The ManFlu | Exploring Gender Dynamics, Partnerships & Raising Boys Who Care
by Lucy McAfee
You’ve heard of the “ManFlu” — that mysterious illness that somehow hits men way harder than any woman could ever fathom. Well, we’re not handing out tissues. We’re here to talk about the real stuff underneath it: the disconnection, the imbalance, and how we can start to change it.
The ManFlu is a metaphor we use to dig into something deeper: the cultural scripts, gender roles, and unspoken rules that keep men sidelined and leave women carrying more than their share of the mental and emotional load.
Host Lucy McAfee has spent years studying how gender dynamics play out at home. As a wife…
The ManFlu hosts Lucy McAfee in conversation with Stacy McCann, a licensed therapist and parent coach specializing in maternal burnout. The episode tackles the pervasive problem of mothers feeling broken or inadequate, tracing this to unrealistic modern expectations of motherhood and deeply ingrained gender roles…
Worth it if you're a mother feeling guilty or overwhelmed and want concrete communication tools to address the mental load with your partner, or if you're interested in how gender socialization shapes parental expectations.
The ManFlu hosts Lucy McAfee in conversation with Julia Markish (executive coach) and her wife Krissa Lagos (book editor) to explore how same-sex couples navigate household labor, mental load, and partnership dynamics. The episode opens with Julia's reflection on a dinner party where women discussed burnout—Julia…
Worth it if you're interested in rethinking household labor dynamics, same-sex partnership models, or practical communication strategies that move beyond gender-role assumptions.
Host Lucy McAfee interviews her mother, Eileen Goeke, a retired high school teacher with 30 years of classroom experience and mother of four, to explore how gender dynamics, parenting responsibilities, and expectations for boys have shifted across generations. The episode opens with a pivotal moment from Eileen's…
Worth it if you're a parent navigating modern expectations, an educator curious about generational shifts in student behavior, or someone interested in how gender roles and family dynamics have evolved.
Lucy McAfee examines how the manosphere—a sprawling ecosystem of online influencers, podcasts, and communities—shapes boys' understanding of masculinity, worth, and relationships. The episode opens with a striking finding: researchers posing as teenage boys on TikTok and YouTube encountered manosphere content within…
Worth it if you're a parent, educator, or anyone concerned about how online culture shapes boys' self-worth and relationships.
