyme Is Reason Effect

(09:52) Algorithmic Influence

(10:46) This Is Your Brain On Gender War

(15:47) The Gender Nostalgia Trap

(23:52) Moral Overconfidence and Social Justice

(30:06) Radical Imagination

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Transcript

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0:51.9	The two big genders are said to be at war.
0:57.2	That was the lead of Gia Tolentino's New Yorker column that came out in late November called
1:02.8	How America Embraced Gender War.
1:06.9	And that opening line has been ringing in my ears ever since I read it.
1:13.1	This idea of gender war.
1:16.7	It's also a shapeshifter.
1:18.6	Like, depending on the context, gender war might be some inflammatory manosphere bullshit about how women are so mean and men are so oppressed. Gender war could also
1:30.0	be a red flag that you're in reactionary feminist territory and are about to hear some kind
1:36.1	of biological essentialist shit about how cisgender women's identities are being erased by
1:42.4	trans and non-binary people.
1:45.2	Or it's just a hyperbolic way of describing the political gender gap.
1:50.6	I'm Kristen Conger, and this is Gender War Games, a four-part mini-series about the algorithmic,
	...

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