Age gaps, 'tradwife' Nara Smith and the ethics of true crime reporting

Straight Up

*TW: themes of child sexual abuse and infertility* How could a female teacher in her mid-thirties ever think it acceptable to sleep with her 12-year-old student? That’s the question at the heart of provocative new film May December, starring Julianne Moore as said teacher, Gracie, who we find living married with the former student she raped, 20 years after the crime. The film - loosely inspired by a real case from the 90s - has received rave reviews, so we get into its many, very thorny ethical dilemmas.

Then, more on age gaps and power dynamics in relationships as we debrief on how Nara Smith, the 22-year-old wife of the biggest male model in the world, Lucky Blue Smith, has become one of TikTok’s standout stars, with commentators upset about everything from their (quite frankly insane) baby name choices, to Nara’s conversion to Mormonism and ‘trad wife’ content.

Finally, a look at the seminal 90s book The Journalist and the Murderer, and how extremely relevant it feels today when considering the murky ethics of true crime reporting, as well as two article recommendations by fashion writer Camille Charrière, whose accounts of IVF and infertility have recently gone viral.

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Reccs discussed:

• May December (available on NOW TV)
• The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm
• Loch Henry (Black Mirror episode)
• The Staircase on HBO
• My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
• Camille Charrière: We Need To Be Having More Honest Conversations About Fertility – And Not Just With Our Girlfriends in British Vogue
• They told me IVF would be fine. But it left me in a hole of despair by Camille Charrière in The Sunday Times Style