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PODCAST

The Polyester Podcast

The Polyester Podcast

Is Blake Lively a bitch or being misconstrued? Will Elon ever stop cringing us out? And why is everyone using slurs again?Every week Polyester"s head girlies Ione Gamble and Gina Tonic take you down a weekly rabbit hole of online discourse and pop culture - from trad wives and surrogacy to porn stars and unhinged press tours. Exploring the intersection of IRL and URL through a feminist lens,the Polyester Podcast is your weekly digest on absolutely everything everyone on the internet is talking

society & culture

All Episodes

34:05

Where Are The Thinkers? Why Pop Culture Feels Doomed...

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/05/25

Currently trending on TikTok, FKA Twigs is going viral for an interview in which she asks the host and the crowd - "Where are the thinkers?"While internet users raise eyebrows at her question, one that ignores the socioeconomic conditions that affect our ability to create, this week our hosts Ione and Gina use the soundbite to discuss the wider problem at hand - when did pop culture turn into such a flopfest? We deep dive into the continuing escalation of how we consume media - from smashing that

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27:41

Is Ovulation Making You Horny Or Is It Facist To...

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/05/18

The girlies are going feral across the internet - one one hand, Lorde is calling ovulation the best drug she’s ever taken. On the other, TikTok’s reveal during ovulation many of us get uncontrollably horny. But is it true? Do our hormones control our libidos and cognition or do we have more free will than that? TikTok wellness huns are using pseudoscience to back up their claims, while Twitter feminists take to their feeds to fight back against the dehumanising nature of having our personalities

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28:48

Not Everything is a Recession Indicator

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/05/11

Black tights under denim shorts? Recession indicator. Good outfits at the Met Gala? Recession indicator. Crying because you can't afford to pay your one in three Klarna payment for a Domino's pizza last month? Recession indicator.This week, our hosts Ione and Gina are dissecting our latest impulse to jump at the chance to label every single behaviour a recession indicator. Is it an attempt to make a meaningful connection with others about struggling under benefit cuts and Trump's tariffs? Or an

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28:43

Is Jojo Siwa Letting Down Lesbians Or Are We Over...

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/05/05

Who'd have thought at the announcement of this year's Celebrity Big Brother cast that the two people being chatted about the most are Jojo Siwa and ex-Love Islander Chris Hughes. If you didn't know - the pair's intimate friendship in the house caused chaos on social media as many accused Jojo of emotionally cheating on her partner, the Neighbours actor Kath Ebbs. In this week's episode, our hosts Ione and Gina break down Jojo's complicated time in the limelight from Dance Moms to coming out to now,

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29:07

We Live in Hell ft: Katy Perry In Space, AI Selfie...

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/04/20

It's been a helluva week for the news cycle and our social feeds - Katy Perry's been on Amazon's first, girls only, space trip (for exactly 11 minutes), Aimee Lou Wood has taken to Instagram stories to call out an off colour joke about herself on Saturday Night Live and everyone has taken to ChatGPT to generate extremely specific and fairly ugly blister packed dolls of themselves. Stuck between which to cover, we decided to dig into it all.In this week's episode, hosts Ione and Gina take apart

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29:48

Are You 'Too Pretty to Work', or Just a Victim Of Alt...

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/04/13

"I'm too pretty to work." "This face wasn't meant to know excel." "Looking for a man who doesn't want me to work." On the surface these adages are silly throwaways in the face of a late capitalist work culture that has made trying to make a living a literal hellscape - or are they?In this week's episode, hosts Ione and Gina take apart the trend of dreaming for a rich husband and reckon with a not too distant past where women's liberation was inherently linked with being financially independent. Is

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31:03

Adolescence: TV Event Of The Year, Or Too Little Too...

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/04/06

Just like clockwork, a gritty British Netflix drama about a taboo topic is doing the rounds - last year it was Baby Reindeer and this year it's Adolescence. The Stephen Graham produced and fronted programme takes a look at how the manosphere and incel culture are corrupting a whole generation of teenage boys - but does it manage the subject well? In this week's episode, hosts Ione and Gina discuss whether or not the TV show does a good job of exploring the radicalisation of young men, whether or not

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32:52

Why is Labour Using Disabled People to Peddle The Lie...

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/03/30

If there's one scapegoat the government loves to roll out when it's doing poorly, it's the benefits thief. This imaginary person uses loopholes and caveats to steal tax money to buy themselves tellies and holidays in Lanzarote. In the UK, the new-ish-ly elected Labour party has announced new budget reforms that plays into this trope with an especially sinister new edge - tightening the pursestrings of the benefit system specifically against disabled people.In this week's episode, hosts Ione and Gina

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30:34

We Trialled The Morning Shed So You Don’t Have To

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/03/24

You must've seen some form of this morning routine on your feed in the last six months: A woman removing a chin strap, mouth tape, sheet mask, lip stain, silk bonnet, heatless curling rod and/or nose magnets with a caption explaining how 'the morning shed' saves them time, helps regulate breathing and, ‘most importantly’, aids the de-aging process.While we thought we were past the point of portraying skincare as self love, this week our hosts Ione and Gina try out the morning shed for themselves and

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31:44

Why Is Gen Z Suddenly Jealous Of Millennials?

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/03/17

Pass me my moustache print mug and 3D glasses with the lenses popped out because millennial cringe is finally being lauded online. The latest meme du jour - 'I would be a great millennial. I was born to write Buzzfeed quizzes and listen to Ke$ha' - has been a beacon of light in a social media landscape previously used to bully milliennials at every chance.This week, hosts Ione and Gina look at the past, present and future of millennial nostalgia, how Lena Dunham's Girls is recontextualising the

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32:44

Society Has Never Hated Fat People As Much As We Do...

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/03/10

To celebrate the release of Gina's memoir Greedy Guts, this episode hosts Ione and Gina get to grips with the current state of fat liberation. Is body positivity too commodified to be salvageable? Are people scared of fatness due to lingering Covid scaremongering resentment? Will GLP-1 injections end fat existence entirely?Join Ione and Gina as they reckon with what it means to be fat in what is potentially the most fatphobic time to be alive in history.Support our work and become a Polyester

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29:56

How The Left Turned On Woke

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/03/03

In a new interview, singer songwriter Sam Fender claimed he understood why young white men from Northern towns are being radicalised by misogynist social media influencers like Andrew Tate - it's because they're being accused of having privilege. In similarly convoluted language, Novara Media has rage baited the nation by releasing content claiming Woke Is Dead to promote Ash Sarkar's new book that includes questions on the effectiveness of identity politics.All in all, it feels like the left is

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28:58

The Bianca Censori Deep Dive: a Victim, Empowered, or...

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/02/24

At the start of this month Bianca Censori and her husband Kanye West courted controversy at the 67th Grammy Awards with a stunt that they've become fairly renowned for - brazen female nudity. The act got them allegedly kicked out of the award show and made waves across social media as many rushed to put words into the notoriously mute Bianca's mouth. Across the board, people wonder publicly if Kanye's wife is a a victim of coercive abuse or a performance artist in her own right.In this week's

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31:26

Why Are Slurs Suddenly ‘Cool’ Again?

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/02/17

Each week we are greeted with new flash photos of Young Republicans celebrating, Trump government rulings, and regressive Conservatives embracing their right to say slurs as often as they can. But why are our left leaning peers, Oscar winning movies and Twitter pals using the R word so casually too?This week, hosts Ione and Gina dissect the politics of language, the pendulum swing to being anti-Woke and why everyone feeling apathetic about the impact of slurs needs to take a good, long, hard look at

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32:55

Surrogacy: Important And Vital Or Unethical And...

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/02/10

In the midst of Trump causing high hell for everything he can regarding reproductive rights Stateside, one birth announcement caused massive controversy on the grid - a post by Lily Collins and Charlie McDowell welcoming their daughter to the world via a surrogate mother. Twitter users went wild on both sides of the coin; one half defending the couple's right to surrogacy, referencing queer families and infertility as reasons that this method of childbirth is an inherent right, the other asking why

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27:49

Bonnie Blue, Lily Phillips & a New Era of Sex Work as...

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/02/03

There's been two OnlyFans stars absolutely dominating (not literally, actually) the UK tabloid headlines, Twitter trending topics bar and the girls' group chats in the past eight weeks, and their names are Bonnie Blue and Lily Phillips. The latter kicked off December's discourse by starring in a YouTube documentary about having sex with 100 men in a day while the former stole the show by live-blogging her own sex marathon, shagging 1000 blokes in 24 hours.The acts have led to condemnations across

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28:55

Fashion Goes Fascist: Melania Trump Isn’t Slaying,...

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/01/27

In a stark contrast to Trump's first inauguration as president in 2016, this month's event became a showcase for fashion houses wanting to dress the Republican party's top ladies. Not only that, but the fashion press and style influencers took to Instagram stories and long read columns to praise the looks presented throughout the festivities. In this week's episode, Ione and Gina analyse how irony fuelled style choices led us to open acceptance of fascist leaders in the fashion industry, what

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30:39

Female Sexuality is Taking Over The Box Office; But...

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/01/20

Is Count Orlok sexy? Or is Babygirl not sexy enough? With both films focus on female yearning - as well as the same US release date - Nosferatu and Babygirl have been paired together in the public consciousness. This week, hosts Ione and Gina dissect Barbenheimer part two; from sexy monsters and film discourse Twitter, to glugging milk and cringe worthy needle drops. Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast member <3Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls,here!Preorder Gina's book,

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35:34

How Elon Musk Became Such A Pathetic Villain

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/01/13

We've finally gone and done it, our official breakdown of our generation's Scrooge McDuck, Elon Musk. From saying he wants to destroy the ‘woke virus’ and spreading racist conspiracy theories on X, to pushing right-wing ideologies in the US, Germany and the UK - Elon’s moved from being a punch-line in a joke about Grimes to being a serious political actor.In this week’s episode, hosts Ione and Gina dive into Elon’s full history and answer the big questions. How is he using his wealth to influence

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30:16

Blake Lively Versus Justin Baldoni: Dissecting The...

The Polyester Podcast ·

2025/01/06

Last summer, we covered the dramatic press tour for the on screen adaptation of Colleen Hoover's novel It Ends With Us, digging into the speculation surrounding a beef between co-leads Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. Over the Christmas break the story exploded, as Lively and Baldoni filed lawsuits detailing not just the drama but levying accusations of on set abuse, social media smear campaigns and more. In this week's episode, hosts Ione and Gina question whether we are on the precipice of #MeToo

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231 results

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