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☆ They've been beaten, trolled, threatened with sexual violence but refuse to be silenced
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Adie Vanessa Offiong | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Ixchíu Hernández had already been the victim of years of online threats -- attempts to humiliate and silence her. Published in April 2021, it reveals: "Online attacks on women journalists appear to be increasing significantly, as this study demonstrates, particularly in the context of the 'shadow pandemic' of violence against women during COVID-19. "Online violence against women journalists is designed to: belittle, humiliate, and shame; induce fear, silence, and retreat; discredit them professionally, undermining accountability journalism and trust in facts; and chill their active participation...in public debate. Ricchiardi-Folwell explains that because of the often-sexualized nature of the attacks, women remain silent about their harassment, which leads them to believe they are alone. Editor's note: This story was originally published in 2021 and updated to reference the latest report by UNESCO.

☆ Marilyn Minter's 'Elder Sex' depicts radical images of intimacy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Jacqui Palumbo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

“There’s so much contempt for elder sex. Marilyn Minter/Courtesy Marilyn Minter & LGDRA handful of the ensuing images were originally published in the New York Times Magazine, accompanying a candid editorial feature about seniors’ sex lives. Minter is now publishing the series in full in the forthcoming book “Elder Sex,” and exhibiting them at New York gallery LGDR. Marilyn Minter/Courtesy of JBE Books & LGDR“We wanted to (include) all races, all types of sex,” Minter explained. What?”Minter hopes "Elder Sex" will serve as a radical body of work and will help normalize sex at older ages.

☆ A former Nike runner says the company stopped paying her while she was pregnant and portrayed her as 'Miss America in a crop top'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Nike "takes great pride as a leader in supporting female athletes," the company said. Goucher's book also describes a persistently sexist culture at the Nike Oregon Project and says that Alberto Salazar, a celebrated distance runner and former Nike coach, sexually assaulted her. "My story helped sell shoes, shorts, T-shirts, and bras," Goucher wrote of her time as a Nike-backed runner. "In 2018 we standardized our approach across all sports to support all of our female athletes during pregnancy," Nike said in the statement. We know that Nike can continue to play an elevated role in supporting female athletes and improving their experience in sports."

☆ Stormy Daniels mocks Trump, saying she'd rather be under her 'sexy man' than 'under arrest'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Aditi Bharade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Stormy Daniels celebrated former President Donald Trump's arrest on Tuesday. "It's definitely more fun being under my sexy man instead of under arrest," she wrote in her tweet. Daniels says she had an affair with Trump in 2006, a year after he married Melania Trump. Donald Trump has denied the affair. Representatives for Trump and Daniels did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Memphis, Tennessee, on Friday temporarily blocked a law restricting drag performances in public from going into effect, saying it was likely "vague and overly-broad" in its restriction of speech. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, in February, had signed the bill passed by the state's legislature that was meant to go into effect on Saturday. The judge said the state had failed to justify with a compelling interest the restrictions it aimed to impose. The Tennessee bill was part of an upswing in recent months in Republican efforts to regulate the conduct of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Much of the debate in Tennessee has been over whether drag is inherently a sexually explicit art form.

☆ 2 Republican leaders pushing for anti-drag laws have dressed in what could be considered drag based on the bill texts' definition
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Both Republican leaders have previously dressed in drag — based on their bills' definition of the word. The Tennessee bill does not include the term "drag" but suggests "male or female impersonators" as one type of entertainment that is "harmful to minors." Schatzline similarly responded on Twitter that his performance was not a "sexually explicit drag show." Yah, that's not a sexually explicit drag show… lol y'all will twist ANYTHING," he tweeted on Monday. Bella DuBalle, a Memphis-based drag queen, previously spoke to Insider about the Tennessee bill and the rise in legislation that associates drag performances with sexually explicit acts.

☆ Tennessee governor will sign bills restricting drag, transgender youth treatment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Jonathan Allen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Feb 28 (Reuters) - Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said he would sign into law bills that passed the legislature last week banning gender-affirming treatment for transgender youth and restricting drag performances in public. Lee said the drag bill, which comes into effect April 1, would protect children from being "potentially exposed to sexualized entertainment, to obscenity." Modern drag performances, which have long flourished in LGBT venues before becoming a more mainstream entertainment in recent years, typically do not involve nudity. One of the bills Lee will sign bans doctors from providing gender-affirming medical treatment, such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery, for transgender minors. The Tennessee bills are part of an upswing in recent months in Republican efforts to regulate the conduct of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.

Maxwell, 61, is expected to present her legal arguments in a filing with the 2nd U.S. Epstein killed himself at age 66 in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, one month after being charged with sex trafficking. Maxwell is expected to claim that prosecutors charged her long after a five-year statute of limitations expired. At Maxwell's trial, the four accusers said Maxwell and Epstein at first made them feel welcome in their orbit before subjecting them into giving Epstein sexualized massages. Prosecutors are expected to respond to Maxwell's filing before the appeals court hears oral arguments.

☆ Tennessee governor targeting drag says a photo showing him dressed as a woman isn't a problem because it was 'lighthearted' when he did it
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A photo purporting to show Tennessee's Republican governor in drag in 1977 resurfaced on Reddit. The bill would limit where drag shows can take place under the guise of protecting children. Bill Lee after a photo purporting to show Lee in drag in a 1977 high school yearbook was shared on Reddit. Lee's spokesperson did not deny that the image was of the governor, but said that it was different to what Lee is targeting, which would stop drag shows taking place on public property. Lee told reporters on Monday that he plans to sign a bill that would limit drag shows in public under the guise of protecting children.

☆ Tennessee takes lead in Republican effort to restrict drag shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Jonathan Allen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Feb 23 (Reuters) - Tennessee lawmakers will debate on Thursday whether to restrict drag performances in public or in front of children, one of more than a dozen bills limiting drag advanced by Republican politicians in at least 15 states in recent months. They see the bills as part of a Republican effort to advance laws limiting LGBT people's conduct across the country. Drag performances typically do not involve nudity or stripping. Established in 2015, Drag Story Hour, in which costumed drag performers read to children, has expanded to at least 20 states. Drag performers say they are just as able to tailor their act to their audience as other artists, like an actor who might appear in both a sexually explicit R-rated movie and in a children's movie.

☆ Sex, art theft, and privacy: Lensa exploded overnight — and now the avatar app is dealing with public backlash. Here's what you should know.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Bethany Biron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Lensa is facing criticism since the AI app exploded in popularity at the end of 2022. The Lensa app is behind those avatars. LensaAllegations of stealing from artistsJust as quickly as Lensa avatars became ubiquitous online, allegations of theft and warnings from artists also emerged. The law community "would welcome additional guidance from policymakers and courts when it comes to protecting consumers in connection with AI," Torres said. "The flood of Lensa avatars feel cheap and overwhelming," Pilat said in a statement shared with Insider.

☆ Mattel launches taller Barbie aimed at children as young as 3
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Love her or loathe her, Barbie has been transformed again, this time into a version for children as young as 3. I think doll play allows children to really practice storytelling skills, perspective taking and social interactions,” LeVos said. McKnight made it clear that My First Barbie will not be a separate, parallel Barbie universe. Andrea Werner, a pediatric occupational therapist in West Hartford, Connecticut, and mother of a preschooler and an infant, supports doll play as developmentally valuable. “Companies will always be trying to sell consumers the next best thing.”Kohchi isn’t entirely sold on My First Barbie as appropriate.

☆ Abercrombie & Fitch is cool again
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN Business —Abercrombie & Fitch has shed its perfume-filled mall stores, shirtless models and logo sweatshirts to win over Millennials and Gen Z.It’s working. Abercrombie (ANF) said Monday that its women’s segment was on track to deliver its highest holiday sales period ever, and its men’s division was growing, too. “Abercrombie was a key destination for holiday shopping,” Neil Saunders, an analyst at GlobalData Retail, said in a note to clients Monday. “This a further sign that the brand has successfully ditched the baggage of its past.”The brand, which has about 225 stores, plans to open around 10 Abercrombie stores a year over the next three years. Today, Abercrombie’s stores are lighter than they once were and its clothes are looser.

☆ Native Hawaiian women and girls experience sex trafficking and violence at alarming rates, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Kimmy Yam | Kimmy Yam Is A Reporter For Nbc Asian America. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Native Hawaiian women and girls experience disproportionate levels of violence, and those inequities have long been insufficiently addressed, new research shows. “It’s the collision of hatred of Native Hawaiians and hatred of women that just makes it harder for women’s pain and specifically Native Hawaiian women’s pain to register,” Jabola-Carolus said. Military occupation remains an enduring structure of the U.S. colonization of Hawaii, which researchers point to as the basis for the inequities Native Hawaiian women and girls experience today. Inequities for Native women and girls are also intertwined with the failures of those with legislative power to recognize these Native Hawaiian issues, the report said. But services allocated to specifically help Native Hawaiian survivors of gender-based violence were inadvertently excluded from that funding.

☆ Two Tesla employees say they were illegally fired for complaining about Elon Musk's tweets and strict return-to-office policy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Two Tesla workers claim they were illegally fired for criticizing Elon Musk and company policy. The workers claim they were cut loose for discussing their working conditions, including "Tesla's failure to enforce its non-harassment policy and its implementation of its post-COVID return to office policy," according to the filings. One letter called for changes to the company's strict return-to-office policy announced in May, which required all Tesla employees to work from a company office for at least 40 hours per week. The other was told that organizing employee discussions amounted to an "attack" on Tesla, according to a filing. In June, a group of SpaceX employees filed a similar complaint saying they were fired after writing an open letter calling out Musk's behavior.

☆ 'Avatar: The Way of Water' review roundup: See it on the biggest screen possible, critics say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

"The Way of Water" follows Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) who are now the parents of four Na'vi children. Read more: "Avatar: The Way of Water" could be headed for a $175 million opening weekend Critics are adamant that audiences should watch "The Way of Water" on the biggest screen possible, lauding the film for its you-won't-believe-this-is-computer-generated visuals and bombastic sound design. Here's what critics thought of "Avatar: The Way of Water" before its Friday release. Avatar: The Way of Water Courtesy: Disney Co.Ma did note that "The Way of Water" is "jaw-droppingly beautiful," likening it to watching a David Attenborough documentary rather than a CGI feature. Avatar: The Way of Water Courtesy Disney Co.Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

☆ House GOP’s inclusion of 'salacious' Commanders cheerleaders photos in official memo draws blowback
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Rebecca-Shabad-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Rebecca Shabad | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Lawyers for more than 40 former Washington Commanders employees are demanding that House Republicans remove "sexualized and salacious photographs" of the NFL team's cheerleaders featured in a GOP-written memo about the football team. (The GOP report put black boxes over the women's faces and some body parts.) In a statement, a Republican Oversight Committee aide criticized the Democrats' report and defended the GOP memo. "Prior to circulating the internal memo, Committee staff took steps to ensure all sensitive images involving cheerleaders were redacted and their identities kept confidential. As we have said from the beginning, the Oversight Committee is not the proper venue for this investigation.

☆ Lensa AI's owner says the company's face-changing tech can be tricked into generating NSFW images — but some users are saying it happened to them without even trying
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Lensa app creates face-changing effects using machine learning and photos uploaded by users. Some users have received images of themselves portrayed in the nude thanks to AI-generated edits. The company says Lensa can be tricked into making nudes but some users say they didn't upload NSFW images. "Lensa users: Did you receive a highly sexualized image in your avatar package?" We also abstain from using such images in our promotional materials," Usoltsev told TechCrunch.

☆ Tampax forced to apologize for 'creepy' tweet after being accused of sexualizing women
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The US arm of the tampon company tweeted their spin on a well-used meme, saying: "You're in their DMs. People immediately expressed outrage with the tweet, saying it "sexualized" women's healthcare and was "demeaning" towards women. Others said the tweet was "creepy," considering minors often use Tampax products during menstruation, Sky News reported. In response to the backlash, the company, owned by Procter & Gamble, tweeted an apology saying they "messed up." "Women and girls want sanitary products they can trust, not wink, wink sexualization of a basic biological function.

☆ Adidas launches investigation into Ye conduct claims
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Kanye West at an event announcing a partnership with Adidas on June 28, 2016 in Hollywood, California. Adidas said it is investigating accusations made by staff relating to the conduct of the musician Ye during his partnership with the German sportswear brand and the response of senior company figures. The company said in a statement late Thursday: "It is currently not clear whether the accusations made in an anonymous letter are true. It follows a Rolling Stone article published Tuesday with anonymous allegations that Ye showed pornographic and sexualized material to Yeezy staff during meetings and made sexualized remarks to female staff. A representative for Ye was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

☆ 'They are untouchable': Microsoft employees say 'golden boy' executives are still running wild, 8 years after the company vowed to clean up its toxic culture
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +23 min

The Microsoft executive walked into the small, windowless room in Studio C at about 8 o'clock that evening. Despite Nadella's public stance against those he has called "talented jerks," many inside the company say Microsoft retains a nearly unlimited tolerance for bad behavior by its top rainmakers and developers. "The Microsoft of 2021 is very different from the Microsoft of 2000 to me and to everyone at Microsoft," Nadella said. But some women say the investigations drag on for months or even years, with no clear timeline for resolution. What's more, some employees say Microsoft's efforts to promote racial equity often smack of tokenism.

Some right-wing media figures and influencers have doubled down on the use of inflammatory rhetoric against the LGBTQ community in the wake of Saturday night’s shooting at a Colorado gay club that killed five. “We shouldn’t tolerate pedophiles grooming kids,” Pool tweeted. At least one Republican politician also targeted LGBTQ people on social media in the wake of the shooting. Ellis said leaders in the LGBTQ community have “seen a dramatic uptick” in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. “This is priming some very violent people to do shocking acts of violence, and this is all being pushed on social media and on Fox News, on Tucker Carlson.”

☆ I make up to $800 in tips a day as a bikini barista. Customers can be scary, but I love my job and its perks.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Dorothy Cucci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Grace Morris is a 20-year-old bikini barista in Lacey, Washington. That was something that really surprised me about the job: Customers have paid for my groceries, furniture, and even my rent. There's a false perception that being a bikini barista is a "gateway job" into dancing or sex work. Being a bikini barista has given me a kind of confidence that I've never had before. But for now, I'm a bikini barista for the foreseeable future, and I'm perfectly happy about that.

☆ Pennsylvania school district created culture of anti-LGBTQ discrimination, complaint alleges
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-07 | by ( Zachary Schermele | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a federal complaint Thursday alleging one of the largest school districts in the state has created a widespread culture of discrimination toward LGBTQ students, particularly those who are transgender and nonbinary. The lawyers interviewed dozens of LGBTQ students and their parents, as well as current and former teachers and staff. The bullying forced some of them to miss school, and in 2019, a former transgender student attempted suicide, according to the complaint. Serving more than 18,000 students, Central Bucks drew national attention in 2021 as debates over pandemic policies gave way to larger culture-war clashes in the community. Amid a surge in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policy in school boards across the country, Walczak said, the alleged circumstances at Central Bucks are not an isolated situation.

☆ Goldman Sachs: Newly-unredacted document alleges dozens of incidents of ‘sexual assault and harassment’ at firm, lawsuit says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-24 | by ( Laura Ly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A newly-unredacted document alleging an “uncorrected culture of sexual assault and harassment” at investment bank Goldman Sachs states that at least 75 incidents of alleged sexual assault and harassment were reported between 2000 and 2011. The document is part of an ongoing gender discrimination lawsuit against the investment bank that dates back to 2010. Richard Perry/The New York Times/ReduxThe lawsuit, originally filed on behalf of former Goldman Sachs employees Cristina Chen-Oster, Allison Gamba, Shanna Orlich, and Mary de Luis, became a class-action lawsuit in 2018. Goldman Sachs said in a statement Friday that the allegations do not “reflect reality” and that many of the claims are “two decades old and have been presented selectively, inaccurately and are incomplete. ““Discrimination, harassment and mistreatment in any form are unacceptable at Goldman Sachs, and when identified, swift action, including termination, is taken.

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