Thank you for this piece and for the work you are both doing calling attention to the wellness industry! I think it's so important to fight disinformation at the source and I think Mallory's videos pointing out bias and logical fallacies in short and humorous clips are very needed. I appreciate Mallory talking about how she began following wellness influencers and how she came to realize the problems with the information. I think it's an important perspective to have. I similarly started down the natural health path as a young and educated woman and it's important to realize how this happens, what perpetuates it, and what might help others to find more reliable sources of information. As a side note, I always find it interesting that people who don't trust the medical field will go to a hospital for a broken bone or an emergency. Nobody is calling their wellness influencer when they can't breathe.
I think this conversation requires mentioning a couple of things:
1. Women turn to alternative practices often because healthcare fails them. Doctors don't listen to their concerns, it takes years to receive diagnosis. You could be dead by the time you have any sort of treatment plan. A lot of people move towards alternative medicine because they are desperate. Some of them work, some of them don't.
2. Big pharma and traditional healthcare has a bad rep, and, honestly, for many good reasons. I grew up in Russia where you could buy practically any medication without prescription. People were taking antibiotics left and right. Most people still don't know, even after covid, that antibiotics don't work against viruses!! I lived in US for some time where healthcare was extremely expensive, even with insurance, and where practically everyone was overmedicated. I now live in Czech republic where I think healthcare is great, but even here I was prescribed antibiotics without a test to see if it's actually bacteria.
3. Some alternative practices do work. I am a huge supporter of traditional medicine, I will get a vaccine, I will take antibiotics, etc, but I have an open mind regarding other things. For example, my eczema was gone for almost a whole year after two session of hirudotherapy.
I think "wellness" is here because the system requires it.
I completely agree Alena (and I think Mallory does too)! Women and other marginalized folks *have* been historically abused and ignored by traditional healthcare, which makes it all the more easy for grifters with no credentials driven by capitalistic gain to prey on them. And yes! There are plenty of wonderful alternative practitioners doing real good for their patients; they aren't the subject of Mallory's critiques. Traditional healthcare, insurance, and big pharma are all problematic in various ways, but that doesn't mean that a biohacking bro selling camel urine (or whatever the fuck!) as something "known to prevent cancer" isn't also deeply problematic.
Thank you for this wonderful interview! I took a deep dive into Mallory’s work and she is AMAZING. So funny, so insightful. God it’s scary out there in wellness land
Thank you for this piece and for the work you are both doing calling attention to the wellness industry! I think it's so important to fight disinformation at the source and I think Mallory's videos pointing out bias and logical fallacies in short and humorous clips are very needed. I appreciate Mallory talking about how she began following wellness influencers and how she came to realize the problems with the information. I think it's an important perspective to have. I similarly started down the natural health path as a young and educated woman and it's important to realize how this happens, what perpetuates it, and what might help others to find more reliable sources of information. As a side note, I always find it interesting that people who don't trust the medical field will go to a hospital for a broken bone or an emergency. Nobody is calling their wellness influencer when they can't breathe.
I think this conversation requires mentioning a couple of things:
1. Women turn to alternative practices often because healthcare fails them. Doctors don't listen to their concerns, it takes years to receive diagnosis. You could be dead by the time you have any sort of treatment plan. A lot of people move towards alternative medicine because they are desperate. Some of them work, some of them don't.
2. Big pharma and traditional healthcare has a bad rep, and, honestly, for many good reasons. I grew up in Russia where you could buy practically any medication without prescription. People were taking antibiotics left and right. Most people still don't know, even after covid, that antibiotics don't work against viruses!! I lived in US for some time where healthcare was extremely expensive, even with insurance, and where practically everyone was overmedicated. I now live in Czech republic where I think healthcare is great, but even here I was prescribed antibiotics without a test to see if it's actually bacteria.
3. Some alternative practices do work. I am a huge supporter of traditional medicine, I will get a vaccine, I will take antibiotics, etc, but I have an open mind regarding other things. For example, my eczema was gone for almost a whole year after two session of hirudotherapy.
I think "wellness" is here because the system requires it.
I completely agree Alena (and I think Mallory does too)! Women and other marginalized folks *have* been historically abused and ignored by traditional healthcare, which makes it all the more easy for grifters with no credentials driven by capitalistic gain to prey on them. And yes! There are plenty of wonderful alternative practitioners doing real good for their patients; they aren't the subject of Mallory's critiques. Traditional healthcare, insurance, and big pharma are all problematic in various ways, but that doesn't mean that a biohacking bro selling camel urine (or whatever the fuck!) as something "known to prevent cancer" isn't also deeply problematic.
Thank you for this wonderful interview! I took a deep dive into Mallory’s work and she is AMAZING. So funny, so insightful. God it’s scary out there in wellness land