Hysterics & Heresies
A weekly roundup in culture and politics: Sept. 8, 2024
This week felt heavy. It was a terrible week for women, but I want to highlight the bravery in Gisele Pelicot for standing up against her husband and the other men who willingly participated in sexual abuse. And more and more action is being taken every day to change these structures that hurt women. It’s slow moving, but it’s still happening and we can’t forget that.
I was messaging with several friends this week about how it’s a terrible time to be a woman, how we’re sad at the state of the world and wonder what it would like to not give a fuck. I’ve thought about this before, what it would feel like, what my life would be like if I cared less. But what I messaged back was that, at the end of the day, I’d rather give a fuck, as frustrating as it is a lot of the time. I consider it a privilege to be able to fight. It’s a privilege to be a woman and stand up and beside other women.
So, thank you, for being here.
I loved Lauren Hough’s substack ‘Chapell Roan doesn’t owe you shit’. Hough does an exemplarily job at articulating our obsession with celebrities, beyond their art form, to a point of near stalkership. When once there was just the paparazzi, celebrities and anyone with some attention on them have to watch out for anyone with a phone up filming them. And it’s ruining young women in the spotlight.
The Women Trump is Winning, from The Atlantic looks at a question I’ve always wondered about: who are the women supporting and voting for Trump? This piece is also great to pair with the story I wrote the other day about gender politics and fraudulent claims by politicians on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border.
Intimate partner violence was, unfortunately, a big theme this week. Gisele Pelicot testified in a trial that started last week against her husband and 50 other men for alleged rape that spanned 10 years. Pelicot has been incredibly outspoken throughout the trial and it’s quite harrowing. The trial will continue in France next week.
The pressure is on for Canada’s federal government to move forward with firearm legislation intended to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers. A bill was passed back in December, and now women’s organizations and MPs are urging the Liberals to take action.
And Ugandan Olympic marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei was killed after her partner doused her in gasoline and lit her on fire at her home in Kenya last Sunday. This story prompted me to write a piece about femicide, which will be coming out next week, so make sure you’re subscribed to get it right to your inbox.