Following the luxury of the Met Gala - and one influencer's mistimed 'Let Them Eat Cake" lip synch - the internet is demanding action from the celebrity class in response to the ongoing genocide in Palestine. The #BlockOut2024 encourages social media users to block celebrities and cut short their income streams until they voice their opinion on the conflict - but is this a useful form of activism or just virtue signalling from people hoping to win the game of social media? This week Ione and...

The day has finally come, the question has been asked and our hosts are ready to tackle the query of a generation: Why is everyone polyamorous now? Taking into account everything from the free love movement to tax breaks for married couples, Ione and Gina get to the bottom of why some people find a bad taste in their mouths in non monogamy discourse. Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast member 3 Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here! A statement by journalists: We condemn...

Recently, Twitter was set ablaze by another creepy move by the incel community: AI generated women to have sex with while pumping into a boxed fleshlight. The viral video, which promises to put an end to declining birth rates, has sparked debates on the morality of combining intimacy with AI; and in this week's episode, Ione and Gina are getting into the root of it all. Is it gamification? Is it fetish content? And what does gene warfare even mean? Support our work and become a Polyester...

It's been less than three weeks since Netflix dropped the true crime, true story drama Baby Reindeer and the discourse surrounding the show feels inescapable. As internet sleuths take it upon themselves to wreak vigilante justice on the real life people the series was based on, those who know Richard Gadd - the writer and star of Baby Reindeer - suffer the consequences. Is it a failure in safeguarding or a marketing ploy? Is this the final form of parasocial relationships? In this week's...

The second weekend of Coachella has confirmed it: Chappell Roan is the lesbian pop star the world has been waiting for. Roan is one of a generation of pop girlies paving the way for sapphic representation in the mainstream - from Jojo Siwa to Renee Rap, we are truly in a queer woman power hour for music. In this week's episode, Ione and Gina break down what is so appealing about Roan's output, whether queer visibility is a good thing and why the culture has been longing for explicitly lesbian...

By tracking our blood glucose levels, harvesting our eggs and banking our collagen are we hacking the health system or are we contributing to the privatisation of NHS services and discrimination of chronically ill and disabled people? Who actually benefits from us following the inner workings of our bodies online? Will the horrors ever end? In this week's episode Ione and Gina are tacking our current obsession with making health a lifestyle choice. Support our work and become a Polyester...

In 2024, are journalist and editor roles a privilege or meaningless? Last week a Substack essay went viral for calling media parties boring and this week Ione and Gina are having it out about whether roles in the media are still as fun, exciting and covetable as Sex and the City and every 00s Rom Com presented them to be - and more importantly do they even need to be? Is a job a job or should we be proud of our professions? Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast member 3 Order...

'Sydney Sweeney's blonde hair and big jugs are a sign of the end of wokeness!' is a sentence that is unfortunately being touted legitimately by the right wingers who yearn for the day of toxic beauty standards and Y2K celebrity scrutiny. In this week's episode, Ione and Gina are digging into how the Euphoria actress' double Ds have become a point of contention across Twitter and beyond as many use the objectification of Sweeney's melons to signify a society taking steps backwards in their...

These are the days of girlhood - pink beer cans, bathtub breakdowns and picking up your meds. All trending topics that are highlighted in the debut track from Dylan Mulvaney, but why is the song receiving vitriol from TikTok teens, the alt right and the left? In this week's episode, Ione and Gina are defending the right of women to be frivolous, uncool and girly - and addressing the hypocrisy and hatred of Mulvaney’s critics. Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast member 3 Order...

In a world where authenticity is lauded above all else in a celebrity's brand, how could the ever aloof It Girl ever survive? Is it parasocial relationships, red carpet q and a's or a need for relatability that ended the reign of the It Girl? This week Ione and Gina are digging into the new brand du jour - being the people's princess. Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast member 3 Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here! A statement by journalists: We condemn Israel's...

Has short form media rotted our brains or is the future one without tech? With generations unable to use a printer, and our social platforms ridden with bots - it seems we're becoming increasingly disenfranchised with our digital lives. This week Ione and Gina are digging into what happens next when the internet and all its apps become unusable. Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast member 3 Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here! A statement by journalists: We condemn...

Why is work that takes aesthetics seriously always considered vapid? This week, joining Ione and Gina live is Priscilla costume designer and frequent collaborator of Sofia Coppola, Stacey Battat. We discuss everything from costuming one of the most fashionable women in history, to working on low budget productions and utilising clothing within feminist films to further push unspoken narratives. Recorded in partnership with MUBI to celebrate the launch of Sofia Coppola's Priscilla on...

Change is in the air for the start of 2024: Those who used to universally love Taylor Swift suddenly seem to be turning on her. Is it the far right convincing themselves that shes a psyop for the democrat party? Or the fact she’s producing more CO2 emissions in a year than most people would in their entire life? Maybe it’s her too good to be true whirlwind romance with Travis Kelce taking up headlines while war rages worldwide. In this episode, Ione and Gina are picking apart why the tide has...

Have tweens always been this interested in beauty products? And how is ageism affected by classism? In this extra special episode of the podcast, Ione and Gina are joined by writer, editor and brand strategist Funmi Fetto to discuss Wellcome Collection’s exhibition The Cult of Beauty. Tracking how we went from religious obsession with the visuals of virtuousness to generation alpha purchasing retinols, Funmi, Ione and Gina are asking why people have always been obsessed with looking good. The...

Another day another seemingly innocuous trend borne from TikTok style videos - this week Ione and Gina are using mob wife glamour to get into the nitty gritty of hyper specific aesthetics. Is mob wife glamour a PR move by HBO for The Soprano's 25th Anniversary? Or a fast fashion ploy to shift some coats during the February sales? And why are we all, after all this time, still aspiring to be someone's wife? Join the two leopard print aficionados on deciding whether or not this resurgence of...

Do you have a Stanley Cup? Maybe like Gina, you own a different reusable cup for every occasion. Or perhaps you're more like Ione, who can't stand the sight of them. This week, the girls are fighting their corner as to whether the Stanley Cup craze is harmful or helpless. Should we let people enjoy things? Or is the aggressively feminised marketing and overconsumption something that should concern us all? Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast member 3 The Eden Young Fellowship for...

Poor Things discourse has taken over the internet; with Yorgos Lanthimos latest film being declared a masterpiece in one breath and a misogynistic let down in another. Can a film that traces the consequences of a baby’s brain being implanted into a grown woman’s body ever be called empowering? Or does the story of Bella Baxter - masterfully portrayed by Emma Stone - begin to make more sense when viewed through the lens of disability and privilege? Ione and Gina discuss all. Support our work...

From Fancams to Lana Del Rey comparisons - she's been the internet fixation for the past fortnight, but what does it mean for the culture that Gypsy Rose Blanchard has exited prison straight into global and meme fame? This week Ione and Gina are discussing the reaction to Gypsy's release, the terror that is the true crime industry, and how women are commodified then dropped in trend cycles that don't consider the real people they revolve around. Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast...

Will 2024 give us hope or apathy? Which cartoon cat is due a comeback? And is the Instagram story a dead artform? To kick off the new year Ione and Gina are taking us through their ins and outs lists while reckoning with the question of if anyone has the authority to make hot or not calls for 2024 anyway. Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast member 3 Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here! A statement by journalists: We condemn Israel's killing of journalists in Gaza and...

Hey everyone, for a variety of reasons, mostly that we all need a little break we'll be taking a few weeks off the podcast until the near year. Thank you for your support this year love you all! Have a lovely rest of the year and we'll see you in 2024 xxx Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jacob Elordi in angel wings, period sex, and a MILF Rosamund Pike: Saltburn has been the film du jour but does it deserve its controversial accolades? Ione and Gina get into the many ways that Saltburn remains a contentious watch for most working class people, especially when audiences contextualise the movie through the writer and director, Emerald Fennel's gaze. While critics ask if Saltburn is lambasting the right people, our hosts wonder if this film successfully satirises anything at...

It's the season finale of The Kardashians and this series can be only summed up as self serving: Every single piece of imagery given in this series has been a medium to send a message: Scott's birthday party serves only to remind the audience that Kim used to grace the covers of canine magazines and now she has featured multiple times on the front of Vogue. But when will the family - made up of literal billionaires - stop positing themselves as underdogs? MJ and Marie Corey hypothesise that...

Another trend has spawned across TikTok and the site formally known as Twitter - Are you girl pretty or boy pretty? The difference largely lies in how you appeal to the male gaze as hosts Ione Gamble and Gina Tonic explore in this week's podcast episode. Have labels become limiting, do we need to care about our attractiveness or is this all a misogynistic psyop? Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast member 3 Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here! A statement by...

This week, The Kardashians are leaning into the uncanny valley nature of their narrative construction, taking us behind the scenes on Kourtney's pregnancy announcement and Kim and North debating fashion as she gets dressed for the Met. Marie and MJ are questioning the hierarchies of who the family - and those around them - defers to. Is North being a brat or is she a creative with valid criticisms? Why do the Kardashians have so much respect for the traditional power structures in place...