Project 2025 is genuinely frightening
  February 22, 2024 Hola, Meteor readers, I am both excited and terrified for this weekend. On Saturday, I’m doing my first ever Polar Bear Plunge which, if you’re not familiar, is where people jump into the ocean in the middle of winter, sometimes for charity and sometimes for fun. (I am not in the latter group.) It’s going to be 37 degrees on Saturday. And did I mention I can’t swim?  In today’s newsletter, we dig into another thing striking fear in my heart: Project 2025. Plus, a win for menopausal Brits, student loan forgiveness for some, and your weekend reading list. Icicle-y yours, Shannon Melero  WHAT'S GOING ONWhat Project 2025 involves: Ever wonder what the Republicans would do if they secured the presidency this fall? Well, wonder no more because they’ve announced their plan to the world. Project 2025, as you may have heard, is an extensive “four-pillared” transitional plan to create a more conservative government. It’s long, it’s terrifying, and it’s real: Project 2025 wasn’t developed by some grassroots, far-fetched, no-name fringe group but by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank and well-organized Beltway mainstay. So which action items do they want the next conservative president to pursue? Here’s the TL;DR on some of the suggested policies from their mandate book:
The core goal of Project 2025, as outlined in the “four promises” section of the mandate book, is to reform the government by enacting policies that prioritize the American family—which, out of context, sounds lovely. But in abundantly clear terms, the Project specifies that the American family it's referring to consists of two straight cis-gendered people, preferably ones who adhere to Judeo-Christian values. The authors of Project 2025 shape their agenda around conservative evangelical Christian teachings with the kind of precision the leaders of Gilead would envy. So, what have we learned from this glance into a literal conservative playbook? In the words of Whoopi Goldberg, “Molly. You in danger, girl.” We are all Molly right now. AND: 
 LET'S (VIRTUALLY) GET TOGETHER!Doing anything fun on March 5? We are! The Meteor’s head of impact (and Mother of Swifties) Tara Abrahams will be in conversation with Chelsey Goodan, author of Underestimated: The Wisdom and Power of Teenage Girls, and award-winning filmmaker and Meteor collective member Sarah Jones. Join them for a discussion of the book—and the future young girls are working to create now. The event is totally free and you can register for it right here. See you in cyberspace.   WEEKEND READINGOn-screen, off the rails: Wesley Morris has written the only review of Jennifer Lopez’s new “film” you need to read. (The New York Times) On the front lines: Lawyers, patients, and advocates in abortion ban states are fighting tooth and nail to weaken those laws. But just how does anyone win that battle? (The Cut) On the court: Thousands of young girls dream of one day making it to the WNBA. And so does this very skilled 84-year-old baller. (The Athletic)  FOLLOW THE METEOR     Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend? Subscribe using their share code or sign up for your own copy, sent Tuesdays and Thursdays. |
What it means to be a “first”
  February 15, 2024 Dear Meteor readers, Congratulations! You made it to February 15th. That means you've officially survived that much-maligned (and much-adored) holiday, Valentine's Day. And today, as I sit here hungover (from candy, people), I want to let you all know how much I love each of you. Thank you for tuning in every week to read all the horrible and wonderful ways the world is moving.  In today’s newsletter, Rebecca Carroll talks to instant New York Times best-selling author Uché Blackstock, we look at the new rape allegations against Russell Simmons, and I, surely taking advantage of my colleague Shannon being OOO, wonder if we should stop watching "Love is Blind." Have a great long weekend, Samhita Mukhopadhyay  WHAT'S GOING ONA post-Super Bowl nightmare: Yesterday, at the Kansas City parade celebrating the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory, there was that most American of tragedies: a mass shooting. One person was killed and 22 injured, with victims as young as eight years old. A motive has yet to be identified, but police are saying the shooting probably stemmed from an argument between three people, two of whom are under 18. Officials have said there is “no nexus to terrorism” in the shooting—though that doesn’t make it any less terrifying. While more details emerge, it’s worth noting, as former executive director of Moms Demand Action Shannon Watts said on Xwitter, “Over 800 police officers were at the parade today and over a million civilians who were allowed to be armed. Yet they couldn't stop a dozen people from being shot. More guns makes us less safe.” Remember: Every member of the U.S. House is up for election (or reelection) this fall. Find out where yours stand, and vote accordingly.  SPEAKING OF TOO-COMMON TRAGEDIES... (PHOTO BY EARL GIBSON III/GETTY IMAGES) More allegations against Russell Simmons: Record executive and co-founder of Def Jam Records Russell Simmons is being sued for an(other) alleged sexual assault. A video music producer who worked at Def Jam in the late ‘90s alleges in the suit that prior to the assault, “He would sit on her desk, lean over her, aggressively invading her personal space while making sexual innuendos, suggestions, and advances, and rubbing the front of his pants.” Later, she went to Simmons' house for approval of a video cut, and she “was forcefully pinned, could not move under his weight and Mr. Simmons would not listen to her.” This is not the first time Simmons has been the subject of sexual abuse allegations. At the height of #MeToo virality, several women accused him of sexual assault; he subsequently stepped down from Def Jam. One of his accusers, former record exec Drew Dixon, spoke eloquently at a Meteor event three years ago about the lack of support Black women survivors receive, asking, “Where is the cavalry?” Good question. AND:
Correction: A previous version of the newsletter said that Pearl Moore broke the NCAA record. While it is true she is the all-time scoring record holder in the sport, her score predates the creation of the NCAA. The title in the NCAA is held by Kelsey Plum.  FIRST AND FOREMOST“I grew up thinking that most physicians were Black”Uché Blackstock, M.D., on the conflicts and challenges of being a firstBY REBECCA CARROLL  THE ICON HERSELF (PHOTO BY PARAS GRIFFIN/GETTY IMAGES FOR ESSENCE) When Uché Blackstock and her twin sister Oni graduated from Harvard Medical School in 2005, they became the school’s first Black mother-daughter legacy—their mother, a practicing physician, had received her medical degree three decades before. In her new book, Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine, Blackstock delves deep into the systemic inequities in health care while paying homage to her late mother. I sat down to talk with her about her new book, being a “first,” and her own legacy. Rebecca Carroll: The subtitle of your book takes on this idea of “reckoning” around racism, a phrase that has been rampant in public discourse over the past couple of years. What has “reckoning” meant for you? Uché Blackstock: The subtitle is really a reflection of my own journey from child to medical student to practicing physician. It probably started in my residency, but more so when I was caring for my patients and also dealing with toxic, sexist, and racist environments—and seeing how, as patients and physicians, we get it from both sides. And then, in 2020, the reckoning that we saw during [that time] gave me an opportunity to delve a little bit deeper into how, despite advances in innovation, technology, and research, we are having worsening health inequities in our communities. Not better. RC: There's a lot of staggering data and evidence about the impact of racism on health outcomes that you've discovered in your research. What was some of the most surprising? UB: Black infants are more likely to die in their first year of life now than white infants, than 15 years before the end of slavery. So while the overall infant mortality rates have improved because of childbirth techniques, sanitation, [and] infection control techniques, Black babies are now more than twice as likely than white babies to die in their first year of life. We know that there was a financial interest in keeping those babies alive during slavery, but we also know now what racism does to our bodies. When Black birthing people are pregnant, that stress actually gets transmitted to our babies. There's something called epigenetics—it's how stress influences gene expression. There's some data that even shows that the stress that enslaved Black women endured has been transferred across generations, and that impacts the infant mortality of Black babies today. RC: You mentioned unlearning things you were taught during your formal education. How do you do that? UB: It shouldn't be a process that we have to take upon ourselves. One thing I talk about in the book is a call to action: Medical schools need to think about educating future physicians to adequately and equitably care for Black patients in a world full of anti-Blackness. They have to be very intentional about what the curriculum looks like. It can't just be one training or one workshop. RC: You write in the book about how your mother always made sure that you and your sister felt good about your Blackness and how you were surrounded by representation, such as Black art and Black books. Can you talk about how that may have shielded you throughout your life? UB: I grew up thinking that most physicians were Black and that most of them were Black women—my mother, my pediatrician, we had several Black doctors. And my mother was the first Black woman in New York State to get her MD; she [became] the president of the Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward Society, [and she] would take me and my sister to these meetings with her. And so, for a very long time, I saw that as a very tangible possibility for me. It really wasn't until I got to college and was pre-med that I looked around and realized that there were not that many of us. And then, in medical school, there really weren’t that many of us. And then looking for my own physicians, [and] having a hard time finding people who look like me, [I recognized] that my experience growing up was such a rarity—it was a blessing, but also a rarity. You would think that would have protected me from feeling inadequate or out of place. [But] later in my career in academic medicine, I literally got to a point where I felt undervalued and underappreciated. This is what predominantly white institutions do to us.  WEEKEND READS 📚On love: A pretty compelling case to stop watching “Love is Blind” (The Cut) On being seen: The life-and-death reasons Black patients prefer Black OBGYNs (NBC News) On Election 2024: Extensive interviews with undecided and independent voters on why they are leaning towards Trump. Oof. (New York Times) On California: A closer look at the three-way race to fill a very important Senate seat (New York Magazine) On romance: Why many older women are saying no to marriage (The Washington Post’s “Post Reports” podcast)   CLICK THE LINK ABOVE TO GET YOUR UNIQUE SHARE CODE TO SEND TO A FEW FRIENDS. IF FIVE OF THEM SIGN UP FOR THIS NEWSLETTER, YOU GET A METEOR TOTE! ALREADY HAVE A CODE BUT CAN'T FIND IT? NO WORRIES, IT'S WAITING FOR YOU DOWN BELOW ⬇️
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Why Are People Hating on the Black National Anthem?
  February 13, 2024 Greetings, Meteor readers, It’s a snowy day in my corner of the world—which was actually quite lovely until I got the dreaded “daycare is closed” email. So please enjoy today’s email, co-written by my 363-day-old newborn. In today’s newsletter, we remember the history of the Black National Anthem, dissect our least favorite Super Bowl commercial, and stare (respectfully) at Bad Bunny. Love and snowballs, Shannon Melero  WHAT'S GOING ONAnthems on anthems: Depending on when (or if) you tuned into Sunday’s big game, you may have missed the delightful Andra Day performing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” ahead of Post Malone “singing” America the Beautiful. But you know who definitely did not miss Day’s performance? Megyn Kelly, who had a next-level meltdown about the singing of what is known as the Black National Anthem. On Sunday, she tweeted, “The so-called Black National Anthem does not belong at the Super Bowl. We already have a National Anthem and it includes EVERYONE.” You mad, babe? Well, it is Black History Month, so let’s get historical. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was written by poet James Weldon Johnson and set to music in 1899 by his brother John Rosamund Johnson. James had originally set out to write a poem commemorating Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, but instead found words to describe the struggle of Black people in America, from enslavement to the dawn of Jim Crow in the 1870s. The song grew in popularity as it was sung in schools, churches, and social gatherings, eventually becoming the NAACP's official song in 1919. During the civil rights movement, it was sung during organizing meetings, extending its reach and cementing itself as a politicized hymn.  So, how did it make it to the Super Bowl? We partially have Colin Kaepernick, Eli Harold, and Eric Reid to thank for that (who, it's worth noting, are all former 49ers players, and their mistreatment is the reason that franchise will never win a championship again, IMO). After being blackballed by the league for their initial 2016 kneeling protests, Kaepernick and his supporters shone an enormous light on racial tensions in the NFL. Arguably, that’s when the pressure began for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to do literally anything to respond to fan discontent and player complaints. In 2020, Goodell’s efforts to sweep the incident under the rug blew back in his face with the prominence of Black Lives Matter and the murder of George Floyd. Once it was clear the tide was turning against the NFL, Goodell apologized and announced that “Lift Every Voice and Sing” would be played during the first week of the 2020 season and be featured at the Super Bowl as a show of good faith and unity with Black players going forward. For many, the response rang hollow, particularly in the face of the league’s historically racist hiring practices.  FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: ELI HAROLD, COLIN KAEPERNICK, ERIN REID KNEELING BEFORE A THE START OF A RAMS GAME IN 2016. (PHOTO BY MICHAEL ZAGARIS VIA GETTY IMAGES) Since then, the song has remained part of the Super Bowl’s pre-game programming and has been sung by Alicia Keys, Mary Mary, and Sheryl Lee Ralph. But Megyn and others of her ilk might be right about one thing: While the Black National Anthem belongs everywhere, it might not be for everyone. It’s decidedly not for racism deniers. AND:
 PALESTINIANS FLEEING RAFAH WITH ALL OF THEIR REMAINING POSESSIONS. (PHOTO BY ABED ZAGOUT VIA GETTY IMAGES)
 I WOULD WALK AWAY FROM MY WHOLE LIFE FOR THIS MAN. (SCREENSHOT VIA INSTAGRAM) 
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On those right-wing Taylor Swift theories
  February 8, 2024 Dear Meteor readers, This Sunday is the Super Bowl. There is a chance you don’t care—and I didn’t either, ‘til recently. Like Taylor Swift, I started dating a sports fanatic last year, and I now sort of know what a touchdown is. But you don’t subscribe to this newsletter to hear about that. Shannon, the resident sports fanatic, is out today, so you have me in her stead unpacking the manosphere’s weird infatuation with Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. Plus, two new abortion cases in the Supreme Court, Nikki Haley’s embarrassing primary loss, and so much more.  It shoulda been the Bills, Samhita Mukhopadhyay  WHAT'S GOING ONThe right-wing obsession with Taylor Swift: You’d think that a couple who reads from afar as the ideal heteronormative American romance (country-singer-turned-pop-icon falls for salt-of-the-earth football star) would be the stuff of GOP dreams. But you would be wrong. In the days leading up to the Super Bowl, right-wing pundits have been foaming at the mouth with conspiracy theories about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce and declaring a “holy war” on the singer. ICYMI, the theories go as follows: The Chiefs, some commentators charge, won their spot at the Super Bowl after the NFL changed its rules to benefit from the popularity of the Travis/Taylor relationship, which also means (stay with us here) that the outcome of Sunday’s game is likely rigged. Other conservative talking heads argue that the relationship is a publicity stunt to support Democratic party values—and that after the Chiefs ostensibly win, Swift is going to endorse President Biden at the Super Bowl and swing the election. What now? We know the right loves a conspiracy theory, from Obama’s birth certificate to pizzagate. And Swift is an easy figure to build such a narrative around. Her fans are dedicated and focused; her influence over them is literally majestic. (Remember Ticketmaster?) Plus, she’s an artist who’s publicly fought to own her work, and if there’s anything that pisses off the right, it’s a woman living on her own terms.  PICTURED: A WOMAN LIVING ON HER OWN TERMS But this new, frothing anger at Swift is actually a sharp 180. Just a few years ago, Swift was heralded by white supremacists as, to quote one alt-right blogger, an “Aryan Goddess.” It wasn’t just her looks: Their thinking was that by not endorsing anyone in the 2016 election, she was signaling that she secretly supported Trump and was just biding her time before coming forward with some red-hot conservative messaging. They even misread her lyrics: Interviewing white supremacists, Vice’s former women-focused channel Broadly found that they “claim Swift's songs ‘red-pilled’ America into believing a conservative, racist agenda.” Swift was routinely criticized for not condemning this part of her fan base—but she finally did. During the 2018 midterm election, she endorsed Democrats Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper over sitting Sen. Marsha Blackburn because of Blackburn’s “appalling policies” in Swift’s home state of Tennessee. (Some of that decision-making was captured in the film “Miss Americana.”) Later, in an interview with Rolling Stone, she killed any rumor she was comfortable with these politics, saying, “There's literally nothing worse than white supremacy. It's repulsive.” Then, in 2020, she endorsed Biden and Harris and released “Only the Young,” which she’d written after the Democratic losses of the 2018 midterms. And she’s been politically active ever since. Last fall, she urged her huge Instagram following to register to vote, and an estimated 35,000 people did. And that’s why they hate her: White women are historically reliable in supporting and upholding white misogyny; percentage-wise, white women voted for Trump over Hillary Clinton and again for Trump over President Biden. But Swift is breaking the script in the conservative political imagination. She’s crushed their red pill dreams, and they feel betrayed. Sad!  A tale of two cases: Today, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case that will determine whether Trump can appear on the ballot in Colorado come November. It’s a big one. But there are two other cases on our radar, and they both have to do with abortion:
AND:
 WEEKEND READS 📚On images: A photographer gives us a look into an abortion safe haven. (The New Yorker) On history: Black churches have taken up the mantle of teaching Black history. (NBC News) On media: A new generation of women leading fashion magazines who bring much-needed diversity to the fashion industry. (Washington Post) On tech: An excerpt from Kara Swisher’s book, Burn Book, on how the digital revolution shattered traditional media. (New York Magazine)  CLICK THE LINK ABOVE TO GET YOUR UNIQUE SHARE CODE TO SEND TO A FEW FRIENDS. IF FIVE OF THEM SIGN UP FOR THIS NEWSLETTER, YOU GET A METEOR TOTE! ALREADY HAVE A CODE BUT CAN'T FIND IT? NO WORRIES, IT'S WAITING FOR YOU DOWN BELOW ⬇️
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The "Upskirt Decade" Explained
  February 1, 2024 Greetings, Meteor readers, Black History Month is underway, and it behooves me to share this eternally relevant thought from Imani Perry: “I don’t think of Black History Month as more or less important based upon the political moment. I guess I would say it will be important indefinitely, because we live in a white supremacist country and world, and counter-narratives that value freedom and dignity and resilience will always be necessary as long as stratifying people on the basis of identity is the norm.” In today’s newsletter, we talk to author Sarah Ditum about the early-aughts trend of “upskirting.” And while we’re talking about decades past? The new season In Retrospect starts today, and your hosts Jess and Susie dive into the backstory of the late 80’s Golden Girls’ joke that will echo into eternity: Lebanese lesbians. But first a little news. Shannon Melero   WHAT'S GOING ON
 BACK IN TIMERemember "Upskirting"?A new book unpacks this unsettling practice, and the decade it inspired.BY SCARLETT HARRIS  SCREENSHOT VIA INSTAGRAM Early on in Sarah Ditum’s new book, Toxic: Women, Fame & the Tabloid 2000s, she shares a quote from actress Emma Watson reflecting on how paparazzi treated her on her 18th birthday: “One photographer lay down on the floor to get a shot up my skirt,” Watson is quoted saying “The night it was legal for them to do it, they did it. I woke up the next day and felt completely violated.” Ditum has dubbed the aughts the Upskirt Decade—a period when tabloids were ravenous for images of young women in compromising positions. We spoke to her about those strange years and the nine women she says defined the era: Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Aaliyah Haughton, Janet Jackson, Amy Winehouse, Kim Kardashian, Joanie “Chyna” Laurer, and Jennifer Aniston. Scarlett Harris: How did you establish the timeline for what you call the “Upskirt Decade?” Sarah Ditum: I think almost exclusively in pop songs! In the case of [Britney Spears’] “...Baby One More Time,” it’s such an epochal pop culture moment. Although it was released in 1998, it was really definitive of what the noughties (what Brits call the aughts) were going to look like: provocative, layered with irony, suggestive of this sexy female empowerment that’s actually exploitative and sexualizing a young girl. It took me a while to realize [the “Upskirt Decade”] was a little bit longer than the noughties, [ending with Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” in 2013.] There was a grassroots feminist response to the song, and everything flipped completely against Robin Thicke. I thought Aaliyah was an interesting choice because she wasn’t around for much of the “Upskirt Decade” [Aaliyah died in a plane crash in 2001]. But her history of being groomed and sexually abused by R. Kelly very much reverberated throughout the aughts and into the #MeToo era. Can you talk a bit more about her?  SINGER AND STYLE ICON, AALIYAH. (PHOTO BY CATHERINE MCGANN VIA GETTY IMAGES) With Aaliyah, I wanted to tell a story about posthumous fame, and I wanted to tell a story that was connected to how a woman’s reputation can be revisited when we understand what a man has done to her. When you look at something like the Harvey Weinstein case, what happened to a lot of the women that he victimized was that they disappeared because he was that powerful. But [now] you can see how she’s trying to negotiate rejecting this man who abused her, who damaged her reputation, and how she was trying to write him out of her own music and establish herself as an independent artist in her own right over her last two albums. And what about Chyna? As a wrestling fan, I was tickled by her inclusion, but she might not necessarily be familiar to many readers. If you happened to have watched wrestling, Chyna’s not an obscure figure; she was one of the biggest women of the WWE’s Attitude era [the raunchy, uber-violent period of the late 1990s and early 2000s]. She was on the cover of Playboy, had guest roles in NBC sitcoms, and was tipped to cross over and be a big mainstream star. Chyna’s story is operatically tragic—the way she crossed from wrestling to reality TV to porn is such an archetypal noughties story.  EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD AND WWE HALL OF FAMER, CHYNA. (PHOTO BY SPENCER PLATT VIA GETTY IMAGES) After she left WWE, Donald Trump entered it. I don’t think you can understand Donald Trump as a president unless you’ve watched Donald Trump in WWE because that’s where he worked the crowd and refined his persona. There’s so much about wrestling that is so important in shaping the [later] political landscape. You write that, “In the aughts, victimhood won no consideration… In the fame system of 2020, though, trauma had become an asset.” Can you elaborate a little more on that? If you look at the way Paris Hilton had to navigate her sex tape, there was no language for her to explain her victimhood in it. The term “revenge porn” did not exist. The public attitude to it was that it was funny, [and] something she deserved because she was an attention seeker. Her only options were to pack it in, go home, and live in shame, or to lean into the joke and make it part of her image, which she did. That came at a great cost to her, but she knew that that was the price of entry to celebrity. That’s not the world that we live in now. People enjoy stories of survival now, and women reclaiming their narratives. In some ways, this is very good, but I also think that the public's appetite for it speaks to the same desire for images of Britney having a breakdown or upskirt photos. It's this desire to see inside women, to enjoy their destruction and pain. If they're serving it up “consensually”—because there is pressure to produce “good content”—then we can feel okay about consuming it. Do you think things are any better today? Celebrities now have more control over their image and their relationship with the media. Taylor Swift is never going to have to sit down and do the equivalent of Britney’s Diane Sawyer interview. [But] all this misogyny, all this intrusion, is still out there. I thought it was interesting to see the reporting around Megan Thee Stallion testifying against Tory Lanez for shooting her in the foot, which was largely supportive. But if you looked at social media, there was a huge amount of victim-blaming against her. Revenge porn is rampant [in] locked text messages or social media groups where men can circulate these images. Pornography is more ugly, exploitative, and pervasive than ever before. In the period I’m writing about, we go from a few people being famous and experiencing this incredible trauma to all of us who are on social media being a little bit famous and experiencing a little bit of trauma. This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.  WEEKEND READING 📚On film: David Dennis Jr. chronicles his viewing of one of the year’s most polarizing films, Ava DuVernay’s Origin. (Andscape) On the record: A lost manuscript from “the father of Black history”—found in 2005—holds truths that apply today. (The Washington Post) On liberation: Black faith leaders joined forces across the country to deliver a unified message to President Biden: We need a ceasefire. (The New York Times) 
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The AI Threat (Taylor's Version)
  January 30, 2024 Howdy, Meteor readers, This email almost didn’t make it to you today. This morning, I woke up and saw that Calvin Klein launched a new campaign featuring Idris Elba, and knowing that my day could not get any better, I went back to bed. But it did, in fact, get better. I went down an Idris Elba rabbit hole (recommend), and found that the actor/model/DJ/rapper is also the face of a campaign aimed at pushing the British government to ban the sale of “zombie-style” knives, the weapon of choice for young people committing knife crimes (which are currently on the rise there). In today’s newsletter, we take a look into non-consensual, AI-generated pornography. Plus Florida’s latest attack on trans residents, dueling rappers, and the death of an icon. Buying a CK coat, Shannon Melero  WHAT'S GOING ONKarma is the girls in the seats: Last week, Xwitter was flooded with pornographic images of Taylor Swift, all of which were AI-generated deepfakes. The response from her fanbase was immediate, with thousands of Swifties reporting and burying the images online with a level of coordination that military tactical units will someday study. And while I’ll take every opportunity to write about Swifties saving the day, this incident has also brought to the forefront the pervasiveness and dangers of AI porn. Swift certainly isn’t the first person to be targeted by the dark forces that produce AI porn. Just a few days before false images of Swift spread online, actress Xochitl Gomez, who’s still a minor, discovered that her face had been edited into sexually explicit images and circulated on Xwitter. Gomez has been trying to get the images removed without success. (Swifties, activate!) Meanwhile, Xwitter put a temporary block on using the search words “Taylor” and “Swift” less than a day after those images went viral.  TAYLOR SWIFT IN NEW YORK EARLIER THIS MONTH. (PHOTO BY GOTHAM VIA GETTY IMAGES) Swift herself is considering legal action (and Missouri recently introduced the Taylor Swift Act), potentially bringing the kind of high-profile attention that could be a major tool in the fight against AI-generated porn. But court cases take time, and this crime is proliferating fast. AP reported in December that 143,000 new deepfake videos—many featuring underaged girls—were posted online in 2023 alone, more than in all previous years combined. (The tech to make these kinds of videos has been available to general users since 2017; there was even a now-defunct app called DeepNude that made it as easy as pushing a button.) In an interview with Slate, Sophie Maddocks, a cyber sexual violence researcher, explained that in a seven-month span in 2023, “there was a ten-fold increase of AI-generated nude images online,” which victimized preteen boys as well as young girls. While there is a federal bill on the table that would criminalize the production of deepfakes, Maddox calls the current legal protections in place—including a handful of state bills—a “patchwork in terms of civil and criminal recourse.” Victims have little to no options unless they can rpay the exorbitant lawyer fees and spend the time it takes to scrub these images from the internet—which platforms like Facebook and Xwitter aren’t in a rush to do. Maddox also points to an issue that feminist technologists have long called out: What would it look like “if we had created these AI tools in a social environment that did center consent and that did prioritize consent”? Technological developments that consider the implications for those most likely to be harmed? Imagine that! AND:
 PROTESTORS IN KISUMU, KENYA. (PHOTO BY BRIAN ONGORO VIA GETTY IMAGES)
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64,565 "Rape-Related Pregnancies"
 January 25, 2024 Hey Meteor readers, I am a big Jeopardy girlie, so you just KNOW that last night’s episode, in which the entire first round of categories were Taylor Swift song titles, had me screaming with glee. Those clue writers do not miss (and, for most of those categories, neither did I)!  SCREENSHOT VIA JEOPARDY In today’s newsletter, we dig into the new, horrifying research about rape survivors and abortion. Plus, Florida is doing weird stuff again, Ohio overrides a gubernatorial veto, and we offer you some weekend reading. Makin’ the whole place shimmer, Shannon Melero  WHAT'S GOING ONNo real exceptions: Yesterday, a new research paper published in JAMA Internal Medicine revealed some shocking findings: Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, there have been approximately 64,565 “rape-related pregnancies” in the 14 states with total abortion bans. (Ninety-one percent of those pregnancies took place in states with bans that provided no exceptions for rape.) Put more plainly: Almost 65,000 pregnant rape survivors were left without a legal option to terminate their pregnancies in their home states. That’s enough people to fill Madison Square Garden three times. These figures are estimates, but they’re based on data analysis of sexual violence and pregnancy statistics from the CDC and Bureau of Justice Statistics. They also reveal something vitally important: Rape exceptions are not doing what politicians tell us they’re meant to do. The researchers found that “10 or fewer legal abortions” per month total took place in states with bans (including those with so-called rape exceptions), proving that “rape exceptions fail to provide reasonable access to abortion for survivors.”  PHOTO BY MONIQUE MONROE VIA GETTY IMAGES Why aren’t those rape exceptions working? In practice, many come with strict requirements, most commonly that a survivor must be under a certain number of weeks pregnant and report their rape to the police. But in the U.S., rape and sexual assault are the most under-reported crimes in the country; in 2023, only an estimated 39% of total rapes were reported to the police. And that’s the problem with many abortion-ban exceptions. They’re not inherently designed to help victims; they’re compromises meant to lend better optics to politicians trying to mask their anti-abortion stances. Some legislators, of course, are perfectly comfortable coming out against rape victims (see: these monsters), but others use exceptions as a political tool, working to rebrand themselves as less extreme, almost reasonable, in a bid to win over moderates. But these numbers show that exceptions and half-measures are not in the best interest of sexual assault victims. Politicians should either vote in favor of abortion access, or be honest that they’re not bothered by people suffering AND:
 PLAYERS FROM BARCELONA AND THE U.S. COMING TOGETHER IN SUPPORT OF JENNI HERMOSO, 2023. (PHOTO BY MAURICIO SALAS VIA GETTY IMAGES)
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 WEEKEND READING 📚Online: The influencer economy has changed everything about the way we buy. But what does that mean for eco-influencers whose platforms are against the idea of consumption? (Atmos) On and off the field: Ali Krieger had a jam-packed 2023: retirement, a championship, and an extremely public divorce from fellow soccer star and long-time partner Ashlyn Harris. She’s finally ready to talk about all of it. (Self) On a crumbling industry: Digital media is once again in freefall, and one of the latest victims of the ever-changing landscape is Pitchfork. (Vulture) On showing up: Rabbi Sharon Brous reflects on how an ancient religious pilgrimage still applies to how we move in the world today. (The New York Times)  FOLLOW THE METEOR Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend? Subscribe using their share code or sign up for your own copy, sent Tuesdays and Thursdays. |
C-Sections With No Anesthesia
  January 23, 2024 Greetings, Meteor readers, I don’t know about you all, but I’ve been in a reading funk. My usual stack of Plantagenet and Tudor historical tomes just hasn’t been doing it for me. So I ignored my incredibly robust TBR pile and bought a new book, Naomi Osaka: Her Journey to Finding Her Power and Her Voice. Anyone else reading it? Let’s be book buddies. In today’s newsletter: the horrifying and intimate ways women are suffering in Gaza, Nikki Haley’s race to the finish, and what you can do to support Trans Girl Scouts. Sitting on a book stack, Shannon Melero  WHAT'S GOING ON A YOUNG DISPLACED PALESTINIAN GIRL LIVING IN RAFAH, SOUTHERN GAZA. (PHOTO BY AHMAD HASBALLAH VIA GETTY IMAGES) New atrocities: As the bombardment of the Gaza Strip goes into its fourth month, new reporting and research has shed light on what that means for Gazan women. According to UN Women, an estimated one million women and girls are living in a makeshift tent city in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, where they lack access to basic necessities like food, water, medical supplies, and…menstrual pads. For those menstruating, many have resorted to using scraps of their clothes and cutting up tents—in other words, trading their only shelter—to create makeshift pads. Without water or reliable sanitation, they’re at higher risk of dying from toxic shock syndrome or contracting life-threatening infections (which they do not have access to medicine to treat). Pregnant women also face insurmountable odds, with almost no functioning hospitals left in the region. Last week, Jezebel cited a reported 300% increase in miscarriages. Those who don’t miscarry must give birth in tents or undergo C-sections without anesthesia, where doctors aren’t even able to wash their hands to perform the procedure. The UN report found that at least two mothers are killed every hour in Gaza. So how can you help? The report lists three asks from women’s organizations: to support the “urgent need for an immediate ceasefire,” prioritize the funding of women’s organizations, and to ensure that those groups are instrumental in planning and implementing a humanitarian response. You can call your representative to urge a ceasefire and consider donating to ANERA, which is currently working on delivering hygiene and menstrual products to women in Gaza. Or you can donate to International Planned Parenthood Federation, which provides care in conflict zones worldwide.  CANDIDATE AND RACISM DENIER, NIKKI HALEY. (IMAGE BY JOE RAEDLE VIA GETTY IMAGES) The big race: With Ron DeSantis out of the running for the GOP nomination, only one person stands between Donald Trump and his potential return to the White House: Nikki Haley, who as we send this newsletter is in her last hours of her fight against Trump. Haley spent a lot of the last week defending her claim that “America isn’t a racist country”—although apparently, no one told Trump that, since he lobbed a few racist zingers at her on social media over the weekend. And if Haley did need further proof that racism exists, she might simply read her own memoir, in which she wrote that her Indian parents were barred from renting a home because her father “worked at the Black school,” and that when they did finally find a place to live, they were told “they couldn’t entertain Black people” in the house they owned. There’s a word for that kind of behavior, Nikki. It starts with an R and ends with a how can you really look America in her eyeballs and say racism doesn’t exist when you know it does??? AND:
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Another Year Without Roe
 January 22, 2024 Dear Meteor readers, Today is the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade—the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. As you know, Roe was the law of the land until 2022, when SCOTUS ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health that abortion is not a right “deeply rooted in this Nation's history or tradition.” Since then, we’ve seen exactly what life without Roe looks like for the birthing population of the United States. We’ve met women forced to become walking coffins for their untenable pregnancies; seen the rise of fetal personhood laws, which restrict pregnant people’s rights; and listened to the stories of providers terrified to be prosecuted simply for wanting to give vital medical treatment. At The Meteor, we’ve been proud to tell those stories, and are committed to continuing to do so. Here are five from the last year—all of which paint a picture of what we’ve lost, and how patients and providers are fighting back. Sincerely, Samhita Mukhopadhyay  When Pregnancy is Criminalized by Neda Toloui-Semnani Lauren Smith thought she knew what to expect as she was rushed into the operating room. At 26, it was her third cesarean section. “I don’t remember much before or after because everything moved so fast,” she says. “I remember crying. I remember being cold and being wheeled in there, and then, laying back, and then, I remember looking at the clock. It was at an angle.” The surgeon cut her open and pulled out a squirming infant, a baby girl Smith would name Audrey. Delivered a month early, she was a strong, healthy, kicking-screaming, six-pound, five-ounce newborn. Smith thought she knew what would come next. But like a character in a Kafka tale, her world had shifted while she slept. Abortion Ban Survivors Run for Office by Nona Willis Aronowitz If you’d asked Allie Phillips last year whether she’d consider running for office, she would have given you a quick “no.” But that was before a series of events gave her a front-row seat to just how little Republican politicians understand about women’s lives. Back in March, the 28-year-old Tennessee mom and home daycare worker had gone viral on TikTok for sharing her gut-wrenching abortion experience: At her routine 19-week anatomy scan, she’d found out that her daughter, whom she’d already named Miley Rose, had severe fetal anomalies and would not survive outside the womb. Her doctors told Phillips that continuing the pregnancy would put her at risk, but because of Tennessee’s strict abortion ban, they couldn’t help her. She’d have to find another way. A “Tidal Wave” of Southern Abortion Seekers by Stassa Edwards When the Dobbs v. Jackson decision dropped, it had an immediate impact on the lives of millions of people—particularly those in the South, where trigger laws swiftly went into effect in Kentucky and Louisiana, then Texas, Alabama, and Mississippi; abortion is now banned with few exceptions. And with that, patients found themselves turning to an unlikely place: Florida. Harm and Hope in Post-Roe America by The Meteor When Nancy Davis, 36, found out she was pregnant last summer, she was so happy that she danced around her home with her fiancé and two children to celebrate. “It was like a party,” she told The Meteor’s Tara Abrahams. But at her 10-week checkup, an anatomy scan showed that the fetus Davis was carrying was developing without a skull. “The top of the head was completely gone,” she says. The prognosis was grim: If Davis tried to carry her pregnancy to term and deliver, doctors warned that the child would die within minutes. She needed an abortion. A Crucial Year Ahead for Abortion Access by Susan Rinkunas One after another, we’ve read awful stories of patients being rushed to the ICU with sepsis, nearly bleeding out in bathrooms, or having to go out of state for abortions when their fetuses don’t have skulls. Amid all this news, it can be hard to pinpoint a bright spot, but there is one: Support for abortion has repeatedly won elections. In what would have otherwise been a sleepy off-year of races, voters were so furious about their rights being taken away that they re-elected a Democrat as Governor in Kentucky, codified abortion in Ohio, and flipped a chamber in Virginia, blocking a ban there. What can we expect this election year as we officially enter our second year without Roe?  FOLLOW THE METEOR  Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend?
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Saudi Arabia might host the Billie Jean King cup
  January 18, 2024 Greetings, Meteor readers, If you’ve been with us long enough, you likely know I—like almost half of Americans—have an unnatural obsession with reality television because I am, as a coworker put it, “a garbage person.” I see no lies. So it behooves me to share with my fellow garbage goblins that Love is Blind: Sweden is where it’s at right now. If you plan to be indoors this weekend hiding from the weather, please give it a watch and let me know exactly how much you hate Sergio. In today’s newsletter, we’re meeting up at the intersection of global politics and women’s sports—my favorite place to be. Plus a frightening bill looking to ban gender-affirming care, and a monumental lawsuit. Love is Swedish, Shannon Melero  WHAT'S GOING ONA Prince and the King: For years, the nation of Saudi Arabia has been using sports to improve its image on the global stage—or, as Human Rights Watch called it, “sportswashing.” In lieu of addressing the limited freedoms women have in the country, Prince Mohammed bin Salman al Saud (or MBS as he’s referred to) has been focusing his attention on acquiring licenses to bring (mostly) American sporting leagues and top-name athletes to Saudi. (His most notable contracts are a 10-year multi-billion-dollar agreement with the WWE, the LIV golf merger, and an ambassador deal with Rafael Nadal.) Now, the Kingdom is in talks to host the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup (BJK), aka the most prestigious tournament in women’s tennis. Why should this matter to anyone but diehard tennis fans who may have to figure out how to get to Saudi Arabia come Cup season?  THE CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM FROM THE 2023 BILLIE JEAN KING CUP. (IMAGE BY MATT MCNULTY VIA GETTY IMAGES) Two key reasons: The first is, of course, money. Like most sports, there’s still an alarming gender pay gap in tennis. According to Sportico, “Across 2020, 2021, and 2022, the top 10 male players earned 53% more than their female counterparts.” And despite women’s earnings increasing (Iga Swiatek was the third highest-paid tennis player in the world in 2023), the Women’s Tennis Association Tour won’t reach pay equity with its male counterpart, the ATP, until 2033. That’s a long time to wait. While a new host country won’t close that gap overnight, the Saudis have made it abundantly clear that they’re willing to put their money where their mouth is, which could easily translate into a larger prize pot for players. It also creates an opening for players—particularly African and Middle Eastern ones—to reach a wider audience and, therefore, more earning opportunities. The second reason is human rights. It’s impossible to ignore the country’s litany of violations—gender discrimination, the use of torture, and the brutal, state-sanctioned murder of journalists. When the WTA announced it was considering Riyadh as a location for its finals, tennis immortals Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert penned a letter against the move citing the Kingdom’s anti-LGBTQ stance. World number-six-ranked player Ons Jabeur has expressed support in bringing women’s tennis to Saudi Arabia, but her colleagues have yet to share what they think. And we cannot forget the Billie Jean King of it all. Last year when asked about whether or not the Cup could end up in Saudi, King told Reuters, “The thing I’m concerned about is the women, I want change if we go. But I’m big on engagement and inclusion so it’s a tough one.” AND:
 WEEKEND READSOn conflict: The seemingly disjointed battles taking place across the Middle East may be sending global superpowers into one big war. (The New Yorker) On money: What is unpaid caregiving really costing women? Their retirement. (The Washington Post) On polyamory: Monogamists are bored. (The Cut) On growth: Hala Alyan on the power of changing your mind. (Time)  FOLLOW THE METEOR Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend? Subscribe using their share code or sign up for your own copy, sent Tuesdays and Thursdays.
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