The Polyester Podcast

It's time to BeReal! As the social media app grows bigger and bigger, Ione and Halima have downloaded BeReal to try it out for themselves. The platform promises us the opportunity to see our friends as they really are - but do we really want to? How many selfies of ourselves sitting on the sofa can we really take? As we all strive for a more authentic online experience, the pair are discussing if...

To celebrate our latest Dollhouse cover girl, Bodies Bodies Bodies star Rachel Sennott (read here!) , we're discussing gen z representation in film and tv. Many of this summer's big cinematic releases are geared towards gen z, from A24's aforementioned slasher to Hulu/Disney + Satire, Not Okay. With the Los Angeles times declaring these releases a 'major test' as to whether Hollywood can accuratel...

What do Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant have in common? They're all girlies! This week Ione and Halima are exploring gender in the world of technology and artificial intelligence. Is the fact all of our 'virtual assistants' women sexist? Does it reinforce backdated gender roles? Or are we other thinking it? Ione and Halima break it down, looking at the research and history of female voices in th...

Everyone, including The Kardashians , are very very upset with Instagram. After the head of the app was forced to make a statement following an onslaught of complaints by high profile users towards Instagram's insistence to become TikTok - we're once again taking a deep dive into all of the current social media drama. Why are people protesting outside Meta's HQ? Do celebrities have a right to comp...

This week, Ione and Halima are discussing the ick. Defined as; Something someone does that is an instant turn-off for you, making you instantly hate the idea of being with them romantically. We've all been there. But is the ick a natural response, and something we should talk about openly with each other. or does it signal a toxic strand of #DumpHim feminism that view...

Sugar, spice and everything nice; thats what coquette girls are made of. But is the trending aesthetic as innocent as it seems? While self proclaimed coquettes love frills, heart shapes, Lana del Rey, all things french AND all things Americana — and want everyone on TikTok to know their aesthetic is totally unique — the saccharine style reminds us of one thing, Lolitas.  But has this new wave...

The girlies on TikTok are using their vagina fluid as perfume, practising their 'O' faces under the assumption it helps attract a lover, and practising pseudo spirituality as a means of empowering their 'dark femme energy'. But are these practises feminist, or simply pick up artist techniques for the girls? And do these behaviours enable women to take a greater portion of control in relationships,...

Cultural critic Rayne Fisher-Quann tweeted "Ottessa Moshfegh is on the verge of getting woman’d I can feel it (woman’d is what I call it when everyone stops liking a woman at the same time" at the end of June and opened up the debate for whether female celebrities always deserve to be "cancelled". This week's episode debates whether it is always a case of misogynistic hatred, which women have suff...

All across our social feeds, girlies online are embracing religion and creating memes out of catholicism. Whether you've bought the Praying 'father, son, and Holy Spirit' bikini, or still can't stop thinking about Julia Fox praying in her cut editorial - christianity is back baby! But is this appropriation of religious iconography a harmless foray into aesthetics, a subversion of their power, or s...

Love Island is back! And as the reality series returns, so does the age old discourse; should reality tv be inclusive? Or is inclusivity on these shows a poisoned chalice that sets the 'diverse' contestants up for failure? This week Ione and Halima are discussing whether its best to let reality tv be trashy, guilty pleasures that do not reflect the wider world; or if there's a better way forward,...

In this live Sleepover Club special, Halima and contributing culture editor Misha MN sit down with director Ninja Thyberg to discuss her debut feature film, Pleasure . A raw and groundbreaking exploration of the adult film industry, we chat with Ninja about her decision to use actors from the adult industry, maintaining safety on set, challenging conceptions about porn, how she went from...

Musicians are being held captive! Forced to step onto the content treadmill and churn out TikTok's that they supposedly don't want to make, this week Halima and Ione are discussing whether the social media platform is helpful or harmful to those in the industry. We'll be dissecting the impact of those videos; the ones in which musicians lament the fact their labels are forcing them to partake in T...

DeuxMoi has been unmasked, with the famed gossip account being run by two socialite-adjacent white New York women. In honour of her no longer anonymity, we're discussing the legacy of modern gossip accounts. Do celebrities set themselves up for this type of attention, or do gossip accounts encourage a gross surveillance state? And once these accounts aren't anonymous anymore, can they ever retain...

As the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard civil trial comes to an end, Ione and Halima are discussing the case. From why the internet is so anti-Amber, what the discourse surrounding it says about how we treat white men, and whether #MeToo is well and truly finished. Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here! Want to support the podcast? If you're a brand or organisation that could help us continue...

This week Ione is in the hot seat, as she sits down for an interview with our one and only Halima to dish all the deets about her debut non-fiction book, Poor Little Sick Girls! Exploring how Wellness is oppressive, self-love is a trap, hustling is a health risk and it's all the patriarchy's fault, Halima and Ione delve into the process of writing the book that has been dubbed 'the anti girlboss b...

We're told being confident is the answer to all of life's problems. That to be a good feminist, or friend, or to excel at your job and learn to love yourself, you must be confident. But when did empowerment become dependent on our ability to be believe in ourselves? And is the cult of confidence merely a distraction that keeps us from tackling real systemic oppression? This week Ione and Halima ar...

For the last five years, we've all collectively been lamenting the downfall of instagram. First, they took our chronological feed. Then, they pivoted to Reels. But as we all become increasingly exhausted with the platform, why can't we let go? And with the reaction to Elon Musk buying Twitter being so intense, do social media platforms owe anything to their users? This week we're discussing how In...

Lived experience is a debate that comes up time and time again in our cultural landscape - should only gay people play gay roles on-screen? Should white people be able to tell people of colours stories? And should non-disabled people be allowed to portray those with disability? This week Ione and Halima are discussing this article, and all of the discourse surrounding our lived experiences. We're...

Why does every famous person have even more famous parents? This week we're delving into why nepo babies still have such a stronghold on our culture. Is talent genetic or are we just overly obsessed with celebrity culture? And by keeping it in the family, who is excluded from doing well in these industries? Pre-order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here! Want to support the podcast? If you're...

Independence is sold to us as a necessity, as YouTubers and TikTok stars emphasise the need for being an individualist and having your own space. But can promoting isolation ever be dangerous? Are we allowed to say we feel lonely when alone? Hosts Ione Gamble and Halima Jibril explore loneliness as a self preservation tool in order to avoid vulnerability, the online aspiration to thrive on your ow...

Forget middle aged, white cis male comedians telling us they've been cancelled. While they all hopefully disappear into irrelevance, how we approach humour as a generation is coincidentally changing. From our obsession with policing each other in comments sections, and unexplainable TikTok's making us laugh until we cry, to stand up comedians getting all their material from twitter and influencers...

Being a hater is the one thing none of us are happy to admit to. But with a wave of new TikTok trends normalising our tendencies to be nasty little cows, Ione and Halima are asking the question, is being a hater such a bad thing? We're breaking down everything from why hate can actually be a productive force, and why we shouldn't be ashamed to be haters, to discussing why we all feel we have to pr...

This week we're joined by Polyester socials editor and regular podcast guest Eden Young to dissect the mood of the moment, Goblin mode. Call it going feral, call it whatever you want, but we're all obsessed with exposing the very worst part of ourselves online. Ione and Eden dissect statements from Goblin Mode viral article author Kari Paul, and illustrator Esme Blegvad, to get to the bottom of wh...

2019 may have been the year of the scam, but its in 2022 in which we're seeing all of these infamous stories played out on our tv screens. From Anna Delvey's plight to open a members club and Elizabeth Holmes becoming the first female billionaire, to the rise and demise of WeWork being depicted by Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto - we can't get enough of a good con story. But what does our infatuation...

For our first Obsessions episode of the year, we're joined by fashion historian extraordinaire Mina Le! Mina creates immersive fashion, costume and film history content and analyses them through the video format. As the girls on twitter say... Mina Le just gets it!  Mina is talking to us about her love of old Hollywood movies. From Casablanca (1942), Bringing Up Baby (1938) and Paddingto...