Hannah Ferguson on the politics of sex, her new book, and creating a night of fun and feminist conversation

Posted on 2 October, 2024

As the CEO of Cheek Media Co, co-host of the Big Small Talk Podcast, and the bestselling author of Bite Back, since 2020 Hannah Ferguson has quickly risen as one of Australia’s brightest minds in the media.

Add in the fact that she’s only in her mid-20s and you know that this is just the beginning for the self-described perfectionist.

Launching Cheek Media Co. four years ago, when she noticed that there was a need for accessible, interesting, and entertaining journalism for young people, the platform quickly became known as the to-go place for daring feminist opinions – discussing everything from politics to overcoming taboos around sex and pleasure with whip-smart humour.

Never one to sit still, following the launch of the successful launch of the Big Small Talk podcast with co-host Sarah-Jane Adams (because loving pop culture doesn’t mean you don’t understand politics) and her book Bite Back: Feminism, media, politics, and our power to change it all in 2023, Hannah is taking Cheek on tour for the first time – and she’s coming to Canberra.

Ahead of Cheek Live at the Canberra Theatre Centre on Wednesday 11 December, Hannah sat down to speak with our Online Editor, Erin Cross about the politics of sex, her new book, and about creating a night of fun and feminist conversation.

It’s been four years since you started Cheek Media Co. When you look back and reflect on your journey, what has it been like for you?

It’s been brilliant because there are so many things that are quite hard and quite niche. I always describe a lot of things I face at work as “unrelatable problems” and I also describe them as “high-quality problems”. If I have a bad day on the internet or a difficult time navigating how to find my position on a certain issue, there are so many privileges that come with the ability to do that – even my version of what a difficult work problem is something I’m still so passion and excited about!

I really want to take this slowly and make the right decisions that ensure that, long term, I’m doing things that are value-aligned. That’s why I think finding the podcast as a new medium, so I don’t have to rely on Instagram, doing a live show to engage with my audience, and doing things slowly that are sustainable for me is good. It’s so I don’t burn out and I can continue to do this and grow an audience of dedicated people – not fast, but in high quality – is what I’ve learned over the last four years.

When you started Cheek, it was because there was a gap in the market for accessible and interesting journalism. Is that gap still there or has your goal evolved and changed?

There’s a lot of space now for youth to have conversations online. I originally think the gap was taking young people seriously and having left-wing opinions in public spaces being debated well online.

My question now to people who follow me or who are interested in engaging with the news on social media is, how are we having the conversations and is that happening effectively, or are we all just screaming into the void and reflective of our algorithms? I feel like my conversation has changed from taking up space in news to operating from a place of, ‘How should we talk to each other on social media?’

Cheek Media Co. and The Big Small Podcast are both in the online space – why have you decided to do a live show and bring that face-to-face element?

I see myself as a commentator, not a journalist, not a lawyer, and not someone who’s an expert in women’s rights issues – I’m someone who sees a complex issue and knows how to communicate it simply with people. That’s my passion.

The reason I want to do a live show is because I know there’s that audience of people that want to connect…I thought ‘Why not make this a format that’s not just an interview, not just an in-conversation with me?’ People can hear that on Instagram, they can get that on the podcast. I wanted to do something where I was creating a vibe for people, and creating an atmosphere where they could have a great night out, but get that fix of serious feminist conversation.

You published your first book Bite Back in 2023 and are about the publish another book – congratulations! Tell me about your newest book, Taboo. What inspired it?

The one thing I was worried about in Bite Back was that including small parts that were about myself would be self-centred or somehow lose the ground I wanted to cover. It’s not trying to be an academic work; it’s trying to be a baseline guide to feminism. What I took away from the reviews and things that I heard from people was that the best parts were the parts where I talked about my own personal experience.

My sex, dating and relationships content outperforms politics and as much as that saddens me sometimes – that we take conversations about sex far more seriously and there’s far more engagement in those conversations – we know why that is. It’s because it’s way more vulnerable and to see someone talking about those things is often unique.

For Taboo, I’m transitioning from Bite Back from being this feminist manifesto to being a personal focus on the things that defined my young womanhood and what I would love to tell my younger self, but also the questions I would ask about the experiences of older women and how we can change that for our generation. It’s not supposed to be the be-all and end-all. It’s not supposed to be self-help or self-development. It’s really saying, ‘Let’s ask the questions and have the conversations that have kept us stuck. And how do we become unstuck and dismantle shame and taboo in that pursuit?’

Sex is political for a lot of people as well. It might not be what’s happening in Parliament House, but that’s why it resonates.

Totally. Even the whole concept of the vibrator I’ve just released is about the politics of pleasure and how that is so silenced, dissented and deprioritised. Not only that, but we live in a rape culture where women don’t feel entitled to their own bodies, men feel entitled to us. I think those conversations are so intertwined, and that’s why anything that I discuss that’s related to sexual or domestic and family violence, that’s related to women exploring themselves is always going to resonate most.

In the Cheek live show, what kind of topics will you be discussing?

The Cheek live show will be broken down into two parts. The first part will be with my pod co-host Sarah, and we’re going to be really doing a year in review. We’re going to be breaking down the biggest news and culture stories of the year. For example, one of the topics we’re discussing at the moment because we will really settle them quite close to the date, will be Chapell Roan and the discussion of what’s the role of celebrity in society? We’ll absolutely do the US election; we might do the Bruce Lehrmann defamation case.

What we want to provide is what we do in the podcast, which is a balance of serious and fun as well as audience-engaged discussions about these big news stories and what defined 2024.

The second part of the show will be me by myself, and I’ll be talking through the main themes of Taboo, getting people up on stage, doing audience engagement discussing sex and relationships. In part, serious talks about dismantling shame, but also in a fun way that’s getting people up on stage and giving out vibrators as prizes. So, tackling what I do, which is politics and pop culture but also personal stories and anecdotes.

What are you most excited about with the live shows?

I’ve never created something like this before! I’ve always had dreams of trying stand-up comedy and I am a confident public speaker, but I never create a night that facilitates joy, but also deep thought.

We want to create a safe space for people, but also a really fun night out with friends. I think a lot of the time for progressive women, you spend it on your phone, trying to connect with other likeminded people, but you don’t really come into a large playhouse theatre with 600 other people. This is a different kind of format. This isn’t just comedy, it’s not just a TED Talk and it’s not a women in business night, it’s entirely different. And to be able to facilitate that and curate that will be an incredible growth opportunity and professional development for me in creatively attempting something new.

Apart from a very well-deserved holiday, what’s next for you?

This is the thing, it’s so hard to think like that at the moment! It’s such a hard question because a break should be next, but in the next six months, Sarah and I plan to expand the podcast. We have two additional podcasts planned. One will be launched before the end of the year and the next one we’re hoping for the first quarter of 2025.

Other than that, around the federal election will be very content-heavy for me. The US and the Australian Federal election will be just major career times in terms of producing content, producing commentary, and educating people. I think I won’t really be looking over those hills. I don’t have a five-year plan. I have six to 12-month plans, because for me, the way that news and culture operate really defines how I want to do my job.

I do have political aspirations down the track. I do know we want to expand the podcast format. I know we want to do a bigger live show next year, and this is just a test to see how the format works, if people are interested, and if people will come again.

I’m really excited for this tour, because I think that sometimes it’s still nerve wracking when you’re doing my job because it’s an Instagram relationship, it’s parasocial. But will people actually be interested in investing their time and money into coming and seeing something like this? I’m just excited that people that people care.

Feature image supplied.