8 Comments
User's avatar
Neural Foundry's avatar

The comparison between Jennifer Grey's career trajectory and today's cosmetic standards really hits diffrent. You nailed how we've normalized these procedures while simultaneusly pretending they're not happening. The class divide you mention is especially sharp when you consider that working folks are subjecting themselves to brutal fitness regimens while elites get Ozempic and call it discipline.

Expand full comment
Pete Tosiello's avatar

yo! thanks for reading

Expand full comment
Morgan Hobbs's avatar

Just wait till a shredded, god-like Mark Zuckerberg dunks on Brook Lopez in the NBA Celebrity Game.

Expand full comment
Pete Tosiello's avatar

lolol

Expand full comment
sydney's avatar

Really great take. I love that bit about employment law - I’m always thinking about how in certain environments, your face card will act as your business card (and by face card I mean the work you’ve had done - by whom, how subtle/dramatic, etc.). It really does feel like getting lip filler or botox is as normal as getting good highlights. And yup, that shit is a bummer.

Expand full comment
Pete Tosiello's avatar

thanks for reading! i find it jarring how, in the spirit of "solidarity," we're supposed to pretend not to see what's obviously in front of us -- whether it's cosmetic work, rapid weight loss, drastic or subtle changes to one's appearance. the whole notion of "don't judge other people's bodies" is sourced from a time when (affluent) people had less control over them.

if anything, the current market exacerbates preexisting inequality! there's always been the joke that at-will employment means you can be fired because your boss doesn't like your face. so of course this is where we've landed! agh

Expand full comment
Spencer Oakes's avatar

I second that it’s a bummer. Well said, Pete!

Expand full comment
Pete Tosiello's avatar

my man!

Expand full comment