Bristol journalists launch body-positive podcast

A new podcast about body image and positivity has just been launched by two Bristol-based journalists.

A collection of conversations about bodies, Body Cons offers a look at one of modern life’s most pressing subjects, body image. From post-baby bodies to dismantling diet culture, Body Cons discusses anything body related.

Lottie Storey and Molly Forbes are freelance journalists coming from backgrounds in writing, radio broadcast and presenting, but both women are new to the world of podcasts. They describe the podcast is for “anyone with a body”, intersecting with feminism, self-love, eating and social justice. Both women are also mothers, and wanted to give their parenting perspective too.

Lottie and Molly are avid podcast listeners, and wanted to create a podcast that felt more like a conversation between themselves and listeners, creating a listener-focused experience, rather than preaching their opinions to those tuning-in.

Molly explains how the podcast started: “Lottie and I decided it was time for us to stop having chats between ourselves over a cuppa and open up the subject for wider debate. We’ve tracked down the expert voices that bring real credence to every episode.”

There are ten episodes in the first series of Body Cons. Each episode starts as a chat between the two women, before interviewing someone who is an expert in their field. Guests range from body confidence advocates and fashion designers to disability activists and magazine editors. Lottie says: “It was important to give a global picture, give a range of people a platform.”

Why body image? Molly says that “it’s a really personal subject, I was feeling really low about two years ago after having my second daughter.

“There was this thought that I couldn’t do everything I did before, like work full time, but at least I could be thin. I did so many crazy diets and fitness regimes. I would meet other mums for coffee, and what diet we were on was a conversation as normal as the weather.”

Molly Forbes is a radio broadcaster, Youtuber, blogger and presenter

Molly explains that the more she spoke to people, over a period of around a year and a half, she learnt more about others’ experiences. She wasn’t the only one that thought they weren’t beautiful enough, finding that everyone she spoke to compared themselves to the warped idea of perfection the media portrays. The more she spoke about it, the more she wanted to give a range of voices a platform.

“It was liberating,” Molly says. “I spoke on Radio 1 Newsbeat about it, but I don’t have an eating disorder, I’m not marginalised, I wanted to give people across the world a chance to share their experiences.”

Lottie adds: “There’s something powerful about being a parent as well, it’s harder to see your kids go through this than it is to go through it yourself.”

Lottie Storey has written for publications such as Mollie Makes, The Simple Things and The Independent

On the subject of parenthood, which is also the focus of the first episode, Lottie says: “We’re both mums. Pregnancy can be liberating, but it can be unpleasant. It’s a radical, complicated process. Even when it’s over, changes are still happening to your body.”

Molly and Lottie are clear about what they want to achieve through the podcast. “We want to get people thinking and ignite conversations around bodies,” Lottie says. “We want to get people to realise there’s an alternative to the diet treadmill.”

Research shows that 95 per cent of diets don’t work. “I wish I had never wasted so much time on hating my body,” Lottie says

Molly agrees: “We have such warped ideas of what’s important. It’s liberating to let go of that.”

Listen to Body Cons Podcast at www.bodyconspodcast.com

Illustrations by Bristol-based artist Hannah Broadway.

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