Greetings, Meteor readers,

The women’s Final Four is set, and thankfully for my bracket, UConn is still in it along with UCLA, Texas, and South Carolina. As much as I love Dawn Staley, I need anyone but South Carolina to win as I refuse to lose to my own husband in our bracket battle.

In today’s newsletter, we celebrate a win for abortion in Alabama. Plus, one very expensive election and an answer to whether or not your basketball tattoo can get you arrested (it can).

Cheering for Paige,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

Sometimes we win: On Monday, a federal judge in Alabama ruled that the state could not prosecute people for obtaining abortions in states where the procedure is legal, writing in his decision that “Alabama’s criminal jurisdiction does not reach beyond its borders.” (Someone tell that to Ken Paxton.) The judge also wrote that going after people or organizations who help others get abortions “would violate both the First Amendment and the right to travel.” The ruling comes in response to a 2023 lawsuit filed by Yellowhammer Fund, the state’s only abortion fund, along with West Alabama Women’s Center (WAWC) and Huntsville OB/GYN Dr. Yashica Robinson against the state’s attorney general Steve Marshall, who had publicly threatened to criminalize anyone aiding out-of-state abortions under a criminal conspiracy law from 1896.

Even just those threats had been having real-world consequences in Alabama, where abortion is illegal in all instances with very, very few exceptions. Robin Marty, the director of operations for WAWC, told The Meteor that even after Roe was overturned, people came to the center seeking care—often unaware that abortion had become illegal. But because of Marshall’s threats to enforce anti-conspiracy laws, Marty says her staff was severely hindered from offering patients guidance on how to get an abortion, despite no new legislation being on the books. “We had to say ‘I can't help you,’” Marty tells The Meteor. “Because any information that we provided would then be potentially considered to be the beginning of that so-called criminal conspiracy.”

If that kind of cruelty on top of cruelty—in which the state mistreats patients and bars anyone from helping them—sounds familiar, that’s because a number of other anti-abortion states are also manipulating existing racketeering and conspiracy laws to make it nearly impossible to access abortion care. Idaho and Tennessee have already codified so-called “abortion trafficking” laws, making it a felony to help teens get out-of-state abortions without parental consent. (Tennessee’s law is being challenged in court.) Last month, Texas, the least magical place on earth, introduced SB 2880, which would open providers, funds, and even abortion pill manufacturers up to civil suits.

But the ruling in Alabama is a considerable bright spot in the fight for abortion access and could provide a legal boost to the fight against other abortion travel bans. Marty still has concerns—“the state has said that they’re looking at their options”—but, she says, “we are just excited that we are able to provide as much care as we are legally allowed to right now.”

AND: 

• There’s a consequential election happening today in Wisconsin, where voters in the “swingiest swing state” will put a new state Supreme Court justice on the bench. The candidates are Susan Crawford and Brad Schimel, and while justices are meant to be non-partisan, Schimel’s loudest supporter has been Elon Musk, who has poured more than $20 million into Schimel’s campaign and even gave million-dollar checks to two Wisconsin voters last weekend. Crawford’s campaign has broken funding records in response. Why all this money? Because, as Musk himself said, as a result of redistricting issues it’s a “vote for which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives”; the balance of the court could also affect labor outcomes, election laws, and abortion access in the state. In other words? The results will serve as a referendum on whether or not one billionaire can buy an election and alter policy for years to come.

• Under the guise of removing gang members from the U.S., the Trump administration is continuing to deport young Venezuelan men to El Salvador, where they are allegedly subject to torture and forced labor.  However, in most cases, there is not sufficient evidence that those deported are in fact members of Tren de Aragua, a gang recently designated a terrorist group. Instead, the administration is asking immigration officials to adhere to an “alien enemy validation guide,” which specifies that clothes and tattoos—of things like a crown, train, or Michael Jordan’s Jumpman logo— seen on a boy over 14 are sufficient reasons to detain and eventually deport. Customs and Border Patrol had previously argued that tattoos are “not a definite indicator” of allegiance to this particular gang. So when exactly are we going to start calling this what it is?

• Amber Ruffin has been relieved of her duty as headliner at the upcoming White House Correspondents’ dinner after calling Trump administration officials “kind of a bunch of murderers” on a Daily Beast podcast and refusing to write jokes that would amount to a “false equivalency” between Democrats and Republicans. Ruffin was told that she would have to evenly mock both parties at the dinner and replied, “There’s no way I’m going to be freaking doing that, dude. It’s bonkers that we’re still acting like things are normal.” Ruffin later pulled out an infamous Trump line on Late Night with Seth Meyers, sarcastically conceding that there are “very fine people on both sides.”

• Cammie Woodman, a self-described “trans tennis princess,” was kicked out of the Brooklyn Tennis League last week. Her violation? Winning a tennis match against a cisgender woman. After the match, Woodman was asked to move to an “appropriate level” men’s division within the league. She declined, writing in part, “I believe in my integrity as a woman player…my win yesterday was based on my skill and consistency that a player at her level was respectfully unable to keep up with.” Woodman also says she was shocked at the decision to remove her as she was under the impression that trans players were welcome.

• In recent years, there has been a decline in Black men attending HBCUs. But the decrease is now so great that at Howard University, one of the most prestigious colleges in the country and a historically Black university, Black men only make up 19 percent of the student body. The reasons for this are many, but one expert told the Times, “ If we are serious about reducing race gaps in economic opportunity, household wealth, et cetera, then our attention should be squarely focused on economic outcomes for Black boys and men — period. Full stop.”

• From 7 pm Monday up until the time of this writing—21 hours!—Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) has been giving a marathon speech on the Senate floor protesting the Trump administration’s policies. Technically not a filibuster because he’s not holding up a vote for legislation, his speech is meant to serve as a public, forceful attack on Trump and Musk’s actions, which he’s called “a complete disregard for the rule of law, the Constitution and the needs of the American people.” Booker has filled the time by reading letters from constituents, taking questions from fellow Democrats, and quoting speeches from people like late senators John McCain and John Lewis, the latter of whom encouraged “good trouble, necessary trouble.”

WHEN YOU'RE TIRED BUT YOU PROMISED YOUR CONSTITUENTS YOU WOULD "STAND UP AND SAY SOMETHING" EVEN IF IT MEANT NOT GOING TO THE BATHROOM FOR A FULL DAY. (SCREENSHOT VIA YOUTUBE)

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The weather is absolutely gorgeous in New Jersey, which means it is officially hiking season for me and my mini. We’re packin’ snacks, makin’ tracks, and yelling “dog” every time we see one.

And speaking of sunny optimism, thanks to all of you who turned out for our International Women’s Day event at the Brooklyn Museum last Saturday! We loved seeing every one of you almost as much as Aurora James loved seeing Diane von Furstenberg.

ALL LOVE! (PHOTO BY REDENS DESROSIERS)

In today’s newsletter, we look at the larger impact of a student arrest, plus a frightening report on who exactly is in our state legislatures. Plus, the second annual Meteor Madness bracket group is now open.

From the trail,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

A green card didn’t save him: On Saturday, Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student at Columbia University in New York and a vocal member of the pro-Palestinian movement on campus, was arrested by Department of Homeland Security officers in the lobby of his university-owned apartment building. According to Khalil’s attorney, who spoke to NPR, he was told by the arresting officers that he was being apprehended because his student visa had been canceled. When Khalil, who is Palestinian, told officers that he was a legal permanent resident with a green card, they said that his green card had been revoked, too. He was arrested without a warrant, and for several hours, his lawyers and his wife could not find him. He is now in a detention center in Louisiana—although attempts to deport him were temporarily blocked by a federal judge on Monday morning.

A little context: Khalil’s arrest comes on the heels of an executive order issued by Donald Trump which promised to detain and deport “Hamas sympathizers on college campuses” and any non-citizen who “endorses or espouses terrorist activity.” (There is no evidence he has committed a “criminal offense,” The Atlantic reported. ) But Trump is still taking a twisted victory lap, posting on Truth Social: “This is the first arrest of many to come,” he wrote, calling protesters “paid agitators” and “terrorist sympathizers.”

Khalil has not been charged with a crime, nor is there proof that he’s a “paid agitator.” There’s no evidence that he’s said anything threatening or violent. He was, however, a very visible protester of the genocide in Gaza. He’s a leader of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a coalition demanding the school’s divestment from Israel. A quick search of Khalil will turn up photos of him at protests, sit-ins, rallies, and encampments. But those activities—per the Constitution!—are not crimes. So let’s be clear: Mahmoud Khalil is a political prisoner, punished for exercising his First Amendment rights.

A lot of us are rightly up in arms about Khalil’s arrest—an arrest that feels ironic because Mahmoud Khalil is what the state would normally consider a “model minority.” He has a master’s degree from a prestigious institution, he’s a husband and soon-to-be father, and he presented a green card at the time of his arrest. But none of that saved him—all because he expressed views the government disagreed with.

PROTESTORS GATHERING ON KHALIL'S BEHALF IN NEW YORK CITY. (VIA GETTY IMAGES)  

So as social-media users have been asking: If basic human rights are not extended to people like Khalil, who is protected? If you can disappear someone with a green card, who can’t you disappear? These are fair questions. It’s also worth a reminder that other vulnerable people’s rights were taken away recently with far less outcry. In January, the bipartisan Laken Riley Act rendered due process a thing of the past for undocumented immigrants; the bill is apparently a driving force in the increase in targeted ICE raids. Just last month, more than 100 Venezuelans —some of whom had no criminal charges against them—were also “disappeared” after being detained in Guantanamo Bay. What’s being done to Khalil is egregious, but it’s not isolated. Like many immigrants, Khalil sensed he could become a target and reached out for help, only for it to fall on deaf ears.

When the president of the United States promised months ago that he was coming for everyone who was against him, we should have believed him—and not waited until he came for someone with a green card.

AND: 

• A new report from the National Women’s Defense League found that there have been approximately 400 allegations of sexual harassment filed against 145 sitting state lawmakers between 2013 and 2024. (A note in the report clarifies that the number of actual incidents is likely three times higher.) Now, are these the same people we task with writing laws meant to protect victims from assault or??? (They are.)

• Elizabeth Oyer, a pardon attorney with the Department of Justice, was fired last week—just one day after she refused to grant an unusual request: to restore Mel Gibson’s right to own a gun. Oyer was part of a working group that had been given a list of names to consider for gun-rights restoration. She was later told by her superiors to add Gibson, who pleaded no contest to domestic abuse in 2011. Normally, those convicted of homicide, domestic abuse, or armed robbery are not eligible for gun rights restoration; even the very pro-gun Supreme Court agrees with that policy. So, following that well-established precedent, Oyer denied the request. “There are real consequences that flow from people who have a history of domestic violence being in possession of firearms,” she told the New York Times. But after her denial, she was pressured to reconsider her recommendation, given what a senior Justice Department official called Gibson’s “personal relationship with the president” and his recent appointment to a special position. She was fired on Friday. (No word yet on if or when Gibson will get what he wants.)

• Today the Supreme Court declined to hear a lawsuit brought by 19 Republican attorneys general seeking to block climate change lawsuits in their respective states. The states in question are allowing their own courts to hear cases against fossil fuel companies for lying to the public about their products’ impacts on the environment. In the lawsuit, Republicans whined argued that largely blue states are trying to manipulate energy policy. Cry me a polluted river, dude 🙄.

• Basketball sistren and bracket babes, lend me your ears! Selection Sunday for the NCAA March Madness tournament is THIS weekend, and your favorite brackmaster has already set up the group for my early birds. You can join the Meteor Madness bracket challenge by clicking here. If you competed with us last year, here's one small update: We are operating on the “upset scoring” system to make things more exciting, but just like last year, first place will be getting a sweet Meteor tote.

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Dearest Meteor readers,

Wishing you a happy Women’s History Month…or at least an informative one. This month-long holiday was established in 1987, in the thick of the Reagan era—another historical moment of backlash against feminism. May we take the missteps and thrilling victories of ‘80s feminists to heart.

In today’s newsletter, we lay out what to expect tonight during Trump’s speech to Congress (whether or not you actually tune in). Plus, a rare display of spine by moderate Democrats, and a few ways to make Mikey Madison’s support for sex workers more tangible.

Re-reading Susan Faludi,

Nona Willis Aronowitz

WHAT'S GOING ON

• State of disunion: Trump will address a joint session of Congress tonight, which raises the question of how we react to these Big Presidential Moments from our not-presidential-at-all dictator. Democrats hope to turn a rote presidential custom into a flashpoint. Some of them are boycotting the event, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Chris Murphy (CT), who called the speech a “MAGA pep rally.” Others have invited an array of citizens already hurt by Trump’s policies—including fired federal workers. Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY) invited Alissa Ellman, a disabled Army veteran who was recently fired from the Veterans Affairs Department in Buffalo. “I hope people will understand that these are actual human beings and not just numbers that we can sort of strike arbitrarily,” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), whose guest is a fired architect at Valley Forge National Park named Jessica Malarik Fair, told the New York Times. Some Democratic lawmakers are floating more raucous ideas, like noisemakers, empty egg cartons, pointedly timed walkouts, and protest signs in the spirit of Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

  So, what to expect tonight? Trump will likely try to orchestrate a “big moment” or two; he relishes a prime-time audience and often resorts to shocking statements as a distraction tactic. Don’t take the bait. Stay focused on the substance of his policies’ havoc: his DOGE takeover, his tariffs, his border crackdown, his anti-DEI moves, his persecution of trans people, his disregard for the checks and balances that make democracy work. Or, feel free to ding Trump’s ratings by skipping the speech altogether. There’s plenty of counterprogramming to keep you in the loop, from the State of the People marathon to the “Calling BS” livestream to the blitz of progressive digital creators, from Liz Plank to Deja Foxx, slated to cover the speech from Capitol Hill.

• Keep reading: We’ll see you at our International Women’s Day Meet the Moment event this Saturday, March 8, yes? Don’t miss our Banned Book reading, in which powerhouses like Emmy Rossum, Glory Edim, Stephanie Pacheco, and Jamia Wilson will read excerpts from crucial, classic books that have been banned. Last year’s readings included This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, Sold by Patricia McCormick, and Wilson’s own Young, Gifted, and Black. Here’s the rest of the 2025 speaker lineup, which includes the announcement of the brand-new organization Future Forward Women and much more.

  AND:

• Finally, a little bravery from our beleaguered Senate Democrats! Every single one of them put up a united front last night when they voted down a bill banning transgender women and girls from girls’ school sports teams. This unanimous opposition was not a sure thing; activists and reporters had their eyes on swing-state senators like Jon Ossoff and John Fetterman, who recently joined Republicans in taking away undocumented immigrants’ due process rights and, it was feared, could abandon trans kids too. But even Fetterman—not exactly a progressive hero—said in a statement that these are “just schoolchildren” and that the “small handful of trans athletes in PA in a political maelstrom deserve an ally, and I am one.”

• In her speech accepting the best actress award for Anora, Mikey Madison made sure to “recognize and honor the sex worker community,” adding that “I will continue to support and be an ally.” Wondering how you can support sex workers if you don’t have an Oscar statuette? Donate to organizations working to decriminalize sex work on the state level. Volunteer with or give to the many local groups that distribute mutual aid, offer legal support, and provide harm reduction supplies like condoms and Narcan. Trans sex workers are extra-vulnerable, particularly now.

• A Chinese factory gave its workers an ultimatum: get hitched and have babies, or leave. No, seriously: “If you cannot get married and start a family” by September 30, an internal memo from Shandong Shuntian Chemical Group read, “the company will terminate your labor contract.” It wasn’t the first attempt by a Chinese company to dictate their employees’ love and sex lives, amid a steep decline in the country’s birth and marriage rates. (What do we think are the odds that DOGE’s next email demands the same? JD Vance, I believe this is your lane?)

BILLIONAIRE EX-WRESTLING EXECUTIVE LINDA MCMAHON. (VIA GETTY IMAGES)

• Brand-new education secretary Linda McMahon, shortly after being confirmed yesterday, sent an ominous message to her employees laying out the department’s “final mission.” McMahon, who has never worked as an educator, wrote that her “vision is aligned with the President’s: to send education back to the states.” One worker called the email a “power grab” in The Guardian; another said it made them “realize that I have three bosses that are billionaires that know nothing about improving performance for America’s students.” The email comes on the heels of reports that Trump is planning to issue an executive order eliminating the Department of Education altogether, though (whether he knows it or not) he can’t actually do so without Congress’s approval.

• If you’ve uttered a lot of “Oh, fucks” and “Goddamit”s in your life, especially in the last six weeks, here’s a nice update: New research shows that cursing is linked to increased tolerance to pain (both physical and social), stronger social bonds, and better memory. Pretty fucking amazing.

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Greetings, Meteor readers,

This morning I read the devastating news that an asteroid scheduled to hit Earth will not be arriving as planned. So I still have to figure out how to potty-train my kid instead of hoping the asteroid will make potties irrelevant. Bummer!

In today’s newsletter, we take a look at a new and troubling gender gap. Plus, for New Yorkers, a few reasons not to take your ex (governor) back.

Life of the potty,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

The newest gender gap: New research shows that women in the workplace are using AI tools 25% less than men are, creating what researchers call an “AI gender gap.” The main reasons we’re using it less? Women seem to be more worried about being unethical or accused of cheating, especially because they “face greater penalties in being judged as not having expertise in different fields,” one researcher noted in the paper Global Evidence on Gender Gaps and Generative AI. “They might be worried that someone would think even though they got the answer right, they ‘cheated’ by using ChatGPT.”

The paper explains that a hesitation to engage with AI more could harm women’s career development in the long run (given that AI is expected to be part of almost every workplace). Studies have also shown that most AI already exhibits gender and racial bias, and the only way to combat that is to expose AI to more diverse input, including user prompts. Avoiding use “could result in AI systems that reinforce gender stereotypes and ignore the inequities women face in everything from pay to childcare,” Harvard Business School’s Michael Blanding writes. However, given the ethical and environmental concerns around AI and the fact that these programs threaten to take the jobs of 79% of working women (but only 58% of working men), it’s not wholly irrational to not want to be involved.

REMEMBER WHEN WE ALL THOUGHT THIS IS WHAT AI WOULD BE LIKE IN THE FUTURE? BICENTENNIAL MAN 1999 (VIA IMDB)  

But there’s no need to abandon the concept altogether. If talking to ChatGPT—or having Google’s Gemini harass you about rewriting perfectly fine sentences, as it’s doing to me right now—feels like surrendering to The Man’s Internet, then consider bots like Diem or Claude, both of which are ChatGPT adjacent but reportedly designed with women and data privacy in mind. Or learn how to bend AI to your will with an educational platform like Folio. If you’re in South America, try Tainá, an AI assistant built with Indigenous tribes to keep traditional knowledge and Indigenous languages accessible. And not that it matters to the tech bros of the world, but were it not for women, we wouldn’t have the advanced computer systems and algorithms we do now. So just back off, Gemini, I got this.

A “terrifying escalation”: A disturbing incident in Idaho this weekend has gone viral. As in other towns across the country, angry constituents at a town hall in Coeur d'Alene, a deep-red district, turned up to protest issues like Elon Musk’s takeover of the federal government and proposed cuts to Medicaid. But at this particular town hall, Teresa Borrenpohl, a former Democratic candidate for the state legislature, was forcibly removed from the event by private security after loudly criticizing the speakers. Borrenpohl was first threatened with pepper spray, then dragged by her feet and hands by unidentified men as witnesses told them to stop and demanded to know who they were. Borrenpohl was later charged with a misdemeanor battery citation.

The incident was “pretty violent and traumatic,” one witness told the AP. “It was evident that dissent was not being tolerated,” another observed. The emcee of the event, Ed Bejarana, even taunted Borrenpohl from the stage: “That little girl is afraid to leave!” he shouted. “She spoke up, and now she doesn’t want to suffer the consequences.” The charges against Borrenpohl were eventually dismissed when the incident made national headlines, but the incident felt like a “terrifying escalation” of suppressing public dissent, as The New Republic’s Melissa Gira Grant put it. It remains to be seen whether escalations like this will be replicated across the country if and when protest becomes more widespread. But Borrenpohl hasn’t been cowed: “I think that my civil rights were stripped from me in that moment in a really embarrassing way,” she said. “[Do] we live in a country where you speak out of turn and the result is three men assaulting a woman?”

AND: 

• The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) took place over the weekend and it was totally and extremely normal.

A NORMAL GUY NORMALLY SWINGING A CHAINSAW AROUND A POLITICAL EVENT. (VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

• Montana Republicans have introduced a new bill that would criminalize anyone who leaves the state to have an abortion after the state’s legal limit. Montana voters recently voted to enshrine the right to abortion until fetal viability, but this law affects people traveling for an abortion after that stage, charging them with (and this is real) trafficking their own fetus. Abortion trafficking laws have been around, but this is the first one targeting adults who travel for their own care, and Montana might seem, on its face, like an odd place to test it out. But Jessica Valenti of Abortion, Every Day has a theory: “By starting in a state where abortion is legal until ‘viability,’ it gives Republicans a certain amount of PR cover,” she writes. “They can pretend this isn’t about restricting women’s right to travel—just about stopping ‘late’ abortion.”

• Journalist and beloved host of MSNBC’s The ReidOut Joy Reid aired her final show yesterday, ending a five-year run. Reid’s show was canceled over the weekend, as the broadcaster is consolidating its programming. “Joy Ann Reid (@joyannreid) spoke truth as a Black woman and empowered other Black women to find a mainstream audience for our truths,” Kimberlé Crenshaw wrote on Instagram, then urged people to boycott MSNBC. Other notable changes at the network include the cancellation of José Diaz-Balart Reports, The Katie Phang Show, and Ayman Mohyeldin Reports. MSNBC has said that these changes have to do with ratings and restructuring, but it’s impossible not to notice that all shows being canceled were helmed by Black, Latino, Asian, and Arab journalists. Who is it that DEI initiatives benefit again?

• Workers at the National Park Service staged a demonstration at El Capitan in Yosemite on Saturday, hanging a massive inverted American flag off the edge of the summit. Widely known as a symbol of distress, the upside-down flag was meant as pushback against the Trump administration’s mass firing of NPS employees.

• Today in an unexpected move, Diana Taurasi, one of the most dominant women in the WNBA announced her retirement. “You can’t tell the story of the WNBA without Diana,” the NBA’s Adam Silver said of the six-time Olympic gold medalist. It’s hard to encompass the impact her 20-year career had on women’s basketball but there is one word on everyone’s lips as Taurasi walks off into the sunset: GOAT.

THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER. (VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

• Andrew Cuomo is seriously considering a run for mayor of New York. This may seem like good news to anyone following what’s happening with current mayor Eric Adams, but let’s get a refresher on Mr. Cuomo from a person who spent the entire pandemic writing about the Cuomo family (it’s me). As governor, Cuomo was a friend to unions and had some legislative wins, but his star really rose during the pandemic with his daily news conferences, which, delivered in his brusque Newtalian accent, made him America’s governor. That reputation was undone in 2021 when New York AG Letitia James’ investigation into Cuomo found that he had sexually harassed at least 11 women during his time in office (a later DOJ investigation upped the count to 13). Cuomo also wrote a book about guiding New York through the pandemic but was ordered to return his earnings from it after an ethics review concluded he had secured the book deal under false pretenses. So all this to say, there’s a reason our exes are our exes. Don’t take him back, babes.

• A report released by several groups tracking the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) around the world has found that the practice exists in more countries than previously thought. According to the report, in 2020 UNICEF estimated around 200 million women and girls had undergone FGM/C. That number has now increased to 230 million. You can learn more and support groups working to end FGM/C here.

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Fair Monduesday, Meteor readers,

I am still emotionally recovering from watching my two husbands reunite during the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary special. I am, of course, talking about José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal Melero and Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio Melero. Yes, they took my last name because we’re a very progressive throuple.

In today’s newsletter, we try to understand what you can and can’t talk about with your therapist in abortion-ban states. Plus, a big payday for the athletes at Unrivaled.

I love all my husbands equally,

Shannon Pascal Ocasio Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

How do you feel about that?: Therapy couches are sacred spaces, where people are encouraged to say anything and everything to process, heal, and move forward. But what happens when you live in a place like Texas or Mississippi, and the thing you need to talk about is an abortion that your state has made illegal? “I have this fear of bringing this subject up to my therapist because lines can get very blurry with mandated reporting,” one young Texas woman told Public Health Watch in a story released last week. The woman, who chose to remain anonymous, said she had used abortion pills to terminate a wanted but risky pregnancy and has been grieving ever since. But she feels she can’t work through that grief with a professional because of the “climate of fear” in anti-abortion states, where conservatives promise that anyone seen to be aiding and abetting abortion will be punished.

How concerned should folks in therapy be? In most states, social workers and healthcare professionals are also mandated reporters, meaning they have an obligation to report any known or suspected abuse, child neglect, or intent to commit harm—so it’s understandable to be concerned that in a state that criminalizes abortion, a therapist could be pressed to report. But  patient confidentiality laws are extremely clear about what qualifies as abuse or harm, and so far, abortion has not qualified. Still, the abortion laws in Texas, with their bounty rewards, are written just vaguely enough that healthcare professionals across fields are unsure of exactly what their clients can say to them or how they can respond, according to Public Health Watch’s reporting.

As usual, the chaos is the point. “The intention behind these laws is to stoke confusion and fear so that people don’t seek abortion care and that providers are afraid to provide abortion care and that functionally people stop talking about it altogether out of fear,” Lucie Arvallo of the Texas reproductive rights group Jane’s Due Process told Public Health Watch.

But as much as abortion ban states may try to fearmonger, confidentiality laws still protect those in therapy. If you’re concerned your therapist may not be trustworthy, you have options and, more importantly, you have rights. A mental health professional cannot share your name, contact information, or session notes without your consent or a subpoena from law enforcement.

More suggestions for addressing the issue (and finding a new therapist if you need one):

• Ask your therapist how they would handle a conversation about abortion (or a request for your records). It is not illegal to talk about abortion, so do so, without divulging your personal experience until you’re ready.

• If you do decide you need a new provider, you can take a look at the Pro-Choice Therapists directory which lists vetted mental health professionals who are “aligned with pro-choice values” and who have undergone extra training to understand the “state of abortion restrictions/legislation, common misconceptions about abortion,” and to help patients identify and avoid crisis pregnancy centers.

• If you need to talk sooner than later, consider other confidential resources in the meantime.

AND: 

• An intriguing pattern is emerging among the high-profile resignations of officials unwilling to do the Trump administration’s bidding: Many of them are women. In protest of an apparent quid pro quo deal between Trump and New York mayor Eric Adams, several prominent women resigned, including U.S. attorney Danielle Sassoon and three of Adams’ deputy mayors. On Sunday, Michelle King, the acting commissioner of the Social Security administration quit after DOGE demanded access to sensitive government records. And veteran federal prosecutor Denise Cheung resigned today after a request from the Trump administration to freeze a government contractor’s assets. So, are women more strong in the spine than their male peers? There is some evidence that women leaders are more impervious to corruption than men; then again, Trump’s cabinet has twice the amount of women it did in 2016, and they seem to be more than fine with it. We’ll call it a draw.

• Advocates working to end the practice of female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C) are sounding the alarm over Donald Trump’s executive order on ending gender-affirming care, which “wrongly and dangerously conflates” FGM/C and gender-affirming genital surgeries, according to a report from The 19th. The order seeks to warp and expand FGM/C laws, using them not only to ban the methods of forced mutilation they were intended to address, but also gender-affirming care for minors, including non-surgical treatment like hormones. But activists and lawyers emphasize the order willfully ignores the difference between FGM/C and gender-affirming care: The former is “non-consensual and without any medical purpose” and the latter is “provided with robust informed consent processes and for recognized medical purposes,” a representative from Equality Now explained to The 19th. Not to mention that, despite what you may have read, doctors rarely perform gender-affirming surgeries on patients under 18.

• Pope Francis has been hospitalized with pneumonia in both lungs, the Vatican reported today. The 88-year-old pontiff is reportedly in stable condition and “in good spirits,” although his weekly general audience has been canceled. However, he was still able to appear in a video call with the Holy Family Parish in Gaza over the weekend. Speaking of which…

• Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced from their homes in the West Bank after facing several weeks of Israeli military raids. Experts told the New York Times that this is the largest displacement of civilians in that region since 1967. While some West Bank Palestinians are now returning to their homes—or what’s left of them—many are reminded of the 1948 displacement during al-Nakba, the “central trauma of Palestinian history.”

• Last Friday, women’s basketball league Unrivaled held its inaugural 1-on-1 tournament, in which the prize was a hefty check for $200,000. This year the (literal) crown and prize money went to Napheesa Collier (Lunar Owls BC/Minnesota Lynx) who said in a post-game interview, “My entire WNBA salary is what I just got in 30 minutes of playing one-on-one...A lot of people, this is their full contract, so you're playing seven months for this kind of money.” Aaliyah Edwards (Mist BC/Washington Mystics) earned $50,000 for making it to the finals of the tournament.

COLLIER AND THE NATASHA CLOUD DURING A GAME EARLIER THIS MONTH. (VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

• Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum has threatened to sue Google over the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico. In a press conference yesterday Sheinbaum noted that the new “Gulf of America” label in Google Maps incorrectly changed the name of the entire Gulf, including the portion controlled by Mexico and Cuba (which is a majority of the Gulf).  Sheinbaum is waiting for a response from Google, but says she will proceed to court if an adjustment isn’t made.

• Stefano Vukov, the ex-coach of former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, has been banned from coaching for one year by the Women’s Tennis Association after an investigation revealed he had engaged in “abuse of authority and abusive conduct towards [Rybakina]” and exploited his relationship with her for personal gain. The investigation has been made all the more complicated due to an alleged romantic relationship between Vukov, 37, and Rybakina, 25.

• Our favorite pop-culture podcast, In Retrospect, has been nominated for an Ambie in the Best Society & Culture category! Congratulations to hosts Susie Banikarim and Jessica Bennett, along with the entire In Retrospect crew. Not a listener yet? Start with the “General Hospital” episode and proceed down the rabbit hole from there.

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Dearest Meteor readers,

Ahead of Presidents Day, we’ve decided to give you a break from all things presidential. (That means we won’t be covering the Linda McMahon confirmation hearings today or her terrifying education agenda, but don’t forget to call your senators.) Enjoy this reprieve while it lasts!

Also, you heard it here first: Our annual Meet the Moment event is coming up on International Women’s Day, March 8! It’s a day of intergenerational conversations and performances with women and nonbinary people of all ages—past speakers include everyone from Jane Goodall to America Ferrera, so get ready!! And grab your tickets now.

Today, we dig into some ‘70s feminist history, offer a bit of good news out of Kansas, and ask author Haley Mlotek three questions about divorce.

Saging the space (for now),

Nona Willis Aronowitz

WHAT'S GOING ON

Three Marias, full of grace: Maria Teresa Horta, a Portuguese folk hero who helped spark a feminist movement in her country, died last week at the age of 87. She was the last surviving member of a trio known internationally as the Three Marias, who in 1972 published Novas Cartas Portuguesas (New Portuguese Letters). The book was a ragtag compendium that told the story of women’s oppression under dictatorship in Portugal.

Their backstory: In 1971, Horta, Maria Isabel Barreno, and Maria Velho da Costa—all well-established writers in their thirties—started meeting weekly for consciousness-raising sessions and bringing notes, fantasies, and letters to one another. Apparently inspired by the 17th century classic “Letters of a Portuguese Nun,” these dispatches discussed everything from rape and domestic violence to abortion and forbidden orgasms. The three women eventually published a collection of these musings, vowing never to reveal which of them had written each fragment.

AN EXTREMELY DOPE MURAL OF THE THREE MARIAS BY ELTON HIPOLITO IN VILA NOVA DE CERVEIRA, PORTUGAL

It was a juicy, racy, defiant text that flew in the face of everything Prime Minister’s Marcelo Caetano’s authoritarian regime stood for. It was also a direct challenge to the censors, who had recently banned one of Horta’s volumes of poetry. “Let us put an end to mystifications and false modesty, let us cleave from top to bottom the waters we are drowning in without being able to draw a single breath,” they wrote. “Hasn’t the time come to share with each other, for example, the truths we know about our pleasures in bed?” They weren’t kidding: Throughout, there was straight-up erotica, about “tumescent fruit” and “silk buttocks” and “fingernails scraping your skin.”

As expected, the book was banned—but not before it had become an overnight sensation and sold out almost every copy. The Three Marias were swiftly arrested and imprisoned, charged with "abuse of the freedom of the press" and "outrage to public decency.” Caetano declared them three women "who aren't worthy of being Portuguese." The dustup, of course, helped them become internationally famous, garnering the support of icons like Simone de Beauvoir and Adrienne Rich. They were eventually acquitted in 1974 on the heels of the dictatorship’s demise.

The Three Marias’ legacies are a reminder that desire for sex and liberation can pierce through even the most repressive governments. Looking back in 2014, Horta recalled that their meetings were her oxygen during an extremely dark time. It “was the most interesting thing of my life,” she said. “It is a book that grabs you because it is a book of political struggle.”

 AND:

• Rep. Nancy Mace’s advocacy for sexual and domestic violence victims isn’t off to a great start. During her testimony on Monday, in which she accused four men (including her ex-fiancé) of sexual assault, she advertised a “victim hotline” for anybody experiencing domestic or sexual violence. Now Mother Jones is reporting that the “hotline” is more like a glorified voicemail, with no live assistance, and that advocates in Mace’s home state of South Carolina are directing victims to other hotlines that will guarantee confidentiality and connect them with actual resources. Laura Hudson, executive director of the nonprofit South Carolina Victim Assistance Network, said Mace “set us back about 25 years” by “giving false hope to a very vulnerable population.” (Reminder: the National Domestic Violence Hotline is always there.)
• The number of new marriages in China plunged by more than 20 percent in 2024—despite sometimes invasive efforts to encourage couples to wed and procreate. Meanwhile, divorces have risen, even in the face of China’s new 30-day “cooling-off period,” which critics say makes it harder for women to leave abusive marriages. Kinda nice to know that people will do what they wish with their love lives, even while drowning in pro-natalist propaganda.
• Some heartening news: Democratic Kansas governor Laura Kelly gave her third annual veto of a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. “As I’ve said before, it is not the job of politicians to stand between a parent and a child who needs medical care of any kind,” she said in a statement. (You can practically feel her eyeroll through the press release.) Given that the Supreme Court is poised to uphold similar laws in more than 20 states, trans youth need any refuge they can get.

KANSAS GOV. LAURA KELLY MEANS BUSINESS. (VIA GETTY IMAGES)

• Two new studies published today show a grim picture for infant health in red states. They found that, in the 18 months after Roe v. Wade was overturned, infant mortality rates increased by an average of 6 percent in states that implemented abortion bans—and among non-Hispanic Black babies, mortality was 11 percent higher. Researcher Caitlin Meyers points to two reasons for the jump: Women who were not allowed to end pregnancies because of fetal anomalies gave birth to babies who died shortly after birth, and people who are denied abortions tend to be more low-income or of color, both factors that raise the risk of infant complications and mortality.
• Two lawmakers in Ohio—one a woman, one an impressively game man—took a cue from a Mississippi Democrat and introduced their own “Conception Begins at Erection Act,” which would make it a felony for men to “discharge semen without the intent to fertilize.” (Shades of Elle Woods’ triumphant rebuttal to a case involving a disgruntled sperm donor.) “It’s beyond ridiculous what’s going on here,” Republican activist Austin Beigel said. State house reps Anita Somani and Tristan Rader agreed. “If you think it’s absurd to regulate men, then you should think it’s equally absurd to regulate women,” Somani replied.

Three Questions About…Divorce

Author Haley Mlotek’s new book is a tender meditation on the transformative nature of dissolution.

The “divorce narrative” has dominated lately, from Leslie Jamison’s Splinters to Lyz Lenz’s This American Ex-Wife to Miranda July’s All Fours, all of which focus primarily on the author’s individual liberation. But writer Haley Mlotek’s new book, No Fault: A Memoir of Romance and Divorce, stands out because it situates her personal story within the complex, painful and sometimes beautiful social history of divorce. Mlotek—a divorced writer with divorced parents, one of whom is a certified divorce mediator—excavates how the dissolution of marriage shaped the last century, and all the unique little heartbreaks and triumphs each divorce leaves in its wake. I spoke with her about divorce’s gravity, its role in this political moment, and how it intertwines with romance.

Nona Willis Aronowitz: For me, being divorced is a badge of honor; it was proof I actually did something about my unhappiness. In the last pages of your book, you also admit to feeling kind of attached to your divorced status. In what ways do you think your divorce has shaped you and your desires?

Haley Mlotek: There was a slight and almost morbid comedy to saying that I was divorced in the immediate aftermath — I had been married so briefly…and among my friends I was certainly one of the youngest people anyone knew who was going through a divorce. It was easy to turn this moment from my recent past into a joke, or a fun fact, or an easy anecdote in those days. Later, as more people in my life experienced some of the same things I had in my breakup and divorce, I thought more deeply about what that status actually meant to my present moment and my future. There’s a gravity to the status that’s not so easily explained, which I think has actually served me well — rather than relying on easy answers or quips, I had to think carefully about what I actually wanted to share, and most of that was some variation of …"I don't know, and maybe I never will."

NWA: Besides your personal story, you lay out the fascinating history of divorce itself, and by extension, marriage—including how both intertwined with feminist movements. What role do you think divorce plays (or should play) in discussions of gender and feminism during this regressive political moment?

HM: Historically, [marriage and divorce] have always been an arena that fascists have turned to to exert control over people, and as we see every day, neo-conservative and neo-liberal politicians alike are also quick to use their own ideals of the family to their own political ends. The book Family Values by Melinda Cooper is an excellent study of this, as is Making Marriage Work by Kristen Celello.

More than that, this threat of the extreme right turn across the world is an emergency reminder that no struggle is separate from another — the attacks on trans people, undocumented people, and the families of Gaza and Palestine are all part of the same destructive agenda that seeks to dehumanize anyone that stands in the way of a cancerous spread of power. As many of the people I cite in my book note, the family and the couple are the smallest political unit that most people are a part of, which makes it an essential part of how we show up to protect ourselves and our loved ones. The ability to choose how we build our relationships and who we build them with is not limited to marriage, nor is the decision to leave those partnerships limited to divorce, but it is a part of a structure that can build support in the fight against the current regressive political moment and its future implications.

NWA: Obligatory Valentine's Day question: What is the most romantic thing about divorce—or is it, by its nature, just inherently anti-romantic?

HM: The concept that marriage is something that can be tried more than once suggests a belief that nothing matters more than the pursuit of love. There’s also the fact that romance needs a little bit of tragedy to give it that sense of risk and gravity; the feeling that it can be lost or left is, to me, quite romantic. But that says more about me than it does about Valentine’s Day.

WEEKEND READING📚

On enablers: The corporate owner of more than a dozen dating apps has known for years about abusive and violent users on its platforms—but, a new investigation charges, it has been loath to take action or inform users.
(The Markup/The Guardian/The 19th)

On principles: Behind New York City mayor Eric Adams’ corruption case was Danielle Sassoon, a deeply conservative and ambitious prosecutor who resigned today in protest. (New York Times)

On cannibal teens: Yellowjackets is back, baby! In honor of the Season Three premiere tomorrow, kindly enjoy this profile of Sophie Thatcher, who plays the show’s inimitable goth, Natalie. (The Cut)

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Hey there, Meteor readers,

The U.S. has now officially changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Given everything else going on, this may seem like a small and petty thing. But, for me at least, the stench of colonialism on this move is so strong it’s smothering. Erasure is erasure is erasure, no matter how big or small.

In today’s newsletter, we look at what states have been doing on abortion while we’ve all been distracted with the White House. Plus, mark your calendars: There’s a mass boycott coming this month.

Names mean something,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

Look over there: The new administration has been generating record levels of news and destruction on the federal level. But while we’ve all been untangling the mess that the president is making of our lives, some states have been rolling out extreme anti-abortion measures—with less media attention than you might expect in more normal times. Luckily, Abortion Every Day founder Jessica Valenti has been neatly gathering all of these legislative measures in one place.

So what are states up to?

South Carolina is trying to criminalize everything: Valenti describes the state’s latest anti-abortion bill, The Unborn Child Protection Act (SB 323), as a blueprint for “the future [Republicans] want for American women.” SB 323 is aggressive in its cruelty: It removes exceptions (including for incest) from the state’s existing abortion ban; it makes IUDs and morning-after pills illegal; and it proposes criminal charges against anyone who receives an abortion.

Missouri is trying to wish away its abortion-rights vote: Last fall, a majority of voters moved to enshrine abortion rights in Missouri’s constitution. But now, a state House committee is blatantly seeking a do-over by putting the issue back on the ballot, but with much stricter terms: The next ballot initiative would ban abortion after 12 weeks, and limit it severely before that. The people of Missouri haven’t changed their minds: The proposal was met with fierce opposition. Still, the new amendment only has to be approved by lawmakers; it doesn’t need petition signatures to get on the ballot.

And Idaho is trying to charge people who have abortions with murder: First, the state introduced a bill that would add mifepristone and misoprostol to the state’s controlled substance list, making it a felony to possess or distribute these common, safe methods. (This move mirrors what’s already happening in Louisiana, Texas, and Indiana.) And then, last week, a state senator introduced a separate bill that would re-classify abortion as homicide—making Idaho the sixth state to consider such a bill.

The fact that six states have introduced legislation that would classify one in four American women as a murderer is, it’s safe to say, big news. Let’s keep treating it that way. And stay vigilant: What is your state doing—or not doing—to protect abortion rights?

  AND:

• This year’s Super Bowl gave us lots to talk about. But what didn’t make it into the broadcast was a one-man protest during Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance. During one song, a man named Zül-Qarnaįn Nantambu, who was among the hundreds of performers on stage, stood on top of a car and raised the flags of Palestine and Sudan. He was removed by stadium security and arrested but has since been released without charges. When asked about his motives for the protest by Al Jazeera English, Nantambu replied that his Muslim faith obligated him to speak out against injustice when given the opportunity to do so. The NFL says Nantambu will be banned for life from all stadiums and events for his protest.

(PHOTO BY EMILEE CHINN/GETTY IMAGES)

• Yesterday, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC)—who has introduced a bill banning trans women from Capitol Hill women’s bathrooms, who regularly gives slurred-filled defenses of anti-trans policies, and who vehemently defended accused rapist Pete Hegseth during his confirmation hearings—made an alarming speech from the House floor. In it, she shared that four men, one of whom is her ex-fiancé, had once drugged and raped her as well as several other women and girls. She also alleges that in 2023 she found these assaults had been filmed—and that her state’s attorney general, fellow Republican Alan Wilson, has been a “do-nothing attorney general” who treats assault survivors like criminals. A reminder: Every person who has endured sexual assault is deserving of justice, of resources, and of safety. Every single one.

• Last week, employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were asked to flag any grants that could be “potentially impacted” by Donald Trump’s executive orders on climate change. Just as at the NSF, staffers at the NOAA were given specific terms to look for, including “climate science,” “climate crisis,” “clean energy,” “environmental quality” and “pollution.” It has not been made clear to the NOAA if grants or programs dealing with these topics will be immediately cut, but current and former staffers are worried about impending “threats to important programs aimed at protecting communities from extreme weather and other climate-related disasters,” as one former NOAA head told The New York Times.

• A mass economic boycott is planned for February 28—intended to “disrupt the economy for just one day” to show the power of Black consumers. First suggested by a Black theater director named Anthony Mapp, the boycott asks participants not to shop in person or online at any major retailer (especially not ones that have rolled back DEI like Amazon and Walmart).

• Former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland has announced she will be running for governor of New Mexico. If elected, the self-described “35th generation New Mexican” would be the first Native American woman to serve as governor of a U.S. state. Haaland’s Department of the Interior put out a series of reports detailing the horrors of government-led boarding schools for Native children, prompting a formal apology from Joe Biden last fall.

• According to two new studies, women achieved gender parity in the top-grossing films last year. For the first time ever, there were just as many women in lead roles as men, thanks to films like Wicked and The Substance. In worse news, only 25% of these films were led by a person of color, compared to 37% the previous year.

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Salutations, Meteor readers,

As we head into Super Bowl weekend, I want to lay out what would be the best, most chaotic but still entirely possible timeline of events. First, Kendrick Lamar does a duet with Taylor Swift during halftime. It would look like this. Then Travis Kelce scores the first touchdown of the second half, looks directly into the camera, and says, “Are you ready for it?” The Swifties go feral. The Eagles comeback in the final minutes to win it all. Jason Kelce rushes the field, rips off his shirt, and written across his stomach is the release date for Reputation (Taylor’s Version).

In today’s newsletter, we return to reality with federal censorship. Plus, your weekend reading list.

Ready for whatever,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

Bad words: Trump’s war on DEI has taken an absurdist turn that’s ultimately quite serious. The National Science Foundation has been ordered to pull down or halt any research that contains certain forbidden words related to diversity and inclusion. According to reports, the list of banned words given to the NSF and other federal agencies casts an incredibly wide net and includes heinous phrases like “pregnant person,” “BIPOC”, “Black,” “Latinx,” “cultural differences,” “disability,” “diverse group,” “equality,” “gender,” “female,” “historically,” “inclusive,” “LGBT,” “racism,” “trauma,” and “women.” Just to name a few!

Notably missing from the list is “male,” “man,” or “white.”

SOME MORE BAD, AWFUL, TERRIBLE WORDS (VIA INSTAGRAM)

Now, if the word does appear in a research paper, the corresponding project will not be immediately thrown out the window. Instead, it will have to be manually reviewed to determine whether or not it violates the executive orders on DEI. Nonetheless, let’s be extremely clear: This is censorship throughout multiple federal agencies, and a blatant attack on scientific progress. Darby Saxbe, a professor at USC, also shared a “decision tree” that was included in an email to NSF staffers, laying out how to flag research for further review. “You can't design a study of humans without using at least one of these terms,” she noted, “which means that biomedical, brain, social science research is now on ice in the USA.”

Let’s pause for a moment here. Sometimes it’s easy to imagine that fascism or authoritarianism is just the Big Actions, like putting people in prison without due process (already happened) or suppressing the media (in the process of happening). So censorship of this kind may be concerning but still fall short of setting off the big F alarm bell. But please know that I am standing in front of you, clanging a cowbell with all my might because censorship is a cornerstone of fascist government. It is the base Lego piece that holds everything else together and historians argue that we’re watching it happen right now.

To demonstrate just how absurd a word ban like this is, the rest of this newsletter will censor all words on the list and mentions of any women in leadership positions.

AND:

• A judge has moved the deadline for federal employees to decide whether to resign from their posts and accept a vague and possibly illegal buyout from the administration. The “Fork in the Road” plan was introduced to employees two weeks ago and was followed by a series of emails (and tweets) that were thinly veiled threats from Elon Musk, encouraging as many workers as possible to resign. The labor unions filed a request for a temporary restraining order claiming, among other things, that Fork was a “pretext for removing and replacing government workers on an ideological basis.” A hearing has been scheduled for Monday to hear arguments on whether the plan can go forward. Sheria Smith, union president at the Transport Workers Union, Local 252, said of the buyout offer, “It was really, really insulting, frankly. It insulted our work ethic and insulted our commitment to our jobs.”

• On Tuesday, Donald Trump went on an apparently unscripted ramble about “owning” the Gaza Strip, leveling it, and turning it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” This is, on every level, pure nonsense because the United States can’t just walk into an occupied land and say “we own this.” (Except for that one time. And that other time. And the other other time.) A plan like that, of course, has historically been considered ethnic cleansing and a violation of international law. Trump also teased that in four weeks he would have an announcement regarding the West Bank, which is currently being bombarded with raids by the Israeli military.  So: When Trump said “we” will own Gaza, was he really just referring to him and his friend Benjamin Netanyahu? We’ll find out.

• Yesterday, the National Women’s Soccer League reached a settlement with players to the tune of $5 million. Three years ago the league came to a screeching halt when allegations of widespread misconduct including abuse, racism, and sexual coercion went public ahead of the now-infamous Yates Report, named for former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates who led the investigation. The settlement money will be placed into a victims’ fund for current and former players.

SINEAD FARRELLY, ONE OF THE WOMEN NAMED IN THE YATES REPORT WHO CAME FORWARD TO EXPOSE THE DEPTH OF ABUSE IN THE LEAGUE. FARRELLY RETIRED FROM PROFESSIONAL SOCCER LAST SUMMER. (VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

• Feminists in Kenya composed a letter to feminists of the world who are in the fight against fascism (that’s you, sis), urging them to “not become passive to oppression.” You can read the full letter here, but if you need a boost to get through the evening, here is my favorite bit: “The current state of the world is not new…This is the world we have lived in. But as we have learned from our ancestors and the feminists that have come before us: we do not bow. We do not shrink. We do not retreat.”

WEEKEND READING 📚

On those old tweets: Some people aren’t exactly surprised by Karla Sofia Gascón’s history of racism and Islamophobia. (Remezcla)

On fire: An incarcerated firefighter in California shares what it’s like to do an impossible job. (Teen Vogue)

On law and order: Is anything Elon Musk doing legal? A law professor breaks it down. (Vox)

On making a comeback: So-called “natural” birth control isn’t new. But femtech apps are pushing a hard rebrand that has drawn in thousands of more women to a “new” way of family planning. (Mother Jones)

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