8/14/21 Themed Newsletters: News Via Women's lenses

Good day!

For the next couple of months, we'll be taking a break from our normal content-- and instead, we'll be highlighting some specifically-themed newsletters as well as sharing newly emerging or trending topics in newsletters (which you can also see in real-time on narrowSCALE).

Thanks for sticking with us until our normal programming resumes (...and our lead researcher/writer returns from maternity leave).

Power Plays by Lindsay Gibbs

• Quick description: “Power Plays is a newsletter for people who are sick of hearing bullshit excuses, and ready to see equality for women in sports.” (It couldn’t be written any better than how Lindsay puts it in her newsletter)

• What makes it worth reading?  Lindsay offers a unique, professional viewpoint on sexism, racism, classism, homophobia, and transphobia in women’s sports; she calls BS, highlights issues that are going on / happened, and is pushing for transparency, accountability, and change like nobody else.  She delves into the power structures and decision makers that control the market forces and keep women’s sports on the margins. If you’re already angry about the state of women’s sports, you’ll eat this up. And even if you’re not that into sports, you’ll find her arguments enlightening and persuasive-- and you’ll walk away both more knowledgeable and invested. 

• Style: Long form with well-articulated and backed-up arguments...Lindsay is definitely opinionated and doesn’t pull any punches.

• Frequency: 2-4 times per month

• About the writer: Lindsay spends most of her life thinking about, researching, and reporting on gender, power, and intersectionality in sports. She’s a freelance sports reporter, contributor writer to the The Athletic, a regular guest on NPR, co-host of the popular feminist sports podcast, Burn It All Down, author of an upcoming book about this current wave of female athlete activism, and a featured journalist on ESPN, WaPo, NYT and more...

Interruptrr, by Elmira Bayrasli and various women editors/writers

• Quick description: A weekly roundup of global headlines and events, via experts, who happen to be women.

• What makes it worth reading? The Interruptrr editorial team goes out of their way to find global news written by women journalists-- and thereby provides female expertise, perspectives, and viewpoints on top headlines that you don’t normally get. There isn’t any other newsletter we’ve encountered that searches this far and wide, and at this scale, for women writers. You likely won’t read every article that’s highlighted, but you’ll certainly be able to pick and choose what you’re interested in and go deep where you’re most passionate. It’s a great newsletter to have in your back pocket for when you have five minutes to kill here, ten to kill there… and you can hop through the links you’re curious about. 

• Style: A leading intro story and then an organized grouping of other news (broken out by geographic region and topics), each with a couple sentence explanation, mention of the writer’s name, and link to read more.

• Frequency: Weekly on Fridays

• About the writer: Elmira Bayrasli is the CEO of Interruptrr, writes about global entrepreneurs and foreign policy, and is a professor at Bard College’s Globalization and International Affairs Program. She authored From the Other Side of the World: Extraordinary Entrepreneurs, Unlikely Places and from 1994-2000 worked for Madeline Albright and Richard Holbrook as a presidential appointee at the State Department.

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Invisible Women, by Caroline Criado Perez

• Quick description: A newsletter to help you keep up with the latest on the gender data gap...ie, it calls out research/data/product design/etc where women weren’t included but nobody seemed to realize that was an issue.

• What makes it worth reading?  First, this newsletter will make you cringe. For example, HOW is it that artificial hearts were really only tested on men for years because they were considered too big for women? And WHY is it that a medical device they DO decide to test exclusively on women is one that locks a woman’s jaw shut for two weeks to be on a reduced calorie, liquid-only diet to ‘fight global obesity’? Caroline finds fascinating (and somewhat horrifying) research and products that just blow your mind how women (mainly) weren’t involved at all. It definitely makes you question the headline results you see in newspapers about new research and products, forcing you to read deeper and think more about it. On the bright side though, sometimes she calls out companies/products/research that were actually done well (ie with women in mind)-- and it’s always great to hear something positive amidst the madness.

• Style: Similar to Lindsay in The Gist, Caroline doesn’t hold back; she just calls out what she sees. She can be crude...and it works just fine. Generally there will be a ridiculous main story or two about forgotten women in research, and then sometimes a feel-good one.

• Frequency: Once per week

• About the writer: Caroline is a best-selling and award-winning writer (INVISIBLE WOMEN: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men-- released in 2019; #1 Sunday Times best-seller), broadcaster, and award-winning feminist campaigner. She also received the Liberty Human Rights Campaigner of the Year award in 2013 and Finland’s HÄN award for promoting equality in 2020.

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We hope one of these struck a chord of interest...and if not, perhaps the next theme will resonate better! Feel free to email us if you have a specific genre or topic that you'd like us to deep dive into.

Also, if you're interested in what's been trending in newsletters this week, you can check that out here on narrowSCALE.