Perfect imperfections

Two Netflix shows, Atypical and The Bold Type, show that human bodies are unpredictable. What they require is not self-hatred but tenderness

Popular culture is often responsible for promoting ideas about attractiveness and desirability that are out of touch with how human beings really experience their bodies. When the focus is on having glowing skin, perfectly aligned teeth, well-toned abs and an hourglass figure, the hard realities of illness, ageing and death are deliberately blocked out of the narrative.

It is, therefore, refreshing to have Robia Rashid’s comedy-drama series Atypical on Netflix talk about testicular cancer in Season 4, which released in July 2021. The topic is introduced when Zahid Raja (played by Nik Dodani) tells his friend Sam Gardner (Keir Gilchrist), “The