A Special Place In Hell

“There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women." — Madeleine Albright

Brave words from a woman whom everyone called a Secretary, but was so much more than that.

Who belongs in this special place? We’ll soon find out on this brand new two-gal podcast A Special Place In Hell.

Your hosts are Meghan Daum and Sarah Haider, two very different women separated by a generation and also wildly divergent life choices; Sarah lives like a respectable grownup; Meghan eats over the sink. Nonetheless, they will come together once a week to share their wit, wisdom, and, most importantly, Lived Experiences in an effort figure out what the hell is going on.

Both Sarah and Meghan feel that our discourse is fucked— too politicized, too performative, and increasingly separated from reality. This podcast will offer an alternative to the nonsense: a space to think differently about culture, society, and especially sex (specifically what’s good about it, what’s bad about it and what we can and can’t do about any of it).

Sometimes they’ll talk about events in the news. Sometimes they’ll talk about stuff they wrote (if Meghan ever writes again.) Every month or so they’ll have a guest, one to whom they will throw no softballs, only “gotchas” and/or shameless fan-girling if the occasion calls for it. They welcome your suggestions, within reason.  

Subscribing gets you benefits

We’re offering the main meat of the podcast to everyone, but if you want to support us, here are the current subscription levels. 

• Free: The podcast! 

• Supporter ($6/month or $60/year): The podcast! But earlier! Plus extra episodes every other week, and access to our comment community!

• Founding Member ($250+/year): Everything, but also our love, and also invitations to our super exclusive (quarterly-ish) video hangouts. 

Fulfillment Policy

When you become a paid subscriber, you can expect new content in your inbox every week. Typically, we send out at least two episodes a month, although the timing might shift around in a given week. You can cancel your subscription at any time through the dashboard on your Substack account. You can read a walkthrough for that process here.

More about Meghan

Meghan Daum is the host of The Unspeakable Podcast and the author of six books, most recently The Problem With Everything: My Journey Through The New Culture Wars, a New York Times Notable Book for 2019. She was an opinion columnist for the Los Angeles Times for more than a decade and has written for numerous magazines, including The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, and Vogue. A recipient of fellowships from the NEA and the Guggenheim Foundation, she has taught writing at Columbia University, The University of Iowa and lots of other places and now offers occasional private workshops. Her latest project is The Unspeakeasy, a community for freethinking women that offers in-person retreats and a membership-based online community.

Meghan lives in either New York City or Los Angeles; she can’t decide which. You can find her via her Substack or on Twitter at @meghan_daum.

… and Sarah

Sarah Haider is an activist and writer. She has spent much of her professional life in the charitable world, co-founding two nonprofit organizations. Her work has been covered in numerous outlets, including BBC, The Economist, The Stranger and Quillette and in 2018 she was recognized as a “Freethought Heroine” by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Today she spends more of her time thinking and writing about belief, social dynamics, and culture on her Substack, Hold That Thought.

She can also be found arguing with strangers on Twitter at @SarahtheHaider.