The Bluestocking, vol XXI: it's gone Full Lady this week, I'm warning you

Evening all,

This week, I wrote about how dying cats are ruining all your internet arguments, and hosted an evening to help buy nia, the charity I chair, a van to help women who want to exit prostitution. (Donate here!)

This weekend, I'm reviewing the papers on the Andrew Marr show, then hosting a discussion about personality in politics with Owen Bennett, Dan Hodges (and his new beard) and Anthony Seldon. (If you're in Cambridge, tickets here). On Monday, I'm doing a "funny" politics thing with Mark Steel and Andy Parsons, and some luckless MP. Quite intrigued to see how Mark Steel things the whole Corbyn business is going.

Until next week . . .

Helen


The Serial Swatter

The women targeted by these attacks were mostly like Janet, college students in their late teens and early 20s. The attacks were eating into their viewer bases, costing them money. If you want it to stop, Obnoxious typed,add me on Skype, and we can talk about it. When the women did as they were asked, they realized that they were dealing with a teenager — a strange, depressive 16-year-old. He told part of his story to one streamer. Growing up in Canada somewhere, his father had abused him and beat him. When he turned 18, he said, he was going to kill himself. The streamer felt sorry for him and urged him not to go through with it. Another streamer took notes on his likes and dislikes. ‘‘Plays Runescape,’’ she wrote. ‘‘Periodically watches cartoon pornography. Runs game servers. Has a Taylor Swift fetish.’’

This story, of a teenage boy who harassed female gamers by sending SWAT teams to their houses, is terrifying. First, that no one seemed to be able to stop him; second, that his behaviour followed the pattern so many women will know well - snapping from "give me attention" to "you are a worthless bitch" in a matter of minutes.


The Women Of Hollywood

The actor Alec Baldwin, who has worked with [Nancy] Meyers, notes that the ‘‘clichéd paramilitary nature’’ of directing runs deep. ‘‘They call it shooting,’’ he says. ‘‘Its groupings are called units. They communicate on walkie-talkies. The director is the general. There is still the presumption that men are better designed for the ferocity and meanness that the job often requires. I’ve worked with so many [expletive] male directors. They should open a window and let more women in.’’ (Jill Soloway prefers not to yell ‘‘Action!’’ because it sounds too much like ‘‘Attack!’’)

Staying with our laydeez theme, many great actresses and directors speak out about sexism in the film and TV industries. Great portraits of kickass women here too.

Bonus cuss of Quentin Tarantino: "I want to be that guy even though he looks like a foot."


On pandering

After watching Girls for the first time my friend Annie McGreevy says, “That was my experience, too, but I didn’t know it was okay to make art about it.” And maybe it’s still not okay. After doing an event with Miranda July, Lena Dunham tweets this quote from Lorrie Moore, writing on July in the New York Review of Books, “When one googles ‘Wes Anderson’ and ‘fey’ one gets a lot of pictures of him and Tina Fey.”

And why not make it a hat-trick? Here's another piece which touches on male entitlement (like the SWATting story) and the canon formation that happens when powerful men are captivated by newcomers who remind them of their younger selves (as in Hollywood).

Quick links: A man interviews himself 38 years in the future. The genius of OutKast. The best piece I've read yet on the Pistorius trial, making the case that his defence against the charge of killing his girlfriend only worked by invoking racist fears of black intruders. How post-war Japan dealt with its emperor no longer being considered immortal. What viral stories about adorable foreigners are like for the adorable foreigners patronised so intensely by them.

Plus I'm going to cheat by telling you to read everything on slatestarcodex.com, because I just laughed for 20 seconds straight at his questions for presidential candidates.

Guest gif:

That's all, folks. Encourage your friends to subscribe at tinyletter.com/HelenLewis and it will be like a very cheap Christmas present.