Pretty Hurts

Stacey Abrams is one of the most high-profile voting rights activists in the U.S. She says whether we have an actual democracy might literally depend on protecting voting rights in the next election cycle or two. How to prevent that? Keep an eye on the 10 steps from democracy to ... Show More

Next Wednesday, the Supreme Court hears a case that could further weaken the Voting Rights Act, which was passed to ensure fair districting and voting practices across different racial groups. Meanwhile, lawmakers across states are taking other paths to limit who can vote, from r ... Show More

Why is Malala Yousafzai so revered in the West while being much less popular in her home country of Pakistan? On this week's Code Switch, we unpack how Pakistani skepticism of Malala extends from a suspicion of U.S. and other foreign interests.Learn more about sponsor message cho ... Show More

The value society places on physical appearance has never quite made sense to blind presenter Lyndall Bywater and yet she's intrigued to discover why it matters so much to those of us in the sighted world. How much of an advantage is it to be beautiful? And what is physical beaut ... Show More

What is beauty? Maybe the answer is unknowable. For this week’s caller, searching for the answer to that question has been the source of a lot of emotions: anger, depression, anxiety, jealousy and sometimes happiness. This episode is brought to you by Ulta Beauty (www.ulta.com). 

There's a beautiful energy when you do things spontaneously and fluidly, as opposed to trying to force things that don't come naturally to you. This episode as a clear attempt to represent that. 

EP17 - i'm backkkkk, i had a little break from the pod just whilst i was processing some stuff but i am so excited to be doing this again! i wanted to talk through some of my recent mindsets and realisations with a focus on why and how bad days can be good for us. we can't be hap ... Show More

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But it's also shaped by global norms. This hour, journalist Elise Hu reflects on what's considered beautiful now, and how we'll think about beauty in the future. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Priva ... Show More

We like to tell kids, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” But from a very early age, we humans are doing just that — judging others based on how they look. This week, we bring you the second part of our look at the science of beauty and talk with psychologists Vivian Zayas and Ste ... Show More

Most of us have days when we don’t feel attractive. But in this episode, the Sugars read letters from people whose faces are at odds with conventional ideas of beauty. Writer Ariel Henley joins to talk about her own facial differences. Henley was born with Crouzon Syndrome, and u ... Show More

500 points to whoever creates a mash-up of all the GASPs in this episode. When we keep things in, they can take hold of us and cause us to stay in a panic loop, but we know how hard it can be to share some of the ugly things that happen at the workplace or in school. This week, w ... Show More

Most of us have days when we don’t feel attractive. But in this episode, the Sugars read letters from people whose faces are at odds with conventional ideas of beauty. Writer Ariel Henley joins to talk about her own facial differences. Henley was born with Crouzon Syndrome, and u ... Show More

I’ve been feeling ugly recently, let’s talk about it. How pretty privilege exists today, the obsession with the beauty industry and accessibility of popular treatments like botox and filler, basically just a huge rant about how we need to celebrate uniqueness a bit more…