BLACK GXRLS ON... THE SUBSTANCE

East coast, west coast; trans, cis; Kuromi, My Melody. Caro, Taylyn. Sensual Terrors’ first Substack collab is all about duality and celebrating two sides of the same coin. My good sis

Taylyn Washington-Harmon

, who runs Black Girl Perfume Club, joined me on Substack Live to discuss Oscars darling The Substance.

This conversation was a delight, given both Taylyn’s background in health reporting and her sharp, incisive wit. We discuss Black beauty standards vs. White beauty standards, Ozempic, the BBL spectrum, the rise of Sephora kids and whether there could be a Black version of The Substance — and whether that would deal with aging, when “Black don’t crack.”

Cinephile’s Bookshelf: The Substance edition

Something I have been working on in the background for SENSUAL TERRORS readers is the Cinephile’s Bookshelf. Extensive research goes into every review, even so-called GUT REACTIONS— from reading magazine interviews with directors, actors, set designers and costumers, to listening to critical theory podcasts, to watching behind-the-scenes videos.

Along with moodboards, which require deep archival work, I intend to share these harvests of knowledge behind a paywall to:

1. Compensate me for my time, spent outside of my full-time job.

2. Reward my Substack ride-or-dies.

In the meantime, I’m sharing my knowledge for free with my The Substance Reading List.

I didn’t want to curate a list that was just basic books on feminism by White women, plus Demi Moore’s memoir.

Instead, I took the time to really think about which books pair well with the above conversation on Black American vs. Eurocentric beauty standards, and how Black feminism differs from the White-led women’s liberation movement.