Hairy Butthole

This week, Youngmi talks with Doyeon You (fashion content creator @yoni0323, founder of C'Est D) about the rigid beauty standards in South Korea. Doyeon is a fashion designer and creator of content based on body positivity. She discusses what her life was like growing up in Korea as someone considered "overweight" by Korean standards. They touch on their shared experiences of being constantly body shamed and scrutinized by the Korean public, and the reasons why they believe this is such a large part of Korean culture.

This week, Youngmi chats with Laura Danger (@thatdarnchat, educator, content creator, author of the upcoming book No More Mediocre). Laura talks about her extremely viral Internet content on the subject matter of weaponized incompetence among men in cishet relationships/marriages and breaks down some of the mind blowing statistics surrounding the distribution of domestic labor. Laura and Youngmi also touch on the celebrity gossip surrounding Ariana Grande and why it's so harmful to reduce the story down to her being a homewrecker.

This week, Youngmi is joined by Laurie Woolever (author of Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography), who discusses the loss of her mother to multiple sclerosis. She talks about what it was like growing up while knowing her mother had an illness which was most likely going to take her life. She also discusses how certain sad events caused her to laugh uncontrollably and examines what that reaction meant.

This week, Youngmi talks with Charlie Bardey (comedian, host of Exploration Live Comedy podcast) about the pain of breakups. Charlie and Youngmi touch on their recent breakups and how they deal with the same pain in opposite ways. Charlie explains his impulse to try to keep his exes in his life at all costs and Youngmi explains why she feels the need to block them on everything and never think about them again. Charlie also touches on the unusual experience of "losing a future" and having to move through an unimagined timeline and how the presence of your ex often feels like a ghost.

This week Youngmi sits with KimChi (founder of KimChi Chic Beauty) about the recent surge in homophobia online. She touches on how pride feels different this year than previous years as corporations have pulled away due to online hysteria. She also discusses her upcoming two books: a YA novel about the importance of public libraries to children and a lifestyle book about her travels and food. 

This week, Youngmi discusses a topic suggested by a listener about her relationship with her queer identity. She talks about why it's difficult for her to discuss, as well as the relationships she's had later in her adult life.

This week, Youngmi discusses "people pleasing trauma response." She talks about the realization she had around this trauma response and the work she's done to move away from it as well as experiencing it in someone else and the harm it caused her. Leading her to ultimately realize how manipulative and harmful this response is. She also touches on a bizarre coincidence about the billionaire submersible implosion no one seems to be discussing.

This week, Youngmi discusses how she plots out her work week while living with ADHD, which makes it nearly impossible to set a schedule and adhere to it every day. She also touches on the feelings of inadequacy stemming from a childhood of undiagnosed ADHD, which caused her to internalize the message that there is something "wrong" with her.

This week, Youngmi jokes about the differences between New York and Los Angeles from Los Angeles. Joking aside, she discusses why it's funny but also sort of sad when people make broad generalizations about differences in people who live in different cities. She also discusses the relentless feeling of not doing enough work and not making enough money.

This week, Youngmi discusses an emotional symptom of experiencing negligent abuse as a child. She talks about why she feels the need to always be “ok” and how that has profoundly harmed her. She discusses the importance of pointing out negligent abuse because for most people experiencing trauma around it, it is invisible. She also points out that many of the behaviors of our parents and the boomer generation mirror hers, and are most likely caused by the same sort of neglect.