Smart Girl Dumb Questions

Who picks Iran’s Ayatollah? What are the Israelis and Americans up to? How did we get here? AND: WILL IT EVER END? Today’s SGDQ bonus drop is an IRAN 101 cutdown of a Summer 2025 conversation Nayeema had with Dr. Vali Nasr, a John Hopkins SAIS professor, Middle East expert and author of Iran’s Grand Strategy.

IMPORTANTLY: The original conversation (available in the show feed) was taped in June 2025, on the heels of the Twelve Day War. We hope this version provides context and perspective to ground your curiosity. It's an escape from the doomscrolling and a supplement (not substitute) for the news. A lot has happened in the last 8-ish months so Nayeema recommends checking out Professor Nasr's most recent writings and interviews to track the evolution of the situation in Iran and his own perspective.

You can find Dr. Nasr on X @vali_nasr. Follow Nayeema on IG or X too – and you can find the show on IG, TikTok & YouTube @smartgirldumbquestions. 

Slide into our DMs, call us at 1-855-MYDUMBQ or send your dumbest questions to [email protected] 
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Is it time to date ChatDaddy? Today we're playing you a debate Nayeema hosted at New York's Comedy Cellar for a show we love: Open to Debate. Nayeema moderates an academic, fun and relevant showdown between Dr. Thao Ha of University of Arizona's HEART Lab, and Dr. Justin Garcia of the Kinsey Institute around this question: Could dating an AI be better than dating a human? 

Be sure to get more Open to Debate on Apple, Spotify,  YouTube or Substack. They share SGDQ's values of curiosity and openness and have thought-provoking debates on topics ranging from the war on drugs to US China policy and whether we should eat anything with a face. You can also get more of Justin in the SGDQ episode Are We Really Having Less Sex  in the feed below  or in his **newly released** book: The Intimate Animal. And in the interest of equal time and because she rocks, we'll need to have Thao Ha on soon too!

Want to be on SGDQ? Send us your “dumb questions” on IG/TikTok @smartgirldumbquestions or by calling 1-855-MyDumbQ. Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.  And obvi: SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR MOM.
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Is our language becoming unrecognizable and is that the internet’s fault? Nayeema sits down with Adam Aleksic (aka Etymology Nerd), a linguistics nerd and author of Algospeak — to decode how social media is rewiring the words we use, the way we say them, and what counts as “normal” language now. They get into euphemisms, censorship, why some words go viral, why “woke” became a culture-war grenade, and what happens when the dictionary can’t keep up. 

Link to Yuval's speech at Davos: HERE

Want to be on SGDQ? Send us your “dumb questions” on IG/TikTok @smartgirldumbquestions or by calling 1-855-MyDumbQ. Or, you know, call Congress at (202) 224-3121.

Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.  And obvi: SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR MOM.

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He’s watched thousands of marriages fail — so what did he learn about love? And from mandatory prenups to a newlyweds permit, how would he redesign the process? Nayeema sits down with the legendary NYC divorce attorney James Sexton, Esquire — a courtroom “pistol” who’s handled thousands of cases, got an epic education in human relationships in the process and even written a book about how to not f* up your marriage.. 

Nayeema and Jim discuss: why does marriage even exist? Is it a buzzkill for romance? Is there ever a such thing as a no fault divorce? What makes someone good at breaking up and, with 50% plus marriages ending this way, should you actually marry someone you can divorce? Why does the wedding industrial complex market marriage like a romcom — at the climax — when the real story starts after the credits? … Also: tips for dating a divorcee?

We’ll have a part two focused on love and money so send us your “dumb questions” on IG/TikTok @smartgirldumbquestions or by calling 1-855-MyDumbQ. Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.  And obvi: SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS, MOM OR LOCAL LAWMAKER.
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After ICE officers shipped 5 year old Liam Ramos to a detention facility and federal agents shot and killed 37 year old ICU Nurse Alex Pretti, Nayeema called her congressperson for the first time. Turns out, it can make a dent. If you’d like to slide into those EMs, here are deets for House and Senate. Your Senator votes this week on funding for ICE and Homeland Security.

So what happens when you email or vmail? Is it more impactful than posting on Insta? And, um, does Congress even matter these days? U.S. Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury (D–NM) joins Nayeema to answer all these Qs.

Plus: gym gossip, the DOGE subcommittee, the Epstein-files vote, and — yes — astrology as a path to bipartisanship.

Want to be on SGDQ? Send us your “dumb questions” on IG/TikTok @smartgirldumbquestions or by calling 1-855-MyDumbQ. Or, you know, call Congress at (202) 224-3121.

Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.  And obvi: SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS, MOM OR LOCAL LAWMAKER.
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