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 about. With guests like Tavi Gevinson and Sofia Coppola collaborator Stacey Battat, and special episodes beamed into your ears from cultural centres like London’s Tate Modern and Barbican Centre, every Monday we offer a down-to-earth take from the front lines of the internet, feminism, and the weird world of celebrity it has spawned.Hosted by Editor in Chief Ione Gamble with Senior Editor Gina Tonic. Edited by Olivia Graham. Have faith in your own bad taste!Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast member <3Polyester is a self published, intersectional feminist arts and culture publication aiming to bridge the gap of URL cyberfeminism with the IRL world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jan 19, 2026 • 29min
Is My Life Too Easy? What Is Frictionmaxxing? And Should We All Be Doing It?
The hosts explore the intriguing idea of frictionmaxxing, which encourages embracing discomfort in daily life. They discuss how technology fosters convenience at the expense of spontaneity and real human interactions. Examining class and disability issues, they highlight how not every inconvenience is desirable. The conversation touches on the joy of unpredictability and boredom, and the risks of relying too heavily on AI. With personal experiments in frictionmaxxing, they share ways to reclaim life's little discomforts for a richer experience.
Jan 12, 2026 • 28min
Why Are Men Using Elon Musk’s AI Chatbot to Undress Women Without Their Consent? The Latest In AI's Abuse Of Women
A dark new issue has arisen on the platform formerly known as Twitter (a likely place for it to happen) where users are asking X's inbuilt AI bot, Grok, for indecent and sexualised images of women and children. While, as discussed in the ep, nudeification isn't exactly a new problematic facet of life online, it's only in the last month that the act has become a "trend" - for lack of a better word.In this week's episode, hosts Ione and Gina delve into the specifics of what is happening, the continuing issues we're facing with AI and the lack of control any government or governing body has over internet abuse.Buy our newest issue here!Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast member <3Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Order Gina's book, Greedy Guts, here!A statement by journalists: We condemn Israel's killing of journalists in Gaza and urge integrity in Western media coverage of Israel's atrocities against Palestinians. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jan 5, 2026 • 31min
The Only 2026 Ins And Outs List You Need
Happy new year girlies! As is tradition in this joint (and across the internet at large), our hosts are giving their hot or not predictions for the upcoming twelve months.In this week's episode, Ione and Gina discuss the possible return of woke, whether Substack is over, Timothée Chalamet’s chances of winning the Oscar, whether we’ll finally see the death of on the street voxpop TikToks, and much more. Buy our newest issue here!Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast member <3Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Order Gina's book, Greedy Guts, here!A statement by journalists: We condemn Israel's killing of journalists in Gaza and urge integrity in Western media coverage of Israel's atrocities against Palestinians. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dec 22, 2025 • 32min
Mar-A-Lago Face And The Grotesque Beauty Of MAGA Women
Hosts dive into the bizarre world of MAGA beauty, highlighting the outrageous aesthetics of Mar-A-Lago face. They dissect heavy contouring, viral photos, and the influences of early 2000s glam and pageant culture. Discussions reveal how plastic surgery acts as a political badge of honor and contributes to a grotesque display of wealth. The conversation also touches on how these beauty choices reinforce gender norms, distract from policy issues, and reflect a troubling power dynamic within the GOP.
Dec 16, 2025 • 15min
All The Gossip From Our Print Issue Launch In New York
Surprise! A little midweek episode to keep you updated on the Polyester goings on! This week, hosts Ione and Gina chat the new issue with Sky Ferreira on the cover, the launch events in New York plus a little sidebar into this week's cultural going ons.Buy the issue here!Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast member <3Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Order Gina's book, Greedy Guts, here!A statement by journalists: We condemn Israel's killing of journalists in Gaza and urge integrity in Western media coverage of Israel's atrocities against Palestinians. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dec 8, 2025 • 30min
The Club Chalamet Deep Dive
Timothée Chalamet stans are buzzing as the controversial Club Chalamet gets profiled by the Wall Street Journal. The hosts delve into the online persona of Club and her complex history with fandom. They tackle issues of ageism and misogynoir, questioning public backlash against older female fans. There’s a discussion on how modern celebrity relationships with fans have evolved and the lengths fans go for support campaigns. They also defend the value of enthusiastic fandom against criticism of wealthy middle-aged enthusiasts.
Dec 1, 2025 • 28min
Good For Nothing? Why We’ve All Had Enough Of Wicked
As we're all subjected to another Wicked press tour for the second instalment of the blockbuster, the question on everyone's lips is whether the Wicked press tour ever stopped in the first place? Greeted with another series of emotional interviews, reaction tweets and harrowing body discourse, it felt urgent to dissect what precisely is dampening the furore this time around.This week, hosts (and Wicked haters) Ione and Gina take their magnifying class to the discourse surrounding Wicked: For Good. Have we all become desensitised to memeing eating disorders, is the palpable fatigue from the stars getting in the way of our enjoyment or does it just boil down to the fact that the film itself just isn't very, well, good?Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast member <3Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Order Gina's book, Greedy Guts, here!A statement by journalists: We condemn Israel's killing of journalists in Gaza and urge integrity in Western media coverage of Israel's atrocities against Palestinians. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 24, 2025 • 29min
Who Is Nick Fuentes? What is a Groyper? And How Is Red Scare’s Dasha Nekrasova Involved?
Nick Fuentes has spent five years building not only a name for himself but an army of his own to fight in what the far right incel community has dubbed the groyper war. The live streamer uses his platform, America First, to push for an ultra conservative agenda not just among his peers but with actual political figures too.In this week's episode, hosts Ione and Gina track the impact of Fuentes and the groypers on the Trump administration, the faux deplatforming of alt right darlings like Red Scare's Dasha Nekrasova and why we need to rally against the widening of the Overton window.Check out https://www.squarespace.com/POLYESTER10 to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code POLYESTER10.Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast member <3Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Order Gina's book, Greedy Guts, here!A statement by journalists: We condemn Israel's killing of journalists in Gaza and urge integrity in Western media coverage of Israel's atrocities against Palestinians. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
4 snips
Nov 10, 2025 • 26min
Is Having A Boyfriend Embarrassing Now? Dissecting The Essay That Set The Internet Ablaze
A viral article questions whether having a boyfriend is embarrassing, igniting passionate discussions about modern dating. Hosts explore how digital relationships have evolved from grand announcements to subtle hints, revealing fears of jealousy and public scrutiny. They delve into the influence of influencers and the cultural shifts in romance perception, while critiquing the clickbait nature of the discourse. Also tackled are personal choices about partner visibility online and the implications of the rising anti-romance sentiment in social media.
Nov 3, 2025 • 29min
Let’s Talk About Lily Allen's New Album, West End Girl
West End Girl has taken the internet by storm as Lily Allen returns to the charts with a new confessional album dissecting the relationship breakdown between her and ex husband David Harbour. From the extremely detailed lyrics to the, well, even more extremely detailed lyrics, fans are thrilled to get fully behind the curtain of everything that's gone wrong in Allen’s marriage.In this week's episode, hosts Ione and Gina dig into the album, asking whether encouraging parasocial relationships is a marketing ploy, how influencer culture has changed the landscape of songwriting and why more cynicism is required when listening to pop music.Support our work and become a Polyester Podcast member <3Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Order Gina's book, Greedy Guts, here!A statement by journalists: We condemn Israel's killing of journalists in Gaza and urge integrity in Western media coverage of Israel's atrocities against Palestinians. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
