Specimen in a Petri Dish Part Two: Body Control as Political Power

Body Policing as Authoritarian Power: From Fascist Propaganda to TikTok PipelinesIn Part One, we asked who gets to decide what a woman's body should look like. In Part Two, Dr. Leslie Poston follows that question into political history, tracing a line from Mussolini's propaganda offices to the fashion industry to TikTok's algorithm. The distance between fascist body archetypes and a teenage girl's feed in 2026 is shorter than you'd think. Drawing on the work of Sabrina Strings, Da'Shaun Harrison, and Lois Shearing, this episode examines how and why body control has functioned as a tool of authoritarian power, and what makes it so effective at recruiting women and girls today.00:00 Part Two Setup01:16 Fascist Body Archetypes03:49 Fear and Conformity05:03 Racial Origins of Fatphobia07:11 Modern Body Fascism09:33 Fashion Industry Data12:38 Ariana Grande Case Study13:36 Skinny Talk Pipeline17:09 Why It Works Psychologically21:34 Closing Resources ★ Support this podcast ★