Schmeitgeist

Jun 13 2023 249

Schmeitgeist Podcast artwork

Schmeitgeist is the pop culture podcast from ABC Everyday where we decode the biggest and weirdest trends. You’ll meet self-professed bimbo feminists, fall down the rabbit hole of edgy, online Catholicism, find out how an entire generation got to be mad at capitalism and allergic to monogamy. Every week, journalist and comedian Ange Lavoipierre goes inside the most defining trends of the moment to investigate how we got here, and what’s next.

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How a decade of 'body positivity' progress was usurped by the ultra-thin look

Jun 13 2023 38 mins

The 'body positivity' decade is over, and the ultra-skinny look has made a return. The message that all bodies are beautiful has given way to a resurgence in diet culture and obsessive body checking on TikTok and Instagram. So what happened to all that supposed progress, and why are we suddenly backsliding into the toxic size standards of the 90s and 2000s? Or maybe the notion of t

Landlord hate and Nepo Babies: how young people lost faith in capitalism

Jun 06 2023 27 mins

Hating capitalism isn't just a left-wing project anymore. Even in 2018, 59 per cent of Australian Millennials believed that capitalism had failed. Since then the mood has only darkened, with vitriol for landlords, Nepo Babies and Depop resellers who flip secondhand clothes for a profit, rife on social media. Under-40s are abandoning the centre in record numbers, but not everyone is

Schmeitgeist VI: like it or not, we're all horror fans now

May 30 2023 34 mins

You can deny you're a horror fan all you like, but the numbers say otherwise. Films like Scream VI and M3gan have been tearing up the box office, and horror has roughly doubled its market share in recent years. At the same time, the content formerly known as 'the mainstream' keeps getting darker. Juggernaut series such as The Last Of Us and Stranger Things aren't usually classed as

The ADHD diagnosis wave: cashing in on a crisis (Part 2)

May 23 2023 32 mins

There's a certain desperation to the search for an ADHD psychiatrist in 2023. Existing patients run out of meds waiting for an appointment, while would-be patients are hung up on and quoted as much as $3000 for an assessment. Interest in ADHD has exploded in recent years, driving the demand for specialists to new highs and triggering an access crisis. The only people who seem to be

The ADHD diagnosis wave: is TikTok overselling neurodivergence? (Part 1)

May 16 2023 31 mins

We're in the middle of a massive ADHD diagnosis wave, but not everyone believes it's the real thing. One side of this debate sees it as an out of hand TikTok trend, fuelled by Gen Zs and Millennials in search of identity, attention, meds, or all three. The other side sees it as the natural consequence of an overdue education — that we're emerging from the ADHD dark ages, and we'v

The ethical non-monogamy boom: how polyamory graduated from the fringe

May 09 2023 33 mins

Polyamory used to be reserved for the kinky, the queer, and the communist witches of this world. (Go with us, we have proof). But in the last few years, the map has been radically redrawn. Ethical non-monogamy in all its forms, including polyamory, is now more visible and widely practiced in the mainstream than ever before. So how did it graduate from the fringes? On this episode o

"God is trending": the world of edgy internet Catholicism

May 02 2023 33 mins

A chainmail bra made of gold crucifixes. A t-shirt that says "God's favourite". A genuinely funny meme account called I Need God In Every Moment Of My Life. Alt-left media personalities declaring their love for Latin Mass. Welcome to the world of edgy internet Catholicism, where irony-pigs, faith-curious e-girls and racist Zealots all post side-by-side. The Catholic religion and it

Bimboism 101: how Gen Z is giving 'bimbo' a feminist makeover

Apr 25 2023 30 mins

Bimbo, a word that's always been used to attack women, isn't the most obvious starting point for a Gen Z feminist subculture. But if you scroll through #BimboTok and you'll find girlies, gays, theys, and more, proudly declaring their bimbo status and looking the part while they do it. Expect to find hyper-girly pink outfits, high heels, lowrise jeans, short skirts, pigtails, tiny h

Schmeitgeist is back with season 2

Apr 18 2023 5 mins

Schmeitgeist returns! It's the pop culture podcast from ABC Everyday which decodes the biggest and weirdest cultural trends of the moment, from feminist bimbos to sexy internet Catholics.

How Gen Z is rejecting the Millennial Era and embracing chaos

Sep 13 2022 26 mins

The Millennial Era is coming to an end. But what's taking its place? Flawless Instagram face is being rapidly replaced by first take, blurry unedited and even deliberately unflattering posts, as a fever for apparent authenticity takes hold. The number one app in the world is BeReal, which promises to show a less filtered version of people's lives. In fact, the new gold standard is