R4 Rethink: How might our relationship with our bodies and appearance change after the pandemic?
Woman's Hour
BBC
4.1 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 24 June 2020
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Rethink is a series of essays and discussions across BBC Radio 4, 5 Live and the World Service that looks at how the world might change after the coronavirus pandemic. Today's essay features the political philosopher Clare Chambers who considers how our relationship with our bodies, and our appearance has been affected by the lockdown. To discuss Jenni is joined by Laura Bates, the founder of the Everyday Sexism project, Kate Lister, Lecturer in the School of Arts and Communication at Leeds Trinity University, and Shahidha Bari, Professor of Fashion Cultures and Histories at the London College of Fashion.
The American crime writer Karin Slaughter has sold over 35 million books worldwide. Her stories are violent and gritty and she writes frankly about the impact of violence against women and the long-lasting effects of trauma. She hopes people will see her books as an honest telling of stories we do not often hear about… survivors, fighters, mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, friends and rogues. She joins us to talk about her latest book, The Silent Wife.
Presenter: Jenni Murray Producer: Dianne McGregor
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts Hello, Jenny Murray welcoming you to the |
| 0:07.4 | Woman's Hour podcast for Wednesday the 24th of June. Good morning. In today's program |
| 0:14.8 | a new novel, the 20th by the American crime writer Karen Slauter. Why has she been fascinated |
| 0:21.3 | by the darker side of life since she was a little girl? We've a reminder for anyone |
| 0:26.9 | who's pregnant that it's considered perfectly safe to make sure you're getting good anti-natal |
| 0:32.2 | care, even if it means going into a hospital. And the third episode of the serial in Rankins |
| 0:38.2 | the Death Watch Journal. But we begin with today's contribution from Woman's Hour to the |
| 0:44.8 | re-think series of essays and discussions across Radio 4, Five Live and the World Service |
| 0:51.0 | in which we ask how the world might change as a result of the international shock of |
| 0:57.5 | the coronavirus pandemic. On Monday we talked about architecture and planning, asking how |
| 1:03.0 | COVID might transform our homes and communities. Today it's how we see ourselves. As we've |
| 1:11.2 | been forced to neglect our hair, our fingernails, eaten more and exercised less and barely bought |
| 1:17.5 | anything new to wear in the past few months, how will we begin to view our bodies and our |
| 1:23.5 | appearance as lockdown is eased? Well, our re-think essay on the subject is written and delivered |
| 1:30.1 | by the political philosopher, Claire Chambers. The pandemic focuses our minds on our bodies. It |
| 1:37.4 | makes us profoundly aware that we rely on our bodies working well, on our hearts beat, |
| 1:43.1 | on our bloods flow, on our lungs breath. It forces us to acknowledge the fragility of function. |
| 1:51.0 | In normal times, many of us focus more on how our bodies look than how they work. Cosmetic |
| 1:55.9 | surgery has become a mainstream practice, with new cosmetic procedures constantly being developed. |
| 2:01.8 | Psychologists diagnose an epidemic of apparent related anxiety. The 2019 Girls Attitudes survey |
| 2:08.8 | found that the top three pressures faced online by British Girls age 11 to 16 were to look pretty |
| 2:15.7 | all the time, to get more likes and to have a picture perfect life. We'll COVID-19 disrupt |
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