Call Your Girlfriend

Shouldn't we all have a personal code for how we internet? Through the mini saga of plane bae, how we're conditioned to indulge in hetero-patriarchal fantasies. When internet fascination turns to outrage, no surprise, women pay the price. TV networks that juice social media storylines do not. Just because someone's account is unlocked doesn't mean you should publicize their posts, at least not without permission. Plus, the hosts of Unladylike are diving deep into the Equal Rights Amendment and its (possible!) future.

Reading list:

Why plane bae was so fucked up / Apology

ERA campaign from Unladylike

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We step back from Cheeto-induced chaos in the U.S. and take a global view. Protests at the World Cup in Russia. The politics of globalization and migration on and off the pitch. In China, the government is cracking down on women organizing online. In Nepal, menstrual stigma risks the lives of women and girls. In slightly better news, women in Egypt are working to end gender-based violence, starting with the men who drive cabs and tuk-tuks.

Reading List

Russia: Hidden Flag / Pussy Riot World Cup protests

China: Women factory workers’ networking group shut down

Nepal: Menstruation taboo leading to deaths / ZanaAfrica

Egypt: Iman El-Mahdi of CARE Egypt / Circles of Change program

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Everybody poops and we're finally talking about it all: Period poops. The pleasure of getting regular. Checking your stool as an indicator of health. Eliminating poop shame and stigma. The pleasure of the bidet. And Dr. Susan Stryker on the unnatural social construct of sex-segregated public bathroom.

Reading List

Everybody is constipated by Maggie Koerth-Baker at FiveThirtyEight

The Lily on documenting their poop for the duration of the month

“America has softened on stool.”

Period poops

Oprah was on this tip back in 2005 / clip

Tushy, SquattyPotty, Poo Drops

Bristol stool scale

Mona Chalabi on stress and rectal bleeding

Susan Stryker: Everybody poops. No one should be stigmatized for it.

Stalled project

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We're at the library, on the beach, and by the pool with our noses in books/kindles. And you know we're all about the stories that share and expand on women's experiences. This week we hear from Jessica Knoll about The Favorite Sister, her novel full of murder and scandal set in the world of reality TV. Glynnis MacNicol's memoir No One Tells You This is full of dispatches on life after 40 when you don't follow a spouse-and-kids blueprint. Yrsa Daley-Ward is perhaps best known as a poet, and her new memoir The Terrible uses that precision of language and feeling to explore her youth.

Reading list:

Novels by Jessica Knoll: Luckiest Girl Alive, The Favorite Sister

...and essays: I Want to Be Rich and I’m Not Sorry, What I Know (trigger warning: description of sexual assault)

No One Tells You This by Glynnis MacNicol

Bone and The Terrible by Yrsa Daley-Ward

Share your faves using #cygbooks!

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After a week of upheaval in legal doctrine, the Supreme Court issued another shocking decision: Justice Anthony Kennedy is stepping down. Legal writer (and icon) Dahlia Lithwick explains why Kennedy has never been a centrist, reviews some of the landmark cases Kennedy decided, and previews the likely jurisprudence to come. (Hint: it’s about as scary as you think.) A small silver lining: progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won her Congressional primary thanks to grassroots support. Plus, we're working on our protest signs and fundraising with friends.

READING LIST

Dahlia Lithwick on the “fan fic” that Kennedy was a moderate

If all goes well in November, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

Flippable / Indivisible / Sister District / Run for Something / Swing Left

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Donate, Protest, Midterm Elections is the new Gym, Tan, Laundry. Let's move from shock and despair at Ivanka's dad's inhumane immigration policy to reading history and taking action. The white women who defend Trump (and still get burned). Delightful quotes from Flo Kennedy: ''Sweetie,'' she said, ''if you're not living on the edge, then you're taking up space.'' Gina got a website! Bey and Jay's creative partnership and black art in white spaces. And the power of a bespoke suit.

Reading list:

Gina got a website!

Kirstjen Nielsen & complicit white women

Children ripped from their families: Native Americans, slaves, Japanese Americans

Democrats who paved the way for family separation

“Donate, Protest, Midterm Elections is the new Gym, Tan, Laundry.”

Flo Kennedy’s life, quotes, and public access show

June 30: March to Keep Families Together

Bey and Jay’s creative partnership, forgiveness, black art in white spaces

Emily Meyer suits / the power of bespoke

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Remember when the question was, let me know when this administration gets really bad? Welcome to this week, especially for immigrants. We rage and discuss options for supporting people who are likely affected in your local community. Plus, loving ways to handle bouts of mental illness and depression within a friendship.

Reading List:

ShopCYG is back!

DOJ not interested in asylum

A small town in Tennessee deals with immigration raids

That Merkel photo

Voter-roll purges greenlit by SCOTUS

Why “You are loved” and “please reach out” aren’t good enough

Crisis text line: Text HOME to 741741 in the United States

Or call 1-800-273-8255

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"The scam economy is entering its baroque phase." From Ponzi schemes to fake royals to imposters in the tech and wellness space, our guide to scammers both amusing and insidious.

Common grifters and their scams:

• Fake royals: Anna Delvey, fake-German-heiress scammer; the guy who impersonated a Saudi royal; fake British royal-adjacent Thomas J Mace Archer Mills Esq.
• Political grifters: Trump cabinet scammers: Pruitt (and his wife), Carson, Zinke; Ivanka; all Trumps, really; Jill Stein, recount scammer
• Messy bitches who live for drama: Joanne the Scammer; the ex-Vogue staffer
• Self-declared saints: Pope Francis (and all popes, really); Justin Trudeau; John McCain
• “Wellness” icons: Gwyneth Paltrow; Amanda Chantal Bacon; related scammer: Alex Jones
• Pyramid schemers: Bernie Madoff; the Vegan Bernie Madoff; multi-level marketing
• Silicon Valley tech-scammer: Elizabeth Holmes; so many dude “serial founders”

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(Hint: you're already in one.) We talk about all the ways we’re feeling good in our bodies this summer; why body positivity is about working to make the world better for ALL kinds of bodies, not just your own; our favorite instagram accounts from people with a range of hot bods; microdosing, psychedelics, and other ways we get out of our heads and into our bodies.

Insta accounts we love

Jessamyn Stanley / Keah Brown / #DisabledAndCute / the thicc / She’s All Fat / Jacob Tobia / Tuesday Bassen / Muse Gold / Virgie Tovar / FatLeopard.jpeg / Myisha Battle

Reading List:

Lindy West on being a happy fat woman

Microdosing / Michael Pollan / Ayelet Waldman

A feminist guide to microdosing

Interview with our faves at She’s All Fat

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We let our aggressive word nerd selves out to play. Why the Glass Cliff is an imperfect metaphor for women who get promoted after men fail (glass shovel, anyone?). Al Franken and what's next for #metoo men. Plus, your questions: is it okay to call a group of women "hey guys"? how do you deal with a fragile male ego at work? And, you donated 580 pints of blood in our drive, enough to save 1700 lives!

Reading list:

“The glass cliff”

Laura McGann on Al Franken + letters she’s gotten from men who miss him

Kate Manne on what misogyny is really about

Leeann Tweeden’s statement

What’s next for ‘Me Too’ men?

#MeToo doesn't lack nuance. Its critics do

The writings of Andrea Dworkin

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