Heart Reacts

About Heart Reacts

“Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the feels.” We are HEART REACTS, an advice podcast for everyone trying to remain emotionally functional through the collapse of late capitalism. We’re here to answer all of the questions about love, friendship, family, and even work that you might want to ask two people who have spent adulthood trying to apply their radical political analysis, more or less successfully, to their personal lives. We are Craig Gent, a writer and researcher living in Leeds, and ⁠Sarah Jaffe⁠ (https://sarahljaffe.com/), a journalist and author based in New Orleans. You can send us your questions at www.askmeanything.cc/heartreacts. (https://www.askmeanything.cc/heartreacts) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Publisher

Craig Gent and Sarah Jaffe

Category

education · health & fitness · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

19 Apr 2024

Latest episode

2 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

46 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   2 Sept 2026

   Episode 45: Where's My Social Hammock?

   Welcome to HEART REACTS, an advice podcast for all of us trying to remain emotionally functional through the collapse of late capitalism. This month is pretty hectic for both of us, and so we're only putting out one episode for September. We appreciate you bearing with us! This week, we're talking about the lack of social safety net, particularly for mental health, and how it's really hard to fill in for the lack of a functioning society when you're just one human who cares. And also, we humbly beg people to stop branding perfectly normal forms of social interaction with cutesy little names. Stuff We Talk About: LinkedIn News, Soft socialising is on the rise (https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/soft-socialising-is-on-the-rise-8490321/) Emily Kenway, What if older people refuse care outside the family? This is the taboo that could wreck care reform (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/04/older-people-help-family-care-reform) Emily’s book, Who Cares: The Hidden Crisis of Caregiving, and How We Solve It (https://www.emilykenway.com/who-cares) Health Communism (https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2801-health-communism) by Beatrice Adler-Bolton and Artie Vierkant We are Craig Gent, a writer and researcher living in Leeds, and ⁠Sarah Jaffe⁠ (https://sarahljaffe.com/), a journalist and author based in London. Buy Craig's Book: Cyberboss (https://www.versobooks.com/products/2958-cyberboss?srsltid=AfmBOopgqob5MW3Rm5d0L_X6dEJlkYKDmvV-KQUdF_RtHooAi5bAnDVV) Buy Sarah's Book: From the Ashes (https://bookshop.org/a/1518/9781541703490) You can send us your questions at ⁠www.askmeanything.cc/heartreacts⁠. (https://⁠www.askmeanything.cc/heartreacts⁠.) This episode was produced by, well, us! We apologize for any inconsistencies in audio quality. If you liked it and want to help keep us going, and help us improve our recording process, you can support us at ⁠ (https://patreon.com/HeartReacts%E2%81%A0.)patreon.com/HeartReacts⁠ (https://patreon.com/HeartReacts⁠). (https://patreon.com/HeartReacts%E2%81%A0.) You can subscribe to the show wherever you get podcasts, and please do rate us on those podcast apps! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

2. 

   14 Aug 2026

   Episode 44: Hard Not to Talk About It

   Welcome to HEART REACTS, an advice podcast for all of us trying to remain emotionally functional through the collapse of late capitalism. We're back, and we have another question about men! More specifically, we have a question about getting hard, staying hard, and why it's so hard to do sometimes. (Yes, this means this is a more explicit episode than usual, because we're talking about the mechanics of sex. We should also note that neither of us are doctors, sex therapists, or in any way medically qualified, but we do link below to some resources from friend of the show Justin Hancock, who is a professional sex educator, so read what he has to say and listen to us for the giggles. Stuff We Talk About: Menswear and the World System with Derek Guy (https://thedigradio.com/podcast/menswear-and-the-world-system-w-derek-guy/) Lucie Fielding, Trans Sex (https://bookshop.org/a/1518/9781032737218) Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud (https://bookshop.org/a/1518/9780674543553) If you must read Lacan on the phallus, it’s here (https://lacanianworksexchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/19820101Mull8Phallus.PDF.pdf) (PDF). Gone Medieval: Medieval Sex Work and Brothels (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medieval-sex-work-brothels/id1564113746?i=1000778711342) Gramsci, Americanism and Fordism (https://archive.org/stream/Gramsci-Fordism/Americanism%20and%20Fordism_djvu.txt) Leopoldina Fortunati and Carla Lonzi, Gendered Labor and Clitoridean Revolt (https://fillip.ca/folios/gendered-labour) BISH: The Hard On (https://www.bishuk.com/bodies/the-hard-on/) BISH: What Can I Do When They Lose Their Hard On (https://www.bishuk.com/your-questions/what-can-i-do-when-they-lose-their-hard-on/) BISH: Dick Pills (https://www.bishuk.com/bodies/dick-pills/) We are Craig Gent, a writer and researcher living in Leeds, and ⁠Sarah Jaffe⁠ (https://sarahljaffe.com/), a journalist and author based in London. Buy Craig's Book: Cyberboss (https://www.versobooks.com/products/2958-cyberboss?srsltid=AfmBOopgqob5MW3Rm5d0L_X6dEJlkYKDmvV-KQUdF_RtHooAi5bAnDVV) Buy Sarah's Book: From the Ashes (https://bookshop.org/a/1518/9781541703490) You can send us your questions at ⁠www.askmeanything.cc/heartreacts⁠. (https://⁠www.askmeanything.cc/heartreacts⁠.) This episode was produced by, well, us! We apologize for any inconsistencies in audio quality. If you liked it and want to help keep us going, and help us improve our recording process, you can support us at ⁠ (https://patreon.com/HeartReacts%E2%81%A0.)patreon.com/HeartReacts⁠ (https://patreon.com/HeartReacts⁠). (https://patreon.com/HeartReacts%E2%81%A0.) You can subscribe to the show wherever you get podcasts, and please do rate us on those podcast apps! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

3. 

   27 Jul 2026

   Episode 43: Looking at Men

   Welcome to HEART REACTS, an advice podcast for all of us trying to remain emotionally functional through the collapse of late capitalism. This week, we're talking about men, and how to lessen the weight of the burdens of masculinity. First, we chat about the men of the World Cup and why they give us hope for masculinity, and then we advise a letter writer who wants to look--and feel--sexy but isn't sure how. Thanks for putting up with our slightly less regular schedule of late! We appreciate you and also we want your questions! We're down to the bottom of our mailbag so we need more in order to keep advising you: ⁠www.askmeanything.cc/heartreacts⁠. (https://⁠www.askmeanything.cc/heartreacts⁠.) Stuff We Talk About: Bellingham and Haaland (https://www.instagram.com/reels/DafyuFbBVgb/) The World Cup Has Given Us A Win We Didn’t Expect – For Modern Masculinity (https://graziadaily.co.uk/celebrity/news/footballers-showing-positive-masculinity/) Why many Black Americans were rooting for Argentina to lose the World Cup (https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/22/argentina-black-americans-spain-world-cup-messi-silence) Pushing Protein (https://www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/pushing-protein) Sita Balani, Deadly and Slick: Sexual Modernity and the Making of Race (https://bookshop.org/a/1518/9781839761027) Sarah: Heterosexuality During Wartime (https://progressive.org/magazine/heterosexuality-during-wartime-jaffe-20260603/) US military to start screening for testosterone deficiency, Hegseth says (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0nlx18rz0o) Confessions Of A Semi-Professional D**k Pic Critic (https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/confessions-of-a-semi-professional-dk-pic-critic_uk_65a1456fe4b07bd6950c8f35) We are Craig Gent, a writer and researcher living in Leeds, and ⁠Sarah Jaffe⁠ (https://sarahljaffe.com/), a journalist and author based in London. Buy Craig's Book: Cyberboss (https://www.versobooks.com/products/2958-cyberboss?srsltid=AfmBOopgqob5MW3Rm5d0L_X6dEJlkYKDmvV-KQUdF_RtHooAi5bAnDVV) Buy Sarah's Book: From the Ashes (https://bookshop.org/a/1518/9781541703490) You can send us your questions at ⁠www.askmeanything.cc/heartreacts⁠. (https://⁠www.askmeanything.cc/heartreacts⁠.) This episode was produced by, well, us! We apologize for any inconsistencies in audio quality. If you liked it and want to help keep us going, and help us improve our recording process, you can support us at ⁠ (https://patreon.com/HeartReacts%E2%81%A0.)patreon.com/HeartReacts⁠ (https://patreon.com/HeartReacts⁠). (https://patreon.com/HeartReacts%E2%81%A0.) You can subscribe to the show wherever you get podcasts, and please do rate us on those podcast apps! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

4,818,331

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

16 ratings

Spotify

4.7 / 5

27 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 60 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

62

Social presence

0

YouTube

93

Engagement

51

Contact Heart Reacts

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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