Hiii loves!! 💌 I've been thinking a lot about beauty standards lately, and specifically how we're expected to spend so much of our lives trying to live up to something that never seems to stay the same. Think about it. In the space of a few decades, we've gone from heroin chic to the Kardashian body, BBLs, lip fillers, and now the return of extreme thinness. And every time the ideal changes, there's a whole new set of things we're encouraged to change about ourselves. The more I researched this episode, the more I realised just how much of what we consider beautiful has been shaped by history, culture, power and, perhaps most importantly, money. Because there's an entire industry that benefits from us believing we're never quite beautiful enough. In this episode, we're tracing beauty standards all the way back through history, looking at some of the disturbing things women have endured in the name of beauty, and exploring the psychology behind why we place so much value on physical attractiveness. We're also getting into pretty privilege, how colonialism shaped beauty ideals around the world, and the very strange reality of social media filters making us aspire to look like digitally altered versions of ourselves. And of course, we're talking about Ozempic, the return of thinness, and what happens when our bodies become just another trend to keep up with. I think the most important thing I learned while making this episode is that beauty standards were never a finish line we could reach. They've always been changing, and there's always been someone ready to profit from the next version. My hope is that understanding how this all works makes it a little easier to stop measuring ourselves against it. Because there are so many better things we could be doing with our time, energy and lives than constantly trying to fix the way we look. 🎙️ Topics covered: the history of beauty standards, the psychology of attractiveness, pretty privilege, the beauty industry's business model, colonialism and Eurocentric beauty ideals, social media and body image, beauty filters and Snapchat dysmorphia, plastic surgery and BBLs, Ozempic and the return of extreme thinness, manufactured insecurities, and why beauty standards never stop changing. Keep up with the pod: @antibrainrot.official Keep up with me: @tiiiziana.nicola
