Why silencing women may come back to bite Trump

March 21, 2023

Happy Nowruz, Meteor readers,

I’m sure you’ve all been waiting all day to hear: Is Trump getting arrested on Tuesday? Short answer: No. But he could be indicted any day now. I’m gonna give myself arthritis with how tightly I’m crossing my fingers.

In today’s newsletter, we’ve got Iranian activism, legislative ignorance, and the poetic justice of Trump potentially facing consequences from an attempt to silence women.

In today’s slice of Women’s History, we’ve got yours truly telling you the tale of the late trans icon Christine Jorgensen, and what her story teaches us about the dangerous pressures to perform femininity.

And finally: Another icon! The Meteor has just announced an April 4 event with Dr. Jane Goodall at the Brooklyn Museum. We can’t think of a better way to celebrate our planet. Get your tickets here while they last.

But first: the news.

Crossing my toes,

Bailey Wayne Hundl

WHAT’S GOING ON

Grab him by the…handcuffs?: Former reality TV host and Twitter personality Donald Trump announced via social media Saturday that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday (he was not). The crime for which he could be indicted by a grand jury this week is the alleged falsification of business records to cover up hush money payments made starting in 2015 to at least two women—adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. If he is, in fact, indicted by a grand jury, people close to him have said he wouldn’t even be expected to make a court appearance in the case until some time next week.

Falsifying business records, the charge Trump potentially faces, is a misdemeanor under New York state law, unless they were falsified with the “intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof,” making them a Class E felony. Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, previously pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance violation charges for arranging the payments.

It comes as a bit of a surprise that of all the things the man’s allegedly done—committing fraud, inciting violence, evading taxes, obstructing justice, assaulting, sparking a damn insurrection—this is the one that might result in actual criminal charges.

But as satisfying as it’d be to see Trump held to task for all the horrible things he’s done, it’s almost poetic justice that he might actually face a jury of his peers for an attempt to bury a woman’s story about her own life. The same man we all watched deny a woman her opportunity to speak might now be punished for doing exactly that.

And who can deny the sweet satisfaction of Trump being brought to (some modicum of) justice by a woman he called Horseface?

AND:

The South Carolina bill authorizing the death penalty for anyone who gets an abortion has lost nine of its original 24 Republican co-sponsors. Rep. Brandon Guffey, one of the latest to pull his support, told NBC on Saturday that he “read through it” when he signed, but didn’t click on the part mentioning the death penalty. Read the fine print, Brandon!

Florida currently has a bill in the works that could ban any discussion of menstruation before sixth grade—including by girls who are already experiencing their periods. The average age at which girls start menstruating is 12; the average sixth grader is 11-12.

Iranian activist Naza Alakija released a short film Monday honoring Mahsa Amini, the Iranian woman who was killed in police custody in September after being arrested for wearing a loose hijab. The film’s female director, as well as the rest of the Iranian crew, have chosen to remain anonymous for their own personal safety.

Antisemitic tweets have “more than doubled” since Elon Musk took over Twitter, according to a report from the nonpartisan Institute for Strategic Dialogue. When asked to comment, Twitter’s response was (I’m not even kidding): “💩”

Emmy-nominated filmmaker Jennifer Fox, who wrote and directed a 2018 film documenting her childhood sexual abuse, revealed the identity of her abuser yesterday: late, two-time Olympic medalist Ted Nash. In this harrowing read, Fox told interviewers that “she wanted abusers to know that even dying wouldn’t spare them from being caught.”

It was a huge day for funny women in film: The trailer for Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ latest comedy just dropped; Kate McKinnon announced yesterday she’s working on a sci-fi picture; and I STILL can’t stop watching the trailer for Jennifer Lawrence’s new wacky, sexy romp.

A 🍕 OF HISTORY

The Pressures of Performing Femininity

It’s Women’s History Month. And every week, a Meteor collective member recounts a piece of women’s history that resonates with them. Today, Bailey Wayne Hundl examines the legacy of Christine Jorgensen, the first openly publicized trans woman in America.

THE “BLONDE BEAUTY” HERSELF (PHOTO BY BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES)

On the front page of the December 1, 1952 edition of the New York Daily News, the headline read: “Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty: Operations Transform Bronx Youth.” The story on page three outed Christine Jorgensen, a trans woman who had traveled to Europe two years before and received gender-affirming hormones and surgery.

Surprisingly, being outed did not ruin her life. Tons of news outlets picked her story up, emphasizing the same qualities the first story did: her (masculine) military background and transformation into perfectly performed femininity. She became, as trans people so frequently do, a public fascination.

Jorgensen took the newfound attention and used it both to bring attention to LGBTQ+ people and to jump start a career in entertainment. She performed in nightclubs, spoke at colleges, wrote an autobiography, and even had a film written about her (in which she was played by a cisgender man).

And though she was able to survive and thrive being publicly trans, it’s not lost on me that she was only able to do so because people were shocked by how well she “passed.” If she hadn’t been such a “blonde beauty,” it’s very unclear what options would have been available to her to pay the bills— especially after her public profile scuttled first her fiancé’s government career and their attempt to get married.

Among other things, Jorgensen’s life and the media narrative around her serve as reminders that the societal standards for “appropriate femininity” are bullshit and that adherence to those standards can be, for some, a matter of survival.