There are now huge waiting lists for non-surgical treatments like fillers and fat freezing. For my generation it’s becoming an everyday thing to have cosmetic treatments. The Truth About Cosmetic Treatments II: The Body II
How to achieve a curvier bottom: by far the biggest trend right now is finding ways to enhance your bum … The Brazilian butt-lift is a dangerous surgery where fat is removed from the stomach and injected into the bum … But now there are now-surgical treatments on the market. ibid.
It promises to lift and tone the bum using heat and stimulation of thee muscles. ibid.
Celebrity culture and social media are massively influencing this surge for cosmetic treatments. ibid.
The quest for body perfection has led to a huge rise in procedures known as body contouring. ibid.
Is it worth it? I guess it depends on how much you hate your lumps and bumps and how much you want to pay to get rid of them. ibid.
The average person will take 25,000 selfies in their lifetime. I want to know if this is affecting our body image … Selfies could be making us feel worse about our appearance; could they also be increasing our desire for cosmetic treatments? ibid.
The muscle look: which could explain the tripling in the use and abuse of muscle-building anabolic-steroids of the last decade … Around a million people in gym around the country, and that is worrying because they have some really nasty side effects … a long list of potential side effects. ibid.
The cosmetic treatments we use to improve our appearance are becoming increasingly extreme. ibid.
When you have a pooh problem it affects life far beyond the bog. Know Your S***: Inside Our Guts, Channel 4 2023
Your guts is the most exciting frontier in health. ibid.
A diverse microbiome like a garden full of different flowers is linked to lots of positive health outcomes. ibid.
1918: Robert [Wadlow] starts growing and never stops. The UnBelievable with Dan Aykroyd s1e4, History 2024
By the age of 22 Robert reaches an astonishing 8 foot 11 inches. ibid.
Robert Wadlow, World’s Tallest Man, Dies in Manistee, Mich., Of An Infection On One Of His Feet. ibid. newspaper article
Chandra Bahadur Dangi: 1 foot 9 and a half inches … ‘Chandra lives this rock star life.’ ibid.
Isaac W Sprague: A 43-pound human skeleton … ‘neither fat nor muscle’ … ‘He does find love.’ ibid.
The afflication becomes known as Morgellons. Sufferers describe small fibres protruding from their skin causing piercing pain. But worst of all, they experience the feeling that bugs have infested their bodies. Alien Files s1e6: Alien Plagues
London, 2017, 999 call: The person had an accident with a kitchen knife. So he’s cut himself really bad. His groin. I don’t know exactly what happened. The Eunuch Maker I, CI 2025
‘He enabled the fantasies to be made real.’ ibid. comment
A subculture of mutilating, genitals severed, body parts traded and even eaten. And videos of it livestreamed to paying customers. ibid. Marcel’s commentary
Finsbury Park, North London: a group of men were arrested and charged for castrating and mutilating other men. ibid.
Who do our bodies belong to? And what can we do with them? ibid.
A man called Marius Gustavson. Who was he? And why did some people regard him as a hero. ibid.
At the heart of this case was a mystery: why would anyone choose to become a eunuch. ibid.
Far from being an historical curiosity, eunuchs exist today. ibid.
Behind the slick venner, things were going disastrously wrong. ibid.
The newspapers called him a cult-like leader, a sadistic monster. But others who knew him saw him differently. This is the extraordinary story of the eunuch maker. The Eunuch Maker II
He became the leader of an underground movement with followers worldwide. ibid.
The evidence they gathered including hours of video recordings made over seven years. Someone had the difficult job of watching it. There was evidence of dozens of castrations. ibid.
He was charged with multiple counts of grievous bodily harm. In the 12 months after Gustavson’s arrest, police identified and charged a further 9 accomplices. ibid.
One case kept coming up: R v MaCarthy: its controversial verdict would be key to the outcome of the hearing. Mac McCarthy was a body modification artist who practised under the name Doctor Evil.
Tatooist ‘Dr Evil’ jailed for performing ear and nipple removals: Brendan McCarthy also carried out tongue splitting procedure. ibid. online article
‘Their consent was invalid. The judge sentenced me to 60 months.’ ibid. Dr Evil
The judgment that bears his name confirms that consent is no defence to a charge of harm. It meant that a guilty verdict was almost inevitable. ibid.
Gustavson’s botched operations had nearly led to the deaths of three men. ibid.
Marius Gustavson was sentenced to Life in prison and ordered to serve a minumum of 22 years, longer than many convicted murderers. His followers also received heavy custodial sentences. ibid.