AntiSocial

BBC Radio 4
AntiSocial
Latest episode

159 episodes

  • AntiSocial

    Looksmaxxing

    24/02/2026 | 5 mins.
    There's a new beauty standard on the block but instead of lip filler and face lifts aimed at women, it's a trend targeting men. The founder of the movement is the 20-year-old influencer, Clavicular, who has been taking steroids since he was 14 years old to achieve a look he thinks is attractive. Looksmaxxers recommend pseudoscientific methods such as 'mewing' and bone smashing to create a chiseled jawline. But where did this harmful trend originate from? YouTuber, Jimmy the Giant, talks about some of the jargon associated with looksmaxxing and its links to inceldom.
  • AntiSocial

    Looksmaxxing

    20/02/2026 | 53 mins.
    Peace talks for the culture wars. Adam looks at the dark art of looksmaxxing, asking what is it, where does it come from and why has it been growing online?
    Adam gets a glossary of the terms around this trend. He hears how social media is influencing beauty standards. And we find out about "pretty privilege."
    Presenter: Adam Fleming
    Producers: John Murphy, Natasha Fernandes and Annabel Deas.
    Studio manager: Jack Wilfan
    Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman
    Editor: Penny Murphy
  • AntiSocial

    Cultural consultants

    17/02/2026 | 5 mins.
    The new film adaptation of Wuthering Heights has sparked controversy online after the director, Emerald Fennell, announced that she would cast a white actor to play Heathcliff. Critics have said the decision ignores references to Heathcliff as an outsider in Emily Brontë’s original text. In recent years, there’s been a growing business to tackle cultural insensitivities in film – cultural consultancy. Co-founder of Good Form cultural consultancy, Melissa Legarda, talks about the power of authenticity in film and what her role entails.
  • AntiSocial

    Who is Heathcliff?

    13/02/2026 | 53 mins.
    Peace talks for the culture wars. The latest version of Wuthering Heights has come in for criticism on social media, especially about the casting of a white actor as Heathcliff. Chris Warburton and guests examine the debate about representation on the big screen.
    Presenter: Chris Warburton
    Producers: Natasha Fernandes, Tom Gillett, John Murphy
    Studio Manager: Andrew Mills
    Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman
    Editor: Penny Murphy
  • AntiSocial

    The history of nostalgia

    10/02/2026 | 6 mins.
    The year 2016 is taking over the internet with people posting ‘throwback’ photos and memories from ten years ago all over their social media. It’s prompted questions over whether 2016 was a simpler time and why people have become nostalgic for that year. Agnes Arnold-Forster, a historian at Edinburgh University and the author of Nostalgia: A History of a Dangerous Emotion, talks about how nostalgia has evolved over time, from a serious medical condition in the 17th Century to a rose-tinted vision of the past.

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About AntiSocial

Peace talks for the culture wars. In an era of polarisation, propaganda and pile-ons, AntiSocial offers an alternative: understanding, facts, and respect. Each week, Adam Fleming takes on a topic that's generating conflict on social media, blogs, talk shows and phone-ins and helps you work out what the arguments are really about.
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