Helloooo0o0oo!
Sorry I’ve been on a hiatus. I’ve been too busy to write, but I’m back!
Here are three things I consumed this week:
#123: On cosmetic procedures and the limits of "destigmatization” by Hayley Nahman for Maybe Baby
I have been itching to read something thoughtful about “getting work done”. It feels like we’re sitting in this strange, in-between place right now where you’re obliged to tell everyone if you’ve had work done in the name of “destigmatisation” or you’re not a feminist.
If you’re wondering what the destigmatisation of cosmetic surgery even means, this Refinery29 piece is a great example - Botox, Fillers, Lip Injections: How Much 11 Women Pay For Their Cosmetic Procedures. In the piece, 11 women aged between 23 and 40 disclose the cost of their cosmetic procedures, which, by the way, are expensive! This kind of content is interesting, but it normalises cosmetic surgery, and I don’t think that’s a good thing.
Interestingly, before Nahman wrote this newsletter, I hadn’t heard anyone challenge this narrative, with the exception of an episode of the cult-followed podcast Shameless, when a listener asked “what do you do if your best friend is lying about her face?”.
Host Zara McDonald says, “I’d prefer my friends to not tell me what they do to their bodies, because the less we talk about it, and the less they tell me the things they want to fix, the less I’m looking at my own body.”
I agree wholeheartedly with this. Whenever anyone tells me that they’re thinking about getting something done, I immediately relate it back to my own appearance.
I’m not alone in this sentiment. Nahman, in a subsequent ‘discussion thread’, mentions someone who “was shocked to learn [their friends] had all gotten [botox]. Now she was afraid that by abstaining she would appear much older than her peers for the rest of her life”.
I would definitely feel pressure to get work done if my circle of friends were doing it. It feels like a rat race to the beautician's office.
Here’s a snippet from the piece:
I know this problem is complicated, and that it’s not as simple as abstinence on an individual level. I’m only interested in critiquing the vitality of normalizing cosmetic procedures as a political way forward. However comforting we may find beauty practices, however creatively we commune around these traditions, I think we have a responsibility to return again and again to the ideology underpinning this industry: who it targets, who it punishes, who it pays.
Goop By Maintenance Phase Podcast
Maintenance Phase is a fantastic podcast that works to debunk the “wellness industrial complex”. This episode is about Gwyneth Paltrow’s company, Goop. It unpacks Goop’s success and scandals.
In Amazing Coincidence, Jeff Bezos Makes Meaningless Announcement He’s “Giving Way” Fortune After Stories of Racist Worker Abuse, Mass Amazon Layoffs By Adam Johnson for The Column
Ever wondered what it means for a billionaire to announce they’re giving away their fortune? Johnston has thoughts:
These “fortune give away” announcements are carefully packaged PR roll outs that virtually everyone in the media covers and breathlessly repeats without question. Why they are major news stories isn’t clear. That multi-billionaires set up foundations under their name and control to distribute to their various ideological pay toys is not new or particularly noteworthy. These announcements are rarely met with meaningful skepticism about the fundamental arrangement that allows one person to amass so much power and wealth, or address how, after 20 years of these bold claims of benevolence, those making them keep getting richer than before they announced they were “giving away” their wealth.
ALSO!
I’m late to the party, but I just read Colleen Hoover’s book, Verity, which became a bestseller after blowing up on TikTok. I loved it. Don’t expect anything mind blowing; it’s a speed read that was delightfully trashy.
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🐶 Here’s your weekly Moose fix: