If there was ever a week to remind you how much toxic masculinity underpins the Republican party – this was it. Trump pushed Montenegro’s prime minister (complete with self-satisfied smirk) and Montana’s newest congressional representative won his seat despite having assaulted a Guardian reporter – a move Rush Limbaugh lauded as “manly”.
When this is all over, gender studies professors are going to have a hell of time teaching students about the era in history that amounted to little more than a (ahem) measuring contest.
Glass Half Full
At least among the continued horrors of living under a Trump presidency, Black Lives Matter got some of the recognition it deserves when it won the Sydney peace prize. Naomi Klein, a previous recipient, said that the movement founders Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi “embody the core principle of the Sydney peace prize: that there will never be peace without real justice”.
What I’m RTing
Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group? pic.twitter.com/bL1r2auELd
— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) May 25, 2017
New York Forces Women Like Me to Carry Nonviable Pregnancies to Term https://t.co/nntCHhS647
— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) May 23, 2017
depending on how much you weigh, the morning-after pill doesn’t necessarily work https://t.co/kk5tJ1KMT2
— ✨dodai✨ (@dodaistewart) May 23, 2017
Our domestic & international policy on women's issues is literally now just Ivanka appearing & saying the word "women" & then drifting away. https://t.co/5POYKQ5nCm
— Dana Stevens (@thehighsign) May 21, 2017
Who I’m reading
The Naral president, Ilyse Hogue, on why Dems can’t waver on abortion rights; the New Orleans mayor, Mitch Landrieu, on the removal of Confederate statues; and Politico on the “real Jared Kushner”.
What I’m hate-reading
This fawning piece on Melania and Ivanka’s “feminine power” amounts to little more than complimenting the women for being pretty and well-dressed and each line is more insipid than the last. Enjoy!
What I’m watching
Brittney Cooper has a trailer for her new must-read book, Beyond Respectability: The Intellectual Thought of Race Women.
What I’m writing
The Guardian got a hold of Facebook’s guidelines on handling harassment and hate speech, and they’re way too lenient - why give the benefit of the doubt to abusers?
How outraged I am
The Texas House passed an anti-choice bill that would make it a crime to drive a woman to get an abortion and on a scale from 1 to 10, I’m at a Handmaid’s 11.
How I’m making it through this week
Reading and re-reading my kid’s love letter to science. (Wow.)
