Thinking Face Emoji
Thinking Face Emoji
Podcast Description
From girl math to men who are babygirl to looksmaxxing incels, online culture has accelerated, and perhaps even changed, how we express our gender identies. In this podcast created by The Hmm in collaboration with The Institute of Network Cultures, we are focusing on online gender expression. The early Internet is often viewed as an emancipatory space where people explored and experimented with identity and gender. Today, this spirit of identity play exists simultaneously alongside a broader trend that leans toward more cisheteronormative gender roles.
This podcast series is an extension of The Hmm’s 2025 research topic THIS IS WHO YOU’RE BEING MEAN TO.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on themes surrounding online gender identity, cultural trends, and societal commentary. Notable episodes explore topics like looksmaxxing and its connections to eugenics, the mainstreaming of incel terminology, and the evolution of the girlboss phenomenon, examining how these concepts impact online and offline culture.
From girl math to men who are babygirl to looksmaxxing incels, online culture has accelerated, and perhaps even changed, how we express our gender identies. In this podcast created by The Hmm in collaboration with The Institute of Network Cultures, we are focusing on online gender expression. The early Internet is often viewed as an emancipatory space where people explored and experimented with identity and gender. Today, this spirit of identity play exists simultaneously alongside a broader trend that leans toward more cisheteronormative gender roles.
This podcast series is an extension of The Hmm’s 2025 research topic THIS IS WHO YOU’RE BEING MEAN TO.
In the fifth episode of Thinking Face Emoji, Margarita Osipian from The Hmm and Anielek Niemyjski from the Institute of Network Cultures are joined by writer and independent researcher Salome Berdzenishvili, to discuss the online aesthetic of the post-Soviet sad girl. Together they dissect the sad girl industrial complex to explore how this aesthetic emerged, and how it shapes and reflects the visual and emotional archives of Soviet and post-Soviet eras.
Mentioned in this episode:
Лана Дель Рей – Летняя Печалька – Lana del Ray Summertime Sadness with voiceover
Girl Online – Symposihmm playback
Preliminary Materials For a Theory of the Young-Girl by Tiqqun
Becoming and Unbecoming – Eastern European Girlhood Online by Salome Berdzenishvili
Moy Marmeladny trend on TikTok
Clean girl in a post soviet country TikTok by Sh.Sayadze
Mental health walk in Eastern Europe TikTok trend
Eastern European girlhood on Instagram, bikini in puddles compilation
Find The Hmm at:
thehmm.nl
linkin.bio
Find Salome at:
networkcultures.org/blog/author/salome/
Thinking Face Emoji is a podcast by The Hmm, in collaboration with The Institute of Network Cultures, and financially supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL.
Jingle and sound design by Jochem van der Hoek.
Editing by Salome Berdzenishvili.
Cover art by Aspirin.
Disclaimer
This podcast’s information is provided for general reference and was obtained from publicly accessible sources. The Podcast Collaborative neither produces nor verifies the content, accuracy, or suitability of this podcast. Views and opinions belong solely to the podcast creators and guests.
For a complete disclaimer, please see our Full Disclaimer on the archive page. The Podcast Collaborative bears no responsibility for the podcast’s themes, language, or overall content. Listener discretion is advised. Read our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy for more details.