Hello I'm Fern Cotton and this is Happy Place, the show that questions what we've been

told about what happiness looks like. Today I'm chatting to Emma de Beery.

I think it's something that is subconscious often, but I feel that judgmental gaze, that judgment

that I projected on to other people.

I was also being very, very self-critical. That kind of, I guess,

judgment that I had of others was reflecting the level of self-criticism that I had about myself and the impossibly high beauty standards

that striving for an elusive and never achievable perfection that I was constantly feeling I had to achieve. The external was reflecting the internal.

Emma is an activist and broadcaster who spent over a decade as a teaching fellow at Soas, the School of Oriental and a don't touch my hair and her latest one is called

disobedient bodies which is such a powerful title.

Reading this book really made me think even more deeply and critically

about the completely unattainable beauty ideals we know we're surrounded by in Western culture.

This chat with Emma was so eye-opening. We talked about ageing, about weight, about race, about why when we judge ourselves

less we judge each other less too and vice versa. But we also talked about how we can critique beauty culture while still allowing

for the real magic of self-expression and adornment and art, because those things are incredibly

important for our identities too.

This chat is a real treat.

This episode is sponsored by MNS and Zoe together bringing you their ultimate gut shot.

Okay, so Zoe is a nutritional science company co-founded by Professor Tim Specter

and their research has shown that our gut microbiome impacts so much about our overall health.

It plays such an important role in things like our immune system, our metabolism, our mood.

So they've teamed up with MNS to create the gut shop. This is like

clever science and deliciousness combined right? So the foodies at MNS have had a

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