The ‘Guys We F*cked’ Girls DGAF if You’re Afraid of Politics
It’s a common thing people learn from their parents: talking about politics is impolite.
But seriously, you’d have to be the most boring and uninformed person in the world to actually believe that. Politics are dirty, complicated, and full of drama — WTF could be a better conversation topic?
Corinne Fisher and Krystyna Hutchinson, the hosts of the Guys We Fucked: The Anti-Slut-Shaming Podcast, agree.
They’ve been beasting the podcast game since they started theirs in December 2013, even earning the coveted top comedy podcast spot in the Apple Store. Their ridic popular podcast has earned them both huge followings online, and the stand-up comics have even been able to quit their day jobs thanks to its success. They’re now embarking on a nationwide Guys We Fucked tour and offering bonus tracks on Howl biweekly.
Ever since the first episode of GWF, nothing was off the table when it came to sex. And unlike other sex commentators and interviewers, Corinne and Krystyna aren’t afraid of being politically incorrect. Their email inbox reflects this, with people routinely becoming offended by their honesty.
And now, as we go through the nuttiest presidential election in living memory, they’re taking the same approach to politics. They’re not hiding how they feel and they’re certainly not holding back on political talk.
We caught up with the girls (and had Bekka Gunther shoot some exclusive pics of them, scroll through to see) to talk about politics, pussies, and WTF is wrong with Trump voters. And they were surprisingly diplomatic on that last point.
So we all heard Trump saying the word pussy. What do you guys think of the fallout from that?
Corinne: I don’t think a politician should not be allowed to say pussy. When you’re giving a speech, you speak a different way than when you’re out with your friends. You don’t want a politician who doesn’t speak that way with his friends.
Krystyna: [Before hearing the comments], my first thought was, “Oh, he probably said something a little off color a long time ago and if it was remotely sexual, they’re gonna give him a hard time.”
Then, Stephen my boyfriend, read it out loud next to me on the couch: “You can just grab their pussies.” I cringed.
And I’m so happy such a douchebag is running for president so we can see the whole entire country witness a woman who is overqualified for her position having to put up with a man who’s arrogant, who feels entitled and represents so much of what is fucked up about how we talk about sex and how men respect women.
Corinne: It goes hand in hand with power and celebrities, too. It’s like, okay, well we question why our presidential nominee is saying he can grab people by the pussy, but we’ve told celeb men they can grab women by the pussy by still listening to Chris Brown’s music.
Krystyna: I can’t help but think of all the people who have written to us explaining their experience about being sexually assaulted and how they feel at a loss and like they lost a part of themselves. Then to have a presidential candidate talk about that and say what he said was infuriating.
But a lot of people wouldn’t understand the difference between his comments and the fact that the two of you speak so freely on the podcast. What’s the difference?
Krystyna: His conversation was detailing his entitlement to grab women’s bodies. We use pussy and cunt and all kinds of words all the time on the podcast and that’s because it’s how we talk. I can appreciate a politician that has a foul mouth, if he is respectful. And writing it off as locker room talk even if that’s what it is, doesn’t matter.
Corinne: A locker room is insight to what a person is really like, that is the realest representation of someone. Anyone can put on a nice suit and have a speech writer write the best words and come out and say those words. It doesn’t take a lot. It takes little money and looking at some index cards for half a second. You could follow me around with a camera all day and you’d never hear me say something as entitled to someone else’s body like that.
Krystyna Hutchinson
How do you know when to be offended by something and when to brush it off?
Corinne: I’m not even offended by it.
Krystyna: I’m not offended, I’m disappointed. We know this is how men behave. We’ve known this our whole lives. Offended isn’t the right word.
Corinne: I’m offended by how surprised everyone else was.
Krystyna: And he has said so many horrible things up until this point. I love how Republicans publicly withdrew their support after that video. Thank you for taking this seriously because that’s fucked up. If you’re not bothered by racist shit I’m glad something finally hit.
Corinne: He is playing to win and in a little way I have to respect that. He’s realized, “When I say outlandish things I get publicity.” The scary part is there’s a huge portion of America that 100% believes these things that I think Trump’s saying with a grain of salt. He’s a sassy jokester, he wants to rile people up, and get people going. Which is great when you’re a reality star or announcer of WWE. Two things he’s done, by the way.
But it is not great if you’re president because your words could start a war and that is dangerous.
On a recent podcast episode, you read an email from a guy who said he wanted to commit rape. It’s important to hear from and speak to those people, right?
Krstyna: The subject line was “I wanna rape a girl.” He detailed it, because in the email I really appreciated him being so honest. He detailed listening to Blair Socci [a previous guest who was a victim of assault] and that was the first time he was able to feel empathy for a person who was sexually assaulted. Now he is in therapy. The message did not get to him from the time he was a young guy until now, and he was in his early 30s.
I’m so glad he had that moment and that realization. But that kind of spoke to what I thought: that guys who are doing this [assaulting women] must not know that it is wrong. I’ve been trying to figure out what that missing link is and why it keeps happening.
Corinne: You can’t understand that one isolated action is wrong if your whole outlook on women is wrong. You have to start so far before the sexual situation begins.
Corinne Fisher
Do you have advice for dealing with Trump voters who don’t seem to get the whole sexism thing?
Corinne: My boyfriend is voting for Trump and we’ve had open conversations about it. My goal is not to try and make people think the same way I do. I just like to check to make sure people are informed and educated on the candidate.
Krystyna: We need to be challenged on our way of thinking. My dad’s more of a reluctant Trump supporter because he’s a hardcore Republican who was drafted into the Navy at 18. His focus is what the plan for the economy is and how they wanna handle relations with other countries because he’s had to go to other countries and serve.
But I think challenging people and asking them questions and ensuring they are informed is the best route. You can’t talk someone out of voting for who they wanna vote for.
Corinne: I don’t hate Trump. Because I think he’s entertaining. But we’ve gotten into this pattern where we want to have a president who is entertaining or likable or a good guest on Jimmy Fallon. That’s not what a president is.
The line between politician and celebrity has been blurred from George W. Bush to Obama. I like Obama but sometimes he’s being too much of a celebrity and not a president. Thats was a complaint I’ve had since day one. Not that a president isn’t allowed to have fun or be charismatic but at the end of the day there’s a lot of other shit you can be doing.
Krystyna: Whenever people say Hillary needs to be more charming and comes off cold, I wanna pull my hair out. What matters is she’s negotiated peace treaties in her tenure as Secretary of State and as her first job she fought for handicapped kids to get equal schooling. She is one of the most qualified candidates we’ve had. It doesn’t mean everything out of her mouth is what people wanna hear. How does charm stack up? It doesn’t matter.
Corinne: She’s also consistently being held accountable for Bill Clinton’s actions. Bill has already been president, we elected him twice, obviously we didn’t have that big a problem. As far as quieting people Bill has had improper sexual relations with, that is a different story. But with the rape case that keeps getting brought up [when Hillary defended a rapist in court], she was doing her job. She was appointed to this case and she took it. You can say that you’re not going to take a case but when you’re starting out your law career as a woman, especially when there aren’t a lot of women in that field. I don’t think a good way to start your career is to say, “I’m not taking this case.”
Corinne: No one cares, though. It’s a likability contest. For most Americans, it truly is a high school popularity contest: who do I like better?
Krystyna: So many Trump supporters relish the fact that he is not liked because they wanna say “fuck you” to the system.
As stand-up comics, you see lots of dudes making sexist jokes, right?
Krystyna: I’ve seen so many guys do open mics with vulgar material about women, but you can’t judge because they’re experimenting. With comedians, anything is open to be joked about. Where the PC bullshit is when the first Latina cast member of SNL [is maligned for her 2012 tweets]. And it’s like she is a comedian, she is experimenting to find her own voice, so we’re gonna find some dumb shit in the beginning.
Corinne: Comedians are the most progressive people I know as far as their thoughts and ideas. If there is one place you can drop the PC, it has to be in comedy. Political correctness is so bad.
Krystyna: Good comedy pushes the audience with their comfort zones. If you feel uncomfortable, that’s not a bad thing.
It’s that kind of creativity and playfulness that a comedian needs to bring to ideas that aren’t talked about enough. [Jokes are] what-if’s and scenarios and hypotheticals. People are getting mad at a hypothetical situation, which is hilarious.
It seems like now, people don’t understand how to get mad at real-life situations instead of jokes.
Krystyna: CNN posted all quotes from Trump during Howard Stern and a lot were not bad. He said he has sex with women on their period, good for you. He has three ways, great. You should be open and honest about that.
Krystyna Hutchinson
How have people reacted to you talking about politics on the podcast?
Krystyna: A couple people have emailed us saying, “Can you stop talking about politics?” And I’m like, you don’t understand, our vaginas are political. We have state and federal governments making laws about what we can and cannot do with our own bodies. The fact that Trump is coming out saying these things about women is right up our topical alley.
Corinne: “This is my escape; political talk is everywhere.” But don’t you get it? There is no escape from politics. Politics is what runs everything around you. You can’t have an escape during an election. It’s ignorance.
Krystyna: Those people you vote for are allotting tax money to various things. Everything in your life is affected by politics.
Corinne: I was so furious because [one listener wrote, in all caps, two weeks] in a row, POLITICS. I opened it up and she threatened to unsubscribe. It’s frightening to me that you don’t understand how important this is. These people are creating laws that will affect you not only as a human, but especially as an American citizen. Do you wanna grow up under the next four to eight years under the reign of someone who doesn’t give a flying fuck about your reproductive system?
Krystyna: I understand someone rolling their eyes about politics, but it is a dangerous attitude because everyone needs to understand. Being informed is the best thing you could do.
Especially when people turn their own social media feeds into such echo chambers by only following people who think the way they do.
Krystyna: When [TV hosts do] a field trip to a Trump rally, they pick the dumbest people. I’m more interested in the more intelligent people who wanna vote for Trump. That’s who I wanna have a conversation with. Everyone has a reason for their thinking. I don’t wanna just hear from the idiots. I want logical explanations.
Corinne: I have more respect for a passionate Trump supporter than an undecided voter.
Krystyna: I think it’s important for society to be more comfortable disagreeing. It’s not “agree with me or fuck yourself.” You don’t have to agree with somebody. Trying to understand the other side’s thinking is gonna be helpful and beneficial to making our country grow.
You’re both so good at getting along with people who don’t agree on the podcast. How do you do it?
Krystyna: All I wanna do is understand where they’re coming from. They’re coming from somewhere but I don’t know where, so I just ask a lot of questions and try to respectfully get a better understanding of their way of thinking. That’s one of my favorite things: when I think someone’s an asshole, and then I spend time with them and learn about life or their past or their way of thinking, and my opinion has 180’d about them.
Corinne: We’ve talked a lot about how feminism is an echo chamber [and so is liberalism]. We all like to trade blog posts and say OMG my blog post is so good and yours was so good. It’s stupid and obnoxious. There’s a lot to be learned from people from many walks of life.
Do your parents listen to the podcast?
Corinne: My mom does, she loves it. My dad knows about it but doesn’t listen. He wouldn’t listen to a podcast anyway.
Krystyna: My parents now know what the title of the podcast is. Two years, they didn’t know. My mom found out through a mutual Facebook friend. My brother was there when she found out and they had a conversation about it and she got all of her upset feelings out to him. He did an amazing job explaining why it needs to be called this and why it’s amazing that it’s called this, and we can talk about it now. And it’s nice because I never thought I’d get to that place with her.
My plan was, okay, we’re gonna get a tour, we’ll be on TV, and when we’re on TV I’ll tell her what it’s called and she can’t say anything because look at all the success it’s bringing and look what an opportunity. It’s ridiculous that I couldn’t tell my mom the name, but I think of when I was 15 and she asked me if I lost my virginity and I told the truth and she walked out of the restaurant. “Say whatever it takes to make sure she doesn’t walk out” is what I was taught.
It’s crazy how with slut-shaming, the stigma is so much more harmful than the action. Like a nude photo doesn’t hurt anyone, but people judging you for it will hurt you.
Krystyna: That’s a giant excuse, for a guy to slut shame a girl for sending a nude. [Girls are told not] to do it just so he doesnt react that way
Corinne: There are a lot of things girls are instructed to do so guys don’t act like fucking animals. A lot of things we need to do because males cant control themselves
Krystyna: And that says the problem is our behavior because we’re the conduits that elicit that reaction from men, and that’s not the case. I have nothing against sending nude photos. Just understand. Know what could happen and if that risk is worth it.
Last question: are other comics bitter about how successful you’ve been?
Corinne: Sometimes Krystyna thinks ppl are being nice and I realize they’re not. Entertainment is one of the toughest businesses and comedy is one of the toughest parts.
Krystyna: Every comedian now has a podcast. I don’t wanna be cocky and assume it’s because ours blew up so quickly but it’s this weird thing because when we started it, I listened to Marc Maron, but our comedy community locally — not a lot of people had podcasts. It’s funny now, every single one does.
Corinne: It’s funny to me because people are like, “You’re kind of a bitch now that you’re successful.” I’m like, “I was always a bitch, but you didn’t care about me before so you didn’t notice.” I’m a bitch because I’m surrounded by idiots like you, and you were annoying me the whole time. Iv’e never been private about [being a bitch], it’s the first thing everyone knows.
Photography: Bekka Gunther
