Over the years, the hue of the US President-elect's skin has been the source of much confusion - but experts have some compelling theories…

Dr Creed historicises tanning injections (8.15 to 9.15 minutes) in Alice Faulkner’s 5-day investigative piece on ‘Tanning Injections and Nasal Sprays Rise in Glasgow’, Clyde 1 Glasgow Radio and Online Press: Faulkner, ‘We reveal health risks from popular nasal tanners’ 2 September 2024. Faulkner, ‘Nasal tanning spray investigation deemed 'terrifying’’, 6 September 2024.

To break the silence on maternal mental health and women’s experiences in 20th-century Britain, Hilary Marland, Fabiola Creed and Kelly Couzens collaborated with 3 artists to create historically based audios. The audios explore the influences of maternal mental illness, from inter-generational mother-daughter relationships to racism and everyday gossiping. Funded by the Wellcome Trust and Warwick University. Produced by Fuel.

From "sun-kissed" to a "healthy glow", the way we talk about being tanned is proof enough that we romanticise it. Add in the visuals, like adverts for luxury fashion or influencers posting on Instagram from a poolside in Ibiza, and its ever more apparent that a bronzed body has become synonymous with being attractive and healthy—even when we know a real tan can be deadly…

Summer is around the corner and as many are headed for the tanning salons to achieve that sun-kissed look, have you wondered how this whole trend came about? Listen to Dr Creed talk about the invention of the sunbed and how its use and societal position have changed over time. Also, how does that relate to body image? And what is the role of the media? The ‘Working Group on Body Image’ is founded by Dr Petya Eckler (University of Strathclyde).

In this episode, Fabiola Creed and Louise Morgan consider the dietary fad, clean eating, and tanning technologies such as 'MelanoTan'. They examine these cultural phenomena with reference to the financial elements imbricated in the advocation of these technologies and diets, as well as the way in which medical research intersects with public discourse in media representations of clean eating and MelanoTan.

Fabiola talked about the changing perceptions of sunbed users, and brought along a 1980s Sindy doll to highlight her point about sunbeds becoming mainstream. This prompted people to share their own sunbed experiences, laughing about the rush to use sunbeds! This event was organised by the ‘Body, Self and Family: Women’s Psychological, Emotional and Bodily Health in Britain, c. 1960-1990’ project team, Professor Tracey Loughran, Dr Daisy Payling, Dr Kate Mahoney, Dr Hannah Froom.

With such sunbed stigma in mind, how has this industry, worth millions of pounds, both persisted and thrived for over thirty years? And why do over millions of people in Britain continue using them every year? The popularity of the industry has drastically declined in many European countries. In comparison, the yearly rates of sunbed consumption have remained fairly constant in the UK…

This series of blogs in 2017 explored internet addiction, interpretations of ‘natural and ‘artificial’ body modifications, the importance of using history to inform policy, the history of stereotypes, and MDMA, club culture and gender normative practices.