Body Rules, Workplace Struggles, and No-Nonsense Advice

Every so often, I do a Culture Study (newsletter) interview that inspires a LOT of follow-up questions — and the podcast is the perfect forum to address them, particularly when the interviewee is as smart and hilarious and curious as Heather Radke. For today’s episode, Heather and I tackle all your BUTTS questions, like: Why are butts so funny? Isn’t it weird the fossil record can’t tell us how big butts were? Wouldn’t it be awesome if someone told you about hemorrhoids in a very matter-of-fact way at, like, age 16?

Show Notes:

• Find Heather’s incredible, hilarious, and deeply informative book, Butts: A Backstory, here

• So much more about Sarah Baartman and a bunch of the specific references re: historical butts in my interview with Heather on Culture Study

• My piece on getting a colonscopy (and why you should talk to people about yours!) (If you have any sort of family history — get one now! And if you don’t, the new guidance is still to get one starting at age 45.)

• NOT ME ON THE PREPARATION H INSTAGRAM PAGE!!!!

We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

• WHAT CELEBRITY IMAGE SHOULD WE UNPACK NEXT?

• Online shopping culture, including but not limited to people’s reliance on reviews and/or compulsion to leave reviews

• Student loans— how we talk about them, think about them, take this wherever you want

• The romance novel boom

• Anything you need advice on!

• You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here (and here’s the subscriber-only priority form)

For today’s discussion: Why ARE butts so funny? Are you inspired to talk more about hemorrhoids? And aren’t you so glad that Melody convinced me not to have the key image for this episode be AN ACTUAL HEMORRHOID?