they're finally looksmaxxing with the rest of us

17.05.26
Aired on 17.05.26, 10:00am

Sehej, Leya and Yvonne hop into the studio today to chat about the history of looksmaxxing as an inherited tradition for all oppressed people.

Inspired by texts on the 'Politics of Being Ugly', digressions include Jia Tolentino's 'The Age of Instagram Face', the distinctions between gender dysphoria and body dysmorphia, and looksmaxxing as self-surveillance for brown Women of Colour.

This episode was produced by Ethan Lyons with help from Executive Producer Prinita Thevarajah.

cw: eating disorders and body dysphoria

Spoken from the personal experiences from our Race Matters hosts and recognise this is different for all experiences of gender, culture and bodies.

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Tracklist

Introduction
Sehej, Leya and Yvonne first ground the show in the context of fbi.radio within the broader fight for First Nations liberation in Redfern. They branch into the topic of today's show: how masculinity has fallen into the practice of looksmaxxing inherited by oppressed people for a millennia.
underscores
Music
Heejing Jang
Wings Customization
Amaarae
Girlie-Pop!
Looksmaxxing: Korean beauty standards and Western imperialism
Interview
How is looksmaxxing packaged in a homogenous society? How does the concept of plastic surgery and thinness manifest in Korea? Leya and Yvonne share their experiences of Korea's neo-liberal approach to plastic surgery as a tool for image optimisation. Sehej blends in the concepts of whiteness and how it morphs into self-surveillance for South Asian cultures.
Shygirl & Club Shy
f@k€ (feat. Kingdom)
Pan Daijang
Eat
Looksmaxxing against the experiences of body dysmorphia and dysphoria
Interview
Leya poses the question of how looksmaxxing fits into a broader experience of cisgendered body dysmorphia. They guide Sehej and Yvonne through the experiences of body dysphoria and the broader scope of what it means to be uncomfortable in your body.
Kuragari
I don’t want to hurt you anymore
Outtro: everyone get more ugly now!
Thank you to the people that work tirelessly to make this happen. We honor all hosts, producers, storytellers that have made this work possible as well as the long tradition of storytelling, resistance and resilience that has taken place on Gadigal Country, where fbi.radio broadcasts out of.
DOKKAEBI
Chapter 3, Verse 2