Youth is Wasted on the Young
A mother and daughter, 37 years apart, talking about everything.
Periods and menopause. Acne and wrinkles. Sex, or lack thereof. Divorce. Dads. Dating. School. College acceptances. Siblings. Social media. Protesting. Climate change. Whatever else two women more than 3 decades apart refuse to shut up about.
Marit's been through it. Sonja's going through it. Somewhere in between, they figure it out together, out loud, unscripted.
Fair warning: language isn't always clean. Neither are the conversations.
Youth is Wasted on the Young
Body Hair and Tattoos
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
This time Marit and Sonja get into it on Double D: body hair (to shave, laser, or otherwise) and tattoos (regret, meaning, and sagging skin). Then it's Word Up, where Sonja asks her mom to describe her first kiss, and Sonja has to share, too.
Along the way, they end up talking about online dating and inappropriate cat calls, because apparently no conversation about bodies stays contained for long.
Intro
SPEAKER_00Hey there, welcome back to Youth is Wasted. On the young. I'm Marit the Bomb. I'm Sonia, the daughter. We talk about everything: periods and menopause, acne and wrinkles, sex or lack thereof, friendship, divorce, dating, or whatever else we two young women, 37 years apart, refuse to shut up about. Okay,
Double D: Body Hair
SPEAKER_00we're gonna start our first segment, double D, Dialogue and Discussion, and I am going to choose the topic. Thank you very much. I am going to start out with body hair and tattoos. You can start, Sonia.
SPEAKER_02Okay, let's just go with body hair. I think I don't know, it's a tough one. I personally don't love body hair. I think that guys need to trim their armpit hair more often, and my aunt always used to say no tank tops, or there has to be a t-shirt at least at the dinner table, because she does not want to see your armpit hair, and she raised two boys. So I think that's icky and stinky, and I don't know, there's a lot of stigma around body hair, especially for women, and how we should always be bald and hairless, like a freaking hairless cat. Gross. Um, yeah, but it's it's a it's a weird it's a weird one. What do you think, Mara?
SPEAKER_00I'm thinking top to bottom here. I I wasn't gonna go with the bald bikini bald. I wasn't going Brazilian, but you went straight to it. So I'm gonna start with the top because I know you have some strong opinions about boldness, so I'll I'll throw it back to you in a few. But I remember back in my day the crazy amount of tweezing of eyebrows, and now all of all of we women in our 50s, 40s, 50s, sometimes 60s want that hair back, which is why there's so much growth serum sold at Sephora and the like. People trying to get the brows back and painting them on, which I've always painted the tips of mine because they are blonde and sparse, but there was an over-tweezing epidemic that went on to mirror the supermodels. Bonkers, because I think we all want our eyebrows back.
SPEAKER_02Isn't it funny how it comes and goes? It's the super tiny, like stick line eyebrows, and now it's the big bushy brows like painted up and maximum volume.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you're the one who wanted to go and have your eyebrows repositioned in like Korea. What's the story with that? My body my choice. I don't get how that even works.
SPEAKER_02It's just they redo your hair follicles, basically. Give you more brow.
SPEAKER_00Oh god. How much does that cost?
SPEAKER_02I don't know. If you get it done in South Korea, it's not as expensive as doing something like that here.
SPEAKER_00You gotta get to South Korea.
SPEAKER_02It's just like, well, we're talking from head down balding of your head. I have interesting opinions about this. As you said, I think that men with the very little upkeep that they have to do, women make up hair the whole nine yards. Men have what they they say that a man's makeup is his hair. I think that Who's the they? The the society. A man's makeup is his hair. And if you have the male patterned balding gene, get a hair transplant. Do what all the planefuls of guys going to Turkey with their shaved and needled heads ready to get hair transplant surgery.
SPEAKER_00Okay. I think it's really obvious when there's implants.
SPEAKER_02I don't think so. I think some of them are really good. What's obvious is like a toupee.
SPEAKER_00Oh, toupees for sure. Wanna knock them out of the wind. But yeah, I don't know. I hair plugs, I guess I've never seen anybody with a successful one that has actually disclosed this, so I can't speak to it, but I think it would look fake. Hmm. Okay. So you're anti-bold man. You're not attracted to bold people in the least. No.
SPEAKER_02It reminds me of um Rufus from Kim Possible.
SPEAKER_00Well, hairless mole rat. Okay, so I think bald's kind of sexy. I mean, I do. I think bald's kind of sexy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I don't know.
SPEAKER_02I'm I'm a curly hair fan, so.
SPEAKER_00Oh, thank you. Not yours.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_00Uh what else do you have to say about hair? Body hair. Any hair?
SPEAKER_02Um, arm hair. Ugh. It's a pain. It's shaving. I think shaving is so stupid, and it is such a pain in the ass, and it is such a money pit, but I'm not the biggest fan of body hair, so I do it. I I fall for the traps.
SPEAKER_00Would you like to say more about the trap in which you fell last year?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I mean I don't even think it was a trap. I got laser, Brazilian laser, full the full nine yards, and I mean it's nice because I'm a swimmer. Or I was a swimmer. And shaving your bikini line is so irritating, and it irritates your skin having to do it so often because you're in the water every day, and you don't want your frickin' coochie hairs just out blowing in the wind. So shaving was a pain, and I was like, okay, if I can do a more permanent solution, I'm not the biggest fan of any hair in the nether region, anyways. So I got a couple rounds of laser. It was easy peasy. The hair follicles just die off, right? But a lot of them grow back, so unless you do it like I did what, like six times. Unless you do it, I think 12 plus, you're still gonna have some hair growth.
SPEAKER_00And yes, listener, I had to sign off on this because she was underage, and I did. I got a really good group on for it, though.
SPEAKER_02You're by your choice, and if you want to look like 75% off. Okay. It's freaking amazing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, it didn't take.
SPEAKER_02That's how they get you.
SPEAKER_00Let me tell you what's gonna happen in your future, my friend. Okay. The spider legs that come down from the bikini line.
SPEAKER_02Okay, but the thing is, is you can only do laser when you still have pigmented hair. Correct. So if you do want to do laser, the little PSA for everybody, you have to do it before you go gray.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so now we're disclosing I have gray pubic hair. Is that what's happening here?
SPEAKER_02No, but that's just facts for everyone. And also, you can't really, I don't think I this might not be true, but it's a lot harder for blondes. You might not even be able to do it if you if you I don't know.
SPEAKER_00I think this is something we could research.
SPEAKER_02I'm not really sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I did in uh what I was I 24, 25, I went and got my upper lip lasered. And I'm very grateful for that because there's always weird dark hairs around your upper lip. Like I don't get that. The rest of your face and body can have blonde. Yeah, it's just ridonculous. But I had that lasered, but I have one on the right side of my mouth that is a stickler that will could not, will not be killed. And that black motherfucker, it pops up. It just does. So I kind of with my tongue, I kind of lick over to the side and I know when it's coming, and I get in there deep and dark, and I just pluck that thing. So other things about body hair, I would say, so I'm going top to bottom eyebrows, lips, big pain in the butt. Um, some women, I know men do, get hair on their nipples. I'm not one, but I know it happens. And if I were one with hair on my nipples, I would 100% laser it or pluck that. Though I can't see anything anymore, so I wouldn't be able to do it myself in a mirror. Um, even with my what's the mirror I have?
SPEAKER_02Like the zoom in one. And like, yeah, you can see every single pore on your face. It's disgusting. I hate it.
SPEAKER_00Zoom with a spotlight. That's what I need to do. But the best place to pluck your eyebrows, hands down, where? You know.
SPEAKER_02Your car.
SPEAKER_00Your car.
SPEAKER_02Your car.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02You can really, you can really see. It's high definition. Horrible lighting, though.
SPEAKER_00No, the reflection's the best. You want daylight. Anyway, I disagree. Okay, and then the other thing you can look forward to is the older you get, the hair on your legs decreases. Uh, it just it just does. But where it increases, or maybe it's just in comparison to the rest of your legs, is around your ankle. Like a fucking Eskimo in wintertime, keeping your body warm, which I'm sure goes back to caveman days. My ankles are black hair, and it's so gross. And so that is the place that I shave. That is that is it, my friend.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It's not enjoyable.
SPEAKER_00All right. You good on the body here, or is there anything else that you'd
Double D: Tattoos
SPEAKER_00like to really lean into?
SPEAKER_02That's probably it.
Double D: Tattoos
SPEAKER_00Tattoos, I'm gonna let you take it.
SPEAKER_02Mmm, tattoos. I love tattoos. I think the whole your body is a temple, don't put a bumper sticker on a Bentley bullshit. Like I don't think any of that applies. I think your body is like a canvas. And if you like art and you have something meaningful that you want permanently on you, that do whatever you want. Get all the tattoos, do all the things.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So Christopher Nolan making the Odyssey.
SPEAKER_02Ugh.
SPEAKER_00Most of those actors were riddled with tattoos, but think about the period piece. So they spent copious amounts of time covering up those tattoos for every scene. Pain in the butt. Okay, but I don't care.
SPEAKER_01Such a stickler, no CGI, so can't edit those out.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So anyway, tattoos. I don't care. You're about to your choice. But what I would say is when I see older people, like the elderly, like 80s, 90s with tattoos, it's it's rough. It ain't easy on the eyes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but like whatever. That signals, like I said before, life well lived. Okay. Wrinkles, stretch marks.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, everything's gonna look bad when you're old.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't care. I have one tattoo, and when I chose it, it was in my handwriting, and it was M-A-N-S Marit Amelionate Sonya. And I did an incursive and I did oh, I brought you with me. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And it's surrounded by a tulip, and it's on my wrist.
SPEAKER_02Tulip's your mom's favorite flower?
SPEAKER_00My mom's flower. So it's my mom's flower and my kids. And now it just looks like it just looks like a stem.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. They yeah. Not a good job. Those fine-line tattoos are hard. They they mesh. Anything that's writing bleeds. Bleeds together.
SPEAKER_00So then what are you gonna do when you get tattoos? Um, you just get them touched up. Okay, but what what's your plan? You're almost 18. What are you doing?
SPEAKER_02Oh, it's a secret.
SPEAKER_00Oh god.
SPEAKER_02Get a tramp stamp, guys.
SPEAKER_00Oh, please get a tramp stamp. And actually have it say tramp stamp.
SPEAKER_02You know what I'm gonna get? Two W's on each of my butt cheeks when I do cartwheels naked. It goes, wow, mom, wow, mom, wow, mom.
SPEAKER_00Okay, let me say that more clearly because this has always been my Did I steal your joke? You did. This has always been my go-to. This is this is my go-to as well as going up to a man at a bar and looking at the tag on his shirt and saying, Oh my god, it's true, you are made in heaven. Okay, but but the tattoo joke I've always had, which is absolutely nuts how many people believe me, but I always say I have a W on each bun. A W on each bun, I should say. And they're like, why? And I'm like, when I touch my toes, I can say, Wow. And when I'm really having fun and doing cartwheels, I can say, Wow, mom, wow mom, wow mom. But um, ba doom boom. You said it very fast, so I wanted to make sure that the listener could really bring it home and use it for their own. Because it's a good one. Okay, tattoos. I'm just, I guess I'm excited and nervous for what you're gonna do to beautify
Word Up: First Kiss
SPEAKER_00your body, I'm gonna say, with a question mark.
SPEAKER_02Okay,
Word Up: First Kiss
SPEAKER_02for our next segment, word up, I have chosen a word and Mart's gonna riff on it for however long. Or really it's a phrase. First kiss.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god. What was his name? He was from West Hills, California. I was kind of, I was not just kind of, I was a late bloomer. I think I was going into 10th grade. No, ninth grade, maybe ninth grade. I felt like I was a late bloomer compared to everybody else, but maybe people just talked smack. But I was in Arizona with my dad and one of his many girlfriends. I think it was Kay, in Scottsdale, my friend Tina and I. And we were staying at a hotel and we were in the hot tub, and there were these two boys that were there for a tennis tournament. Must have been our spring break or something. Anyway, oh, they were so cute. And Tina, she was just old school, she was the youngest, she had two older brothers. She was kissing some boy, and I was like, oh my god. God, what is his name? I actually kept up with him. He went to Brown. I need to follow up with this guy. Yeah. Whatever this guy's name was, I was obsessed because it was my first kiss. But I remember we made out in the hot tub. And I didn't know how to kiss. I mean, I didn't practice on watermelon, I didn't know what I was doing, and I was so nervous I thought I was gonna just barf right into his mouth. But yeah, it was good. And then we exchanged addresses because back then, of course, there's no, I mean we wouldn't exchange phone numbers, we exchanged addresses and we used to write each other letters.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm. So I was entering probably high school, yeah, probably ninth grade. Yeah, and we exchanged letters back and forth a bit. And then I think later on, because I was obsessed with his name and now I can't remember it because I'm out of pause brain, but I looked him up and I did at one point find him maybe on LinkedIn or maybe on Facebook. And of course, he had no fucking idea who I was, but yeah, it was huge.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I can't believe you guys wrote each other letters. All I have to say about that is today, romance is dead. All we do is send each other reels. It's so sad. Gone is the art of yearning letter writing, yearning. Bring back the yearn.
SPEAKER_00And waiting, like going to the mailbox and just dying for the hope of love.
SPEAKER_02That's that's super embarrassing.
SPEAKER_00No, it's so beautiful.
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yes. Okay. So, how about your first kiss? Um, was that a beach? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Pretty cool.
SPEAKER_02It's sunset, sunset, music, you know. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Were you alone or were there others in the crowd?
SPEAKER_02No. It's just me and the said person.
SPEAKER_00No spin the bottle, just straight up make out?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Romance is not dead for me.
SPEAKER_00Good for you. What was the song?
SPEAKER_02No, it was just like it was just like a playlist. It was just like had some pizza earlier. We were chatting.
Dating & Relationships
SPEAKER_02Who leaned in? Me. Ah.
SPEAKER_00That's my little hoe bag.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It's hot. Well, that's the thing. So I've been told this by a bunch of my guy friends is girls will never miss,
Dating & Relationships
SPEAKER_02right? Huh? Guys fear the rejection and won't do something, won't make the first move out of fear of like making the other person uncomfortable or getting their signals wrong, you know? And so, as a girl, if you want something, most likely you can make that happen with little fear of rejection.
SPEAKER_00I have so much to say about this. Okay, let me just ask you this. Would you have not leaned in for a kiss if you thought you might get rejected? Or did you 100% think, oh, this guy's gonna make out with me because he's a guy and I'm a girl and he wants to make out?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, what?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I think I mean, I think if I had a fear of getting rejected in that scenario, my actions may have been different, but I was pretty confident in in that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Okay, so can I do a little side note on the makeout session? And your courage, bravery. I'm not gonna say who, but a woman of my age and I have spoken recently about how easy it is for women, I would say almost at any age, I'm gonna go there. How easy it is to get a man to fall for you, fall in love with you, like you, want a little bit more. And I'm gonna say why I think this is true. I think, and I'm stealing her words, but I completely echo them because absolutely hand stamp has happened. They, men being, are just so enamored with the fact you're enamored with them and they don't see any sort of manipulation going on or us reeling them in. And so it's easy. It's easy, it's fast, and you're like, Yep, got them. But what's interesting is once I'm saying it, once we quote are gotten, or they think, wow, she's fallen for me. Wow, she is absolutely locked in. Then they turn the tables, and I'm not saying all men, I am saying many men, and in my experience, now I got her. She also loves me or wants to continue on, so now the control, the power control dynamic switches.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I think that's funny you say that because I do agree on many levels, and I think one thing that's common nowadays is people will always be like, never have sex on the first date, because then you've destroyed the anticipation, basically. And I think it's totally ugh, it's gross hookup culture that's oh, women need to be chased. Oh, you need to play hard to get to be wanted. And I think that's bullshit. I think that you should just want to want the person. But I do think that what you said is 100% true. That once you've been quote unquote gotten, once you've hooked up, once you've done whatever, a lot of that mystery dies.
SPEAKER_00Because they've gotten what they want.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. They've gotten what they want, and so that mystery dies that oh, she's the idea in your head.
SPEAKER_00The need to earn keep up.
SPEAKER_02So this is the need to like gain, the need to gain control of, like you said, you know.
SPEAKER_00I hope this doesn't continue to be true, but so far in my life it has proven to be true. Um yeah, wow. I'm really my my mind is reeling a little bit, but I do think that it's a game that doesn't need to be played.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. I also think nowadays, in the whole dating sphere, it's so I don't want to say fake, but it almost feels that with online dating and all- Have you done online dating? No. That's actually something I haven't dabbled in, but I am excited to see. Get me a hinge account now.
SPEAKER_00The app that's created to be deleted.
SPEAKER_02Exact exactly, exactly. Um, but I honestly how I view Hinge is that is a strict source of entertainment for you and your girlfriends. You know, not when you're 54, it's not when you're 50. That's yeah, that's just tough. Sorry, that's kind of embarrassing. But as a youngin', um dating apps are entertainment, but it is, I will say, it is very hard to meet people organically.
SPEAKER_00Oh, for sure.
SPEAKER_02People are like the antisocial, the awkwardness, the inability to interact with other people in the quote unquote real world, it's difficult.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think in the wild meeting somebody, you almost have to have a sign around your neck saying, I am single and available, would you like to chat? Yes. You also have to have hobbies.
SPEAKER_02That that I will say is the biggest winner, winner chicken dinner. If you have a niche-ish kind of cool hobby, you'll find other cool people.
SPEAKER_00Like your climbing and surfing and all of the things that you badass women these days are doing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. That's that's the way.
SPEAKER_00So I think my conundrum is that my hobbies are artwork at home, writing at home, watching copious amounts of television at home, right? Old school fun, just me, myself, and my couch.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. Glass of wine.
unknownYeah, it's a problem.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I could really go on about online dating. I have so many good stories because I've been doing this for almost 10 years. Um, and clearly I'm still single, but I would say my best stories. I have two. One, I saw a friend's husband on an app, and I screenshot it. Ex-husband, right? Nope. Husband. Husband, should be a husband. I saw him, I screenshot it, and I saw that she was cut out of his profile photo. Not the crop. Are you kidding? The crop of the current wife. Are you kidding? No, wait, hold on. Please. It gets worse. So then I was, oh my God, I've got to do something. So I sent it to him on LinkedIn because we are connected on LinkedIn. Not on social media. I didn't see him on social media, but I saw him on LinkedIn. And I said, You have 48 hours to tell her, or I will.
SPEAKER_02Holy. I've never heard this before. That's insane.
SPEAKER_00No, and I left it at that. I don't know if he told her. I don't know what happened, but I was so appalled. And I have let it go. And I'm sure that this happens frequently.
SPEAKER_02The other story, just of- I just don't understand how you think you can get away with that.
SPEAKER_00Oh, no, but it was so great though. He was so freaked out that he wrote me back right away. It was like two in the morning, right? Like I I sat on it and I was, I gotta nail this bastard. I'm so disgusted. So in the middle of the night, this guy messages me back on LinkedIn. And I don't know what I don't know what that is. What is that? What is that? Right? Like denying the fact that he knew what the app was and whatnot. Deny, deny, deny. Right. And I and I thought, well, I can't imagine that she would, or anyone, frankly, punk you because you're not a punkable type. It was just so bizarre. And then he was freaking out and he said, I don't know where you got that. If you can tell me where you got that. And I was, well, clearly I've screenshot it, so it's real. It is permanent. It's a concrete message I could send anytime. Anywho, I don't know what happened with that. The next weird thing that happened, I've had so many weird dates. My screen is so much better. I am, I've I really honed in on an absurdity. But I will say that I once went on a date with a guy that I met at kind of a dive bar in between where we lived. And right away I knew that he was something special. And I, you know, I was like, whatever, I can have a beer with whomever, and I'll just ditch out. This guy leans over and plants his tongue in my mouth like within five minutes. I was so mortified. What? And I said, What what indication did I give that that was a green light, dude? So I said, I'll be right back. I'm going to the bathroom and I just left out the back door. But I just I'd be so pissed. I'd throw a drink in the school. I was really pissed. I was really pissed. And that's that was, I don't know, maybe it's commonplace, but not for me anymore, because I don't put up with just about anything.
SPEAKER_02That's the that's the stuff that pisses me off so bad. Because men will do that cat call, you know, like grope women in the streets, random. Who still? Still. And the most irritating thing, and I've had stories between Amelia and I, you know, we're both very outspoken, not quiet people. And when things like this will happen, it's that just freeze. You know, it's like that you're so shocked, you don't know what to do, and then later just like punching your like literally so angry that you didn't yell at them or say, like, what the fuck is wrong with you? You know, like how why would you ever do something like that? You have a daughter. Yeah, and like it's it's always well fuck, fuck having a daughter. Have do you have common human decency? Like, are you a human? Or do you have any compassion for the ball set? Seriously, let me twist your nuts, bro. Let's see how that feels. Yeah. But that just it's so frustrating because shit like that does happen, and then it's like, wow, I wish I reacted so differently.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so I absolutely recall many cat calls, and I was horrified by them. What is equally interesting and disturbing is the 50-year-old dismissed. We women are invisible in our 50s. It doesn't matter how loud, hot, or whatever we might look, we're pretty invisible. And it's bullshit. Because let me tell you, we have absolutely grown into who we are. Our confidence, our self-advocacy, our sense of self is so on par with who we deserve to be, and we are invisible. But it's also kind of fun because I don't give a shit. I remember turning 40 and going fuck at 40s, but now 50s, I'm like, oh my god, bring it on, baby. Bring it on because I am me to the core, and well, I've kind of always been me, but I'm really me now. And I've never felt so just solid, steady.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think the frustrating thing about that is once you lose your value to the patriarchy, you lose your value as a human.
SPEAKER_00But you can get it back.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00Look at Eugene Carroll, look at so many women we flop up.
SPEAKER_02I know, I know. And that's it's it's just like it's just disturbing that that's the reality, you know, and you always have to be the louder, more visible presence in the room.
SPEAKER_00And when we are loud and we do stand up, and I have so many times and gotten a bad rap for it. I mean, I think I shut down a fraternity in college for a while. But when you speak your mind and you are outrageously confident in your conviction, boy, do we women pay the price.
SPEAKER_02Then you lack your femininity, you're undateable, you're yeah.
SPEAKER_00A challenge and difficult. Yeah. Okay, my loves. Um, I have gotten some feedback about you from
Outro
SPEAKER_00some friends and family about how brilliant, articulate you are. You're it's very kind. You're far better spoken than I. I'm better with the written word. You are just a beam of light, and I'm so not yet. Not yet. Oh god, I'm scared of the stories that you're gonna have. Oh yeah, it's gonna be exciting. Oh, I can't wait to hear I'm gonna live vicariously through you. Anyway, I am thrilled that we are somehow doing this, that you will show up for me,
Outro
SPEAKER_00and I adore you.
SPEAKER_02Right back at you.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for joining us for youth is wasted on the young.
SPEAKER_02Peace out.