This Fine Feminist Hour brought Courtney Kocak to TDWS— writer, memoirist, comedian, podcaster, and the kind of multi-hyphenate who makes the rest of us feel like we need to get busier.
Her debut memoir Girl Gone Wild is an unwitting feminist coming-of-age story, from small-town Minnesota to LA at 21, broke and newly arrived, taking a job selling merch on the “Girls Gone Wild” tour because the Craigslist post said “party and get paid to travel.” She figured it out pretty quickly. The most insidious part of the job, as the company told her in the interview: her actual role was to make the other women feel comfortable enough to be exploited. Just having a girl there.
From there we got into how shame shapes memory, writing your way out of what you’ve suppressed, and why the discomfort toward a topic is almost always a sign you should write about it. Courtney is a free speech maximalist — yes, even on Tate — and we got into that with the chat, who had opinions. The conversation on abortion was sharp: we lost the right partly because we softened the language, and Courtney doesn’t soften the language.
Courtney also interviewed me for her Private Parts Unknown last week, so we’re basically best friends now. Seriously, that talk was amazing and I can’t wait to hear the results. She said the show should be live in about two weeks, and you know I’ll be sure to share it.
Most def go buy Courtney’s book here: Girl Gone Wild
Thank you Dr. Amber Hull, Soso's World, Yanni Hamburger, Courtney, ShālahBPookie - TheRebelCrone, and many others for tuning in. Karen Marie Shelton and Yanni Hamburger, you’re the moderators with the most, and we’re so grateful—extra thanks to you.
We love you, mean it!
