In this episode of Voices of Esalen, host Sam Stern speaks with philosopher Céline Leboeuf about her new book, The Tyranny of Thinness: Understanding and Resisting the Pressure to Be Skinny, from North Atlantic Books. Drawing on feminist philosophy and her own experience of disordered eating and recovery, Leboeuf explores how beauty standards shape our attention, habits, and sense of worth.

Their conversation examines the internalized gaze, the thin ideal’s relationship to anti-Black racism, and the ways social media and AI can amplify unrealistic expectations. Leboeuf also shares the experiences that helped her rebuild trust in her body — from therapy and cooking lessons with her mother to movement, sensual pleasure, and awe. Along the way, they consider how adults can talk with children about food and bodies, when wellness becomes another form of self-surveillance, and what it means to practice self-care as an act of resistance.