Podcast: Death, Sex & Money

NPR’s podcast “Death, Sex & Money” shines a light on those three big topics that most people—especially US Americans—hate talking about. In particular it brings class conflict to the fore, investigating the personal consequences of major economic policy. The show's host is the journalist aptly named Anna Sale. 

A recent episode on student loans shares the stories of some of the millions of people struggling to pay off college debt. Another fascinating segment on sex work shows just how many women offer escort services via online portals to pay the bills. It’s no coincidence that the woman interviewed in that episode is also a student with a massive amount of debt.

My favorite episode so far features an intimate and difficult conversation between two best women friends who met in college and come from different class backgrounds. They’re aware of their financial differences, but have never discussed the issue openly. The exchange is eye-opening: It becomes clear how every aspect of their loving relationship has been influenced in different ways by their differing access to resources—down to the fact that one of them was able to afford fertility treatments and conceive a child, and the other was not.

As you can tell, the price of education and the intergenerational effects of poverty are recurring themes. The way different life stories interrelate is one of the joys of the podcast series and a good reason to binge on several episodes at once.