Latest / Salon Gazette / The New Gilded Age: Fashion’s Excess and the New Age of Feminine Power

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The New Gilded Age: Fashion’s Excess and the New Age of Feminine Power · Salon Gazette

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Bienvenue au salon hosted by Sarah Maria.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's me.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, my darlings.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to the salon.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: So today I want to talk about a little bit of what's going on in my zeitgeist, as always, and what's on my mind lately is the social reckoning, the movie that's coming out October 8th.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: I am kind of super excited for that.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: In a really petty way, actually, because I think there's a lot of productive conversation and very interesting and fascinating conversation going on right now around a lot of things, child, around the ideas of AI, meta, social media, etc., how they are beholden to the public in terms of certain damages, especially towards children.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get into all of that.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how long they've been advertising that they're coming out.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: I can imagine, obviously, I know it takes a couple of years, maybe, or it takes a little while for directors and actors, especially on that scale, to make a movie to edit it and put out the final product, but it can take a couple of years.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm just wondering if they just kind of had this in their back pocket for a little bit, and then with everything going on with Mark Zuckerberg and Meta and the trial that just happened, if they were like, Okay, wow, this is now the perfect time to release this movie.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: I just think it's so crazy how directors and producers, etc., all the people that are involved in making a movie will have a topic or certain ideas they want to explore for a movie and they make it, and it happens all the time.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: There will just be something that happens in the zeitgeist, whether it's a pandemic, COVID, etc.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just like the perfect timing.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: I always found that to be it seems risky to me, but obviously they're professionals and they know what they're doing.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: But I think in the world of content creation and just social media, the public life in general, you start to think that like you have to make content that's relevant right now and release it immediately.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And if you kind of just at least that's how it feels for me.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: If you kind of have content sitting in your back pocket for I can't imagine, like a couple years, like I was gonna say a couple weeks to months, let alone a couple years, and it starts feeling like okay, I missed my chance, I missed my window, and and you can still post it, but it'll just be you just tend to feel like okay, I'm behind, but whatever, I'm just gonna do this anyways, and so I see it often, like it's so crazy to me, and just seems like such a blessing and such good luck to be working on something, and movies are not cheap to make, which is also something that's kind of crazy to me, but that's a different topic for another day.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, movies are not cheap to make, and so obviously, yes, they want to tell a story, but they also want to make a profit to a certain extent, so I just think it seems like there's a lot of risk involved in it, and of course, there's movies that have been released just not at the best time, which have hurt the chances of the movie making money and getting nominated for certain awards, etc.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: But I just think this is such a stroke of genius because well, first of all, I love the marketing around it, just like how cheeky and flip flippant it is towards like specifically when you're watching the trailer.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how many clips or trailers there are out there for this movie, but a couple of them I've seen, they'll say, like, Meta doesn't fact-check itself or it stopped fact-checking.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: So why should we?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that makes me think a little bit about if they're just gonna straight up lie and make up stories in the movie, which I don't know, I'm nosy.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking about are there lawsuits incoming?
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows what's going on?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: And first of all, or second of all, or third of all, whatever point we're on right now, Jeremy Strong playing Mark Zuckerberg is so perfect, like it's so good, you guys.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's so good.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, he's literally this is so dramatic.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say he's made for that role, as if it's like you know, he's portraying some giant in history or something like that.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's just Mark Zuckerberg, but it's such perfect casting, and I love Jeremy Strong.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: I first saw him in Succession, and I just love his performance.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: So when I saw that he was playing him, I'm like, oh my goodness, like this is literally gonna be perfect, and I need to watch this movie.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I also found out that Mikey Madison, so she's the girl who was the lead role in Honora, which won the Oscars a couple years back, and that was my first time, I think that was a lot of people's first time coming into contact with Mikey Madison, and I loved that movie.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Specifically, I loved her performance, and obviously, she got a lead actress.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, wait a minute, did Honora win?
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Anora won Best Picture that year.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what year it was, I think it was 2024, I'm pretty sure, or maybe 2025, either one of these years, but yeah, it won Best Picture as well as she won lead actress, like and she was in the running against Demi Moore for um what's that movie again?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: The Substance.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: But before I go down a whole rabbit hole, let me just get back to what I was talking about with the social reckoning.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really freaking excited, and again, I love how cheeky the advertising is, and I just think it's perfect because I've been wanting to talk a little bit about meta and the whole conversation right now around technological innovation, AI, etc.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so, okay, so if you guys are not familiar, which would be kind of hard to imagine, do you guys remember that movie, The Social Network?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think came out in 2010, which was played by Jesse, I don't remember his last name, I think it's Eisen something.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: He played Mark Zuckerberg, and it was like this whole phenomenon, like it was amazing, and people still talk about it to this day.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was a really good movie, so this is kind of like a follow-up to it.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's by the same, I'm not sure if it's the same writer or director.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's the same director, yeah.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: And now this is so basically this is based off of the Facebook files by a whistleblower named Frances Hogan or Hogan, I'm not sure how you say her last name, and that's who Mikey Madison is playing in the movie.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: And she was a whistleblower basically exposing Meta's algorithm and talking about teen mental health and social harms, and just basically just exposing how predatory and damaging a lot of meta's models around the algorithm and growth, and obviously making more money, and so that's what this movie is about.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I was saying that this is perfect timing, well, there's already a whole conversation I'm sure so many people know in the zeitgeist right now about just AI and just the dangers surrounding that, but specifically after this, the groundbreaking trial that just happened a couple months ago, maybe a couple weeks ago, honestly, with Meta being sued by over 20 states in their attorney generals.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: So a couple of states, I think it's like over 20 states in their attorney general came together to sue Meta over its blatant, just harmful product model, like especially regarding specifically regarding children, because they're minors and they won.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like it kind of went unnoticed a little bit in the zeitgeist.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, a lot of people are definitely talking about it, and I feel like it also went a little bit unnoticed.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: But the people who know know that this is just like so groundbreaking because we really are at the frontier of our relationship with social media and how they are regulated by the government and our laws in this country, and also how the world follows.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Europe definitely has a lot of laws surrounding just social media and access by children, and they just passed a bunch of laws banning kids under the age of 16, I believe, having social media, and there's like a bunch of fines that are in place if they find that social or yeah, social media networks are not following those rules and doing enough to make sure they're authenticating people's identities and making sure that people who are on there are not supposed to be on there, like specifically minors.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's honestly amazing.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, it's not the end-all be all, but I think it's fascinating because we are at the frontier of this conversation and our relationship with social media networks and how they serve us and we serve them as sleazy as that sounds, and just our relationship with them.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: I just think it's like because meta and social media and just the whole ultimate like groundbreaking technological innovation, like their business models are kind of sleazy right now.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like the bosses, it reminds me of the Gilded Age, those like huge business owners, like the men who forged the business landscape of America around the Gilded Age.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking about obviously Rockefeller, Carnegie, JP Morgan, all those people who were giants and like really owned monopolies at the time of their life, and it was like it was a frontier at that time because there weren't really any laws around trusts, and there weren't that many unions, and it wasn't as regulated, like it was just businessmen, and obviously it's I think it's amazing.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like these are smart people who are making amazing products that are benefited benefiting society, and they are making so much money from it, and that's amazing, like that's part of the American dream.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: But also, humans are humans, and obviously, to a certain extent, you have to kind of put a check on them because they probably most likely, definitely, have their own best interests at heart.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just so amazing and fascinating right now to find myself and to find ourselves really looking at the frontier that we're in right now.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of people who are talking about like when when the attorney generals, when the states they won that case that just happened literally a couple weeks ago, it's like it's super groundbreaking because now people are realizing, like, okay, we can follow the legal system and actually come together and push to hold these companies accountable for things that are blatantly predatory.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And like a lot of these conversations and these trials, we're finding out that like it's I mean, it's kind of like duh, like water is wet when you think about social media and the algorithm.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Which one of us can say that social media is not geared towards making you spend as much time on the app as possible?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, as an adult, it's your responsibility to watch out for yourself and to watch out for your children and to make sure that you're not allowing your time and your attention to be totally sucked up by social media, like developing an addiction.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't change the fact that the algorithm is doing this on purpose, you know what I'm saying?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's where the conversation gets tricky, especially when it when it regards minors and people who aren't aware, who don't have their frontal lobe fully developed, and who aren't aware of how this is impacting them, and kind of like the language around really giving consent to the harm that they're doing to themselves, you know what I'm saying?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Especially at a time when they're still growing, that these are their formative years, like this is impacting people as they get older, their mental health.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: We're hearing about this all the time, so it's just like groundbreaking, and it was such a moment of celebration in the zeitgeist.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, I don't want this to be like open season on social media and the people who work hard to I don't know, I know this sounds kind of contradictory.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't want to just make this, I don't want to just turn this into a witch hunt and hurting people where it's not necessary, where they didn't do anything wrong, where they're not accountable to be held responsible.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't want I don't want this to just be like we're blaming it all on social media without taking ownership and responsibility for our own actions, but it's also like yeah, we can't just in the name of innovation and the American dream and all of that, like we can't just let like if something is willfully harmful and they have like a monopoly over this, then we have to kind of like the conversation around AI and making sure that we don't want to just wipe the conversation of AI off the map and just trash the whole idea as a whole, but we do need to be having these productive and action-packed conversations around it.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, all of that to say is that the social reckoning, if you haven't seen the trailer, go watch that.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's coming out October 8th, and I'm excited, I'll be reporting back.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not, I don't know, I'm not necessarily like giddy about maybe the cinematic side of the movie.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: There's movies that you watch purely for entertainment and just seeing the art and like the skillful craftsmanship of the movie.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a little bit part of it, but mostly this is really about the story and how it's perfect for the zeitgeist right now and the conversations we're having around innovation and just meta and how sleazy its business model seems to be.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I feel obviously I don't know the man, but from what you can see from his public image and some of the things that he's talked about, and some of his ideologies, how he really I mean, a bunch of things, but like Mark Zuckerberg is kind of sleazy, and you can tell he very much so places a lot of value on just being bigger and bigger and bigger and growing, and there's nothing wrong with that, obviously, wanting to be forever or maybe not forever ambitious, wanting to keep growing, there's nothing wrong with that, but it's when you're already so huge and you have so much money and so much power that you want to keep growing at the expense of people's health and well-being, especially when children and minors come into it.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's not necessary, it really isn't, because you have so much money, more money than you can probably spend in your own lifetime.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so, why is it necessary to hurt other people in the process of growing?
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: You would think that at this point, obviously at the beginning, when your resources are limited, there's only so much that you can do to allot resources to make sure that your product is flawless because that takes it takes resources, it takes people working on that, and you have to pay those people.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I get that, but you'd think that once you get to a place where you have so much revenue and so many resources that you can now hire people to like clean things up, like okay, guys, now that we've made it to this point, how can we make it so that we make it safe for everyone or we keep we keep growing with safety in mind and for the betterment?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if a bunch of people are telling you, and I know they said that they've worked on that, but I I I call bullshit on it.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: I call bullshit.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're just saying what the public wants to hear, but really behind the scenes, this is what's happening, and this is why people like whistleblowers like this woman named or is it a man?
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a no no no no no, it's a woman because Mikey Madison is literally playing her, but it could be a man, but that's why these whistleblowers like Francis Hogan, they're important because like they keep telling you, they keep telling the public, oh yeah, we are we are dedicated to safety and taking accountability, like this this accord or this pact that all these AI tech bros just signed with Trump leading the way, talking about how this is a morally quote unquote morally binding pact to check themselves and make sure that they are voluntarily submitting themselves to an audit and all these things, and it's like okay, I guess I appreciate you breaching the conversation, but what what is morally binding?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Did you guys put your hands on a Bible and say we pinky pinky swear promise that we won't hurt you guys and that we'll make this as safe as possible?
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, are we supposed to believe that?
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: The likes of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, and I don't even think Sam Altman was there.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: I just think they're paying us lip service.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, Yeah, all these people are getting freaked out about our products, and Trump was just on the bandwagon of talking about no regulation for AI because he's paranoid that China is gonna take us.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: And and listen, like that might be a valid conversation, that that's a valid fear, because China is really does value innovation and upgrading and working on and furthering the abilities of AI, and that's also scary because humans are humans, and so there's agents of chaos out there, but just because people who are I I hesitate to call them rivals because I don't understand why they have to be.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if somebody makes themselves your enemy, then they're your enemy.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I understand, like, if there's potential enemies out there that are working on weapons that could wipe you out, that is something to be afraid of.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: But I've I have a hard time reconciliating with the idea that because they're doing it, we have to do it as well, or else we're gonna get left behind.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think human beings are not I think we see how human beings are so intelligent and the social structures we've built up through local societies, global societies, governments.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, they're not perfect, some of them are pretty downright horrendous, but there are glimmers of hope and beams of light out there.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that we are intelligent enough to have conversations around yes, prioritizing AI and seizing on this moment as a real moment of innovation and furthering our civilization as a whole, while also in the same breath, having conversations around how we can protect ourselves and put safeguards around that, like creating a country or a government, or I'm thinking about the constitution, and like yes, we're building up this whole institution as well as placing checks and balances so that because we know the nature of humanity and we know that people are gonna use these tools for harm.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of got lost in the rabbit hole, but I I kind of love it because this is what the movie was making me think about about this whole conversation around AI and these.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Tech bros who I mean they really they might say they do, but I'm just thinking about Elon Musk talking about move fast and break things and cutting things with chainsaws, talking about real human lives that are dependent on certain things.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm thinking about Mark Zuckerberg's streak and some of his ideologies, and he I mean I don't want to demonize a man for his beliefs and his ideologies, but I just wanted to comment.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: He has this affinity for Roman emperors, and that's kind of scary because yes, Roman emperors were extraordinary, like they were very powerful men, and they built just I'm trying to find the right word.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say amazing, but just impressive social structures as well as physical structures and whole empires, but these were also brutal tyrants, murderers, people who were misogynists and just absolutely ruthless.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Again, this is not to demonize him, it's just to recognize the balance in people's characters and how we all have darkness inside of us.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: And from what I can see from meta's streak in terms of social accountability, it's kind of dark.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking about meta glasses, just it all rubs me the wrong way.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's I don't trust it.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't trust Mark Zuckerberg, and it's it's too bad because we still use his products, like I'm still on Instagram, it's like a toxic relationship, but I feel like it doesn't have to be.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: I I will be the first to say, like, I love social media, I love what it's done for us as a society, the good of it, the the really good parts of it, but it also in the same breath is a cannibal, it eats us up alive, and we have to talk about that, we have to have real conversations about that, and I'm so excited for this movie.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: I will be reporting back, so messy, forever, a collective potster.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: So stay tuned.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like you guys should definitely go watch it and just stay abreast of the of the conversation happening in the zeitgeist right now around this whole thing, and uh so much technological advancement.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: I love it, it's just overwhelming, but I love it.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: So moving on to Fashion Man.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, fashion month is coming to an end.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: We're in October now, and Paris Fashion Week is still going on.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: I just saw that I think the Chanel show is happening today, or maybe it happened yesterday.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: The spring and summer collection by Mathieu Blasy.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder how you say his last name actually.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: I need to look that up, but that's exciting.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: I I didn't I don't really want to talk about like intricacies of fashion month and the different fashion cities.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: I also wanted to have I don't really know what the closure around this conversation is, but I just wanted to say how floored I am and overwhelmed by just how many brands, fashion brands, are on the schedule for all the fashion weeks.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was getting organized, and I was trying to see the collections for most of the uh not well known, but has a little bit more publicity.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: The the brands that are easy to find that are advertising themselves, and it's like, okay, here we are.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: We want you to look at our collection, and so come look at it.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been just trying to get organized about every fashion week, the cities.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: I've already told you guys the four cities, which are to drag your memory, it's New York, London, Milan, and Paris.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: And usually around the fashion around fashion week, they all release like a schedule for the week of all the brands, what they're doing, whether it's presentations, whether it's fashion shows, as well as other things, like maybe galas, like Vogue World was on there, parties, etc.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so as I'm getting organized and I'm looking at all these brands, so I can add them to my list so that I can look at their collections, and I am just so overwhelmed by just how many there are on the schedule.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like I I was trying to get through Milan, and I'm still not through, and I feel like I I went through this whole ordeal, uh, not in a crazily negative way, just kind of in an overwhelming way.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it was making me think about a couple of things.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: First, I wanted to say how it just makes me have so much more respect for professionals in this field.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm thinking about editors, buyers, magazine owners, etc.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: People who have to engage with and this is like their job, they work in the fashion industry.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, they're professionals, they're experts, and they're getting paid for this, so it makes it easier for them to be able to focus on things and obviously do hard work and just be good at their jobs.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of like well duh, they're they're experts or professionals, so it makes sense, but I just can't imagine having to give your attention to just so much material out there.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: I have so much respect, so much respect for them, and it makes me kind of jealous as well.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, wow, you you really need a lot of time, especially if you want to engage with these collections and these brands in a meaningful manner, which I do.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't want to just skim something and then move on to the next, skim something, move on to the next.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I want to see the collection, interact with it, notice how I feel about it, have an opinion on it, and then move on and repeat and repeat.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: But when there are so many, and the thing that's crazy is it this is only what is on the schedule, and so what about all the unseen, obscure brands, you know, like all the ones that are maybe just starting out, or they don't have as much publicity, or or they're not out in the public eye so much.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what about those?
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: I just can't imagine you guys.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing that it was making me think of is just how we humans are so wrapped up in fashion.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, obviously, there will always be because we need to put clothes on ourselves because am I really gonna explain evolution to you guys right now?
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have body hair, so we don't have fur, so we need clothes to protect ourselves from exposure, or you can literally die of exposure if you don't wear clothes.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we've been wearing clothes for thousands of years, so we all know this.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, to a certain extent, humans will always have a relationship with clothes, and obviously, as you lean into wanting to express yourself in a creative manner through your clothes, that's a whole different conversation, and just looking at the modern landscape, it was making me think of how wrapped up we are in it all, and how I really look forward to us having a healthier relationship with it because inevitably this makes me think of sustainability.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: I know, boo, not fun, not fun, but it's it's real, guys.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is real, real-ish, real shit, and yeah, the sustainability of it all, and just doing unnecessary harm to our environment.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I know some people they don't believe, like, we're not even talking about climate change here, we're just talking about cause and effect because clothes are especially challenging to dispose of.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: So think about this.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want a piece of clothing, you can donate it, and that's that's a great way to approach the conversation.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's that's also what I do, that's also what I love doing is just giving clothes that I'm no longer wearing away to like Goodwill or those bins out on the side of the road.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: I know like people can also take those and sell them, but either way, I I feel better about it than just kind of throwing it out or recycling it.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, okay, so let's say you recycle it.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, a lot of this clothes, however, they dispose of it, it's just cause and effect and how it harms our environment.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: Think about landfill, those clothes, like just think of a pile of them being dumped somewhere in landfill, and they don't just decompose, like they're they're there for years, just kind of sitting there.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: And let's say, okay, you burn it as a way to get rid of it.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: Those chemicals being released in those clothes, think about dyes, bleach, the material, etc.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: Those have chemical compounds that can be harmful to our lungs as humans because we're not meant to be breathing them in, or maybe plants that can't really survive those toxic chemicals or etc.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: Wildlife, etc.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: So let's say you burn it now, that's releasing bad things into our environment.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: So all these are real conversations to have.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: I know some people they hear sustainability, they think about climate change, and they think about uh all this woo-woo stuff, it's been happening for thousands of years, it's all natural, and some parts of that is true.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of it we unnecessarily panic about things that are natural, but in the same breath, it's also true that we haven't been as a civilization, as a species, we've never produced this amount of clothes like year-round at this scale before in human history.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: We never had access to all these materials, creativity, social media.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: Think about the fashion industry beast.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we we've never we've never done this at this scale.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, some parts of the way we live is still natural, and some of the things that happen to this earth is natural, but also a lot of it is not, and so I'm sorry to be the rain on our parade because I know this is contradictory because I do love fashion and I love expressing myself through my clothes and the creativity of it all, and as well as the fashion industry and the creativity of that, and truly engaging with designers that put their all in the artistry of making the clothes and just expressing their creativity through their skills like that.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm definitely, definitely not perfect, but it does weigh on my mind thinking about just how much clothes I own.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have that many clothes, but I'm just saying, like, that's I don't have that many clothes because I'm I'm intentional about it for a lot of reasons.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just sustainability, it's also about um when I was like in college and I would move back and forth from college to back home and just going on trips, etc.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: I became really aware of how much I had to pack, as well as that's when minimalism was like really trending, and so I I started taking a couple of gems away from that conversation, as well as my own personal convenience, and also just feeling bad about having things in my closet that's been there for years that I haven't been wearing.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: So it does weigh on my mind to have a conscious and thoughtful relationship with my clothes and shopping and getting rid of stuff.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: So this is why I said like I don't really have closure about this conversation because it's not like I have some perfect period at the end of this conversation to say this is what I believe, and this is what I think we should do, and this is how it is, because I don't know, because it's all so overwhelming, you guys.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: We are making clothes on a scale that we've never done in our history of being on this earth.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I love, like I said, I love the fashion industry, I love it, I really do, and so I think it's important to like how do we have these conversations around like how much clothes we're making and how many fashion brands there are, and how wrapped up we are.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: Part of it is yes, it is creativity and self-expression, and another part of it is also just plain consumerism and just the wheels of the machine of capitalism and etc.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: And all these things, and idolatry, and just idolizing clothes and just being kind of drunk, so wrapped up in it, like it's just like producing and producing and producing year after year, not even year after year, season after season after season, and all these brands, and there's another fashion brand, and another one, and another one.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I want to start a fashion brand, I want to start a fashion brand, I want to start a fashion brand.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: Do you?
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: I get it, I get it, I get it, I get it.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: I've even thought about it, but again, I had to check myself and ask myself, like, okay, Sarah, there are so many brands out there.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: Do we really need another fashion?
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's always room, and it's not it's not really thinking about like success, and I know there's always a market, and people who always want to buy new things and engage with new talent out there, no matter how saturated an industry is.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: But just because that's the truth, it's like, do I really want to be contributing?
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like instead of putting my energy into following this passion of wanting to create a fashion brand, why don't I just put that energy into engaging with the people that are already doing it and doing the hard work of finding what resonates with me and engaging with that?
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's the same thing for other industries.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think about like skincare.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody has a skincare brand, everybody has a hair care brand, makeup brand, workout brand, I mean workout clothes brand, etc.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's a beautiful thing.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, it's part of the American dream that seems to be spreading on a global scale with innovation and people wanting to be entrepreneurs, especially in a creative field, etc.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: I love that energy.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, with it's so cliche, with power comes great responsibility, with great power comes great greater responsibility.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I I don't have closure for us.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what the answer is, I just know that there's two things that are true at the same time.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yes, it is amazing that we as a civilization, as a species, we have more power to express ourselves through creative endeavors while seemingly quote unquote being of service to society and just contributing, as well as in keeping with the conversation of being beholden to society and the world around us.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: We also have to make sure that just like I'm just realizing how perfect this ties in with our what we were talking about previously, just like it's scary to think about tech bros and tech giants growing their business at any cost, even with just massive, massive success and monopolies, etc.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's great.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: We love that they're growing, we love the innovation, we love that they're partaking in the American dream, as well as they have to be beholden to society and the impact that they're making, and so I think that's true for us as well, or for those of us that engage or want to produce or put out more at any cost.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a hard conversation because I think we are enmeshed in it, like very much so enmeshed, but I have faith in us.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: I know that human beings are so intelligent and we can really like not can we have created worlds when we come together to solve like real problems.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's crazy.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: I I want you guys to just go on Google and type in, for example, like type in Milan Fashion Week Spring Summer 2027 schedule, and you'll see, and you'll see just how many brands are on there, especially Paris, dude.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, and the thing that's crazy, you guys, is that it's only those four cities.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I was first of all, I was talking about imagine obscure brands that aren't even on the schedule.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine other cities, humans wear clothes all around the planet, you know all around the world, and most people have creativity in them, and I think it's very common for humans to want to express their creativity through their clothes.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: So there's many fashion brands, probably in every city, every town, and every country in this freaking planet.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, yikes, sustainability down the drain, right?
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: Anyways, I don't have closure for that conversation, so I think I'm just gonna move on to what was next on my mind for my personal zeitgeist, which was I was telling you guys in last episode about the book that I'm reading and how I've been on my reading grind for this year.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: I just finished that book with uh Isabella, the warrior queen, it's about Isabella I of Castile.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: I I love how I keep saying Isabella the First as if Castile is like a kingdom.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_00: The monarchs of of Spain, like they're still there, but it's it's now called Spain, it's not Castile anymore, so I think it's just Isabella of Castile.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: LOL, anyways, I'm I'm getting I'm losing the plot.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: But I just finished that book and it was amazing, and it just had me further thinking about women and our social structures.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you guys haven't listened to that episode, it's the previous one before this one, so go check that out because I was talking about themes of women in positions of power and how I found it so I find it so fascinating how much they leaned into traits that are considered traditionally feminine, but using that as a point of power to actually govern their country.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_00: I've just been on this whole I don't know what happened, you guys.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think just as I get older and as I've gotten older, obviously, I think as women, we very much so are aware of oppression that our gender has experienced throughout history and continuously in modern times.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: We're just thinking about like um the first thing that came to mind to me is just the women in Afghanistan and the standard in places in the Middle East, and just how women are oppressed in those places and around the world, honestly, and still in our democratic societies, even now, through ideologies, etc.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: But I've been, I was saying, I think just as I've gotten older, things have kind of crescendoed or accumulated, or you know, it takes a while for you to kind of pick up on patterns.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think I've just realized as I've gotten older, just really how blatant and how it's like an everyday part of the conversation in terms of how in a lot of ways I think women come up against obstacles with feeling like I mean, this might sound a little dramatic, and maybe it is, but for lack of a better term, second class citizens, just this inferiority complex in relation to men and our place in society, and our place of value, and feminine ideals being valued in general and society being valued.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, in society and government, it's etc.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: and all things.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I just love this idea with what I was coming to with because I I also said it in that episode, in that previous episode.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: Go listen to it by the way.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: Go check it out so that you can be more informed or more up to speed with what I'm talking about.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: But before this book, I was reading a book about Elizabeth I of England and how it was making me think of all these ideas of embracing what makes us feminine as a form of validation and celebration and empowerment and productivity.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: I love this idea, especially around ideas of validation and empowerment.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think, in a lot of ways, I truly, truly believe it's in the psyche of every single woman or in the world.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: I really believe that.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's just not only has our gender endured oppression and dead ass being made to be second-class citizens in relation to men, like throughout history, like ever since the beginning of human civilization, lol.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's in our psyche, but we're also drip-fed these ideas through you name it, society, societal standards, family structures, everything the way people talk to us, and ways we are encouraged to go on about our lives, conduct ourselves, etc.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to sit here being like boo-hoo, us, we're oppressed, like it's so sad.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think just as a species in general, whatever gender you identify with, I think we are we all have a burden placed on us, all genders, all human beings in ja in general.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think just the business of being a human is about carrying a lot of crap, a lot of shit.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: So don't get me wrong, I don't want to play the victim.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want us to play the victim of oh my god, we are unfairly like like we are suffering like nobody else.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it is true in a lot of ways we are made to be victims.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: But what am I saying?
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just I'm just trying to give a disclaimer of I don't want it to make it seem like men have everything or they have the best standards, or you know, like they have they got the the longer end of the stick, lol.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_00: No pun intended, but full pun intended.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_00: I just realized that was kind of genius.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you know, you know, if you don't know, then don't worry about it.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I don't want to make it seem that way.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like we are just like we've been made out to be the losers while men are just winning, and you know, I think both sides of the conversation is true.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think in a lot of ways they've been empowered and hold a lot of privilege in their gender, but I also know that in a lot of ways they also have a lot of burdens placed on them, like all human beings.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: But obviously, as human beings, like we have to continue with society, we have to keep building on what we've built on.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: So this is just a continuation of the conversation of human existence and how there seems to always be work to be done, and so if there's work to be done, like let's just do it.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, I I getting back to what I was thinking about, this idea of embracing what makes us feminine as a form of validation and empowerment and productivity, because I know it's in our psyche.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_00: You might not even realize it, girly, how there's ways that you feel inferior or that the traits, the the natural traits which makes you feminine are invalidated and makes you feel like there's something wrong with you.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: And especially in the freaking capitalist, innovative, productive world that we live in, that makes us think that feminine traits are a weakness.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like looking at these powerful female figures really helps me to kind of center my mind around that.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_00: That really isn't the case.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's only the case because for so long in our history, people have been constantly telling us as a gender that this is a true, and it's like it's reinforced through institutions, through physical, you name it, whether it's violence, oppression, etc., through all forms of engagement with one another as a society, it's been reinforced that we are less than and invalidated and to be subjugated.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so I know that it's important for us to do this work and to lean into this, and I just love that these powerful badass women in history are just helping me to kind of unlock that part of my brain and loving this idea of embracing these things, these traits that are distinctly feminine.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking of emotional strength, depth of emotions, emotion having emotional range, which is a distinctly feminine, and again, this is why I'm using the term feminine and masculine and not women and men, because we all have these traits within us, and of course, depending on your gender, you have you tend to swing for lack of a better term, you tend to prioritize an energy more, and obviously, as women, we tend to, or actually, I think it's been through society, and because who wants to be associated with oppression and feeling less than invalidated?
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I think we've been indoctrinated to not value these things about ourselves, so we don't lean that way because we see them as weaknesses, but they're not.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_00: And these rulers, these powerful female figures showed that, like getting back to what I was saying with emotional strength.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_00: Women have so much emotional strength.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_00: Feminine energies like have so much emotional strength because it has emotional range.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking about patience, something that you have to develop because a lot of times when you are in a position of being disempowered, you have to bide your time, you have to have empathy, another feminine trait: empathy, perception, diplomacy, the power of comprom of yeah, compromising, being compromising experts, which I know sounds like it sounds like the shorter end of the stick, but this is what makes society go around.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because if there were no compromises, then we would just be living in dictatorships, and there would be things like wars, bloodshed, all things that we know, all things that are very true in our world.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because sorry, not shitting on anybody, not shitting on any individual gender, but because men have been the dominant forces of societal, well, maybe not societal, but like nation building, government forming, like these are masculine traits, and so obviously, men dominate that world more.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so, with masculine traits being more valued and more prevalent in our world, look at the world we live in wars, bloodshed, people being uncompromising, selfish, all these things, and those are the negative sides of masculine traits, and there are very, very positive sides of masculine traits, but this is not worth we're not talking about masculinity today, we're talking about femininity, so maybe that's a topic for another episode.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to give that disclaimer.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not just hating on the masculine energy.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_00: I love masculine energy actually, and I want to embody that within myself so that I can be balanced as a human being.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: But, anyways, anyway, let's get back to the discussion.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, like, just amazing emotional strength, patience, emotional range, empathy, perception, seduction, diplomacy, compromising experts.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I've seen all these things in someone like Isabella of Castile, and just how she held her kingdom afloat, and how much when she died, people wept and re and it's so crazy because I hadn't even come to the end of the book yet, and obviously, I have like a cheat sheet because I'm further down history than she is, so I know how history has played out.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_00: But I was saying in that last episode that I feel like she was the moral core or the moral, yeah, the moral core of her nation and of her family because of the humane, obviously, as a human being, she has like I said in that last episode, I'm not gonna repeat myself, just go listen to that episode.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_00: But I was just saying, like, she as a human being had did problematic things as we all do, but when she was good, like she was amazing, just holding people accountable to things like patience, having empathy for her subjects, even when it was difficult and hard, and the men around her would be telling her, like, she's you're weak because you're not you're not ruthless enough.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like maybe it exposed her to certain weaknesses, of course.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_00: But the people who came under her quote-unquote subjugation, they actually revered her and they respected her, even her enemies and her foes respected her because she respected them and had empathy for them, and she was the emotional core of her nation.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I was saying, like, it's just so sad because as soon as she died, you could just see how things kind of started deteriorating and going to shit, and it did, and people were saying that, like, even after her death.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, even as she was sick and people knew she was dying, they were like, Oh my goodness, what's gonna become of our country?
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_00: and they're not talking about just bureaucracy and administration, all that stuff, which which is part of it, but mostly they were talking about like morals and the moral core of our quote unquote, for lack of a better term, patriotism.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's just gonna be open season on atrocities and cruelty and greed and uncompromising and scheming and just like warfare and bloodshed, and that's what happened.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just thinking about the legacy of Spanish conquest in the Americas, and just like how they treated the Native Americans, and yeah, dude.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's funny because I think in the same breath, like it's just so crazy because as I was saying, with obviously time just keeps on going and history keeps on shaping itself, like it's it's gonna the time is gonna go by, and history will be defined by future generations, and so I think it's important to remind ourselves that there's always work to be done, and I just think we're in this new age of feminine power, and this is the freest women have ever been globally.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, obviously, um that's sad to say because I think a lot of us can think of a lot of ways that we are not free and we are still oppressed, but it's okay, you guys.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay in the sense of let's stop thinking ourselves of ourselves as victims, even though we are victimized in a lot of ways.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_00: There really is something empowering about saying, like, okay, I see the the hand that I've been dealt, and I know that I may not be all powerful, but we all have power in ourselves to change that and to live in our realities to a certain extent, and just do what we can do in our circumstances to move forward and to keep the conversation going and to do better for future girls, future women, and the ways I'm just thinking of how I'm looking back on these powerful women in history and the ways they're gonna look back on us and and set standards for themselves in their current lives based on what we did and continuing that conversation themselves.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we really are the freest we've ever been.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just thinking, especially if you live in the United States or just sorry, my phone fell.
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry if you heard that crash in the background.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_00: There's no way you didn't because this headphone, I mean this mic picks up on just everything.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_00: But, anyways, yeah.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just thinking about especially if you live in the United States and in the West, we really are the freest we've ever been.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like a couple decades ago, we couldn't even have bank accounts, we couldn't take out loans, we couldn't go any further back, you couldn't work, and you in the work that you had to do was or the work that was available to you was super limited.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_00: You're watching your peers, men around you, doing these great works and having so much ambition and being encouraged to follow their ambition, and you being legally stopped or hindered from doing that because of your gender or your legal status, etc.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_00: etc.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_00: We could keep going about this, it being accepted that it's okay not to get married when you're like 18 or not to feel pressured to get married at 18 or in your 20s, women having kids at older stages of their lives or choosing not to have kids at all without feeling.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's still things that we are combating in society with making us feel like that's taboo, but women choosing not to have children if they truly don't want to, and all these things, and so I think that I love this idea, not I think I love this idea of leaning in to our feminine powers and validating them, and I really because this episode or the salon is getting long already, I'm going to put a pin in this and hopefully come to you with a more extent extensive conversation on this and specifics in terms of traits and specific conversations and affirmations around validation and empowerment, etc.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_00: But lastly, I will say this like I was watching, so I'm currently watching Vikings Valhalla, which is on Netflix, and so there's a scene in this show where some of the main characters they're captured by this tribe of men, and they're like super ruthless.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_00: This this tribe of men, they're like torturing these guys, the main characters, and so there were three women with so one okay, let me get this straight.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_00: One guy got captured, and he's being tortured, and one of the main characters, another guy, goes after him, and he only has only he has three women with him as backup because other people they have to stay and do something important, so they had to come, and these two and this is during like a time, like think about it.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is like in the 9th or the 11th century, so forget about the status of women when it comes to just strength and warfare, power, etc.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_00: So he's telling them this plan, he's like, I'm gonna go in there, I'm gonna do this.
• 1:01:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and if you guys see that, like he gives them a signal.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you guys don't see it, then that means that something went wrong, and you guys should run away as fast as you can so as to protect yourself because this tribe of men, like, they're super ruthless, and if they're torturing the men, like you can't even imagine what they're gonna do to you, and that's that's valid, like it's valid to think about because he knows how the world is, he knows how men are, and he's probably just trying to protect them.
• 1:01:42
  SPEAKER_00: Not probably, he's trying to protect them, and so he goes in, he gets captured, so the plan goes wrong, and the women are the three girls, they're talking amongst themselves, they're like, What do we do?
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do we run away?
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_00: And they all had this badass moment of looking at each other because they know they're they're physically they are at a disadvantage because we do tend to be physically weaker, or yeah, we are physically weaker than men in general, so they're usually stronger than us.
• 1:02:14
  SPEAKER_00: So they're looking at all these men there with weapons, it's the three of them, they're women, and they're like, What do we do?
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_00: Do we run away?
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_00: And these girls, like these two, these two main characters, these guys, his name is the main character is Harold, and by the way, I don't want to spoil anything, but so I'll try to.
• 1:02:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um fundamental about the storyline of the show.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I think I can talk about this, but the two main characters, Harold and Leif.
• 1:02:51
  SPEAKER_00: So Herold and Laif, they're so brave and they're constantly saving their friends, even in like the most impossible, dangerous situations, constantly putting their lives at risk to save their friends and to help people who are oppressed, and just to rescue them and be heroes and put their own lives at risk.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so these women they didn't say it in the moment, but you could just tell they were like, What are we gonna do?
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we're just gonna abandon these guys who have literally been ride or die for us this entire time.
• 1:03:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so they come up with this plan.
• 1:03:26
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, they don't just rush in and try to like fight these guys.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think if they were men, they probably maybe would have like snuck in and tried to fight some of them, but they came up with this plan of like releasing horses and causing chaos in the camp and setting the camp on fire, and so they used their feminine power of just like quietness and like lurking.
• 1:03:54
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, the skills that they had they used that as a way to save their friends, and it caused enough chaos in the camp for them to go in.
• 1:04:01
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the girls, I mean, all the girls, they literally rode in on horses with their arrows, hitting some of the men that they could, they couldn't have fought all of them, obviously, but the ones that they could with their arrows, they hit them, and that caused enough confusion and chaos for the men to be able to get away and run away, and it was just so badass, and so fucking badass.
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I I knew exactly why they did it because it's and and it's perfect.
• 1:04:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because at the end, Harold, he was talking to one of the women, he was like, Why did you come back, bro?
• 1:04:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like they were being tortured, my guy, like just ruth, like actually really blood curdling and chilling, and just like that's a whole other conversation because historically, this is like real, it's not just fiction.
• 1:04:50
  SPEAKER_00: Some of these things that they were portraying, and just I don't know, talk about human ruthlessness and just uh, they were so sleazy and disgusting and gross and just barbarians, real barbarians, in the sense of how much pleasure they took in carving people up like like animals, and even animals you shouldn't be doing that to.
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like one example, sorry, this is kind of gruesome, but they took these metal spikes and they hooked it in the the freaking bicep of Harold, and they attached the hooks to chains and hung it up on the ceiling, and they were playing this game with him of he had to like balance on his tippy toes so that like the the hook wouldn't rip his chest open.
• 1:05:39
  SPEAKER_00: It was just disgusting, like just so ruthless, and the way they were laughing like how are you guys?
• 1:05:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're psychotic, they're they're straight up sociopaths, they're taking so much pleasure from literally carving these people up like they're pigs or something.
• 1:05:54
  SPEAKER_00: But, anyways, anyways, Harold was like, Why did you come back, bro?
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, like, are you crazy?
• 1:05:58
  SPEAKER_00: Why did you come back to?
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_00: And she was like, Because you would have done the same for us, and it's so true because he's literally done it so many times, so many times, put his life, and I know it's just a show, but obviously, art imitates real life, and it's like the reason that I brought this up is because I really, as part of this conversation, something that I've also been leaning into as well is challenging myself to lean into like the parts of us that are frequently attached to weak points, you know, like self-determination, warfare, being brave, having sheer physical strength, being willing to fight and be brave and go into warfare, those are usually not usually, those are masculine traits, and because of that, those are usually traits that I feel like I need to stop saying I feel like and just say what's the truth.
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's truth that for the most part, women are usually caught out with those as weak points because because we're women, most of us tend to lean into our femininity, and so the masculine side of us can be out of balance.
• 1:07:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've been challenging myself to lean into these traits, and I challenge us as a collective to lean into these traits, like strength and making sure that we are careful about not leaning into the shadowy side of those masculine traits because we don't need that, we already have enough of it in the world, like we're not trying to become men or you know, I don't know.
• 1:07:51
  SPEAKER_00: We're not trying to emulate the bad, take the good and leave the bad, and so leaning into things like strength, tenacity, bravery, warfare, protection, and self-determination just to round us out.
• 1:08:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because, yeah, like I said, with those weak points, while also holding up what makes us fem feminine as points of pride and value for the betterment of society and the world we live in.
• 1:08:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because I see it with when women are placed in positions of power, something else that I I challenge us to strive towards, no matter how I mean, it's hard to hone in on places where you are you perhaps are not as strong in.
• 1:08:41
  SPEAKER_00: So striving towards power and not power just for the sake of having power, but power for the sake of helping people and knowing that you can make a difference and you can better the lives of people, therefore, you should be rewarded or not rewarded, therefore, you are equipped to be a leader in society.
• 1:09:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think we should strive towards these things, as well as, like I said, holding up what makes us feminine as points of value, as traits that are valuable.
• 1:09:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you look at these women that are placed in positions of power and just the good they are able to do, I think that's the overlying point in here, and why this is important work, like I said in some point in this conversation, is for the betterment of society, for the betterment of the world, of humanity in general, because we all benefit from this, just like we benefit from the amazing positive traits of masculinity and the things that men have built up in the ways that they are protectors and fighters and brave and willing to go into warfare and protect what they care about, like those are amazing traits, and we have benefited from those.
• 1:09:58
  SPEAKER_00: All of humanity has benefited from those, and so I know and I've seen, and I also challenge you to seek out examples of strong, good, not ruthless, bitchy.
• 1:10:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, obviously, all humans are problematic, but real badass women who have contributed and left the world better than they found it, and not just fucked it up.
• 1:10:30
  SPEAKER_00: So this this whole conversation really has me riled up, and I've been thinking about it, like I told you guys, I think as I've gotten older and just really seeing how I live my day on the day-to-day and my experience as a woman, and the things that I this the obstacles that I come up against, and the obstacles I know women come up against, and narratives surrounding us, especially in the zeitgeist right now, and so much going on, and our place in society and our values, and how femininity is not really valued in terms of product.
• 1:11:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's it seemed like when we talk about femininity, it's it's it seems to be all about just being frilly and feeling good and being pleasing, and those those are those are real parts of it as well.
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like pleasure, enjoying things, and harmonizing and beauty and all of that.
• 1:11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, those are parts of femininity, but in terms of real productivity and being equal partners, like I'm not talking about the same, I'm just talking about equality and contributing in an equal manner and our traits being valued in an equal manner.
• 1:11:47
  SPEAKER_00: We're the ones who are gonna have to showcase that and carve that out for ourselves.
• 1:11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Again, as I've as I've talked about, and I don't know if it was the previous episode I was talking about, but I think I hear a lot of women saying that there are so many things about us that go neglected, that goes like we don't really talk about, that aren't really valued or that aren't as developed, like women's healthcare, etc.
• 1:12:14
  SPEAKER_00: I constantly hear women talking about if if this was a male problem, then it would get solved like like tomorrow.
• 1:12:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I understand the frustration, but why don't we get up and do the work for ourselves?
• 1:12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because we are the freest we've ever been in history, ever.
• 1:12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Literally ever.
• 1:12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Be happy about that.
• 1:12:36
  SPEAKER_00: We do still have a lot of work to do, so let's get up and do it.
• 1:12:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sick of hearing us cry, and and I think a part of it is valid as well, alerting people to problems that we have and and hopefully inspiring them to want to help us in creating solutions for that.
• 1:12:53
  SPEAKER_00: But like, I'm tired of us crying and saying, like, oh my god, men don't care about us, we go neglected, like they're not doing this.
• 1:13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Get up and let's do it ourselves.
• 1:13:06
  SPEAKER_00: We have the power.
• 1:13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we are limited in ways, but we're as free as we're ever gonna be.
• 1:13:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, not as ever as we're ever gonna be.
• 1:13:14
  SPEAKER_00: We're as free as we've ever been.
• 1:13:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it's only it can only be up from here.
• 1:13:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it we can go backwards, but let's not do that.
• 1:13:22
  SPEAKER_00: So let's do these works, let's let's let's do the hard lifting for ourselves and lean into those traits and value them and do them consciously.
• 1:13:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, like I said, this conversation has me riled up and I'm excited for what the future holds.
• 1:13:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited to keep on learning and coming into contact with powerful women and how they have distinctly held their femininity as points of power and value and using them like badasses.
• 1:13:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so proud.
• 1:13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, badasses to govern in ways that men could never, and it's not because like it's like oh, they could never being bratty about it, but just as a well, yeah, like I value my femininity more, so I'm gonna lean into these traits, and some of them value their masculinity more, so they lean into their traits, and we all come together as a species, and we contribute what we can, and where others are weak, we strengthen them, and where we are weak, others strengthen us, as well as we should all be leaning into our weaknesses and strengthening those.
• 1:14:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I think there's also a conversation to be had about men leaning into feminine traits as well for the better, not the shadowy side of femininity, like being catty, being vindictive, like jealousy, all these things, but because we don't need more of that, we don't need more of the negative.
• 1:14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Take the good, leave the bad.
• 1:14:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a conversation for another episode.
• 1:14:57
  SPEAKER_00: I trust will be had.
• 1:15:01
  SPEAKER_00: But since this is a conversation about women, and I'm a woman, I want to remind myself and remind us that our natural traits are extremely valuable, people benefit from them without giving it or us, without trying to make us sound like a victim.
• 1:15:24
  SPEAKER_00: In a lot of ways, these traits are enjoyed without any gratitude.
• 1:15:31
  SPEAKER_00: I just think about mothers obviously feeling like so many things, so many things.
• 1:15:36
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't want to go back into the victim mindset, so many ways which these traits they are enjoyed without any gratitude.
• 1:15:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's up to us to place conscious value on these traits and to cultivate them and to not see them as points of weaknesses, which I think is such a disservice to us as a gender, as well as a disservice to society as a whole and to the world as a whole.
• 1:16:03
  SPEAKER_00: I no longer want us to give into the narratives of society, making us feel like these distinctly feminine traits are not valuable or lack productivity or just frivolous.
• 1:16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because, and it's and it's like, okay, you'll you'll have people saying that, or maybe not consciously saying it, but drip feeding you that subconsciously through actions, through institutions, through conversations, through ideologies, and then these are the same people that'll turn around when you start adjusting, and when you start when people are listening and say, okay, I don't want to be associated with these traits, I don't want to be weak, I don't want to be subjugated, I don't want to be oppressed, I don't want to be made to be to feel like a second class citizen.
• 1:16:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to feel like I'm, you know, all these negative traits.
• 1:16:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to adjust and act accordingly.
• 1:16:53
  SPEAKER_00: These are the same people that are gonna turn around and say, There is a problem, women are doing this, we are descending, like they will also demonize you for the for the negativity that we will ex and it and it'll only hurt us fundamentally, and it'll trickle down to society and just make the world an even shittier place than it is.
• 1:17:17
  SPEAKER_00: So that's all I have on that.
• 1:17:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's just so crazy.
• 1:17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm I'm not gonna again, I'm refraining from using language that makes us constantly places us in the victim mindsets, or like we've been oh well, humanity has just been this whole shit show, and as well as like truly amazing, wonderful miracles and just beams and pillars of light, and so I just think we just need to continue with this conversation, this and define this new age of femininity, real like the positive sides, not the shitty, not the shadowy.
• 1:18:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's inevitably gonna come because we're human beings, but really having conversations around having consciously engaging with these and cultivating it in ourselves and and rejoicing in our privilege that these traits come naturally if you identify more with your feminine traits and embracing them and cultivating them for your descendants, for your sisters, your cousins, your girlfriends, your etc.
• 1:18:33
  SPEAKER_00: I love being a woman and I love having feminine traits in myself, and I hope you do as well, and I hope we all lean into that real hot girl shit, yeah.
• 1:18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, I'm done.
• 1:18:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm done with my tangent, and once again, I feel like there's more I could say, so therefore I know I've come to the end of the salon session.
• 1:18:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't even know what I talked about.
• 1:19:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
• 1:19:02
  SPEAKER_00: I talked about a lot.
• 1:19:03
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like there were various diverging parts of this conversation, but somehow they all seem to harmonize together, which is just makes me feel really yummy and really good.
• 1:19:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope you guys enjoyed this discussion, enjoyed the salon session.
• 1:19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you guys, I'm still trying to get used to the idea of telling you guys to check out the Salon Gazette Instagram page because yeah, I'm just new to this, so yeah, I'm gonna remind you guys to check out the Salongazette Instagram page.
• 1:19:43
  SPEAKER_00: I am trying to be more active on there again.
• 1:19:47
  SPEAKER_00: This is a one-woman show, girl power, and hopefully it'll grow in the future.
• 1:19:53
  SPEAKER_00: I know it will.
• 1:19:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm manifesting it, I'm putting it out there, but bear with me until then.
• 1:20:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you guys just want to get further just content, and I post little gems on there that I don't really post or I'm not able to post through podcast form, obviously, because it's audio.
• 1:20:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I know I can do video as well, but again, another conversation, another time, but I'm so happy you guys always like thank you for letting me yap with y'all today.
• 1:20:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like you have a choice.
• 1:20:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna yap anyways, so thanks for joining and thanks for listening.
• 1:20:32
  SPEAKER_00: And if you made it to the end of this episode, I really, really, truly value you so much.
• 1:20:38
  SPEAKER_00: I see you.
• 1:20:40
  SPEAKER_00: I see you, really, I see you.
• 1:20:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
• 1:20:44
  SPEAKER_00: We may be small, but you don't know how much this means to me.
• 1:20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like it really means the world to me, and I love community, and I just want us to grow.
• 1:20:53
  SPEAKER_00: And until then, enough with the I'm done with the with the feely touchy feely stuff.
• 1:21:01
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll see you guys in the next episode.
• 1:21:03
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait, truly, can't wait.
• 1:21:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be back for more yaps.
• 1:21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Until then, hang in tight.
• 1:21:07
  SPEAKER_00: I love you guys.
• 1:21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.