Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Lindy West wishes you a Happy Halloween, we revisit the power pose, and the U.S. partisan divide includes women’s rights. A quick editor’s note: I’m at the S.H.E. Summit in NYC this afternoon, moderating a panel on driving progress in male-dominated fields. If you’re there, please stop by and say hi. Have a wonderful Thursday.
EVERYONE'S TALKING
• Yet another divide. Fortune's Claire Zillman looks at new survey data from the Pew Research Center that reveals a significant split in how Americans on the left and right of the political spectrum think about gender equality.
The report finds that 54% of Republicans or those who lean Republican say the country “has been about right” when it comes to giving women equal rights with men. Another 18% say the U.S. has gone too far in this regard. Twenty-six percent, meanwhile, say the U.S. hasn’t done enough.
On the Democratic or Dem-leaning side, 69% say the U.S. must do more to ensure women equal rights, 26% say things are “about right,” and 4% say efforts toward such an end are excessive.
Interestingly, Democrats' views do vary by educational levels. While 81% of bachelor’s degree holders and 73% of those with some college experience say the country needs to do more on gender equality, just 55% of those with a high school diploma or less say the same. (Republicans’ views are consistent across education levels.)
Given the entrenched partisanship currently gripping the U.S., it does not come as a surprise that gender equality is yet another place where many of our fellow citizens disagree. Still, I hope we won't let it slip any further into the political divide. Equal opportunity for women should not be a partisan issue—it must be a non-negotiable right for all of us. Fortune
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
• Happy Halloween. If you have not yet taken a moment to read Lindy West's latest op-ed for the New York Times, I strongly recommend that you do so. The piece takes on Woody Allen's remark that the exposure of the sexual harassment and assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein could lead to a “witch hunt atmosphere." While men like Allen and Weinstein would no doubt prefer that women keep their stories of abuse to themselves, that is not going to happen, writes West. "The witches are coming, but not for your life. We’re coming for your legacy...Happy Halloween." New York Times
• Active verbs. Val talks to Jackson Katz, the man behind a series of viral quotes that point out how the use of passive language around sexual violence—"We talk about how many women were raped last year, not how many men raped women"—absolves men of responsibility. Katz stresses the need for all men to take a stand on harassment and abuse: “Their silence is a form of consent and complicity.” Fortune
• Strike the pose. Are you a power pose practitioner? I know I am. Yet, Amy Cuddy, the social psychologist who coined the term and conducted research that suggested that the poses help raise testosterone levels and lower stress, has come under attack in recent years as her work has been called into question. This story looks at how Cuddy is representative of a generation of social scientists whose work is coming under new—and sometimes oddly personal—scrutiny. New York Times
• The young PM. Jacinda Ardern, a "former DJ, lapsed Mormon, noted feminist," has been named as New Zealand's prime minister. At 37, she is the youngest person to hold the job since 1856. Fortune
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
• Twitter bans creeps. Twitter has toughened its stance on online sexual harassment and abuse. The new rules call for an immediate and permanent suspension of any account the company identifies as the original source of non-consensual nudity—a category it will broaden to include "upskirt imagery, 'creep shots,' and hidden camera content." Fortune
• KOing NDAs? In May, New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman introduced a bill that would prohibit employers from asking their employees to waive their rights related to claims of “discrimination, non-payment of wages or benefits, retaliation [or] harassment” as part of a nondisclosure clauses. (Such agreements helped keep the Weinstein allegations—and others—secret for so many years.) Now, he's added new language that "would prohibit nondisclosure clauses in contracts and agreements that are the result of any sort of complaint that violates the law. " Mother Jones
• From gaming to running. Brianna Wu, the original target of #Gamergate, talks about running for Congress in Massachusetts "on a platform crafted, in part, from her experience facing off against white supremacist groups, which, she notes, have been against not only women gamers but also public policies that benefit anyone not white, heterosexual, and male." Glamour
• Dear Santa... LEGO has confirmed that it will release a “Women of NASA” set in time for the holiday season. The figures include two astronauts, Sally Ride and Mae Jemison, astronomer Nancy Roman, and computer scientist Margaret Hamilton. Fortune
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ON MY RADAR
A TV executive sexually assaulted me: A critic’s personal story Variety
Inside a secretive group where women are branded New York Times
MGM Resorts buys women's pro basketball team for Las Vegas Bloomberg
Christy Turlington Burns speaks out on sexual harassment in the fashion industry The Hollywood Reporter
QUOTE
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| Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney, who says she was inspired by #MeToo to reveal her own experience. She has accused team doctor Larry Nassar of molesting her, starting when she was 13. |
