love that i failed to make the intended point in my last post but to get back to the moderation frame… i listened to an interview with a practicing dermatologist, and she and the interviewer said so many things that illustrate the frame. just to name a few:
1. interviewer said that skincare culture is getting ridiculous and all the influencers look greasy lol, and that you don’t need all the products they recommend. then she said that all she has had done is “a little laser work”! just a bit of LASER WORK… lest we think her immoderate about her skincare
2. the derm said similarly that you don’t need a 20-step skincare routine (again, implying that she had a more moderate approach than those influencers), and then proceeded to describe an 8-step skincare routine that minimalist skincarers could use
3. the derm also said–because cosmetic procedures were just expected and normalized in this conversation that absurdly positioned itself as critical of skincare culture–that people have gone overboard with products and amateur “work” and that the reasonable thing to do is go to a dermatologist for the basic work: fillers, botox, and lasers! she said thank goodness we’re not doing the kardashian thing anymore… really cosmetic procedures are so moderate now
the interviewer fashions herself as a no-nonsense, not-like-other-girls voice on this topic, and the derm came in with the same attitude. the irony! they raised the bar in the name of moderation. it reminds me of disappointment-to-bubbies-everywhere m. pollan’s injunction to “eat food, not too much, mostly plants” which puts on an air of easy-breezy moderation but is incredibly demanding, oppressive, and vague–in short, crazy-making.
just do a little! (but actually a LOT.) WE aren’t the ones being immoderately demanding–that’s the influencers. moderate, rational, effortless. :))))
romaincrisis
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
stormborns
turnnoffyourmind
pixelskylines
