Culture Club - Are Baby Bumps An Accessory？ Plus, Dolomites Style & Amazon’s Book Shredding

00:00:00.000 Amazon's burning rare books, why the girls are dressing up for the Dolomites, and the 0.99

00:00:09.080 pros and cons of trending baby bumps. I'm Maggie Zhao. And I'm Jasmine Wallace. And

00:00:14.260 you're listening to Culture Club, where two writers and editors analyse pop culture, the

00:00:18.920 arts and the internet. Today, we're on the lands of the Wurundjeri

00:00:22.080 Woiwurrung people of the Kulin Nations. We would like to pay respects to elders past

00:00:26.520 and present and extend this to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander listeners today.

00:00:35.320 Jazz, I started a new class yesterday. Of course you did. Of course I did. I'm doing like a term,

00:00:41.160 a term of something. Do you have any guesses? A language? No, but that would be amazing and

00:00:47.260 I should be doing that. Pottery? No, I'll tell you. It is something I've dabbled in before,

00:00:53.140 but now I'm doing like a few weeks of it I'm doing ballet at the Australian Ballet oh my gosh

00:00:58.260 so sweet I know I was in the studios yesterday my legs are very sore today so they do like

00:01:04.440 beginner lessons yeah they do heaps of like adult beginner classes like heaps it was a really fun

00:01:10.140 time um my foot kept cramping up like nobody's business uh but I'm so excited it's like a fun

00:01:17.360 weekly thing to do so is it for 12 weeks or something it's only like six weeks so a nice

00:01:23.720 amount of time achievable and why did you want to do ballet my friend's doing it so she was like

00:01:28.260 I'm booking this class you want to come and I was like yes I've loved doing ballet classes so for

00:01:32.740 those who don't know the law goes back to me watching Dance Academy as a teenager then me

00:01:37.780 and my other friend joining a class as like 15 year olds in a class of eight year olds did it

00:01:43.000 for a couple years and then I have done a few casual dance classes in the last few years and I

00:01:48.860 love doing them and there's something actually really nice about the structuredness of ballet

00:01:55.020 which can obviously be problematic in many ways but as a casual very casual learner I like it I

00:02:01.620 like following the steps and like trying to remember the things what's the beginner class

00:02:05.580 like because I did ballet as a child like I stopped as an early teen and I can't imagine

00:02:13.760 going back as an adult really because I'd be like okay where do you start from well they have like

00:02:19.500 absolute beginner classes too this isn't sponsored but for the for your reference um I don't know you

00:02:26.500 kind of just catch on like you can tell some people have repeated this term before some people

00:02:31.100 are quite experienced some people have never stepped into a class before so like it's actually

00:02:36.080 okay because it's just for fun and they talk you through it yeah yeah they're like I mean it's

00:02:42.260 pretty fast to be honest I was like ah some of that we did a little waltz and I was like I can't

00:02:46.880 do this but no offense I can't really picture you dancing are you serious yeah no offense but

00:02:53.780 insult this is so mean sorry I don't know I just I don't think of you straight away as like sporty

00:02:59.980 Like I've been in fitness classes with you before and no offense,

00:03:04.220 but you're like.

00:03:05.260 I'm better now.

00:03:06.200 You are better now.

00:03:06.760 I'm working at it.

00:03:07.340 That's so mean.

00:03:08.420 Sorry.

00:03:09.200 No, but I'm, you know, like, oh,

00:03:11.120 you've been working on Pilates a lot, I feel.

00:03:13.680 Maybe it was like a couple of years ago when you were first starting out.

00:03:15.820 That's true.

00:03:16.220 That is true.

00:03:17.180 You were in the room with me for my first ever hot mat Pilates class

00:03:20.760 and that was like so scary for me.

00:03:23.140 Yeah, because I feel like you're like about to pass out.

00:03:25.180 I was.

00:03:27.180 But no, we've made moves.

00:03:28.460 yeah we have progress i've also started a new hobby tell me i've been going to yoga for

00:03:35.000 consistently for the past few weeks and i'm loving it so i used to do yoga when i was in

00:03:41.400 high school at one point i was so good at it that i even taught a class on like a school excursion

00:03:46.560 like we're staying at heron island on like a biology excursion and i ended up like leading

00:03:51.380 a class on the beach it's like a fun activity like that's how well i knew it teacher's pet

00:03:55.940 I know. Freaking teacher's pet classic. Then I just dropped off. I'd like dabble in it like here and there. And I actually went to Body Works for a massage recently. I think we spoke about it on the podcast. And Georgia there at Body Works, which is like a Melbourne kind of massage place, Georgia suggested I get back into yoga because it'd like get out of your mind, into your body. And I've been loving it.

00:04:20.280 in that realm this is so bougie of me but i have a massage booked a 90 minute massage today and

00:04:27.360 it's similar with like breath work incorporated and it's because i need to burn my class pass

00:04:31.660 points and like cancel my account or you know reduce it so much um so yeah i've got that who

00:04:37.980 uses their class pass credits for a massage

00:04:50.280 at the top of the episode we have some quick pop culture pop corny bites for you first up

00:04:57.520 the australian music charts has banned ai music this made global headlines this week

00:05:03.200 i am so happy to hear this this all got started because this ai generated track like hit the

00:05:10.840 charts in australia this is queensland dj shout out queensland many mentions this episode

00:05:16.820 Queensland DJ and producer Josh Fawaz, his cover of Madonna's Like a Prayer. So this actually

00:05:24.280 became the most played song on Australian radio and reached number four on two ARIA charts in

00:05:29.900 July. My question is, had you heard it? Yeah, I've heard it just like on, I think,

00:05:35.480 Instagram. I've heard it on radio, like in Ubers and in supermarkets and stuff.

00:05:41.880 I listened to it on YouTube before this and he had 22 million listens in the space of a few months

00:05:47.700 and I was kind of happy I was like I don't think I've heard this or it just sounds like really

00:05:52.600 crappy like almost like copyright free music so it didn't even faze me. Yes but the scary thing is

00:05:58.020 when I first heard it I didn't think it was AI. Well you don't think this I'm scared Jazz that

00:06:02.800 some of the playlists I might listen to will have tracks of like AI fed in and I don't know

00:06:08.380 i'm nervous does spotify not tell you though if something's ai generated i don't know i have a

00:06:15.000 funny story about this tell me i don't know if this is mean i was on a plane and um a few months

00:06:22.360 ago and there was a man next to me watching the same ai generated music video over and over and

00:06:29.520 over and you could straight away tell it was ai and he was like crying over it yeah like obviously

00:06:37.140 it was like a touching subject or something but he watched it like three or four times and I was

00:06:42.680 like wow people not in like a judging way but I was like wow people are actually engaging with this

00:06:50.200 AI music and content and YouTube because for me I think that it's not real it's not real so like

00:06:57.160 like a robot essentially made it so why are you affected by that art yeah I know famously my

00:07:06.500 parents listen to ai music on youtube so and even when i told them they didn't care like they were

00:07:11.900 a bit shocked that was ai because like it wasn't overly obvious i would say like not as producers

00:07:17.260 something like this it was more like country vibes i don't know but then ultimately they

00:07:21.900 didn't care because they're like oh but i like the music yeah in this josh for was um example

00:07:26.880 he eventually admitted that he used ai as a tool and like on on you're right on spotify the track

00:07:33.320 listing does say that the vocals and drums were ai generated which is like a big part of the music

00:07:38.840 you know like oh just the drums and vocals so the good news is that the australian recording

00:07:44.680 industry association or the aria says that holy ai generator tracks will not be eligible for the

00:07:50.980 aria charts although recordings using ai in a supporting role will remain eligible i'm keen

00:07:57.540 to see how this plays out but the truth is I think almost every AI generated thing requires

00:08:03.960 human touch right to someone to prompt it so I think people might get away with loopholes but

00:08:08.800 who knows I'm just so glad that they're making a stand about this yeah I just wonder if like

00:08:15.040 people had the same conversation when auto-tune came in and we're kind of being a bit you know

00:08:21.020 like Luddites about it because it's like well you could say that was an argument I read on a comment

00:08:25.960 well you know so many for decades music's been made with computers and programs you know would

00:08:32.680 you say that like the auto-tune on something is you know shouldn't be eligible in my opinion it's

00:08:40.020 different but I wonder if in like 10-20 years these conversations will seem so dated because

00:08:46.180 it's like well that's just how you make music in the same way that we think about auto-tune now

00:08:49.460 that's a good point in other popcorn news Brisbane City Council shout out Queensland again

00:08:55.140 is banning the use of smart glasses to film in public pools this understandably to our knowledge

00:09:01.980 is the first kind of instance of banning of smart like glasses to some extent in Australia so far

00:09:10.020 so again this is good news guys and this comes after Kmart's own brand Anko was selling these

00:09:16.140 smart glasses themselves like a dupe of it I'm proud of Australia for these types of things I've

00:09:21.780 seen on twitter as well like a few new of these like news headlines coming in and from around the

00:09:26.980 world people being like oh like everyone should around the world should be doing this so i don't

00:09:32.380 think australia is perfect by any means we're still building data centers at an incredible rate

00:09:36.900 but it's cool to see like certain things are coming into effect and australia is kind of

00:09:42.800 leading the charge on that totally let me give you some more background on this new rule because like

00:09:47.980 it is great but let me just tell you the details so for instance the council announced a blanket

00:09:54.020 ban on the non-consensual use of all camera technology devices so that includes wearable

00:09:59.780 tech but also your phones and like action cameras and under the new conditions of entry people will

00:10:06.200 be able to still bring in their smart glasses but they just can't film without permission so I'm

00:10:12.080 like with permission they can still film and under Queensland law it is actually legal to film people

00:10:17.400 in public areas, even without their knowledge or consent.

00:10:20.960 I thought that was legal across the whole country though.

00:10:22.860 Well, each state and territory differs on their laws

00:10:25.580 and like they all change slightly.

00:10:27.580 The council's new rules will allow its lifeguards

00:10:30.020 to eject pool visitors who film without their permission as well. 0.76

00:10:34.840 So that's good news.

00:10:36.060 I just think don't film at pools, especially.

00:10:39.160 Yeah, I think that's a blanket rule.

00:10:41.560 I feel like people shouldn't be filming

00:10:43.060 or taking like documenting things in public pools.

00:10:46.760 and I do think of course public pools pretty vulnerable you have like small children running

00:10:53.040 around people like less clothed but this should apply to so many other spaces and I do hope that

00:10:59.660 will happen it's time for culture shock and this week we are talking about amazon burning rare

00:11:15.600 books. This story reads like a cartoon villain story. That is the energy it is giving. We've

00:11:23.960 had a few stories about this come out this year, but I really wanted to talk about this particular

00:11:29.300 story that was brought to light by independent media company 404 Media. They undertook this

00:11:35.140 investigation and I think it's just really bloody cool to see independent media do things like this.

00:11:40.140 they actually placed an air tag in a shipment of rare books that they believed was going to

00:11:45.720 be sent to an Amazon warehouse. And they were right. Interestingly, rare booksellers were

00:11:50.840 noticing an increase in sales. So these were sales of random books and bulk orders. And it turns out

00:11:57.060 that they were all being shipped to Amazon. Apparently this isn't new. Other AI companies

00:12:02.000 have been practicing destructive scanning to train the large language models for the past two years.

00:12:08.680 in the 404 media reporting, they found out that this arm of the business is called VGT3. And the

00:12:17.160 logo, again, super villain-like. It's literally of this cartoon dinosaur brandishing its teeth,

00:12:24.060 and it's got a book in its hand. And here, this is the thing. Amazon workers at this location,

00:12:32.000 they were admitting to receiving large shipments of books. And then they actually cut off the

00:12:37.700 bindings in order to scan the books more quickly. And then of course, the printed book is destroyed

00:12:42.500 in that process. So yes, very much destructive scanning. It's kind of ironic that Amazon is

00:12:50.120 doing this because they began as a book selling company in the 90s. One of the biggest stories

00:12:56.220 that came out early this year in this realm was about Anthropic. And they actually called it

00:13:01.000 Project Panama and they actually got taken to court around this. And it's actually amazing

00:13:05.400 because just last month they were in court and it started back in 2024, this court case,

00:13:10.780 when a group of authors sued them for how Claude's training data was being assembled.

00:13:16.000 And Anthropic actually had to pay $1.5 billion in copyright settlement, which is actually the

00:13:20.520 largest class action copyright payout in US history. So the authors won that case. But they

00:13:26.320 called it Project Panama because, quote, when they asked, why use a code name? Because we don't want

00:13:33.320 it to be known that we are working on this so it's like a top secret project oh my god it's gross

00:13:38.380 it's so villain like apparently they did it as well because obviously older books provide more

00:13:44.400 well-written edited research copy than blogs on the internet and reddit threads and i think it's

00:13:50.620 also ironic that ai companies like this are creating like dead internet theory and and

00:13:57.440 shitification which we talked about with cory doctorow where they're kind of cannibalizing

00:14:01.080 themselves so they're just taking from blogs but then it's like creating worse and worse content

00:14:06.500 and they have to go back to the old books but then they're destroying it and this is all you know

00:14:11.520 sound a bit conspiracy theorist but you know it's part of why people are saying that they

00:14:17.920 are trying to sell intelligence back to people such a great point and that reminds me of the

00:14:23.640 Guardian article I've read it's called why is anthropic destroying books that was written by

00:14:29.080 Catherine James who is a rare books librarian. In it she quotes Judge William Alsop who says

00:14:35.740 for centuries we have read and re-read books. We have admired, memorized and internalized their

00:14:41.660 sweeping themes, their substantive points and the stylistic solutions to recurring writing

00:14:46.680 problems. Catherine writes we should worry that Anthropic decided it was easier to scan and

00:14:51.960 destroy physical books than to deal with a legal practice business slog. But perhaps the most

00:14:57.200 telling aspect of this case is that it was so important to Anthropic to have access to a

00:15:01.800 data set of complex, long-form, uncorrupted text. Have you noticed an uptick in fashion content

00:15:18.880 that is based around the Dolomites? Yeah, and hiking, but mostly the Dolomites.

00:15:24.300 And guys, to be honest, Dolomites were ages.

00:15:27.020 That just reminded me of the Commonwealth Bank kids banking system

00:15:31.560 that they had when I was a child.

00:15:34.180 But we are not talking about that.

00:15:35.180 We are talking about the Italian hiking.

00:15:37.720 Mountains.

00:15:38.280 Mountains.

00:15:40.440 So you feel me sweating there?

00:15:42.800 Yes, it seems that everyone is going to the Dolomites

00:15:45.280 and not just going there hiking on a holiday,

00:15:47.440 but also uploading content whilst hiking.

00:15:50.940 there's a specific type of fashion tiktok girly who is not just heading here but yeah posting the

00:15:58.680 content and they all have a very similar style and look and it's kind of become like the hot

00:16:05.560 thing on tiktok and instagram to i guess curate these outfits for hiking the mountains totally

00:16:12.860 and we're seeing girls in kind of like sometimes gulp corey outfits so a little bit more like

00:16:19.120 functional think like patagonia or mac pack i don't know those brands but also a lot of like 0.89

00:16:25.980 kind of girly kind of takes on hiking gear maybe they're wearing like fun pattern bandannas

00:16:31.420 mini short like hiking mini shorts yeah the cool sunglasses yes and there was a great tiktok by

00:16:38.740 creator evan moore who actually criticized the need to look stylish all the time i feel like

00:16:44.720 I'm kind of in mixed minds about this before we get into their video because it's like why not

00:16:50.400 align your personal style with what you're doing and I guess that is like one argument like why not

00:16:56.120 feel good quote unquote or like feel like you're looking good but then the other argument that

00:17:01.960 this creator brings up is like but why do we have to all the bloody time shall I play a clip let's

00:17:08.040 play the clip I don't think there's something objectively wrong with wanting to look cute and

00:17:12.280 wanting to look nice like it's something that i like to do from time to time but i just find the

00:17:18.420 rise of talking about hiking gear in terms of fashion and in terms of this is what the cute

00:17:25.240 girls are wearing to the dolomites this is what hot girls wear into the dolomites here are my like

00:17:28.800 cute hiking fits this is proof that like hiking gear doesn't have to be ugly 0.78

00:17:32.800 why can't hiking gear be ugly and why can't i as an extension of that be ugly when i hike i can

00:17:41.620 already see the Instagram comments. It's like, let women do what they want. Let women be creative 1.00

00:17:45.600 in the ways that they want. Let them express themselves in the way that they want. And those 1.00

00:17:49.860 are all true and valid as Evermore says in the TikTok. But I do think it's really interesting

00:17:56.020 that the one place which is touching grass in nature that we're meant to be, you know,

00:18:02.560 not thinking about how we look on a camera or being perceived or dressing a certain way,

00:18:07.520 like hiking gear is meant to be functional that it's become another space to like flex on people

00:18:14.040 or to show off a certain style you have or just the way of clothes in the way that you feel good

00:18:19.660 but you're kind of contributing to the culture of this style must be performed um and also shown off

00:18:27.180 to the camera the inspired unemployed actually made a sketch about this i was going to talk about

00:18:32.460 this so if you don't know the inspired unemployed boys uh australian comedians essentially content

00:18:37.860 creators and they did a video one of them was like wearing a bloomers and had like an annoying voice

00:18:43.480 yeah um so i assume they were pretending to be a woman um but they're like hi guys this is what

00:18:49.380 i'm wearing hiking kind of thing and it did really read like you're just mocking women and that's

00:18:54.120 the top comments were all like that be like oh cool let's make fun of let's find the girl who

00:18:58.360 put herself out there creatively but that's been their shtick for like years like I remember like 0.80

00:19:03.240 four years ago the towel on the head like they kind of started that towel on the head as a woman 0.71

00:19:07.740 making comedy sketches you know on tradie sites but one of them Jack I think is meant to be like

00:19:15.120 the boyfriend right so because I have seen couples content as well true and this is the thing like

00:19:20.820 I want to critique kind of this like hiking fashion content but I don't want to be into

00:19:25.100 this territory where it just literally feels misogynistic you know and I don't think we are

00:19:29.920 and I think your points there are so right about making it so focused on the visuals of hiking

00:19:36.180 this actually reminded me of a conversation we had with an upcoming interviewee you guys will

00:19:41.260 love this conversation but I won't spoil it the conversation we had was around how limited our

00:19:47.780 sensory kind of capacity is uh when we're so obsessed with our phones and i want to bring

00:19:56.220 it to this conversation because when we're so focused on what we're wearing hiking we're

00:20:01.020 literally just like honing in on our visual like our visuals of our body yeah how we're being

00:20:06.280 perceived yeah but hiking so much more than that it's about the senses it's about hearing your

00:20:11.180 surroundings it's about like like touching the feel of what's found you and when we kind of

00:20:16.220 reduce the conversation to what we're wearing we're missing so much of it totally i went hiking

00:20:21.460 in scotland early 2024 just after new year and it was one of the best experiences of my life but i

00:20:26.900 did not like look objectively good but it was winter in scotland like i had to wear like three

00:20:32.620 layers have all the right protective gear have the poles that like you know traditionally like

00:20:37.420 older people would use we i took some photos on the mountain but at no point was i like oh i'm

00:20:42.900 gonna like like quick get a like fit check of me and I know that's not my shtick anyway um but

00:20:47.700 sometimes I feel really overwhelmed with even when we go on holiday like we are going on a trip this

00:20:52.600 weekend and the thought of like oh I should like pack some you know summery clothes okay what am I

00:20:59.000 wearing what am I trying to give I get so overwhelmed that I end up just like wearing

00:21:02.520 clothes that I'm like whatever like my normal clothes and then not taking photos and content

00:21:06.620 and then being like oh I didn't take enough photos and content on this trip have I not wasted it

00:21:11.100 because I had fun but I feel like oh I could do better and it's like the shame thing and I just

00:21:17.040 think people probably listening like you guys need to log off and touch the grass but now we can't

00:21:22.600 even touch the grass because it's being infiltrated by the hiking fashion girlies who look amazing

00:21:29.080 I love this for them but it's it adds to that pressure of performing as women oh god you're

00:21:34.900 reading my mind this was literally me this week right so I had a cute outfit I wore it to work

00:21:39.720 I sometimes will take like outfit videos at work and I didn't this week right I come home and I'm

00:21:44.720 like to Tom I'm like this outfit didn't get enough eyeballs today because I didn't like take any

00:21:51.280 content in it and he's like oh do you like wear it again tonight and I was just like I had to

00:21:55.400 check myself because I was like hang on like I went to work my my co-worker saw it I was in public

00:22:00.780 like it's fine like who am I performing for and it was a good check so actually recently I'm trying

00:22:05.980 to challenge myself like put on a cute fit but don't document it and it's fine you know oh sorry

00:22:11.220 that's so funny that you call that challenge hashtag challenge influencer brain you know it

00:22:17.400 thanks to this episode sponsor pandora we're getting a bit astrological today which feels

00:22:32.920 very appropriate because the Pandora Zodiac Talisman Collection is all about celebrating

00:22:37.940 your star sign and the little traits that make you, you. Pandora have launched a new Zodiac

00:22:43.300 inspired chapter of the Talisman Collection. If you are watching this video on Spotify or YouTube,

00:22:48.420 you will see that we are blinged out in the collection as well. The new collection is all

00:22:53.980 about identity, individuality and self-expression with Zodiac medallions designed to capture the

00:22:59.700 distinct character of each star sign alongside pieces inspired by the four elements air earth

00:23:06.000 water and fire yeah the whole idea behind the collection is that these pieces can be stacked

00:23:10.700 and layered together there's mixed metals as well and it's not just about your sun sign it is about

00:23:17.660 your rising and your moon as well yes you can collect the jewelry to represent different parts

00:23:23.020 of your identity, which got us thinking about our three star signs, not just the sun sign.

00:23:28.940 So I am your resident Pisces and Jazz, you are obviously a Gemini.

00:23:34.760 Obviously. But hey, a mark of a true friendship is getting deeper than that

00:23:39.820 and knowing each other's moons and rising signs as well.

00:23:43.180 When we were talking about this, I knew that you were a double Pisces,

00:23:46.160 but I couldn't remember the third.

00:23:48.120 Hey, and that's fine. And don't test me right now.

00:23:51.480 I wonder what I am.

00:23:52.140 yeah but let's do a little astrology test we've got some some typical traits associated with our

00:23:58.800 signs of Pisces and Gemini I've hidden the answers for myself I'm going to raise them out and we have

00:24:04.100 to decide who is who okay changes their mind regularly because a new option suddenly sounds

00:24:09.840 more exciting I would say jazz who could that be it's jazz isn't it yeah so Gemini okay perfect

00:24:18.140 next feels things very deeply Pisces I don't know you said feels thing and I was like Pisces

00:24:24.740 yes Pisces famously a water sign famously very in tune with emotions watery this one I'm curious

00:24:33.040 about sensitive even if they don't always show it straight away so I feel like Pisces will show it

00:24:39.540 yeah away Gemini do you feel sensitive I think less so I think we're talking sensitivity straight

00:24:46.680 away i'd go to pisces let's say pisces curious about everything and always wants to know more

00:24:52.980 gemini i feel like that's a gemini trait isn't it yeah gemini is ruled by mercury which is a

00:24:59.260 planet of communication so you'll often find people who work in comms are gemini's fun facts

00:25:04.560 lucky last because again this one i think it's a mix of our personalities but there's a lineup

00:25:10.040 with our horoscopes adaptable can walk into pretty much any room and match the energy

00:25:15.060 yeah both of us can do that but i would say that's gemini gemini yeah that's the thing with

00:25:22.740 gemini is we get told that we are two-faced because we're the sign of the twins but actually

00:25:26.820 it's more about like being a chameleon and like i can adapt to whoever i'm talking to which is a

00:25:32.540 good skill i think so let's get into our big three can you divulge and tell me yours because i should

00:25:38.100 know but i've forgotten so obviously your sun sign is gemini my moon is capricorn which is earth

00:25:45.000 and my rising is Scorpio. Can you give us a quick refresher as a resident

00:25:49.560 woo-woo girl in our team the difference between your rising and your moon? Yeah so your sun which 0.96

00:25:55.680 most people associate with is your core identity your ego and yeah what you might relate to the

00:26:01.420 most but then your moon sign is actually your emotional inner world and your private self so

00:26:07.840 who you might be when no one is looking so my moon sign is a Capricorn which is earth so it's

00:26:14.500 weird because i feel like i am like airy like so many ideas so many people social butterfly but i

00:26:19.880 can be like very introspective and earth signs are more about stability so i actually saw an

00:26:25.140 astrologer once and she was like wow okay so you've got your moon is in capricorn and your

00:26:29.460 sun is in gemini so that means like your life's kind of mission or or challenge is balancing like

00:26:36.020 being airy and like wanting to go out and about see the whole world and earth wanting to like

00:26:40.020 build stability and honestly it's so true like always have that push and pull of like no I need

00:26:45.100 to like you know be sensible and be stable but no like the world is so big and it's just constant

00:26:50.260 so that's moon well my moon is Taurus and you saying that really checks out too because that's

00:26:56.020 an earth sign it's actually quite stubborn likes things the way that they are and is very much like

00:27:02.240 a creature comfort person so wait that really checks out I would say that you're a Taurus more

00:27:06.740 than a Pisces. Wow. Yeah. I kind of feel that. Okay. And then quickly to end on, we also are

00:27:12.140 talking about rising. What's that again? So rising is your outward persona and first impression.

00:27:17.520 So mine is a Scorpio. Love that. That is a controversial one. And mine is Pisces. So a

00:27:23.580 double Pisces in my chart. So I am wearing the collection with the three talismans of mine. So

00:27:29.880 I've got the Scorpio, the Capricorn, and the Gemini is the biggest one with the sun. There's

00:27:35.840 some beautiful like non-specific star sign pieces as well like I love this butterfly piece that I

00:27:41.000 have on and there's just like general astro ones as well it's such a gorgeous collection I feel

00:27:45.860 quite like in tuned and in touch with myself wearing it the new zodiac inspired pandora

00:27:50.760 talisman collection launches august 27 and is available in pandora stores and online thank you

00:27:56.560 to pandora for sponsoring culture club and for giving us a very valid reason to deep dive our

00:28:01.280 astrology. Maggie, you were over in Copenhagen recently for Fashion Week and I have to ask,

00:28:16.980 did you see an abundance of baby bumps out and about? I totally did. I saw headlines even saying

00:28:23.900 that they were the accessory of the season, which we'll get into, but over on street style,

00:28:29.360 so the attendees but also runway models I saw quite a few pregnant people really yeah that's

00:28:35.920 cool the models as well happens a bit in Australian fashion weeks as well but I like I would say this

00:28:41.060 was like the most baby bumps I saw during a fashion week as you said according to Vogue Adria which is

00:28:47.440 the Vogue that serves the five countries in the Adriatic region maternity style took center stage

00:28:52.060 at Copenhagen fashion week writer Sonia Najavich stated Copenhagen's trendsetters prove maternity

00:28:58.460 style can be every bit as chic as it is practical. It's interesting that they word it as maternity

00:29:03.520 style and I guess to some extent it is because someone is pregnant but it doesn't read necessarily

00:29:10.140 as like maternity style. I feel like it was more fashion trends translated for someone who's

00:29:15.280 pregnant. Yeah and that's what Sonia notes in the piece. She says an unbuttoned oversized shirt is

00:29:21.000 the first choice for many as it is a comfortable piece that can be worn both during and after

00:29:25.320 pregnancy some trendsetters went a step further decorating their bellies with rhinestones

00:29:30.120 as for footwear ballet flats took center stage offering a comfortable flat style that works for 0.66

00:29:35.920 everyone and there were also plenty of platform styles with chunky heels to provide stability as

00:29:41.500 well i want to ask you as well like this is good right because it means people aren't well i know

00:29:46.340 this is such a small subset of the population but it means that people aren't buying like a whole

00:29:52.480 new wardrobe for when they're pregnant people like it's kind of cool at the moment to make the

00:29:58.420 clothes you're already wearing into maternity clothes which I almost feel like it's a little

00:30:02.580 bit becoming a bit of a not a status symbol but it's like a oh I don't I don't buy any maternity

00:30:07.620 leggings I'm just wearing these jeans I've just sized up and I've seen a lot on social media

00:30:11.960 I don't think it's a shame thing but it feels almost like a badge of honor to be like oh I

00:30:17.340 don't I don't buy maternity dresses well there's something like uncool about maternity focused

00:30:24.380 labels I think at least traditionally right I literally don't know about I'm sure there's so

00:30:28.640 many cool ones but I think the stigma of like having to buy specific clothes for your pregnancy

00:30:33.360 I think you're right it is almost like a badge of honor being like oh yeah I like to some extent

00:30:37.960 it's like I still fit my clothes or like I still wear normal clothes I digress though there was

00:30:44.720 another article this was actually by fashionista that copped heat did you see this their headline

00:30:51.140 was the trad wife aesthetic has reached copenhagen street style i did see it i thought it was

00:30:56.760 interesting that i think it was almost about rage baby because it's like trad wife aesthetic

00:31:01.380 but then the clothes that they're referencing are headscarves bloomers aprons prairie dresses and 0.73

00:31:08.120 baby bumps yeah which feels almost like yesteryear core of what a trad wife is sorry yesteryear the

00:31:14.260 book by Cara Claire Burke but that's not what I think of when I think of trad wife now wait what

00:31:19.800 do you think of I think of like Nara Smith almost girl boss trad wife does that is that weird because

00:31:26.560 it's almost like two competing ideas but it's like maybe like a wag in Australia someone who

00:31:32.860 is really polished really put together has like veneers always has beautiful makeup on um doesn't

00:31:40.720 even look like that you know maybe they've had they could not have had children um to me that's

00:31:47.240 what like the modern trad wife is no i actually see that i agree i see i see both sides um and

00:31:53.340 in this article i think they're definitely playing on like the more like traditional

00:31:57.420 quite like retro approach of trad wifedom interestingly enough uh there's this 1.00

00:32:03.300 incredible australian uk creator we like um her name's allison hope marie and she was wearing a

00:32:09.160 Variety Hour set which is a Melbourne brand and she was like on the cover image and she was not

00:32:14.180 happy with that because freaking fair enough imagine because I was wearing bandanas I love

00:32:18.080 a bloomer like what if I was in that shot you know what I mean like you wouldn't feel great

00:32:22.840 oh I didn't even notice that Alison was in the the header I have a take right because I don't

00:32:29.800 agree with the fashionista's headline and I think it is very much rage baby but I don't think it's

00:32:35.180 coincidence that we were seeing so many more baby bumps and like they were so celebrated

00:32:40.880 and they were quite like the focus of a lot of the street style conversation at the same time

00:32:46.880 where trad wife ideals are on the rise and women are even more so at this time like being celebrated

00:32:55.680 is maybe a word for having children I know you know we have massive conversations about around

00:33:01.660 declining birth rates but at the same time especially conservative media is like pushing

00:33:06.280 this kind of life trajectory again on women like we've seen this before and I just think

00:33:13.520 I'm not like it's a tricky conversation to to talk about because I'm not saying that these

00:33:19.780 women are trending or they're doing something to be part of a trend but I don't think it's like

00:33:25.120 a mistake that we are seeing like a collective praising of this yeah I think to do this segment

00:33:32.420 justice we would need to have a mother on the podcast we like very much recognize that you and

00:33:38.420 I are childless women but I think using Copenhagen Fashion Week as an example is interesting because

00:33:43.780 these women to be a Copenhagen Fashion Week you have to have you know a level of success you have 1.00

00:33:49.600 to have worked certain point I think a lot of the women referencing these street style pics are

00:33:54.240 probably in their like mid 30s which is later to have children compared to what conservative media 0.94

00:33:59.360 is you know wanting that's like you know you get locked down at 21 and you like your purpose in 0.83

00:34:06.240 life is to be a mother I think it's cool that these women are having children and having careers

00:34:12.200 totally totally and of course this isn't the first time we've seen like

00:34:16.340 bumps trending essentially in fashion I think of Brianna as probably like the biggest kind of

00:34:22.560 advocate in the space like she did a lot for for maternity fashion for for having a bump out as

00:34:29.560 well in july of 2024 the writer ellie violet bramley wrote for the guardian bearing the bump

00:34:35.480 how celebrities are leading a shift in maternity fashion ellie references rihanna's chat with the

00:34:41.100 now head of british vogue choma nadi who said at the time i'm hoping that we were able to redefine

00:34:47.680 what's considered decent for pregnant women my body is doing incredible things right now and i'm

00:34:52.440 not going to be ashamed of that this time should feel celebratory because why should you be hiding

00:34:56.780 your pregnancy and this is something that we've seen even locally i know the kick founder laura

00:35:02.240 henshaw and australian model olivia molly rogers they both recently had babies and they were kind

00:35:09.560 of called out by their followers on social media for you know accessorizing using the bump as an

00:35:16.340 accessory or wearing shirts with the bump like fully out and both of them clap back at those

00:35:20.960 essentially trolls being like why should I hide this like massive thing that my body is going

00:35:26.180 through totally and you're right I think that's something maybe I missed in our earlier conversation

00:35:31.080 because obviously we've grown up progressively I'm like hell yeah like rock your pregnant belly I

00:35:36.120 don't see any qualms with that and then I just had to check myself I'm like of course there are

00:35:40.540 people who are like offended by that or think it should be secretive so actually it's quite

00:35:45.260 an incredible uh i guess act of defiance in some ways to be honest especially women always told to

00:35:52.260 like cover up show less of yourself this is in um it's in opposition to that and that stigma

00:35:59.000 actually stems from the victorian era where pregnant women were wore maternity corsets oh

00:36:04.900 can't even imagine and that was intended to like restrict and minimize the appearance of a baby

00:36:10.520 bump because obviously what do you have to do to get a baby bump what is victorian era known for

00:36:15.120 being you know very uh repressed and we're still feeling the artifacts of that but in a whole

00:36:21.360 different like avenue of bumps and social media we read a great article this week by the australian

00:36:28.260 writer madison griffith for marie claire the headline is inside the unregulated world of

00:36:33.540 pregnancy influences when an influencer falls pregnant brands see her as a walking billboard 0.97

00:36:38.600 for some near harmless some questionable and some outright dangerous products not to get like ahead 0.99

00:36:44.700 of this article as well. I think we all know that mothers are such a lucrative industry. They spend 1.00

00:36:50.540 a lot of money and a lot of businesses market to them. And of course, that starts early when

00:36:56.460 someone's pregnant. So let's dive into the piece. Madison begins the article with the rise of the 0.97

00:37:01.200 boutique ultrasound clinic, which I did not even know existed. They're known as souvenir clinics

00:37:07.500 and pregnant women can get to see their unborn child as many times as they want instead of the

00:37:12.480 standard once a trimester you know health checkup the Australian Sonographers Association are wary

00:37:19.000 of these businesses and in the article they warn people that they shouldn't be used for pregnancy

00:37:23.760 care but that's why they're called souvenir clinics so it's kind of a murky territory

00:37:27.720 where these clinics you know yes they're taking money but they are giving these women something

00:37:33.760 they're giving them like a teddy bear with the sound of the child's heartbeat or photos or

00:37:38.060 actually a chance to like gender reveal and the lights turn pink or turn blue and it's all very

00:37:42.740 like you know it's made for performing on social media or people's memories but most likely they're

00:37:48.680 probably going to post on social media well the asa attribute the rise of these clinics to social

00:37:53.700 media and influencer marketing and a broader shift towards consumer-led wellness culture

00:37:59.140 health care like blurring of the lines and madison writes on instagram and tiktok influences or

00:38:05.720 or bumfluencers rather, have laid claim to pregnancy. 1.00

00:38:09.500 In short clips, they lather their bellies with firming oils, 1.00

00:38:12.860 recommend chic maternity bras,

00:38:14.780 tag their obstetricians in their pregnancy announcements

00:38:17.380 and make reels of their fertility journey.

00:38:19.840 Madison was kind enough to read some of her article out for us. 0.63

00:38:24.220 Here's Madison in her own words. 0.83

00:38:25.720 On Instagram, pregnancy doesn't look half bad. 1.00

00:38:28.920 Draped in dappled light, pregnant influencers swear by cult companies 1.00

00:38:32.620 prettily packaged firming oils and lotions. 1.00

00:38:35.720 as they massage them into their luminous bellies.

00:38:38.860 Some popular brands admit to reaching out to influencers

00:38:41.460 when they spot a pregnancy announcement

00:38:43.120 in the hopes that they'll share their products.

00:38:45.940 Despite limited scientific evidence that stretch marks

00:38:48.640 and other dermatological markers of pregnancy

00:38:50.720 can be remedied with serums and creams,

00:38:53.860 some firming oils and lotions,

00:38:55.980 explicitly advertised to pregnant and postpartum consumers,

00:38:59.560 sell out time and time again. 0.97

00:39:01.840 Maternal anxiety is, after all, a reliable cash cow.

00:39:05.720 It prompts expectant mothers to comb through social media ads with momentous urgency.

00:39:11.900 Amid pregnancy-related fear-mongering and conflicting advice, they are greeted by the

00:39:17.020 sweet grins and smooth bellies of bumfluencers, who promise them a pastoral snapshot of what's 0.85

00:39:22.900 to come.

00:39:23.940 At once, the body's greatest metamorphosis is neatly flattened to fit within a vertical

00:39:29.160 aspect ratio.

00:39:30.580 The article also talks about the algorithm's influence on pregnant women and mothers and says

00:39:36.440 that the platforms are able to track more than like shares and reposts, but they can actually

00:39:41.020 track a dwell time on a post. So that's the time spent like lingering on a post and then give more

00:39:47.700 of the same. I think the algorithm is so freaking powerful. It's scary. Like you look at one thing

00:39:54.100 like a little bit long and then it's like, oh, you want five of that? Here you go.

00:39:57.400 yeah it's very insidious it just wants you to keep staying on the platforms I want to ask as

00:40:04.380 someone who's nowhere near thinking about children is your algorithm showing you a lot of like

00:40:08.860 motherhood or bump fluences lately no not much I feel like it's people I follow so a lot of people

00:40:15.100 are falling pregnant or having kids so I see a lot of that but not really on the algorithm side

00:40:20.140 of things what about you your eyes just widened no mine really is and I don't know if it's because

00:40:26.040 i'm like oh sweet they're having a baby and so then i click in but i'm getting served like

00:40:30.340 pregnancy announcements and tragically a lot of like miscarriage or stillborn content from people

00:40:36.760 i don't follow and i'm like oh no like someone's going through this i must follow them and i click

00:40:40.360 through to you know both accounts because usually it's like a collab post with like the partner and

00:40:45.440 i don't follow either of them so the algorithm it's most of the time it's like an australian

00:40:49.720 woman who probably has like 20 000 followers um i don't know you know for various reasons maybe

00:40:55.640 business owners or influencers and they're going through this tragic thing and the algorithm is

00:41:00.440 like pushing it out but i'm like why am i seeing this like i don't follow them but then is that

00:41:05.920 you know it might maybe it's like i have a you know when i stop and i'm like oh crap someone i

00:41:10.960 potentially know is going through this because i stop and be like who is this the algorithm thinks

00:41:14.920 i'm like interested you know i'm more interested in it well social media rewards like the best

00:41:20.320 times in your life and your what and the worst times in your life so i assume in like a terrible

00:41:25.140 very um clinical sense of the word it's like it's these are high engagement posts that's why it's

00:41:32.580 being pushed out to a wider audience i think it's fascinating to wonder how algorithms and social

00:41:38.060 media are swaying our life decisions because you know getting given anti or pro motherhood content

00:41:44.360 and being influenced on like which products to buy or where to get your ultrasound

00:41:48.780 is impacting so many people's lives

00:41:51.720 now it's time for bookmarked where we share a recommendation from the week of something that

00:42:05.520 we have loved jazz what do you have i am recommending the movie rose of nevada which

00:42:11.380 i saw at the melbourne international film festival last week i was hesitant to recommend this because

00:42:16.560 it's not currently in like mainstream australian cinemas and i can't find it on any streaming

00:42:21.080 services so as soon as it is i will let you guys know but i just want to alert you to the movie

00:42:25.580 it's a 2025 british science fiction drama film and it was written edited composed and directed

00:42:31.780 by the same guy mark jenkin it stars george mckay and callum turner and it's a time loop

00:42:39.860 kind of mystery movie uh that tells the story of a fishing vessel named the rose of nevada

00:42:46.240 that was lost at sea 30 years ago but then it reappears in a fishing village and the two

00:42:52.460 characters are you know recruited to go out on a journey to and fish for this village in Cornwall

00:43:00.140 and when they come back not everything is as it seems this was actually Laurie's pick we went

00:43:06.860 through the myth program and you know we shared out our picks because marriage is all about

00:43:11.100 compromise and when I realized it was kind of like a almost thrill like the trailer kind of

00:43:15.500 scared me honestly but when i was watching it the film aspect of it was so beautiful the story was

00:43:21.500 really beautiful it actually has a lot of themes around um climate change the you know degradation

00:43:28.880 of cities and towns in the uk and how life is worse off due to like inflation recession and

00:43:36.500 these towns are essentially like dying that was a beautiful theme and mostly the theme of it all

00:43:41.560 was about time so i really recommended it it was a gripping watch slow to start at first i was like

00:43:49.720 why did laurie choose this one slow to start but then it hooks you during the time loop and you're

00:43:55.720 like how are they going to get out of this and in the meantime it is just beautiful to watch the

00:44:00.760 cinematography of it all like you said hooks you in like because it's about fishing and then the

00:44:06.040 other one was slow to start and it's about time sorry that was a really bad one that's why I

00:44:11.280 dropped it off and then you brought it back what is your recommendation this week I've got a sub

00:44:16.680 stack and it's actually probably my favorite one why is it written by like maybe a close middle-aged

00:44:22.360 Australian man right are you shocked I'm kind of shocked by that sorry you know what I mean like

00:44:28.660 you think it's like a fashion or like a lifestyle culture but this is called nervous laughter and

00:44:33.620 it is written by rick morton rick morton is an incredible australian author and journalist he

00:44:39.260 has written four non-fiction books including the critically acclaimed bestseller called 100 years

00:44:44.960 of dirt he i think he's most known he's got he actually won two walkley awards for it for his

00:44:50.140 coverage of the robo debt royal commission oh yeah so yeah he's incredible very amazing but what i

00:44:57.240 love is his sub stack which is kind of like a diary confessional reflective I guess a documentation

00:45:04.320 of his life he until recently was living in Paris and I think he is just a fantastic storyteller he

00:45:12.280 like talks about his dating life he talks about like family things back home he's currently back

00:45:16.840 in Australia um and I am just so like compelled by his writing like I don't know that much about

00:45:23.660 his actual journalism work but it's like so you're half a stranger to me but I'm so invested in your

00:45:28.920 life um I got put on this by Tom's dad who loves Rick Morton so does Tom and yeah a very unexpected

00:45:36.020 uh Substack that I love it only launched like last year April or something and I've been subscribed

00:45:40.640 almost all that time and I really like it my gosh it's such a glowing review yeah I am craving like

00:45:48.120 well written like I know everyone's talking about Substack at the moment but I'm like reading a few

00:45:53.100 articles and i'm like okay this is nice but like i'm really craving that like deep uh type of

00:45:58.420 writing and i think madison's piece in mary claire did that and i'm just scanning rick's

00:46:03.960 substack right now and it seems the same so thank you for the recommendation of course and i just

00:46:09.840 realized that he has moved on to ghost which is um like a just a different version essentially

00:46:16.200 similar to substack but we will definitely link that properly below that brings us to the end of

00:46:20.860 the episode. Thank you so much for listening to Culture Club this week. It's been so much fun

00:46:25.200 being with you all. If you enjoyed this episode, maybe give us a little rate and review on Apple

00:46:29.500 or Spotify podcasts. And you can also follow our Substack and TikTok at the links below.

00:46:34.160 Thank you. Bye.

Culture Club - August 31, 2026

Are Baby Bumps An Accessory？ Plus, Dolomites Style & Amazon’s Book Shredding

Episode Stats

Transcript