Everything Is Content - Awkward Engagements, Circumcision Activism & Sheerluxe's AI Influencers

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

Hello EICabbages!Strap in because today we're taking you on a tour of the most salacious, strange and shocking stories in the news. Russell Brand running for mayor, TERF nonsense in the running space, Hannah Spencer calling out Westminster's drinking culture and a murder used for sexist click bait.From there we're taking on a topic that depressed us way back in 2024 after UK fashion and lifestyle magazine Sheerluxe introduced yet more AI influencers to its roster, with Brooke, Gigi, and Eden joining their OG AI-fluencer Reem. Comments on their socials are uniformly negative, but Sheerluxe seem undeterred. We discuss.And last (but not least) we're talking circumcision after The Cut published a piece titled ‘‘The Men Who Want Their Foreskins Back". The story centres on a 30-year-old man who was circumcised as a baby and recently underwent reconstructive penis surgery- plus the thriving online community of men going to lengths to manually "restore" their own foreskins. Not a topic we know much about, but we share what we learned from the piece and how it's shaped our current opinions.This week Oenone has been loving The Testaments on Disney+, Beef on Netflix, I Just Want You To Be Happy by Jem Calder (out 21st May) and The Cage on BBC iPlayer, Beth has been loving Expectation by Anna Hope and Ruchira has been loving Ex Machina, Search Party on YouTube and (secretly) Temptation Island on Netflix.Links: BBC - Influencer dies days after being hit by car in Soho Hannah Spencer Instagram Feminegra - Daily Mail's BBL Influencer Headline Sparks BacklashThe Standard - Russell Brand announced plan to run for London MayorPolitics Joe - What it's REALLY like in Westminster | Hannah Spencer interviewBBC - Sheerluxe defends use of AI influencer The Cut - The Men Who Want Their Foreskins Back Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Beth. I'm Ruchera. And I'm Anoni. And this is Everything is Contact. Nope. I'm sorry. I know what this podcast is called. And this is Everything is Content, the podcast that keeps you on top of the discourse.

We're deep in the internet so you don't have to be covering everything from internet trends to celebrity drama and the best of TV and film. We're the Bible passages to guide you through to the courts of content. This week on the podcast, Russell Brand, is still rebranding, Shear Lux's AI influences, and four skins. Follow us on Instagram, everything is content pod, and make sure you hit follow on your podcast player app

so you never miss an episode. But first things first, what have you both? And only first, I think. What have you been loving this week? Oh my God. Well, she's back, bitches, because I've been watching TV,

I've been reading books, and if anything, I've got too many things that I've been loving. Excellent. lay them on us. Okay. Number one, I have watched four episodes of the new Margaret Atwood adaptation, The Testaments, which stars Chase Infinity of One Battle After Another fame. Mostly the whole I'm watching, I'm just thinking she's so beautiful. But once you get past that, it's really good. The one thing that did confuse me is the Testaments originally is like set 15 years later than

the original Handmaid's Tale book. Obviously, the Handmaids Tale series went on for series and series. actually I stopped watching it maybe like series four or five because it went on too long. So this universe canonically follows on from the TV series rather than the book. So there are some things that are different from the Testament's book. But basically it's fast forward. Gilead is much more established and it's these girls that are growing up in Gilead who are called plums because they haven't yet had their periods. And so they're in school. And it's about them now growing up in this fully dystopian world. And I think it's really good. It's a bit of a slow burn, but great dystopian drama. It's slightly different from the other Handmaid's Tale series, but I've been

really enjoying it and I would really recommend it. That's my number one TV rec. Have you guys, have you watched it yet? I haven't watched it yet and I actually can't wait to. I think I forgot because I saw it come out. I saw the trailers. They did a really good job putting, like seeding all the trailers. And I just forgot about it. So I'm so glad that you reminded me. I'm definitely going to start that this week. Yeah, there was, I saw a lot of the promotion for it. Namely, do you, either of you follow Bald and Dowd on Twitter? Well, Bald and Dowd, who is real name, I think Anna Sylvie, but

her handle is Bald and Dowd. Her picture is a picture of Ann Dowd, the actress who is in, who plays Aunt Lydia in this, but bald, and they met, and there was a photo of the meeting. I think maybe, I don't know what the, I'll have to dig into it, but I was like, okay, this is the most excellent promotion I will be watching this. Also, obviously the Chase of Infinity of it all. So I think they booked her first before she was booked on one battle after another. So obviously just like, What a star, what a good get.

So I am sold on it. I really love the book. It's been a while since I read it, but I do, maybe I'm just, maybe I've just watched a bit too many depressing TV shows lately. I'm a little bit like, do I want to wade into the patriarchy? I already live here. Yeah, it is, it is, it's very, very patriarchy. I'll give you that for sure.

My second TV thing, which is also quite depressing, but slightly more like dark humorish, is have you guys started Beef Season 2? So I've watched the first episode and I don't know. It hasn't got me. So what is your review having gotten a bit further down into the series? So I've actually finished it now. So this series stars Oscar Isaac and Carrie Mulligan as this kind of superfly couple

who work at this really fancy kind of like country club thing. She is an interior designer and he is the general manager or like the main, the general manager. Yeah. Anyway, there's a really rich Korean family who've come over and are like buying this country club. and they're trying to impress them. And in the first episode, basically what happens is two young people who are in a relationship, which is Kaylee Spini, who, Kaylee Spini, is that how you say her name? Kaylee Spaney.

Kaylee. She is in so many things. So she was in Priscilla. She was Priscilla and Priscilla. Anyway, she's in loads of stuff that I actually hadn't quite clicked that they're all her. White Lotus. Something recently that we watched. Oh, maybe the Dead Man shoes.

I forget, that's what's called the glass onion, but what's it called? The Glass Onion, but what's? Knives out. Oh, Deadman walking. She's the harpist, I think. She looks really different in everything. Anyway, she's going out with Charles Melton, who's obviously unreal from May December. Anyway, they see Oscar Isis and Carrie Mulligans.

They see those characters having a massive fight. And one of the things that happens at the beginning is they basically video them having this fight and it becomes this thread of blackmail throughout the show. The first episode, did I think it was good? I don't know where I was or what I was doing. It must have been a weekend because I think I watched about five episodes in a row. And when you consume it in that fashion, it's exceptional TV. Having said that, I've listened and.

read other people who didn't like it that much. So I don't know if it's just because I was binging it, that it was so good. But it does get better and it does get dark and it does get twistier and more crazy as the series goes on. But I'm a big fan of Carrie Mulligan and I really like to win this. I really enjoyed it. It is an anthology so it doesn't follow on from Beef Season 1, which was exceptional. I do think the first season was better, but I still think this is pretty good. I will finish it. I think that the performances were strong enough in the first two episodes I watched. I was laughing enough. And I do think you know what you're going to get in terms of escalating beef. The first season I will watch again and again, I think it was a masterpiece to the point

that I will give this a lot of credit just to be part of the same thing. And I know I'll enjoy it. It doesn't have to be as good. We don't have to pit these two beefy queens against each other. My last thing then is a book, which I think potentially both of you will be reading. And it's called I Just Want You to Be Happy by Gem Calder. And I started it last night and I am hooked. Any words from either of you? I have this on my literally next, I'm just rounding off famesick, then I'm rounding off another book, and that's my next one, and I am excited. I have finished it, actually.

I, it was, we obviously, we got sent these copies. I flew through it. It is a really, it's actually not a hard read. It's very easy read, but the way it skewers these fleeting, deep, shallow relationships that so many of us will have, especially living in London, it's absolutely phenomenal. I almost just want to turn this off and talk about it, but no spoilers, but it is, probably is one of the best books that I've read this year, at least in the last six months. Oh, wow.

I can't believe how well he writes these relationships. And I'm always very leery of men writing women. But actually, it's a split narrative between a man and a woman age gap relationship, but kind of I think it's 23, 35, something like that. Writes them both phenomenally. I was so seen in a way that I didn't actually want to be seen. I was like, okay, that's enough now. You've read my diary.

Oh, yes. So the pitch for this book is there, everyone's saying that Jam Calder is the new Sally Rooney, and that actually does make so much sense. I've only read, I think I'm 100 pages in, let's say. I only started it last night. I got into bed and I thought, I'll start this because I'm on a role. You know, I lost my reading role. I've got my roll back.

So I was like, the minute I finished one, because I've got to open another. And then I just didn't want to go to bed. And it is, it's that really sparse, simple language like Sally Rune writes, but he writes so much, there's so much in there and it's so clever. Oh, it's, I can't wait to finish it. And I'm excited to see where it goes. But it's, I was thinking, it's one of those books that makes you go, maybe I want to be a writer like this, actually.

I'm going to change my whole writing. style because how are you conveying so much with so little seemingly oh that sounds so good i can't wait to read it then and i think there was other things but i'm actually i'm pleased as punch that i've actually freaking got something to get you two second to this week three three strong ones we are eating good today oh i did also start watching the cage on bbc i play but i've done enough oh i've heard of that what is it about though so it starts off it's got what's the woman that's in everything um sheridan smith she's in everything is it she yeah she's in it So basically there's two people that both work at the same casino and they find out that they're both stealing from the same casino that they work at from the safe.

And it unravels from that. I've only watched the first episode, but it's getting rave reviews. So I thought I'd give it a go. And it's pretty good so far. I don't know what I've been really busy. I've actually had loads of work. I don't know how I've watched so much TV. But I was, I was going to say, I feel like you've been out the house running marathons and doing busy things.

I don't know how you've had the opportunity. I don't know. I was so happy when I looked at my notes and was like, oh, my God, I've actually watched so much stuff. What have you been loving there? So I've got two. One is a book. The other one is a TikTok comment section. So not quite as highbrow as all of yours.

But the book is a book that I'm rereading called Expectation by Anna Hope from about seven years ago. Have either of you two read it? It's very us, I think. No. Okay. So it's about, it's a novel about three women who meet kind of between school and university. Two of them are friends at school. The other one joins one at university.

And then they become this trio in their mid-20s and they're living. I think it's early 2000s. on in London fields and they're kind of aware they're 29 they're aware that these are the good days but soon it'll go but kind of life feels limitless and then it splits between then and the current day in about 2010 when they're in their late 20s I'm sorry in their late 30s and so there's lissa who is a struggling actress this kind of beautiful formerly very vivid type of character who then finds herself like really lost and flailing and disappointed by her life and her career and then there's kate who's a new mom living out in i think it's canterbury

somewhere in Kent with quite a new partner and is very postpartum, isolated, not really sure how she's got to where she is. And then there's Hannah, who is, has been in an infertility battle for several years with her husband. And so she's on this island with that. And then there's these dividing lines between the women because one kind of can't understand the others postpartum because she is so desperate to be a parent. The other is so isolated. The other one is like pinwheeling through life. And I think it's just such a good kind of study of expectation. And I I read it maybe around when it came out when I was that much younger. And now as a 32 year old, I'm like, oh, my perspective is really different.

But I do. I think, yeah, it's a study on what we think that we want, what we expect and what we do when like it doesn't come to pass. I really think for you two and listeners, if you've not read this, this is one for the AC girls and boys. This sounds so up my street because I'm going through so many of these things right now, like mapping out kind of what I thought I wanted, what I want, what's changed, trying to be in the present and there's so much of being at this age which is actually kind of sitting back and seeing kind of the fruits of your labour, all the work you've done, the life changes you've made, the decisions you've got to and recognising that so many of the projections you made in your youth were built off just kind of no information beyond just going, oh, that

looks nice. And then you actually, this is like an age where you've kind of arrived somewhere and you've got enough information to go feasibly and realistically and actually truthfully in my heart. I think I want this and it's okay if it doesn't match what I thought. So that sounds very up my street. I think it is one first, which by the way listeners, I'm sure you will follow it and only on subsect, but she did write a very good. What was it called? A very good piece on subsec this week, which was about, the great pivot. The great pivot. Maybe, kind of a follow up to Maybe Baby, which you should go and read. Yeah, the tagline was definitely Baby because Maybe Baby was the first one. I was like, I didn't know if I want to have kids. And this one was like, oh my God. And then my friend

text me like I thought that was a pregnancy announcement and I was like first of all I want to run another marathon next year so in case I'm trying to have a baby I reread it and I was like oh my god it sounds like I'm trying now I'm not and um and then also I was like obviously I would tell you if I was pregnant and also we were like drinking like yesterday it's not adding up I kind of want to ask which are your one before I read my lowbrow tick dot comment section okay but I'm now so curious about yours okay listen it's coming so I don't know how you say this. People say it in a weird way. So I'm going to say both ways. X machina or ex machina. I watched that and my god, that is a good bloody film.

That's Oscar Isaacs again, isn't it? Yeah. Also, there's a few films that I have kind of locked locked away in a folder in my brain of, wow, the way that has ended is just like a perfect ending. and that is in that folder along with a phantom thread her and a few other films those are the ones i can remember but a perfect ending no notes not a single note it's such a fucking good film i need to watch it again i can't remember the last time i watch it but it sometimes pops up and i think oh i do i think it is ex machina it is a latin phrase which is i know from learning latin i mean this is the second time i've offended people with my language skills so i apologize again what was the first time Bojone or Bojonia, I said.

Oh yeah. Budge over. Yeah, budge over, that amazing film. The native speakers of Latin probably won't listen. Also, an incredible dance scene from Oscar Isaac, which I'd heard before there's this iconic, you know, scene in it. And I really wasn't prepared. It was really good.

Because this film came out a few years ago, but do you want to, for any of the listeners that made me miss this? Because it's another favour of ours, Donoglucent, and who is the lead, the female lead? That, oh my God, what is she called? Vikanda. Yes. We got there together.

Yes. We, IMDB. I thought it's Alicia. Well, there you go. Please apologize. Okay, sorry again. No, I think it's me that's wrong. Could you tell us a little bit about Ex Machina with Ilycia Vecando?

Yeah, so Ex Machina is a film. Essentially, Oscar Isaac is this ingenue. He's this amazing kind of creator of artificial intelligence, robotics, he's trying to create this being that could deceive somebody into believing that they are human. And that for him is the real test of, have I created something that is so lifelike that realistically it passes for human? Donald Blisen comes. He is this very talented person who works in the company that Oscar Isaac has created. He thinks he's getting this like, you know, amazing chance to meet his idol. Really, he's there for a job, which is to test.

this robot. Everything is not as it seems. That seems like the premise. It kind of unravels into something darker, more sinister, bit crazy. Yeah, it's really good. It's really thrilling. It was one of the ones on my list that I hadn't got to. I'm so glad that I'd waited so I could experience it. And now I'm sad. I can't experience it again for the first time. And my second thing is, also, by the way, if I was being honest, the real thing I would have brought to the table is I've been watching Netflix's Temptation Island, but I will not, I will not with a good conscience, recommend that on this podcast, so we're just going to skip forward. The other thing that I have brought, that I have dug deep to find, is on YouTube there is this channel called Search Party,

which is this independent investigative journalist channel, and it's really popular. I am really late to this, but they did a video called Why These Irish Cartel bosses are still free, and it's about the Kinnahans, this Irish cartel who basically are behind, so of the biggest mafia movements in the world. They have links to Dubai, Saudi weapons, things going on in South America. It is so wild. And recently they were spotted just, you know, flaunting, sitting in the crowd of a boxing match in Dubai, I think it was, even though they're the most wanted people in the world. So this channel digs into it with the help of Bellingat and works out what exactly is going on. Why have they got free movement, even though they're the most wanted people? Lo and behold, last week,

separate to this video that came out like a few months ago. One of them has been arrested. So it is such an interesting story. And I really recommend this channel. It's so good. I've heard of search party, but I've never watched any of that stuff. And I always find it interesting when it's kind of like an independent

because I guess it's not like if you're commissioned and you don't have any of those protections. Is it just random people or are they in any way kind of professionals? So the main guy's a former journalist. And I can't remember where he worked for. But he is like, it's very much the vibe of like a friend. feel like a Taylor Lawrence where they worked for these big institutions and now they've created this separate thing but they are like big media companies what they're running and to say that

he worked with Bellingat on this as well it's like it's almost like it's kind of like a new version of a newspaper it is it's so deeply researched okay so I can't remember the last time I did have a TikTok comment section which was full of gems I think it was like brain fart moments where people was like throwing orange juice in the bin oh yeah this one was I was watching a video where a woman is filming her now fiance before he proposed and he's sitting there like sweating he looks bright green not because he is having regrets just because he's really anxious to do it and everyone in the comments was was sharing their own awkward nervous proposal moments like this has got millions and millions of views and I've written down my favourite well favourites one just says mine forgot everything

and just said please which made me laugh so much just a sweaty man going please um another one my husband didn't know how I saw it coming. He asked me in July if I'd like to go to a local park in October. They all do that, FRI. They all do that. It's a brain part moment. These men are trying to arrange like, like there's one on the drive there. He's like, he's like, watch a middle name again.

Because obviously he wants to ask the entire. He wants to ask her with a full name. Another one said, mine said, I have a confession. And I thought it was something bad and said, I don't want to hear it. So she shut him down. Another one, mine meant to say, can I ask you a question? but instead came out with, can I give you a quest? Which marriage is a kind of quest.

A couple more. A couple of men were actually getting down on both knees because they just got too nervous and they forgot. So they were kind of in begging mode. A few people asked their now wives to be their husband. I like that one. I think that's quite sweet. These are the last two.

One, we had a big argument the night before and mine started the question with, you've made this really difficult. So I'd be like, I love you. you cow. My friend who just got engaged, we were like, oh my God, it's so excited. We were surprised and she's like, to be fair, last week, he did ask me how long my nails last, which is so, it's really cute, but she was like just then obviously, you know, because when has a man ever asked him? By the way, how long does that manicure last? Oh, I have so many examples of this.

We'll keep it for another day, but I have so many examples for my own experience of engagement where it was like, dude. Oh, God, give us one. Okay, I'll give you one. I could see the ring box in his pocket because his trousers, he was a wearing of coat, from the overground ride to the engagement and I asked him, I was like, are you planning anything today? And he was like, no, don't ask any more questions. Oh, love him. Because he's like, he's got, he's made the arrangements and you're just a savvy journalistic type and of course he, you spotted it. The last one that I thought was quite nice, mine was so nervous, he forgot to say, will you marry me? Instead, he held up the ring and said, do you want this? It's quite sweet. Do you want this? He was very golam-esque.

I would love to just be given a ring with like absolutely no strings of touch. Yes, I do want a big diamond. Thank you. Oh yeah, no T's and Cs. So one of the biggest topics from the past week is Russell Brand. He said on the Tucker Carlson show that he would quote, like to run for the mayor of London in 2028. And he said he may be serving a jail sentence at the time of the election if he is found guilty in an ongoing rape trial.

Just a quick recap, Russell Brand is facing seven criminal charges. charges relating to alleged sexual offences against six women. He has pled not guilty to all counts and is scheduled to stand trial at Southwark Crown Court starting on the 12th of October of this year. He has been pretty busy. He also was interviewed by Pierce Morgan on his channel, Pierce Morgan and censored, and it has gone viral after he spent minutes searching for a passage in the Bible. It is really excruciatingly long, I would say, that period. Oh my God, that video. So I was explaining it to my friend and I was like, there's this video, there's this into. you and she was like, get it up, get it up, I want to watch it. And I was like, you don't understand.

It goes on for ages. And you know when you're telling someone that and she was watching it. And then she was like, oh my God, when you were telling me that it went on for ages, I thought you were exaggerating. We then three of us were crowded around the phone watching. And it's just, it's just staring at Russell. Russell's like flipping through the Bible. And then it points. Pierce just looks directly down the camera. What is so annoying about Pierce Morgan is he's such a despicable piece of shit. But then sometimes he's really, really good. And it stresses me out. It's when he's on the right side of things, you're just like, oh, this is really challenging for me specifically. But it's a comedically beat-for-beat very weirdly funny moment.

And then you're like, God, that is too absolute, like two men that I really do not want in my eyeballs. But people are using it as a meme. I wonder how you two feel about this because some of the jokes are quite funny. It's the moment when he's flicking through and the meme's like trying to figure out where you went wrong, building the IKEA cupboard or straight women scrolling through Instagram to find a decent photo when you are to see their crash. And it's like taking ages and ages and ages, and ages. then you're like oh my god wait no it's rossel brand who i really don't like i don't know it's really it's challenging me i know what you mean i do feel like with memes it is a way to launder people online

to make them more agreeable and not to be like the fun police because that's not what i'm trying to do but i do think with meaming him it kind of turns him into a bit of a like oh you know he's kind of funny or like that was quite funny that was quite iconic really and yeah i i think that's quite that's quite a dangerous territory that I don't really enjoy, especially with what is coming in October. Another friend of mine was saying, and I think that's really interesting point, that since he's had to do this kind of right-wing pipeline

to very devout Christianity, he can't really be funny anymore. And you can see that he kind of struggles with that because he has to be very sincere. And he's being so sincere when he's clicking through that Bible desperately trying to find this passage. And it's really interesting to see how much that deviates from what his old babbling kind of couldn't get him to stop talking persona was

to suddenly him being very serious, being like, and it's just, I'll just find, oh no. And the fact that he can, doesn't even just think after one look, actually, I'll just shut it and I'll just paraphrase it because clearly there wasn't a passage. He had no idea what he was going to say. It's absurd, isn't it? Yeah, absurd. Well, I think Russell then did come online two days or three days later and said, I found

it. And you're like, that's also absurd and hilarious and hideous. And I just want, I want no part of this circus. But, I mean, we're all going to be in at least for the next kind of five months. So, strap in. Obviously, I can't stop talking about running because I've become a running loser. And everyone's talking about running because it was the London Marathon last weekend. Obviously that was incredible.

We broke the two-hour record which no one thought anyone was ever going to be able to do. And I personally was jealous, have signed up to the ballot. Did either of you sign up to the ballot for London Marathon next year? No, obviously not. Oh, no, I forgot. Oh, how annoying. Oh, well, I'll try again next year. Loads of my friends have signed up.

Also, it's literally like the lottery. It's like one and a million chance of getting, like, it's ridiculous. But anyway, that is not the only reason that everyone's been talking about running, because something which has just stopped me in my tracks and I can't stop thinking about it and I found it so ridiculous is Sharon Davies' whole campaign to basically get Park Run to make people have to write their biological sex rather than going by gender. So the core of the dispute involves Parkrun's policy of allowing participants to self-identify their gender rather than recording biological sex. And Sharon Davies and her coalition, who are supported by ADF International, argue that Parkrun is in breach of the Equality Act 2010. And she's issued a legal warning to Park Run and nine other sports bodies over their transgender inclusion policies. And the letter puts on notice these organisations stating they'll pursue litigations if policies are not updated to exclude biological males from female categories.

This has been blowing up on social media, not least for the very big reason, that Park Run is literally a community fun run. It is not a race and it is not what she is claiming it to be. It makes me so cross. and I'm sure this has come across your timeline. But have either of you ever done a park run? It might just be hitting harder for me because I'm a big running fan. So I'm not involved in those circles.

I think it's the best way to put it. But I really like the idea of park runs. I think they're really sweet. And I see them all around. And it brings me joy to observe when I'm sat down, just watching them run. It's hard to say anything that feels worth saying other than just really basic comments,

which is trying to make people, trying to make trans people just feel. ashamed to exist in public life. We've said it once, we've said it countless times and we'll probably have to say it again and again, which I hate. I can't, for the life of me, understand what goes through people's minds when you try to roll back other people's ability to exist freely and to not harm you in any way. And it's just awful. It's just so appalling and it's so egregious and I just feel like it's such a hateful thing to do. Yeah, especially to enter the running discourse at this time. I mean, obviously the marathon park run,

different but people are having such a good time talking about the marathon, which is this like the human spirit, the this incredible human feet, the crowds, the cheering, the fact that many people running the marathon are doing it for a charity that represents like the worst time in their life. Like it's just, it's wonderful. People are talking about it, people are getting excited about it. Off the back of that, people will join Park Run, which is like, it's non-competitive, it's community led. It's like people volunteer and people turn up and it's all abilities, really. And the fact that they're like, yeah, but I need to know who's got Willie. brain rot. I can't bear it. And I just think, I mean, I don't, everything I see about this woman is,

she is trying to bash the, like the tiniest group in the population. I'm just completely, I'm sick to death of her. And I am, like, I just think that people are talking about running for all the right reasons. It's brainwashing. Or like, they are brainwashed. And they're trying to brainwash other people into thinking this is a problem. It is simply not. It is people running in the park. If a trans person is running beside you, that's actually the whole point. They are members of the community. community as well. Well, apparently it's taking away the women's ability to like come in the leaderboards, but the whole point is the only reason, like, Parkground just publishes people's times, but it's up to you to do what you want with that information. It's for you. And one of the competitors who is in support of

this like trans exclusionary policy tweeted, she was like, I was trying to get in in the spot today for First Lady and it was made all the more difficult by not knowing, you know, whether or not there were people who were trans who I was competing against. This woman is an ex-olympian marathon runner. So everyone was retweeting her like, babe, you're racing against. You're racing against. people in wheelchairs and mothers with buggies and like 80 year olds. Like no one is at Park Run trying to get a first place spot. Go and run a 5K race that is delineated by gender if you want to do that. Like create your own event.

And what you said Beth, running has had a massive uptick. And Park Run has been one of the biggest like public initiatives for public health. Like so many people love it. It's free. You sign up online. You turn up. It's camaraderie. It's joyful.

There's kids Park Run. It's such a great thing to exist. This is not competitive sport. And I know that that is a separate conversation for some people about trans rights within competitive sporting bodies. It's just not even relevant. That's why it's so ridiculous. And yeah, then everyone's now saying that maybe Olympic athletes shouldn't be allowed to compete in Parkground. Like, what are you doing? Yeah, that should be the real exclusionary list. That's the, that's the people causing the most kerfuffle from what I can see from my little

bird's eye view of this. I've been reading about a story in the early hours of the 19th of April. There was an incident in Soho where a 32-year-old woman called Claudia and a bystanding man were run over by another woman. And both women have quite large social media. followings and so have been described as influences in the press since the incident. And the suspect had formerly been charged with attempted murder. However, the Met Police have confirmed that this charge will be amended to murder after Claudia very sadly passed away on Sunday. And I was seeing a lot about the case online. I think mostly because it was very shocking, but also because the women involved were content creators and had followings, people knew who they were. Also because the footage of the

incident was circulating online. Now, I've not seen this, but from everything I've read, like, just don't watch it. I don't think there's any public good or any personal good to. be gained. But what has struck me about this, aside from my sad it is, is the reporting on it and the headlines from certain rags, which reduced the victim down to her body and her job. So one notable example is the Daily Mail, who, when reporting on her having passed away, use the headline, BBL Influencer 32, mowed down by car outside Soho Nightclub, and another from them from the day before read, security guard caught up in BBL influencer attack is still in a lot of pain after being mowed down. And Claudia had had a BBL and posted about it sometimes,

seemed to have worked a little bit with a clinic to promote the procedure, but she made not a lot of other content to. Regardless, the Daily Mail have made a really clear choice with the headline. And I mean, it's harding to see the backlash they're getting, but just the fact that a journalist or a person deciding on headlines led with BBL influencer to a 32-year-old young woman life ahead of her who has died, I just, when you think that they can't sink any lower, they come along with something like this. My friend over the weekend told me about this story. I just had a weekend of being quite offline, which was really great. And she brought it to me and we were just talking about how sad and how tragic it was. And then in the days after, I saw the reporting and I saw the headlines

and I saw that phrase, B.B. Our influencer. And yeah, I just completely, I felt so sickened. I completely agree with you. It is the most dehumanizing shit I have seen in a long time. And you know, you expect the worst from a lot of the UK tabloids. They have precedent for it. But I think this hits a very particular note where it is just so appalling in a way to dehumanize somebody who's just died who's just passed away, you know, mere hours days ago. I think there is no level of shame I think is enough for the people involved in this, to be honest. So I saw the videos pop up on my Twitter, but like didn't watch the whole thing. I just saw bits and clips and it kept being reported even on Twitter. People were like influenced by influence this. It was actually really hard to find out the names of the women

that were involved. And then I saw that headline. I saw the headline as it came out that day and people talking about it. And I just thought it's sickening because it's literally like, they're trying to hit search terms. They're literally thinking BBL, influencer dies. Like, people are going to search these things that's going to come up. And you think at what point could anyone in their right mind, I can't even think on an off day? Like, how could you ever turn someone's death into something that you think this is going to go viral? I don't know what kind of person, what individual. I don't know anyone. There's times when you can slip up for sure. There's times when you might say things that are a bit wrong or a bit like you get something

slightly off and that's okay. Like everyone does that. But this is like a calculated decision to think, we're going to capitalize of this woman's death and we're going to find a way to make this make us get us clear and I think it should be like a massive reckoning it's just so disgusting there was again with their names I was I was trying to find them because I actually hadn't heard of either of the women involved I mean the internet is such an unwieldy beast there are so many people that are really famous to some people that we will never have come across them before

and yeah I just thought it was utterly shocking I mean the whole situation the whole scenario that played out is devastating and really ugly and upsetting but then the reporting on top of it is just heinous. And I hope that the families are able to get some kind of, I don't even know what the right word is, but certainly at the very minimum apology, because they have changed the headline now. I think that's it.

It's kind of like the videos are circulating. They were both online figures. Her death is already content. Obviously, this podcast is called everything is content. And sometimes that is to the most foul and tragic degree. But the fact that then it is in death being reported on like this. And I think we see it all time with dehumanizing language in the media. And it's very intentional on it.

Whether it's guiding clicks or it's guiding audience perception, it's done when the intention is to make slain children seem like they deserved it or, you know, lesser than and less important tragedy. And they're doing it to create, it's like the in-group, out-group effect, so that you read it and you think, well, I'm part of the real population, this is some other group and I don't have to feel a sorry for them. It's kind of like, they're less complex than me. This person is less deserving of dignity.

And in this case, it's like, oh, she had a BBL, had the, she wasn't influenced at these kind of trigger words for misogyny. to suggest this person who has died was vain, less significant, that it's kind of a soap opera that we don't have to feel sad. And it's just so sick that this works and that someone can do this, a huge newspaper can do this and then go, ooh, tweak that in post. I'm just so, actually so often things do make me feel sick,

but this is one of those things that really made me feel sick. And it's just, you know, she's passed away. She had a name. It was Claudia. It was not BBL influencer. So a few days ago, the Green Party MP has, Hannah Spencer ruffled a few feathers after stating in an interview with politics Joe, that she was shocked by the drinking culture in Parliament and that, quote, you can smell the alcohol when people

are in between votes, end quote. She pointed out that in any other job, this wouldn't happen and it wouldn't be okay. A cleaner, for example, or someone working in a bank wouldn't go out mid-shift, have multiple drinks and then head back to work smelling of booze. She said that there's also been allegedly cases of questionable and dangerous behaviour from MPs to staff due to this unprofessional setting where people can drink alcohol while at work. Seems like a fairly moderate, you know, sensible take, don't be drunk at work, especially when you're there to make big decisions and calls that affect the real people of the UK that you're meant to represent. But apparently not. In our amazing world where figures like Nigel Farage exist, the leader of Reform UK, he said,

quote, the Greens are happy to legalise heroin and crack, but now we learn that they think an afternoon pint is a step too far, end quote. And to that, the amazing Green Party leader, Zach Polanski replied with his own statement saying, quote, of course Farage misrepresents what Hannah is saying, an afternoon pint is different to drinking on a workday and then going to vote on decisions for millions of people, end quote. Other people have also pointed out that Hannah Spencer was hardly suggesting the MPs switch to taking heroin while at work.

Oh, it just, it actually makes me want to like slap my face and like throw myself into a wall. The blatant and deliberate misrepresentation and misunderstanding that Reform UK often do to other politicians to make them seem like they're saying the most wild, crazy nonsense is so, so infuriating. And because of this culture of like soundbites and just like, you know,

if you say a piece of misinformation or misrepresent something, it happens all the time with the Daily Mail, misrepresenting a quote that somebody has during a podcast, the line becomes the headline, becomes the click bake, becomes the think pieces.

It's just so infuriating. It's just like deliberate willful misrepresentation. He's just a complete moral. on but it works and I hate it. Les, we forget Diane Abbott having a little tinny on the train and they made out of uproar that that caused and she wasn't even at work. Like if any of these MPs saw anyone in any other job, if you're in Tesco's and the person at the cashier was having a pint, if you're the teacher that was teaching your children

at school was having a pint, if your cleaner was having a pint in any other context when someone is in the middle of their job, if you saw them having a drink, there is no situation where you would be like, even if your bar, even if the bartender's drinking, you'd probably be a bit like, I don't know if you're supposed to be doing that. Why on earth should the people that are making these massive decisions? I mean, Hannah Spence, we all know it goes on. We've heard about it for years. Like, it's a massive thing, but it's, it's a cultural thing that needs to change. It's a voice club and it's like this old fashioned idea of these like execs that you used to go to lunch and just drink loads of booze. Any actual like working people know that they cannot be

working during their work. Whenever there's any pushback, whether it's from Reform UK or from Labor, it always speaks to what they're most afraid of and in highlighting the Greens drug policy, which is so sensible. It's a public health policy that decriminalises drugs to keep people safe, leave people out of addiction, to clamp down on trafficking, things like that. That's what the most afraid of, so that's what the zero went on. I mean, they even had, like, Labour MPs like Neil Coyle came out, and he says that he's sober, which follows a, I think it was a 2023 suspension for drunken disorder of another MP and also using a piece of language with racial overtones. In a Commons bar in 2022. You've got someone like that saying, oh, kind of criticizing and saying like,

oh, I don't think we need a full ban. And you just go, they will say anything, even if it's nonsensical, if it means that they can bash the Greens. And I think, I mean, it shows how rattled they are, but it's also very frustrating. The Hannah Spencer is saying absolutely like the most common sense thing. And it's not just what she thinks. It's also what the British public thing. There was a UGov survey that found that 76% of the British public found it unacceptable for MPs to drink alcohol ahead of evening votes and 52% of that group said it's completely unacceptable. So clearly she's speaking to and for the people and it's quite telling who is going, she's getting this wrong.

She's really, she's disrupting the interior of this. It's like, well, fantastic, good. I was at an event before this and they had lunch and there was wine and I was like, I'm sorry, I can't drink because I've got a podcast to record. I like, you're driving the thoughts of the podcast is a big responsibility. It's a big responsibility. I was like, I can't have one last wine because I'll have. be done. I don't know how anyone does anything after a lunchtime mind. They would explain the situation

of this country, I would say. That is true. It doesn't make a lot sense. They've all been pissed. In April 2026, the lifestyle platform, Shire Lux, expanded its digital roster by launching four distinct AI influencers, Ream, Brooke, Gigi and Eden. These avatars were introduced under the new Shear Lux Lab Initiative, a dedicated space for creative experimentation and AI-driven innovation, or at least that's what they call it. So I only came across these AI influencers or avatars the other day, total uncanny valley. And I was really surprised because I'd forgotten, but there was a 2024 BBC article about Shilat's defending their use of AI influencer Riem because it does ring a bell, but I don't really remember it that clearly at the time, but obviously they were very under-turt

because they've now got four of these avatars. And having done more digging, there was so much press at the last time. But there's really not been much coverage over their avatar expansion. And I wonder if that shows how much our appetite for bots has changed even in the last couple of years. So Sheelux shared a real encouraging their audience to follow the bots, with each of them sharing their own perspective on fashion, beauty, travel and careers. With over a thousand comments, and I'd search and search could not find a positive one. It seems that we are not the only ones who are totally flabbergasted by this. So I sent the video to you both, just as we were about to start recording last week and you were both open mouth watching it and I've been desperate

to talk about it. So let's get into it. Is there any world in which you guys would take beauty tips from an avatar that doesn't actually have any skin? They quite literally have no skin in the game. It's the stupidest shit I have ever heard. It just makes me think, are people getting thicker or are we getting thicker that they think that this will work on us? Which then pisses me off because it just seems so brain dead to instigate this. I remember Ream, I think it was last year or the year before, got a lot of backlash because she looks very racially ambiguous. And that is another thing that pisses me off.

Many of these AI avatars, whatever, a lot of them tend to look quite racially ambiguous. I can remember a little Michaela from a few years ago. It's like, not with the Sherlock's example, but with a little Michaela, there was a man behind her. And it just pisses me off using the aesthetics and creating beauty, beautiful ideal of racially ambiguous features, but never actually, I don't know, working

with people of color, maybe platforming actual people of color. It's just like this dark loophole that people on the internet feel like they can kind of profit off the back of people who maybe look, not white, but never actually invest in it. It's just, I get myself into a loop about it because I just get so angry. I was convinced that we had covered this in 2024, but I think maybe we had just discussed it in our group chat and the re-renews. being a Middle Eastern name. And they did apologise at the time, but not for doing it, but for not being clear and not explaining properly. So it's not a surprise that they're doing this now. It's obviously a big part of their MO to kind of let things go quiet and then just

forge ahead with how they like it. But I'm just really surprised. Scrolling through the comments, not a single nice comment. The bots, I mean, even Ream has only got about 3,000 followers at this point. The others are in their kind of 800 range. I find it really baffling. I'm so confused, why clearly against the wishes of at least the most vocal followers, this is the course of action. Despite, I mean, it's kind of like everyone makes mistakes. Brands do people do. You try one thing. It doesn't quite pan out.

You try another thing. But then to come back, all they've done is quadruple their effort. I'm really, really confused. I can't, my brain is not making sense of how a company that works so public facing and is like reader led, consumer led would be so hell bent on the AI bots. Who's awesome to do this? Yeah, it's really odd because also sheer luck has actually burned. now some massive influences. So lots of people that were in the Sherlock's office are now

influences in their own right and they do these behind the scene videos and like the women and men that work there are personalities that people follow and enjoy. And actually they're a super successful booming business in the midst of this kind of like where that kind of product as in it's kind of like a magazine but it's digital obviously but they've done something really clever basically in order for them to be doing well in this climate. Normally it's like influences are taking over. So why they need this I don't really know. is it actually just rage bait? Is that part of it?

Is it just to draw more clicks and attention? But what the other thing that I think found so stressful was I showed it to my boyfriend. I was explaining it and he was like, wait, so that's not a real person. And when they're not talking, because their mouths do move in a weird way, the way that AI has got so evolved is crazy. Like these women do look like real women to the point where if I stumbled across one of their reels on my Reels Explore page, I absolutely would not know that they weren't a real person. I just want to know who this is appealing to because obviously there's someone. behind the scenes that is programming them.

So like, we've mentioned Ream, but then there's Brooke, who's a Copenhagen-born cool girl with an eclectic fashion sense, balancing Nordic city life with global travels. Then there's Gigi, a high fashion avatar, focused on luxury trends and premium lifestyle content, and then Eden, design with a focus on beauty and wellness advice.

It's like, surely someone's writing these captions, surely someone's coding these women to say these things. Why can't we just follow them? What the fucking hell are they talking about? I love travel, I love this. You've never been anywhere. You were never born. You don't have skin.

You don't have hair. You don't have opinion. Oh, God, I want to burn every data center to the ground. That is not a threat. Also, it's so funny just their idea of what people would be into from their influencers. It's kind of like they've put into chat GPT, break me down four classic types of influencers. And then chat GPT has been like, great. Brooke, who is a Copenhagen-born cool girl with an electric fashion sense.

She loves walks on the beach and has an eclectic fashion sense. It's just like so nothing. All of it is nothing. It doesn't mean anything. all sound the same when you actually read what their descriptors are. The names are so generic, like Brooke, Gigi, Eden, they're lovely names, but they're like such classic influencer names. The whole thing feels like they're acting like chat GPT, just regurgitating everything that's already in the internet. It's not even progressive. It's not even interesting. There is a world where

imagine if they made an AI bot and it was transgressive. I don't know. It did something interesting. But all they're doing is like spitting out what's already on the internet. It's not even doing anything. Yeah, it's very bland. they are very bland. There was someone, I was clicking on the different bots to find out who was, you know, how many follows they had. And there was one, I had like this person that you know, follows them. And so I messaged them.

And I was like, no judgment, just market research. Can I ask like, do you follow them for this, this and this? And then they were like, this is an AI. And they'd obviously found it on a, on the view page, hadn't looked robustly enough and just was like, okay, someone with good style. I like fashion. This is someone that works for a company I like. And I just thought, it's scary that it's getting so advanced.

And my, so my assumption is my, this is complete guesswork. But we have seen a lot of companies who invest big in AI are now trying to wedge in the AI tech, trying to fit circular peg square hole because they have made a deal and they spent a huge amount of money investing in it. And they're trying to recoup, even though AI obviously globally, it's not yet profitable. It's a big money suck. It's still very widely freeze. So people aren't, you know, the returns aren't coming. It's massively expensive because of data centers and ongoing training. Is that what's happening? Is that what we're seeing? A kind of like, well, we spent the money now. We have to make this work. Don't know. But that to me is the only thing that would

explain, ignoring the audience to this degree. Yeah, or I guess it's like they've said, I think, countless times it might even be on their website that, you know, this isn't taking over anyone's jobs, but are they testing the water for the day when actually they do just sack the entire in-house team, they get rid of their offices and actually Shil-Lux becomes a thing which is led by AI Avatar Box, which in the future would be really cheap. They don't have to hire any of those people. They're probably trained on the staff that they actually do have who do create interesting individual content. That's the only other thing I can think about that this is a long game and their priming their audiences till one day.

There is no Cherlux officers. There is no hum-jum trap of the people like milling around and showing their outfits. It is purely just bots. So just when we thought the cut couldn't shock us ever again, a foolish thought, I stumbled across a piece by Bianca Bosca titled The Men Who Want Their Foreskins Back. But actually after reading it, it felt like maybe this is actually a really important topic. So well done to the cut. I'm sorry I ever doubted you.

The piece centres on Daniel Flores. a 30-year-old man who was circumcised as a baby and recently underwent reconstructive surgery. Bianca writes, quote, Over the past few years, doctors and scientists have been quietly tiptoeing into the field of foreskin restoration surgery, drawn by growing demand, the proliferation of gender affirmation care, which has helped surgeons hone their skill in reshaping genitals, and circumcision itself falling out of favour. She goes on, in the United States, circumcision reached at Zenith in the mid-1960s,

when an estimated 80% of males had their foreskins cut off. More recently, however, the popularity of the procedure has dropped to the lows not seen in recent history. 49% of male infants were circumcised in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available. There is a 28,000 member Reddit thread among other social media groups, forums and podcasts, where members trade tips on how to restore their foreskin.

There are movements such as the intactivist movement, which opposes circumcision, and users often referring to themselves as restorers, with a measurement scale called the Coverage Index, which, and I quote, ranges from CI1, no loose skin on the shaft, to CI10, skin that droops over the glands like loose pantyhose, affectionately referred to by some as a wizard's sleeve,

which they achieve most from tugging, which is exactly what you might be imagining. So one of my favourite lines, I think, from the piece, is, quote, the online restorer community is populated by Dick Connoisseurs, who passed the anatomy and aesthetics of the male sexual organ with the exactitude of Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show judges. That's also one of my favourites, as well as Restore's enthusiasm for their genitals,

natural casing also makes foreskin restoration circles one of the more supportive corners of the internet with an unexpectedly high dick-pick to politeness ratio. But even though there are some really great penis puns and turns of phrase throughout, it is a deeply sensitive and quite emotional issue that I've got to be honest, I hadn't given that much thought to before. Floyd, who we mentioned at the top, hated his circumcision because he felt it violated his bodily autonomy and other users said they felt suicidal or that their parents had taken something from them that they can never get back. So how did you both feel coming away from the piece? It's a difficult one, isn't it?

Because I have not spent a significant time thinking about this. I mean, I've had conversations just in general with men. Like, what do you think about this? Normally they are the ones that bring it up. But I think I would say the consensus has not been consistent. It's eye. the men who had it done feel fine, men who hadn't had it done feel fine, or men that don't, you know, kind of wish that they had had the decision, but don't feel to the extent that the men in these groups do, which is, you know, suicidal and actively taking steps, which are laborious, sometimes surgical, but often just like daily physical tugging to restore it. So this, I'm kind of very interested to talk about it. It was very interested to read it because it

genuinely was a complete hole in my knowledge. So yeah, I mean, it's been a revelation. I've really enjoyed it. I thought it was a really well-written piece. There were all those, like, funny, good quotes and then a real tenderness and an understanding for the men that are going through this. And again, it was a whole for me. And I wonder if there is something about the fact that this kind of is a gap in the way that we think about what is done to bodies and what is done to babies. Because it is a fascinating thing. And obviously there's lots of reasons why circumcision exists. And often it is a religious thing. That's a massive reason for why babies undergo it. But I also think that there is a lens in which we might look back in 20 years and be like,

that was a really kind of wild thing that we did to people. And like you said, Beth, some people really don't think anything of it. I'm sure there's lots of people who are circumcised who just go through their daily life and are like, yeah, that's something that I have. But there obviously are huge numbers of men who report massive amounts of dissatisfaction or even kind of a residual feeling that something was taken away from them. And that is quite a massive thing to go through. Obviously, there was no consent given consent being a massive buzzword and conversation that we've been having over the last decade. And I wonder if it feels like Foreskins could be the final frontier of consent. Yeah, I'm really glad that they wrote this piece and I do think the picture they

used for it was deceivingly light toned. So I thought it was going to be one of their, you know, classic rage baity pieces. And I was really surprised by how exactly like you said and only how tender and how deeply it went into the topic. So the picture that they used was of what looks to be a bald man in a nude looking turtleneck with a turtle neck pulled right to the top of his heads, so all you see is the top of his bald head. It resembles what you imagine it resembles. The only time I've ever thought about this is when I was at uni talking to a boy, a man, who had come from a Muslim background and had been circumcised. And he very much shared the perspective of many of the men in this piece where he said, it's really messed up. I can't

believe that as a child, as a baby, I never had consent over this thing. I just can't get over it. I would never do that to my child, irregardless of faith. And at the time, I think, I just wasn't very equipped to, I mean, I had a conversation and I listened and I was like, oh, that is really interesting, but I didn't really give it enough thought, well, what, you know, important topic that was. And reading this, it's made me think about that. And it does just feel like this massive gap. I can't believe that we don't talk about it more for how traumatized a lot of these men are. I know that's not everyone's story. We said that. You both really, you know, aptly described that this is not everyone's story. But I guess the pro and the wonderful part of this is that gender

affirming care has opened up this new world for people who aren't happy with the genitals that they have to be able to access that care. But at the same time, it's expensive. It's really expensive. They said it was $5,000. The main man involved who does eventually get surgical enhancement to help. Seems like it's gone well. He says that he's in debt over it, but he doesn't regret a penny. It's just, I don't know, I just felt really heartbroken, honestly, and really sad. Yeah, it's so interesting because I was just double-checking, but it's much less common in the UK. And I don't know if you remember this, but in a lot of, like, American TV shows and culture, they'll refer to is someone cut or are they uncut in a way that like I don't think it was as prevalent.

Like we would talk about it at school that you would know that it was a thing. And obviously like later in life if you have relationships, you'll find out whatever people have experience. But it's definitely not as big of a thing. And in the UK it says approximately 8.5 to 20% of men, although noting for the fact that a lot of circumcisions could be done outside of the NHS, so that might not be accounted for. So it is a much smaller number in the UK. But I found so much of it so interesting, like the gender farming care thing, the fact that

such a good point that penises are really hard to operate. on. It's very easy to cut a foreskin off a baby. It takes all of like a couple of minutes. But when you're working with an adult human with a penis, obviously then they can change shape, they can move, they can like even under the conditions of anesthetic. It's very fiddly and difficult. And I think it's so fascinating. And it's always so interesting to me with medicine. There's always ways in which like almost everything that ends up being cosmetic came from a point of need. So like I can't remember what the original use for Botox was. But all of the things that we end up using for something else originally came from someone trying to fix some kind of problem. And I think it's kind of amazing that gender

affirming care, like you said, was the root for these men. And it just shows actually how important it is. And we've like even thinking about, I know right at the top we're talking about a bit of a tangent, talking about Sharon Davies. But Sharon Davies is someone who's definitely undergone like gender affirming things in order to like present her gender. And I think it's so interesting how often we talk in an othering way about how not we, but one, the populace, about how trans people affirm their gender when actually day to day, all of us are constantly trying to do that. And so I thought that was an interesting tangent. I've wanted to bring it to the podcast for ages that, you know, us getting waxes, us getting filler, us getting Botox,

whether you are cis or not, it's all gender affirming care. We are all in the market of doing gender affirming care constantly. We just never label it as such. And it's a case of like, there's the men in these groups who do it manually, which is, you know, either you attach a clamp for most of the day or you're manually tugging to, you know, it's a big use of your time and mental energies and then to get the surgery it's expensive and it's also even if the wrists aren't very high, it's the risk of pain and having to find this professional is very expensive, etc. No one does that without a real psychological need for it. And I think I would urge people to read this piece. I find the descriptions of the surgery. I mean, they're fine to read. They're not kind of gruesome or anything,

but it's like, wow, that is a pretty big undertaking. And that's what exists now. Also, I was finding it really interesting as they're talking about what comes next, which is this potential of four-skin transplants from cadavers. And, you know, they've done 10. And, you know, they've done tests with embedding a foreskin into a rat and seeing if it's viable. There's, there's, people are confident that enough, enough patients exist in the future that if you sink a lot of money into this and invest in making this a really possible surgery, it will, it will take off that it will be every other man that's, that has been, has got no foreskin, will want it reattached. And I find that speculation really interesting for all the ways that we talk about female bodies and the

trends for us and obviously male bodies have their trends. But that is a very specific one. that I have never talked about or never thought about and the disparity in, yeah, kind of like, what happens to genitals and how people feel about their genitals and how difficult it is to bring up. And it made me emotional as well to think of these communities having existed for, I think one of the first ones was in the late 1890s, so like 30-something nearly 40 years ago.

It's kind of, it's nice, but it's also, I feel like I'm lifting the lid on something that I'd never thought about. And then I go, oh, there's this whole other part to the society of men in this kind of pain. I hadn't thought about it. Like it is a fringe group, but it's not that much of a fringe group potentially. No, and it's almost like one of those things where like until you think about it, you wouldn't even think that of course, it made me really sad actually to think about

those men that feel that way because of course it must feel so alien and strange to know that a part of you, a part of your anatomy, a part of your like body was taken away before you had even were able to speak or make that decision and that none of that decision was down to you. And I can imagine that it must feel like some kind of, well, like a trauma. and that someone kind of robbed you of something. And I wonder if there's even men out there that haven't even considered the fact that they could feel that way

and if they recognised that there was a possibility that there's other people out there who were actually kind of mourning the fact that something was taken away from them. And again, like, no blame on anyone anywhere. Again, I'm sure a lot of these parents were going by what was normal of the time and like no one really thought there was any issue with it. And doctor recommendations as well. Yeah, exactly.

And I think this piece is actually really good because it'll bring it to the fore. it'll help people deal with that shame. And I think it is maybe, I don't feel well versed enough or educated enough to like take a real stance on it. But there is a part of me that feels slightly uncomfortable with the concept of it without wanting to step on anyone's culture or religious beliefs or anything like that. Just from my own personal perspective after reading this piece, I thought, oh, that's something that I need to make more of a form decision on.

But I actually think what an incredible piece of journalism genuinely thought it was really good. I agree. And I guess the only final thing that I would add is, Calling it a trauma, it feels like that's what many of the men in the piece described, but they also talk about the splashback of fear of trusting medical professionals off the back of having experienced that. And that is just such a vulnerable place to be in. A lot of them said that, you know, in this group, a lot of them have this massive distrust for medical professionals. They don't want to approach doctors to share their concerns, their anxieties. They, you know, it's frowned upon

even to get cosmetic surgery. They'll just deal with it by themselves. We're really casting a lot of these people into the shadows. I just, I can completely understand why they don't feel like they can trust medicine after this. And that, that just is a really scary place to be in. There needs to be a bit of a societal and culture shift around this conversation. We can't be awkward about it. Because you're right, maybe a lot of men are experiencing this and just not seeking help and just privately trying to deal with it. Thank you so much for listening this week. Before we go, just checking that you've listened to our latest everything in conversation episode where we talk about fake fans and an alleged geese sci-op.

Please also follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Everything is Content Pod. See you next Wednesday. Bye.