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

About this episode

Christiana discusses the evolving landscape of beauty politics with Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom, focusing on societal pressures and cultural shifts in beauty standards.

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: [email protected] If there’s a topic you’d like us to deconstruct, tell us in the comments. Email: [email protected] 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…

People in this episode

Host: Christiana Mbakwe Medina

Guest: Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom

Topics covered

• beauty politics
• beauty culture
• plastic surgery
• body positivity
• technology and beauty
• Black beauty
• community and identity

Keywords

• Botox
• filler
• beauty trends
• plastic surgery
• body positivity
• Black beauty
• community
• technology
• beauty norms

Sponsors

Bilt Rewards

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: New York Times, UNC Chapel Hill

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