DeepSummary
Sarah Everts, a journalist professor and author, busts the myth that sweating detoxifies the body. She explains that sweat is produced by glands filtering liquid from the blood to cool the body, and toxins are removed through urine. Everts discusses the different types of sweat glands, the role of bacteria in body odor, and how anxiety sweat has a distinct smell.
Everts delves into the cultural taboos surrounding sweat, including the deliberate marketing strategies employed by early deodorant companies to instill fear of sweating, particularly in women. She also explores the gendered perceptions of sweat and how deodorant ads have evolved to target both genders with messages about social exclusion and job loss.
Everts shares her personal journey of embracing her own "sweat print" and coming to terms with the uncontrollable nature of sweating. She emphasizes the importance of accepting sweat as a natural cooling mechanism, especially in the face of climate change. Overall, the episode aims to destigmatize sweating and encourage a more positive perspective on this bodily function.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Sweating is a natural bodily function that serves to cool the body, not detoxify it.
- Different sweat glands produce different types of sweat, and body odor results from bacteria metabolizing certain types of sweat.
- Cultural taboos and stigma around sweating, particularly for women, were deliberately perpetuated by deodorant marketing campaigns.
- While sweat patterns vary individually, embracing one's natural "sweat print" can lead to a more positive perspective on sweating.
- Recognizing sweating as a vital cooling mechanism will be increasingly important in the face of climate change.
- Anxiety and stress can produce a distinct sweat odor that is detectable by others.
- Deodorant companies have targeted both genders with fear-based messaging about social exclusion and job loss.
- Challenging societal norms and embracing natural bodily functions like sweating can promote a healthier self-acceptance.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “When you sweat, you are not detoxing. So when you sweat, what is happening is that your sweat glands are siphoning liquid out of your blood and dispatching it to the surface of your skin to cool you down.“ by Sarah Everts
- “I don't know, there's just something so comical about this, like, desire to control something that is completely uncontrollable. So I've kind of come to a little bit of a zen space where I don't really worry about it when, you know, it's really hot outside and I'm dripping. Because guess what? I'm also alive. And, you know, as the world gets hotter, this is going to help us all survive the climate crisis. So we're going to. If not now, we're going to have to get comfortable with our sweat pretty soon.“ by Sarah Everts
- “And when scientists did a study where they got a bunch of people to wear t shirts, and then they either showed them a scary video or a not scary video so that they could get, like, examples of just like, normal sweat and stressed out sweat, and then they took those t shirts and brought them to a panel of sniffers. And the sniffers could distinguish who was stressed out and anxious versus who wasn't.“ by Sarah Everts
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Episode Information
Unladylike
Unladylike Media
6/25/24