Helter Skelter, The Substance, and the Horror of Having a Female Body

Features Christina Lee | November 5, 2026 art from Helter Skelter by Kyoko Okazaki I’d like to start with a trite question: Are we becoming a more superficial society? When I look at art, I feel it’s becoming emptier: aesthetic without concept, optimized for consumption on a 6” screen for a hit of dopamine instead of provoking thought. Alongside the rise of Ozempic and low-rise jeans, my body dysmorphia has reached peaks akin to what it was like when I was 16 years old. It also doesn’t help that I’m getting married this year. I’m approaching my mid-30’s, and it's a time of profound life changes involving career and family. Maybe I’m becoming obsessed with the way I look to avoid making big decisions, or maybe it’s resulting from my increasing fixation with youth; becoming stronger each and every day as I watch the younger generation try on the “vintage” and “retro” clothing and music I grew up with. In Louis Theroux’s 2026 documentary, Inside the Manosphere, which I recently watched while riding a Peloton at an airport hotel gym, Justin Waller, a self-proclaimed “alpha male” and business associate of Andrew Tate, argues that, “...women are born with their value. It’s their beauty, ...