Grrl Power on the Web

Jessica Testa, Is This the ‘Manosphere’ for Women? NYTimes, May 7, 2025.

Men dominate the top of the podcasting charts. As listeners, they slightly outnumber women, too. “Brocasters” and the “manosphere” have even become a media obsession, and for good reason. During the election, conservatives successfully tapped into a world of dude-driven content to reach disengaged voters.

But there has been a surge of podcasts made by women, for women, too. And a company called Dear Media is at the center of much of it.

Based in Austin, Texas, Dear Media operates the largest network of podcasts for women. Its nearly 100 shows are as freewheeling and chummy as those in the “manosphere,” similarly hosted by comedians and content creators. Except here, Joe Rogan’s alpha masculinity and Logan Paul’s unabashed idiocy are swapped for girlboss confidence and therapy speak.

Gone, too, is the overt conservatism that now blankets the manosphere — but not all of its ideas. Dear Media emphasizes health and wellness in its programming, at times dipping into the same kind of contrarian thinking that powers Make America Healthy Again, the agenda of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Wellness:

If feminist news was the nucleus of “lady blogs” a decade ago, wellness takes its place today. Edison Research recently identified the two topics most interesting to female podcast listeners: self-care and mental health.

In an interview, Michael Bosstick, the chief executive of Dear Media, described his editorial sensibility as “nonjudgmental” and oriented around free speech. He has described himself as a political independent, with a “Don’t Tread on Me” tattoo, and publicly supports Mr. Kennedy, once writing on X that Covid-19 vaccines were “experimental shots that caused many harm.”

Politics:

Mr. Bosstick is firm that he has no interest in policing or censoring his hosts. On his own show, he said, whether he agrees or disagrees with a guest, “I want to listen openly, and I try to kind of culturally push that to the rest of the company.”

His thinking aligns with that of the manosphere: Cancel culture is bad, unchecked conversation is good. People are too “hypersensitive,” Mr. Bosstick said.

During the election, that attitude attracted President Trump’s campaign to new media, as he racked up appearances with podcasters including Theo Von, Lex Fridman and Andrew Schulz. In January, two prominent Trumpworld women were similarly drawn to Dear Media.

A week before the inauguration, the Bossticks released a rare interview with the first daughter Ivanka Trump, followed by one with Cheryl Hines, the actress and wife of Mr. Kennedy, three days later. (Last summer, the couple also interviewed Calley Means, a top adviser to Mr. Kennedy.)

Ms. Trump hardly talked politics, which she called a “very dark, negative business.” Over nearly two hours, she talked more about her life, burning French toast and practicing jujitsu.

Money:

While declining to provide specific figures, Mr. Bosstick said Dear Media’s revenue fell between $51 million and $100 million, largely through advertising. But he does not see podcasts as the primary business. The goal is to “help creators monetize” through various channels: events, merchandise, television, publishing. Video podcasts may be booming, but they are just “one sliver of media,” Mr. Bosstick said.

The company, which has raised about $12 million in investments, has in turn invested in about 10 consumer brands attached to its talent roster, such as Spritz Society canned cocktails and Arrae supplements.

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