ICYMI

Encore: Is BYU Virginity Club Real? An ICYMI Investigation.

Is it sincere? Is it satire? We tracked down the viral Instagram account’s mysterious creator.

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Episode Notes

Instagram has seen a recent influx of college “virginity club” accounts featuring sharp, funny memes about remaining chaste. On today’s episode, Madison and Rachelle put these accounts under the microscope. Is anything about these accounts real, or are they just a grift for merchandise and music promotion? After some internet sleuthing, they track down the creator of the most popular account, for “Brigham Young Virginity Club,” and put him on the spot.

Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Derek John.

This episode originally aired on July 21, 2021.

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About the Show

Join Rachelle Hampton twice a week as we gaze deep into the online abyss—and tell you what’s gazing back.

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Hosts

  • Rachelle Hampton is a culture writer and reporter at Slate and co-host of ICYMI. Her work has appeared in the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian Magazine, and In These Times. She still hasn't recovered from Tumblr’s demise.

  • Madison Malone Kircher is a senior writer at Slate and co-host of ICYMI. She was previously a staff writer at New York magazine, where she covered internet culture and edited New York’s Approval Matrix. Her work has appeared in Vogue, Vulture, and the Cut. Madison lives in Brooklyn, where she regularly drops her phone on her face watching TikToks in bed.