Taboo on the Bus

[full deep-dive long episode is live]

Social media is a breeding ground for poor-shaming working-class mockery, and I’ve been collecting evidence for the past 4 months to prove that. What we are seeing is the re-invention of the harmful working-class stereotypes present in early 2000s/10s media regurgitated in our algorithms right now. We can look at how deeply intertwined identity and consumption habits to begin understanding why social media creates a hierarchy of lifestyles that shames those as the bottom and analyse the key theme of ‘distinction’ driving a lot of the hate and ‘humour’. 

I’ve pulled examples from my ongoing to prove just how social media fuels and reinvents the mockery of the working class.

Email: [email protected]

Insta – whatzaraloves

TikTok – whatzaraloves6

YouTube: Whatzaraloves

Podcast: Taboo on the Bus

Kyey references:

Books:

Chavs by Owen Jones

Journals:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5153/sro.1814

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01634437231185966

https://napier-repository.worktribe.com/output/3176889

Articles:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/chav-caricature-comeback-tiktok-2020/

https://www.transformingsociety.co.uk/2021/09/02/how-the-medias-selective-idealisation-of-the-working-class-perpetuates-inequality/

https://consequence.net/2025/12/ricky-gervais-working-classes-mock-mortality/

Social media is a breeding ground for poor-shaming working-class mockery, and I’ve been collecting evidence for the past 4 months to prove that. What we are seeing is the re-invention of the harmful working-class stereotypes present in early 2000s/10s media regurgitated in our algorithms right now. We can look at how deeply intertwined identity and consumption habits to begin understanding why social media creates a hierarchy of lifestyles that shames those as the bottom and analyse the key theme of ‘distinction’ driving a lot of the hate and ‘humour’. 

I’ve pulled examples from my ongoing to prove just how social media fuels and reinvents the mockery of the working class.

Email: [email protected]

Insta – whatzaraloves

TikTok – whatzaraloves6

YouTube: Whatzaraloves

Podcast: Taboo on the Bus

Kyey references:

Books:

Chavs by Owen Jones

Journals:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5153/sro.1814

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01634437231185966

https://napier-repository.worktribe.com/output/3176889

Articles:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/chav-caricature-comeback-tiktok-2020/

https://www.transformingsociety.co.uk/2021/09/02/how-the-medias-selective-idealisation-of-the-working-class-perpetuates-inequality/

https://consequence.net/2025/12/ricky-gervais-working-classes-mock-mortality/

Rachel Sennott preaching “numb is in”, " Botox is rising, the girls are emotionless, and lobotomy chic is looming in the air. Sit down with me to dissect what it means for stoicism, deadpan, and numbness to become intertwined in our perceptions of beauty and femininity. Let’s discuss whether this can be viewed as a potential clapback to the patriarchal expectations of women’s behaviour, or in fact just caging us further. Sit down with me to analyse the politics of numbness, the privilege of emotional suppression, and the tool of numbness. 

[Full OFF the bus podcast version is also live for a longer deepdive]

Rachel Sennott preaching “numb is in”, botox is rising, the girls are emotionless, and lobotomy chic is looming in the air. Sit down with me to disect what it means for stoicism, deadpan, and numbness to become intertwined in our perceptions of beauty and feminity. Let’s discuss whether this can be viewed as a potential clapback to the patriarchal expectations of women’s behvaior, or in fact just caging us further. Sit down with me to analyse the politics of numbness, the privellage of emotional suppression, and the tool of numbness. 

email: [email protected] instagram- whatzaralovestiktok - whatzaraloves6podcast - Taboo on the Bus

Sit down with me today to discuss the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence (AI) in comparison to that of humans and pets. Is it making our lives easier to become reliant on this technology, or are we domesticating ourselves and becoming sub-serviant to AI??

Shout out to Gresham College lectures for inspiring this episode.

Instagram - whatzaraloves

Tiktok - whatzaraloves

Email: [email protected]

Links and media references:

https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/ai-pet

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/19/dont-ask-what-ai-can-do-for-us-ask-what-it-is-doing-to-us-are-chatgpt-and-co-harming-human-intelligence

https://sites.uab.edu/humanrights/2025/10/02/construction-and-consequences-the-human-impacts-of-artificial-intelligence-data-centers/

MINI bus version - full version off the bus is also live.

Sit down with me today to discuss the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence (AI) in comparison to that of humans and pets. Is it making our lives easier to become reliant on this technology, or are we domesticating ourselves and becoming sub-serviant to AI??Shout out to Gresham College lectures for inspiring this episode. Instagram - whatzaralovesTiktok - whatzaralovesEmail: [email protected]

Physical media will not replace your phone (is ‘analog’ the next internet micro-trend…)

Taboo OFF the Bus is back! Woo! `Sit down with me today to discuss the rapid rise of the 'analog' trend and return to physical media. We're watching rising consumption of DVDs, CD's, resorts back to old generation Apple IPods and IPhones, and all it says is that we are fed up with the current state of technology, AI, and brain-rot content. But will this rising consumption lead to overconsumption? Will physical media fall to the same 'micro-trend' fate of Labubu's, or Stanely cups - hyped, over-consumed, then discarded on to the next trend? Let's discuss the fate of physical media, and where it I think this is heading...

Instagram - whatzaraloves

Tiktok - whatzaraloves

Email: [email protected]

Sit down on the bus with me for the mini digest of physical media, 'analog', and going offline. (Long episode OFF the bus will be live today) We're watching rising consumption of DVDs, CD's, resorts back to old generation Apple IPods and IPhones, and all it says is that we are fed up with the current state of technology, AI, and brain-rot content. But will this rising consumption lead to overconsumption? Will physical media fall to the same 'micro-trend' fate of Labubu's, or Stanely cups - hyped, over-consumed, then discarded on to the next trend? Let's discuss the fate of physical media, and where it I think this is heading...

Instagram - whatzaraloves

Tiktok - whatzaraloves

Email: [email protected]

I cannot escape the deep, seething hatred and humour online surrounding women ‘looking old’. Girls feel pretty and post online only to be attacked for ageing and appearing older than they are. It is an inescapable trap that we all fall to as women, yet we are continuing to tear down each other instead of challenging these expectations within wider society and from the very capitalistic anti-ageing industry. Let’s sit down today to discuss why we are so scared of ageing as women, how society treats ageing women, the paradox of ‘natural’ Botox, and unpicking the anti-ageing industry. 

I really loved dissecting this topic, it feels like a very fitting follow up to the episode I previously did discussing whether we can view cosmetic procedures and Botox from a feminist lense. 

Email – ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

Reading list/mentions:

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/beauty/skincare/a38813523/baby-botox/Facing Age: Women Growing Older in Anti-Aging Culture - By Laura Hurd Clarke

Holstein, M. B. (2001). A feminist perspective on anti-aging medicine. Generations: Journal of the American Society on Aging, 25(4), 38-43.

https://www.spacenk.com/uk/skincare/treatment/serums/c-firma-fresh-day-serum-MUK200031988.html

Join me on the bus for the mini-deep-dive version of this week's topic. Full 40 min version is live too!

I cannot escape the deep, seething hatred and humour online surrounding women ‘looking old’. Girls feel pretty and post online only to be attacked for ageing and appearing older than they are. It is an inescapable trap that we all fall to as women, yet we are continuing to tear down each other instead of challenging these expectations within wider society and from the very capitalistic anti-ageing industry.

Let’s sit down today to discuss why we are so scared of ageing as women, how society treats ageing women, the paradox of ‘natural’ botox, and unpicking the anti-ageing industry. I really loved dissecting this topic, it feels like a very fitting follow up to the episode I previously did discussing whether we can view cosmetic procedures and Botox from a feminist lense. Reading list/mentions:https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/beauty/skincare/a38813523/baby-botox/Facing Age: Women Growing Older in Anti-Aging Culture - By Laura Hurd ClarkeHolstein, M. B. (2001). A feminist perspective on anti-aging medicine. Generations: Journal of the American Society on Aging, 25(4), 38-43.https://www.spacenk.com/uk/skincare/treatment/serums/c-firma-fresh-day-serum-MUK200031988.html