Lolita Podcast is super interesting.

It’s about the 1955 novel by Vladimir Nabokov and all the adaptations and pop culture it spawned.

More importantly, it’s about the anti-abuse intention of the novel vs. the patriarchal canon framing it as “a great love story.” It’s about Dolores Haze, the fictional twelve-year-old victim in the novel, vs. the “seductress Lolita” we see in pop culture.

From high fashion campaigns, to countless pop and rock songs, to questionable film and stage adaptations, and so much more, Lolita gets glamorized in Western society without much reference to its horrifying source text. It’s romanticized as a forbidden love story—a sexually mature nymphette and a misunderstood older man against the world.

All this, when the actual novel is about a pedophile grooming, manipulating, kidnapping, and raping an underaged girl.

Hm. Wonder who benefits from making the culture at large view Humbert and Lolita as a love story. (Hint: It’s not young girls.)

Hosted by comedian Jamie Loftus, this podcast is extremely well-researched and sensitive to the topic. It’s only 10 episodes, so it’s pretty finish-able.

Listen wherever you listen to podcasts, or check it out at iHeart here.