The State of Beauty Politics and What It All Means with Tressie McMillan Cottom

Botox, filler, beauty trends, and the pressure to keep up with it all. This week, Christiana sits down with NYT columnist and UNC Chapel Hill professor Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom to explore how beauty culture is changing around the world, why our appearances carry so much power, and what happens when the rules of beauty keep changing. Follow Tressie: Instagram   Thanks to our sponsor, Bilt Rewards, for supporting today's episode: https://joinbilt.com/popsyllabus Follow Pop Syllabus: YouTube | Instagram | TikTok | Substack  Merch available now! Sponsor Pop Syllabus: advertise@companionarts.com If there’s a topic you’d like us to deconstruct, tell us in the comments. Email: hello@popsyllabus.com 01:37 Meet Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom  03:45 Sculpt and how beauty norms became what they are right now 06:12 The democratization of plastic surgery and injectibles  09:06 Beauty and ugliness as structural concepts  13:14 The end of body positivity a return to whiteness  15:13 How technology has changed time, our attention, and beauty norms  16:55 Peptides  19:45 How what is seen as beautiful has changed  21:00 Thinking of ourselves as scientific compositions  22:05 Grappling for community  22:39 Discourse around “the Black community”  24:15 Ethnic rhinoplasty  25:51 The death of the natural hair movement  26:30 What is Black beauty now? 27:10 The homogeneity of beauty  30:14 How the formula we were taught for a good life isn’t working and cruel optimism 35:26 Observing neutrally and knowing our choices aren’t neutral  39:10 The cost of resistance and choosing our defeats  42:49 Bracing for impact  45:00 Black women being punished  45:40 Conservative movements among white women and where white women go next 49:55 “One Household, One Vote” and women retreating from the workplace  52:30 Late-stage capitalism and AI will come for everyone, including men 54:00 Men committing Interpersonal violence 55:30 Going analog  56:38 How Tressie approaches reading and engaging with ideas 01:01:22 What Tressie is turning to for nourishment and delight  01:06:25 What Tressie is working on now Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices