Why Do Men Love Telling Women to Have Babies?

November 2, 2023

Apparently the answer is: the economy ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

November 2, 2023

Hey, Meteor readers,

Next Tuesday is Election Day! If you haven’t already, make sure you know your polling place and have a plan to vote, even if the lines are massive. We cannot say it enough: Local elections matter.

In today’s newsletter we’re talking about babies, mourning two feminist leaders, and sharing some weekend reading.

Researching school board candidates,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

The birth economy: During the opening of China’s National Women’s Congress last month, President Xi Jinping laid out a comprehensive and innovative plan for reviving China’s economy: Women, please get married and have babies. “We should actively foster a new type of marriage and childbearing culture,” he said, making no mention of women who work outside the home (and, presumably, have something to contribute to the economy themselves).

In the face of economic decline and a slowly shrinking population, Xi has turned to a well-worn reactionary directive currently enjoying a revival in the U.S., too: ask women to stay home and raise the next generation of workers rather than find those women jobs and childcare. Despite its name, the Women’s Congress is not a legislative body but an event that occurs every five years to discuss women’s issues. And who gets invited to this prestigious event? China’s predominantly male National People’s Congress, comprised of delegates from various regions. (Their gender ratio is better than the Politboro, Xi’s executive policymaking body, where there are exactly zero women.)

During his speech, Xi urged his audience to “tell good stories about family traditions and guide women to play their unique role in carrying forward the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation.” What a poetic way to tell half the population to shut up about their careers and reproduce.

PRESIDENT XI JINPING AT THE OPENING OF THE 13TH NATIONAL WOMEN’S CONGRESS. (IMAGE BY XIE HUANCHI VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Speaking of babies: Meanwhile, over in America, conservatives who are badgering women to have babies are coming across more tone-deaf than usual, considering that those babies are dying at a higher rate than they have in 20 years. In the United States, which has the highest infant and maternal mortality rates of any high-income country in the world, deaths before a child’s first birthday have significantly increased this year, per a new report by the National Center for Health Statistics. For every 1,000 births in America last year, 5.6 babies died within their first months of life. While Black infants still have the highest mortality rate in the country, the year-over-year increase was sharpest for Native and white communities.

Experts can’t agree on what’s contributing to the rise in deaths, but two possible factors are the COVID pandemic and the fall of Roe, both of which fundamentally changed how Americans sought out and received medical care. Dr. Tracey Wilkinson, an associate professor of pediatrics in Indiana, told NBC News, “Anybody who’s in the reproductive health space could and did warn that this is the type of data we were going to start seeing when we took away the federal protections to abortion access.”

AND:

Desmond Mills Jr., one of the police officers charged in the death of Tyre Nichols, made the surprising move of pleading guilty to state and federal charges. The charges include use of excessive force, conspiracy to witness tamper, obstruction of justice, and second-degree murder. Mills could potentially face life in prison. Nichols died in January of this year three days after he was pulled from his car during a traffic stop and assaulted by Memphis PD.
Yesterday marked the first day of a massive teachers’ strike in Portland, OR, affecting one of the largest school districts in the state.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced an amendment today that would ban the Israeli military from using U.S. aid to transport white phosphorus. The chemical, which is restricted under international law, burns through the skin to the bone. Although Israel has denied using white phosphorus, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International confirmed reports of the use of the chemical during an Israeli strike on the Gaza City port.
George Santos will be allowed to keep his seat in the House despite the fact that he’s currently under a federal indictment. Santos later filed a motion to change his name to Teflon Don Santos, which was unanimously approved (jk).

MAY THEIR MEMORY BE A BLESSING

Feminist lawyer and bestselling author Linda Hirshman died this Halloween at 79. She was a spitfire who made a point to engage with younger generations. “I’ve never forgotten how kind she was, and how interested in having a conversation,” tweeted writer Jill Filipovic, recalling how the two women clashed over Hirshman’s 2007 book, Get to Work, which warned against the danger of “opting out” of the workplace and “choose your choice” feminism. “In hindsight,” Filipovic wrote, “she was 100% right.”
Also this week, the National Institute for Reproductive Health announced that its president, Andrea Miller, had passed away. Miller, who spent three decades leading some of the country’s biggest reproductive freedom organizations, was one of the first to urge the movement to focus more intensely on local and state races—which was, she pointed out correctly, exactly what anti-abortion extremists were doing.
Healthcare activist and attorney Ady Barkan has died at 39. After Barkan was diagnosed with ALS in 2016, his insurance company was not willing to cover necessary medicines or medical equipment, so he sued them. It was because of this lawsuit and the help of his friends that Barkan was able to pay for the at-home medical care that allowed him to be with his family during his final months. Barkan wrote of his experience, “It shouldn’t take a team of lawyers, an experienced activist, and the generosity of friends and strangers to get the healthcare you need to survive.”

WE’RE GIVING AWAY SOMETHING EXTRA SPECIAL THIS MONTH!

FOR EVERY FRIEND THAT SIGNS UP FOR THIS NEWSLETTER USING YOUR ▶️ UNIQUE SHARE CODE ◀️ YOU’LL BE ENTERED INTO A DRAWING TO WIN TWO FREE TICKETS TO MEET THE MOMENT AT THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM

DON’T HAVE A CODE? GET ONE HERE!

WEEKEND READING 📚

On grief: The videos and photos of the carnage in Gaza are crushing to look at. But as my former colleague Samer Kalaf writes, “Sharing these videos feels like the only way to acknowledge these killings in a moment where many perceive them only as numbers in a news article.” (Defector)

On hindsight: Rep. Barbara Lee famously voted against what would later become the ‘00s’ endless war on terror. She offers her thoughts on the value of restraint in the face of devastating violence. (Washington Post)

On the happiest place on Earth: Writer Alana Levinson spends a spooky, surreal day at Disneyland with former Playboy bunny-turned-author and TikTok star Holly Madison. (Bustle)