Content Consumed: Diet culture, the 1975 and Dan Snyder

Happy Friday, folks! Whew, we made it.

In today’s edition of Content Consumed:
🥬 Mini-rant on TikTok gut healing
🎶 Review: The 1975’s Being Funny in a Foreign Language
🏈 How is Dan Snyder still here?

Healing my gut and diet culture

In full transparency, I’ve been having gut issues for years now. I’ve tested intolerant to lactose and gluten and now I’m trying a low-FODMAP lifestyle to see if that also helps with severe bloating (and other issues I will not divulge here).

And the Internet is a twisted place to be when you’re trying to help yourself be better—mentally, physically, economically, whatever it may be.

So, this article I consumed (with my now onion-free breakfast, with blessings from the FODMAP gods) this morning from Allure was a breath of fresh air.

“Heal your gut” videos are sprayed viciously across TikTok and Instagram and elsewhere—but is it just diet culture in disguise?

It’s not outright “thinspo” and “pro-ana” like the late-aughts on Tumblr or in magazines of the 90s. But there’s new language for the same concepts.

Am I just one of many “hot girls with tummy issues”?

It also reinforces the self-doubt I already have—self-doubt that many women have when it comes to health issues—that what I’m going through is not much of a problem and can be easily solved. But it can’t always be easily solved.

Adding to this messy pile of f*cked new diet culture is a skinnier Kim K., BBLs begone, and Y2K heroin chic culture in full comeback mode. Skinny is trendy. It always was, despite a brief break of ~thickness~ in the 2010s.

It’s exhausting. And it’s maddening, knowing that my little cousins and younger women are seeing these things on their For You and Explore pages. Aloe vera and apple cider vinegar shots will not be the magic cure for people with serious issues. And some people don’t need to be cured, because there’s nothing wrong in the first place, but they’re being convinced that there is something wrong.

I hope this made sense. Consider this just a little Friday rant!

Read the full Allure piece here.

Review: The 1975’s
‘Being Funny in a Foreign Language’

Sheesh.

I swear, the first song (funny enough, called “The 1975”) from The 1975’s new album directly addresses their early 2010s Tumblr infamy. A small sampling of those telling lyrics:
“I’m sorry if you’re livin’ and you’re seventeen.”
“You’re makin’ an aesthetic of not doing well.”
“I heard it’s en vogue to be super thin.”
“I’m feelin’ apathetic after scrolling through hell.”

How meta. The whole thing, really, feels meta. “Happiness” is groovy and nostalgic like the Tumblr days; “Part of the Band” is painfully self-aware about Matt Healy’s past addictions and the concepts of being ~cancelled~ and *woke*.

Overall though, it’s a love album, especially considering (almost silly) bops like “I’m In Love With You”. Being Funny in a Foreign Language is short and sweet—at least it sounds sweet. The lyrics themselves, as per usual with The 1975, are intense poetry covered by a sheen of charming beats and sincere vocals. The slower, more emotional songs, like “All I Need to Hear”, hit hardest.

Pitchfork sums it up well: “Earnestness offset with humor, sociocultural critiques bookended by dick jokes.”

Also, please watch Matt Healy’s flirty little chicken shop date with Amelia Dimz. Great stuff.

HOW is Dan Snyder still here?

I read a newsletter called The GIST every morning, and I highly recommend it! Written by women, for women, about sports news across all leagues and genders without much actual skew. But damn, it’d be impossible not to have a feminist bias about these Dan Snyder shenanigans.

During the Washington Commanders vs. the Cinncinati Bengals last night, the camera lingered on Washington owner Snyder while the commentators spoke about all the allegations he faces. It was interesting to watch as a viewer — as the list went on and on, you had to wonder about the meta aspect of it: do the commentators hate Snyder? Does Amazon Prime / NFL Network? The NFL big bosses themselves? Certainly, the big bosses do, especially after Snyder called them a “mafia” yesterday.

Sexual misconduct, financial impropriety, even an ongoing congressional investigation… how is he still here?! On the field, watching the game, as a team owner?

Possibly because, as ESPN reported, Snyder alleges that he has “dirt” that could “blow up” the league and has reportedly hired private investigators to look into his fellow owners.

I have no doubt there is dirt. There’s always dirt in the NFL. But my hopes aren’t high for actual consequences anywhere here. Because there’s always dirt — and there are never consequences.

And that’s it from me this Friday! Have a banger of a weekend, y’all.

Cheers,
Casey

P.S. Don’t forget to follow the new(ish) Content Consumed Instagram — I’m aiming for 200 followers by the end of October!

P.P.S. I wrote a longer piece this week about the symbolism and practicality of dimming the City of Light’s Eiffel Tower during Europe’s energy crisis. Give it a read.