This week on The Spill: Plastic surgery, cultural appropriation and overbearing in-laws

Have you ever had one of those days that screamed for a wine and chats sesh with your girlfriends?  Enter Image.ie’s podcast, The Spill. 

The Spill is hosted by our very own self-proclaimed agony aunts Sophie White and Rhona McAuliffe.  With a mix of discussion on current affairs, arts and culture and some healthy advice to our listeners, it’s the best place to unwind and deliberate the issues affecting Irish women today.

There is a lot of pressure on women to look youthful, while still ‘ageing gracefully’. Sophie and Rhona start off the show this week by discussing plastic surgery (and the less invasive ‘tweakments’) and whether striking that balance is possible. Our women agree that selfie culture and our ageist society has a lot to do with why women feel the need to stay youthful but wonder can it be an acceptable way to boost your self-esteem, or is it capitalising on women’s insecurities. When does the cycle end? Have you ever had plastic surgery, or a ‘tweakment’, like getting lip injections? Would you ever get a procedure to look younger?

Both of our hosts watched new Netflix documentary ‘The Rachel Divide’ this week, which follows controversial figure Rachel Dolezal, a woman who was publicly criticised for claiming that she was African-American when she was in fact white, and is now claiming to be ‘trans-racial’. Sophie and Rhona discuss Rachel’s story and whether her behaviour can be excused or explained and the wider questions it asks about cultural and racial appropriation. Sophie then brings up a recent performance by rapper Nicki Minaj, which featured many references to Asian culture, and the multiple controversies over the years in relation to cultural appropriation. What’s your opinion of cultural appropriation? Should we dress how we want, or should we have a responsibility to know our trends’ origins?

On this week’s Hit Me Up, it’s a problem that every woman will recognise. ‘Making a Murderer’ has been married for six months, and her partner’s mother has always been a massive presence in their lives. She took a major role in planning their wedding, insists on seeing them multiple times a week, and, according to our letter-writer, is guilting her son into being there for her, as his other siblings live abroad. Spending time with her negative and overbearing mother-in-law is bringing our writer down, and she needs to know how to get her to back off. Have you ever had problems with a parent-in-law? How did you deal with it?

Enjoy this week’s episode and don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe!