Sexy 6: The 'take a break from my feminism' edition

Welcome to the Sexy 6 edition of my Babble newsletter where I share with you the six things I want to pash this week.

1. BRIDGERTON, DOWNTON ABBEY, THE GILDED AGE, MARY& GEORGE

No work-from-home angst for the lords and ladies who don't seem to....work

I’ve always loathed bonnet dramas. I don’t even like watching movies or TV shows that are set pre-mobile phones. Yucky.
But I seem to have fallen into my period period. I watch little else.
It started with The Gilded Age which I inhaled over the summer holidays and when that ran out, I embarked on all 7 seasons of Downton Abbey who was made by the same creator. Then I watched Mary and George and now I’m catching up on Bridgerton Season 2 before I watch season 3.
I have given a lot of thought about why I find it so comforting to watch these shows and I’ve landed here: I can turn my brain off. At a time when there is so much shouting online and so much terrible news in the world and so many opinions about so many things coming at you and so many fools trying to cancel everyone…….the stakes on these shows are just so low.
Will Lady Mary have time to change before dinner after returning on the train from London where she went to buy some new gloves? Will Eloise curtsey to the Queen’s satisfaction when she is presented in court? And because literally every aspect of life for the characters in these shows is so wildly problematic (women can’t vote, divorce is a scandal, contraception doesn’t exist and women are slut-shamed for being alone with a man she isn’t related/married to etc), I can just park my feminism. Like this:

2. Tracksuit pants with jackets

This has become one of my favourite looks. I know not everyone can wear trackies to work but I think the reset that happened after lockdown gave everyone more wardrobe flexibility. For autumn/winter, I’m so enjoying the hi/lo combo of comfort downstairs and elevated upstairs. When I wore the red Adidas trackie outfit to work last week, I got so many comments from Gen Zs and Milennials telling me I look cool which would be great except for how genuinely shocked they appeared to be that I was, in fact, capable of such cool. Kids, please.

3. NUMBING CREAM

I didn’t mean for this photo to be so big or so…close and yet here we are.

I’ve been getting skin needling on my face, neck and chest every few months for a couple of years now. Here’s an explanation of what it is and why I do it. Yes, I know. The (expensive and painful) things we do to conform to beauty standards is messed up. I remain mildly ashamed by my capitulation to these standards but not so ashamed that I am letting my hair go grey etc.
Anyway. The first time I did it, I didn’t use numbing cream and it wasn’t so bad but the second time, it was incredibly painful. The salon where I go, The Skin Bar, told me to go across the road to the chemist and buy numbing cream and my god it is a game changer. You can just get it over the counter.

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4. A PIECE OF PLYWOOD

The sexy 6 is nothing if not ecclectic. From numbing cream to plywood.
If you are a puzzle-doer like I am, you will know the frustration of needing space to puzzle, especially if you live with people who insist on reclaiming your puzzle space to do things like, I don’t know, EAT A MEAL.
Someone told me to go to Bunnings and get a piece of plywood for a couple of bucks to make your puzzle portable.

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5. CANDY by ROBBIE WILLIAMS

I blame Dolly Alderton and Caroline ODonohue for addicting me to this song. On a podcast ep about Robbie Williams, they shared their love for it and it really is the perfect mood-lifting banger.

And the lyrics could have been written about me, frankly.
Hey Ho, there she goes, either a little too loud or a little too close

She has a hurricane in the back of her throat and she thinks she’s made of candy

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6. THIS MEME

My writer friends have been sharing this in our group chats this week. Funny because it’s true - except for my friend Sally Hepworth whose pie chart would be entirely primary colours.

NOT AT ALL SEXY…

The fact that this middle aged dude from America is currently in Australia giving talks to high school kids about chastity. CREEPY AF. Read about it here.