Cult of Perfect

Hello, and welcome to Cult of Perfect! Today we're investigating the pressure to perform domesticity—and how that leads to the erasure of actual domestic labor, with Angela Garbes, author of Like A Mother and Essential Labor.

This is a limited run podcast about the intersection of motherhood, public performance, and bodies. We are Sara Petersen and Virginia Sole-Smith, two moms and writers who are trying to figure out what our addiction to the idea of perfect says about us—and the world we live in.

Sara also writes In Pursuit of Clean Countertops, and is the author of Momfluenced. Virginia writes Burnt Toast, hosts the Burnt Toast Podcast, and is the author of Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture. You can read more about each of us here.

To hear today's episode in full—and join our Substack for awesome biweekly thread discussions—you'll need to subscribe (it’s just $5 per month or $15 for the whole series) to get full access to our every episode, plus commenting privileges and our biweekly live threads.

The Cult of Perfect podcast is produced and hosted by Sara and Virginia. Follow Sara on Instagram or Twitter; Follow Virginia on Instagram.

Our transcripts are edited and formatted by Corinne Fay, who runs @SellTradePlus, an Instagram account where you can buy and sell plus size clothing.

The Cult of Perfect logo is by Deanna Lowe.

Our theme song is “Good Mom” by Farideh, from her new album, The Mother Load.

And Tommy Harron is our audio engineer.