The no-girls allowed group chat (and five other reads) — Part 2
Three (out of six) things on gender (in)equality and the backlash against feminism. Continued from a few days ago....
Dear readers. Remember Part 1 of this email, which I sent you a few days ago? Here is the rest…
PS I opened Part 1 with some thoughts on Gaza and Israel and feminism. I linked to an article arguing that if feminism can’t make room for what women are going through in Gaza, it’s not feminism. Since sending it I came across this similar sentiment about Afghanistan:
And now, to Part 2 of these reads…..
(For nos. 1-3—about group chats, the UK Supreme Court ruling, and baby booms—read Part 1 of this post)
4)The suicide of Virginia Giuffre
I felt so very sad to read the news of Virginia Giuffre’s suicide. Here was her face, so familiar from years of coverage of the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. It was the face of the smiling, awkward girl from that photograph, which the royal who Giuffre was pictured with had the gall to denounce as a fake.
Giuffre was only 41 years old when she died by suicide last month. Even before she met Epstein and Maxwell, she had experienced abuse as a child and had spent time homeless. After her terrible experiences of being vulnerable and exploited, she was determined to speak out. “Giuffre was one of the earliest and loudest voices calling for criminal charges against Epstein and his enablers. Other Epstein abuse survivors later credited her with giving them the courage to speak out”, as NBC reported. Her death was a reminder not only of how difficult it is for survivors of abuse to talk about what happened to them, but also of how easily forgotten, or minimised, the many victims of abuse often are. In The Conversation, Lindsey Blumell analyses Giuffre’s treatment by the press. She writes:
…as my research shows, when powerful men are accused, the coverage largely revolves around those powerful men and the monetary or career consequences to them. The survivors and the abuse and trauma they experience are a footnote.
Research shows that how journalists evaluate the newsworthiness of a story often values power structures, men’s perspectives and celebrity status. Therefore, when someone like Giuffre does come forward, her story and voice come secondary to the more powerful accused.
5) Kenya and the manosphere
For The Republic, Maureen Kasuku has written an essay on extreme misogyny online in Kenya, where, according to “Africa Data Hub, 2024 was the ‘worst year on record’ [for femicide], with 170 compiled cases.” Masuku explains how Maga’s anti-feminism has resonated for conservatives in the African state:
In his 2024 re-election campaign as president of the United States, Donald Trump pushed anti-gender messaging that resonates with conservative figures in Africa who advocate for patriarchal values and view feminism, gender progressivism and queer rights as a threat to ‘African family values’, contributing to the spread of misinformation on women’s reproductive agency and queer rights.
Kasuku notes how, in January, Kenya’s president, William Ruto, publicly lauded Trump’s executive order stating that the US federal government only recognises two sexes. Ruto stated:
“As a leading democracy, we have come to understand that the policy direction of the United States supports what we believe in: that boys must remain boys, men must remain men, women must remain women, and girls must remain girls,” Ruto said.
“We thank God that, at the start of this year, the first news from the United States under the new administration confirms what the Bible teaches, what our faith believes, and what our traditions [are] firmly grounded on.”
Masuku also notes how anti-feminist influencers in Kenya echo wider, global manosphere messaging:
Jacob Aliet, a Kenyan masculinity coach and influencer, has adopted these ideas in his own work, regurgitating the same disinformation by framing Kenyan women in similarly negative terms. [Richard] Cooper’s and Aliet’s views reinforce the broader narrative that men are being defrauded by women, portraying women as the architects of their own victimhood. Aliet has shared Cooper’s quotes on his social media platforms and incorporated them into his broader discussions of gender dynamics.
Last but not least, apparently there is a story doing the rounds in Kenya that women are getting pregnant and then aborting the fetus in order to get that famous pregnancy glow. An actual news site published an actual article about this.
6) The hotness gender gap
writes about a very online episode. On X, women and men were invited to vote on which picture of the singer Olly Murs they found hotter, one taken before he spent 12 weeks training in the gym, or the one taken afterwards. More men preferred the after picture, while more women preferred the before shot (see the pictures here in her excellent post on this). Cue tons of comments from men accusing the women of lying (or worse): A bunch of guys got furious that women did not appreciate Olly’s gains. And I mean, really, really furious. From accusations of “lying” to “these women are just fat insecure bitches who can’t stand a perfect physique,” to “women don’t get it and don’t know what they ACTUALLY want.”
As Antonova points out, the second picture of the very muscly Murs caters to the male gaze, rather than a female one. And with the responses to the poll, we see how some men are unnerved by what it is some women say they want, because perhaps it’s something they never really had to consider. She writes:
All of this immediately becomes a problem when men who don’t give much thought to the female imagination and female desire - because they are not remotely socialized to do so - are suddenly presented with the truth in an online poll and begin to freak out about it.
One of my favorite brainrot moments to come out of all this are men screaming that, ''The women who voted for the left picture are ugly fat bitches who have simply never been with a shredded guy because they are not good enough!”
That’s it for this extra long, two-part post. Thank so much for reading. See you next time.