on supporting women's wrongs
Paws up for Mayhem + our faves hit Paris Fashion Week + Woobles new ad makes us feel things + BW spreading love
Megan on Hannah Berner’s public backlash
Last time we were here, we were hyping podcasters and our parasocial besties Hannah Berner & Paige DeSorbo ahead of their huge gig: hosting the Vanity Fair Red Carpet Live Stream on YouTube.
The morning following the Oscars, my FYP was aflutter with chatter about their coverage. Unfortunately Paige’s beautiful dress, Hannah’s amazing extensions and their charismatic interviews with stars like Hailey Bieber, Amy Poehler, and Jay Ellis were not the main topics of conversation. Instead, the discourse was hyper focused on an awkward moment where Hannah excitedly told Megan Thee Stallion, “When I want to fight someone, I listen to your music.” As much as I’m wont to defend [my friend] Hannah, I can’t deny the racial undertones in that comment and how it plays into larger stereotypes of Black women being overly aggressive. Intention aside, it was a classic microaggression. That said, I found the backlash to be more problematic than the initial “offense.”
What started as the public having the back of a Black woman who’s been notoriously mishandled by the media, quickly turned into more of a takedown of a woman who was a bit cringe in public. Some took the discussion of Hannah’s racial blind spot as permission to declare open season on the comedian as a whole. As Hot Girl Meg herself says in her 2021 hit Thot Shit, “are they supporting you or really just attacking me?”
This is far from the first time we’ve witnessed a valid critique of a woman taken to troubling extremes. It seems to happen particularly often right at the moment when female creators step onto a larger stage than the safer but smaller one they’ve created for themselves. Time and time again, for women especially, being exposed to a wider audience carries incredibly high stakes: be perfect or risk cancellation. Meghan Markle Sussex is the current target of public ire for putting her unlikeability and out-of-touchness on full display in her Netflix series “With Love, Meghan.” People are annoyed because she corrected Mindy Kaling (herself previously at risk of cancellation) on her legal last name (it’s Sussex now!)
Hannah Neeleman–aka the creator Ballerina Farm–faced a backlash when she dared step into a spotlight outside of her own social media channels. Last year, her feature in the UK Times painted a rather ungenerous picture of her marriage which Neeleman called “an attack on [her] family.” And whether or not that was the journalist's intention, the piece did position Neeleman as anti-feminist, making her the subject of considerable critique.
Internalized misogyny is the underlying force at the heart of this issue. Culturally, we need to be able to distinguish between a woman simply being cringe and a woman who is genuinely problematic.
Kaley on small things we can do to combat cultural misogyny:
1. Pause before jumping onto a dog pile - consider 1) whether an offense is really that egregious (how DARE Blake Lively suggest grabbing friends and wearing florals to a Serious Movie) and 2) if your voice needs to be added to the Shame choir
2. Give women on the come up a chance to slip up and apologize before writing them off (Hannah used a poor choice of words, was called out, and apologized. Personally, that’s what I want to see in the public figures I root for!)
3. Remember that culture changes, we can change culture, and it won’t change if we don’t!
This Week In Cool Shiny Culture:
🖤 Megan’s Cool: My last 72 hours have been Mayhem. On Friday, Lady Gaga dropped Mayhem, her 7th studio album. The next morning my wristbands arrived for Coachella where she’ll be headlining night 1. And, to top it all off, she did double duty as host & musical guest on SNL (which I watch on Sunday). The album is a return to Gaga in her truest form (dance pop) and as a longtime little monster, my paws have never been so up.
🐈⬛ Kaley’s Cool: I was captivated by the Oscar-winning animated film Flow, streaming free on Max. I went in knowing nothing except for the following: it won an Oscar. It was made in Latvia. It follows a black cat.
I was intrigued enough to press play, and was left a bit mind boggled about what I watched, how a completely dialogue-free movie kept my attention for 90 minutes, and how they got everything to look like that. The colors! The light! The water! My dog was also a fan. My only regret is that I didn’t take an edible beforehand.
🪴 Megan’s Shiny: I’m newly obsessed with “Forever Succulents,” a diy craft where you take strings of green beads and artfully arrange them to look like vining succulents. Going to figure out how to work this into my craft club agenda ASAP!
💕 Kaley’s Shiny: My girls showed out at Paris Fashion Week. Doechii and Chappell were serving look after look in Gay ole Paris for their first Paris fashion week. Doechii’s look at the Schiaparelli show literally made me exit the elevator at the wrong floor. Like has anyone ever looked better?? I’m not convinced. Then Chappell in goth kabuki drag freeing the nipple in Vivienne Westwood?! We’re living in a new era of POP STARS!! 🤩
Click for all of Doechii’s looks and all of Chappell’s looks.
Marketing We Love: Woobles
File this one under Chicken Soup for the Marketers Soul. This adorable and effective spot for Woobles – a “learn to crochet” kit tried and test by our very own Kaley Mullin– is the quintessential adolescent love story: Boy sees girl, takes note of her interests, crafts her thoughtful gift despite jeers from his friends, boy gets girl. The casual sidestepping of toxic masculinity to impress girls is both excellent and non polarizing. 10/10
Opposite of Cynical: Black women giving each other compliments
Reporter Kathleen Newman-Bremang clipped all of the compliments she received on her emerald look while covering the Essence Fest red carpet into one uplifting montage.
Must see TT: Princess Poppy the Boxer
Who is this diva? It's Princess Poppy who is going viral for her refusal to go to bed without her silk sleeping mask. Relatable Queen.
Thanks for reading Cool Shiny,
Megan & Kaley
the wobbles 🥹🥹