Welcome to the Cult of Skinny with EJ Dickson

Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

Jo Piazza, Influence Inc.

Society & Culture, Parenting, Kids & Family, Personal Journals, Technology

4.3 • 787 Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Influencers are selling women starvation and calling it empowerment. Today we talk to Cut reporter EJ Dickson about her viral investigation into SkinnyTok and the Skinni Société, a subscriber-only Instagram group where thousands of young women are encouraged to obsess over calories, steps, and how to be the “skinniest girl at graduation.” Together, we unpack how social media platforms allow this to flourish, why these communities feel like cults, and how the language of feminism is being co-opted to convince women that self-worth is measured in how many pounds they lose. Read EJ's excellent Cut piece here. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey Spotify, is Dampson Idris here to celebrate Tommy Hill Figures' Apex GP collection.
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0:13.0	This isn't just a lot. It's the uniform for those on a journey to achieve their dreams.
0:18.0	Discover Tommy Hilfiger's limited edition Apex GP collection, inspired by F1 the movie, only
0:23.6	in cinema's June 25th.
0:26.6	Race the rudder, raise the sails, raise the sales!
0:31.6	Captain, an unidentified chip approaching, over.
0:34.6	Roger that.
0:35.6	Wait, is that an enterprise sales solution?
0:40.8	Reach sales professionals, not professional sailors.
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0:48.9	To get £100 off your first campaign, go to LinkedIn.com slash lead to claim your credit.
0:54.5	That's LinkedIn.com slash lead. Terms and conditions apply.
1:03.3	Joe here and you are listening to Under the Influence. Who's ordered the copy of everyone
1:08.2	is lying to you yet? The Tradwife murder mystery that the
1:11.2	internet can't stop talking about. Seriously, they can't. I get DMs all day long. Order it now,
1:18.1	and it will show up on July 15th, maybe even July 14th, because sometimes Amazon sends them out
1:22.9	early. And if you're ordering from Amazon, that's okay. I get it. Everyone likes efficiency.
1:29.5	So do I. No shame in that game. Anyway, it's going to arrive and you'll have it before everyone else, which means you can be
1:34.5	smug about it. And I love being smug. It is one of my most favorite things in the entire world.
1:41.2	Last week, I went down one of the most terrifying rabbit holes on social media. That is saying a lot
	...

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