Feminist Pop Stars Are Winning

June 25, 2024

And a must-see abortion story ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

June 25, 2024

Evening, Meteor readers,

The Olympics are so close, I can taste them. I’m already beginning my transformation from average person to annoying Olympian obsessive. I don’t know a thing about track and field, but Noah Lyles and his Yu-Gi-Oh cards are my new second-favorite thing ever….close behind Sha’Carri Richardson, who will be making her Olympic debut in Paris.

ONLY THE PUREST OF HEART CAN WIELD EXODIA, THE FORBIDDEN ONE. (VIA GETTY IMAGES)

In today’s newsletter, we’re handing out flowers to the pop stars who are giving us hits, looks, and feminist vibes. Plus, a surprising new finding about queer Latino men and some watch recommendations for this week.

It’s a femininomenon,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

Summer of progressive pop stars: We are currently in a beautiful and fruitful time for feminist and otherwise progressive-minded women pop stars. On Charli XCX’s effervescent new album, Brat, the British pop star included a song narrating her internal monologue about a troubled friendship with another woman musician, who was widely speculated to be Lorde, in part due to the lyric, “They say we’ve got the same hair.” This week, that song, “Girl, So Confusing,” got a brilliant remix with Lorde in which the duo hash out their issues in minute detail—and in the process illuminate the myriad ways miscommunication, insecurity, and patriarchal expectation can complicate female friendship. (As Lorde sings, “I was trapped in the hatred/ And your life seemed so awesome/ I never thought for a second/ My voice was in your head.”) Also, you might cry!

And last week, Chappell Roan—the drag-informed, theatrical Missourian currently experiencing a meteoric rise—made a spectacular, swan-costumed debut on Fallon; she performed the queer anthem “Good Luck, Babe!”, a song about a passionate relationship with a woman in denial of her sexuality. Renee Rapp, the fierce musician and actor, is still ruling the summer with “Not My Fault,” her shimmering Mean Girls anthem with her idol Megan Thee Stallion. Colombian American singer Kali Uchis is currently topping the Latin pop charts with “Igual Que un Ángel,” a dreamy number about a fellow beautiful woman. The progressive musician Kehlani just released their fourth studio album Crash, leading with the pro-Palestine video for “Next 2 U,” whose merch raised half a million dollars for Palestine, Sudan, and Congo. And, more somberly, the family of the culture-shifting British producer Sophie announced this week they would posthumously release the album she had almost completed when she died in 2021 after falling from a roof in Athens. (She had climbed up to get a better look at the moon.)

The best part is that these women are actively working against being pitted against one another in the usual sexist death match foisted upon women in pop—by the media and, these days, by fans. This week, Charli XCX stood up for Taylor Swift, demanding that fans stop chanting “Taylor Swift’s dead” at her concerts. (They were doing this because some people think Charli sang about Swift in the song “Sympathy Is a Knife.” Should we have run a flow chart with this story?) “Relationships between women are super-complex and multi-layered,” Charli told the Guardian. “You can like someone and dislike them at the same time; you can feel jealous of somebody but they can still be your friend… Sometimes it’s really confusing to be a girl, and that’s fine.”

AND:

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case about whether a gender-affirming care ban in Tennessee violates the 14th Amendment—which provides equal protections for all Americans, ostensibly including those who need gender-affirming and oftentimes life-saving care. Advocates are divided on whether this hearing, which will take place in the fall, is good news or bad news. The pros? The highest court in the land could intervene in the wave of state laws that have rolled back rights for trans kids and families. The cons? Well, you can’t spell conservative justices without “cons.” In any case, “the future of countless transgender youth in this and future generations rests on this Court adhering to the facts, the Constitution, and its own modern precedent,” the ACLU’s Chase Strangio said about the case.

You must watch Romina, the new animated short film by filmmaker, author and founding Meteor member Paola Mendoza about her experience helping a 14-year-old girl living in a state with an abortion ban travel to New York City to obtain abortion care. The film details Romina’s journey and, further, how simple medication abortion can actually be—it really hammers home how absurd it is that a young person would have to travel out of state to take a few pills in the first place. After Romina’s abortion, to make her feel safe, “a community of care came together to support [her], because we had no other choice,” Mendoza says in the film. “Laws will never stop abortions, because we, the people, won’t let them.”

New cases of HIV are on the rise among Latino men, who are experiencing a “disproportionate” number of positive diagnoses. Although HIV cases have generally been on the decline over the last 10 years, the CDC notes that Latino men accounted for 33% of new infections in 2022.
Gays & Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society, or GLITS, is having a million-dollar fundraiser, which this year is especially crucial: After founder Ceyenne Doroshow organized a funeral for activist Cecilia Gentili at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, transphobic outrage from New York’s Catholic archdiocese led some donors to pull more than a half million in funding from the organization. The last time GLITS held a million-dollar fundraiser, the organization was able to purchase a 12-unit apartment building in Queens, NY, to house Black transgender people; you can learn more here and donate here.
Hey, remember the 1971 Women’s World Cup? You do not—unless you were one of the 10,000 fans sitting in Estadio Azteca in Mexico City for what later became the soccer tournament “nearly erased from history.” But thanks to rediscovered footage of the game—and filmmakers Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine—we can now learn a little soccer history in a new documentary called Copa ‘71. It comes out this Friday in the U.S.; take a look at the trailer here.

GOOD LUCK (AT THE OLYMPICS), BABE! 🥇

Olympic organizers in Paris have been strategizing on how to cut carbon emissions and clean up the Seine in time for the big show. Athletes have also put out calls for the Games to cut ties with fossil fuel sponsors. But all that work is about to (literally) go out the window, as some visiting countries, such as the U.S., have announced they will be bringing window unit air conditioners to install in athlete rooms. Ça n’aide pas!
After a devastating fall during the 800-meter qualifiers on Monday, former Olympian Athing Mu filed an appeal with USA Track and Field, stating that she had been clipped by another runner. USATF denied the appeal, which means Mu will not compete in the 800-meter race in Paris. She may still be chosen for the 4×4 relay.
Last week, an old video of Australian swimmer Cate Campbell went viral, thanks in part to Michael Phelps, who was shown the video during an interview. Phelps, who is retired, got big mad over Campbell’s criticism of Team USA swimmers and the “infernal cowbell” they banged in the warm-up area at the 2023 World Championships. Campbell responded on an Australian morning show, chalking it all up to a yearslong American-Australian rivalry. Alas, she won’t be bothered by any cowbell as she did not qualify for the Paris Olympics.