(Unspecified Adjective) Thursday

 Oh look, it's Thursday again. I'm less surly than concerned about my mental health right now, but Terrified-of-Spiraling-into-Numbness-and-Despair Thursday doesn't have the same ring. 

I AM surly about the heaping helping of misogyny coming across my social media feeds right now (and always, but the last few days have featured some banner entries). First, Simone Biles withdrawing from the Olympic finals because her mental health was endangering her well-being, and being accused by many people of 'being a quitter', 'not persevering', 'proving that the new generation is weaker', 'taking a spot that someone else would have loved', etc. etc.

The fact that a lot of people criticizing her are pasty white men who could barely walk around the block probably fits some definition of irony, but it's not really relevant to me - I don't like criticizing people based on their looks even if they're worthless tools, and some of the criticism is actually coming from other athletes. The fact is that no one has one iota of justification for opining on why, or if, Simone Biles deserves to walk away. She has given unceasingly to a sport and a country that failed to protect her. She has reached pinnacles of achievement most people can only dream of. Does anybody really think that it was an easy decision to walk away at that point? Well, yes, stupid people steeped in a bubbling, fetid stew of toxic masculinity and American individualism (which is ironic again because somehow the American people think that Biles OWES them a gold medal - I mean, go flip over a fucking bench yourself if you're so proud and self-reliant). 

Someone showed Piers Morgan defending a British football player over mental health struggles, paired with his denigration of Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles over the same issue. Gee, what could the difference possibly be?

Hard on the heels of this was the news that Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney for releasing Black Widow to streaming and theatres at the same time. This wasn't in her contract, which tied her pay to the box office earnings. She tried to renegotiate when she found out what they were doing and Disney refused.

A quick Google search shows that Scarlett Johansson's net worth is somewhere in the neighbourhood of 156 million. Am I a big fan of people having millions of dollars while other people don't have enough to live on? Nope. Do I think the income equality in our society is a big problem that needs serious attention? Yep. Do I agree with the people on social media screeching "ffs, how much money does Scarlett Johansson even NEED, she wants people to go to the theatre and DIE just so she can have MORE MONEY?" No I do not. 

It was a fucking contract, people. Anyone saying "she has enough money, this is a non-issue" while not also laying into Disney for being slimy bad-faith negotiators and counting on the fact that she can't stand up to them is not making the virtuous point they think they are. I also have trouble imagining that the tone would be the same if the actor in question was, say, Robert Downey Jr. 

Finally, some guy that Eve and her BFF were in English with a few years ago unfollowed all their S.M. accounts and when the friend asked him why he said "I unfollowed all the girls who were getting too political". Not that it really matters, but 'political' in this case basically means 'saying maybe don't be shitty to gay or non-white people". So they said, oh, kk, fuck off then.

So everybody sucks and I am angry and I need a social media break again. So I told Eve I'd take her shopping and told her she could bring a friend and she said "A friend?" and I said "yeah, obviously you have to bring all of them. And two of them wore adorable matching overalls, and they all carried the friend who is in Texas around on Facetime and we had her try on outfits and enormous scrunchies. 

 

I went outside to wait for them at one point and saw these mannequins

When they came out, all I had to do was point at the mannequins and they knew exactly what to do.

Are they not amazing? Davis did the ankle thing even!

Someone in one of the stores told Jackson and Alison they looked really cute and they said "our crazy mom made us dress the same". And then the person looked at me like I was the crazy mom (of four children the same age and one who lives in a telephone). Whatever, I owned it.

On the way home a couple of the girls were talking about trying to make their (ex)-boyfriends watch movies that were important to them: "We were watching The Princess Bride and he kept trying to kiss me and I was like 'WE'RE NOT HERE TO MAKE OUT, I'M TRYING TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING THAT IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE CULTURAL LEXICON"; "I tried to watch Whiplash with him so he could see what it's like being a drummer but he just (redacted)."

Boys are dumb. Misogyny sucks. My weird children are awesome. That's all I got for now.