In honor of Pride, I would like to share some important news: Being Straight is Great, Actually! This public service announcement is brought to you by the New York Times, which published an op-ed with that headline on the eve of Pride month. It later changed the headline to There's Nothing Wrong With Wanting Men. The author, Magdalene J Taylor, wrote, 'There has still never been a better time in human history to happily and successfully pursue heterosexuality.'
While I congratulate Ms Taylor on her successful pursuit of heterosexuality, I have some quibbles. Data suggests we do not live in a golden age for straight women. A 2023 Pew Research Center report found that in egalitarian marriages where spouses earn similar salaries, women still spend more than double the time on housework and nearly two hours more per week on caregiving. Men, meanwhile, spend three-and-a-half hours more on leisure.
AI as a Co-Parent
Perhaps AI can solve this problem. According to Wired, momfluencers are outsourcing household tasks to chatbots and 'pitching AI as a better coparent than men.' One leader is Lilian Schmidt, a Swiss woman with a three-year-old daughter. She went viral for outsourcing 97% of her mental load to ChatGPT and now sells access to a custom GPT called Coparent.
Schmidt has a partner who 'does his fair share,' but says most planning falls to her. 'Unfortunately, mental load is still considered a female problem. A lot of men don't even know what mental load is,' she told Wired.
The good news for straight women with partners whose brains are too fragile to carry a mental load is that many momfluencers now sell handbooks to co-parent with AI. There are YouTube videos and online courses AI-ifying parenting. As the Cut noted, we see 'the girlbossification of AI' as figures like Reese Witherspoon and Sheryl Sandberg encourage women to lean into chatbots. Truly, there has never been a better time to pursue tech-enabled heterosexuality.
Other News
Anti-vax dating apps are hosting in-person meetups. An organizer for a 'Summer of Love' mixer by Unjected told WIRED attendees are 'still some of the most persecuted people.' Measles is making a comeback.
Israel has detained members of Palestine's women's national football team as the World Cup kicks off. The Palestinian Football Association calls it a pattern of targeting athletes.
Niger's military junta criminalizes same-sex relations, with penalties of 5-10 years in prison and a fine for LGBTQIA+ acts.
Gwyneth Paltrow has been nicknamed 'Gwynocide' for reasons I explain elsewhere.
NASA faces backlash for an all-male Artemis III crew. Of 37 active astronauts, 15 are women, but none made the cut. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman says, 'I don't think anyone should be reading into this.'
A shadowy group called CitizenGo is trying to influence Australian abortion policy. CitizenGo, founded in Spain, is described as a global leader of anti-gender ideology.
What is fraysexual? The Guardian attempts to explain.
In the week in pawtriarchy, JD Vance installed a custom chicken coop at the vice-president's residence, designed to look like the VP's home with a faux slate roof. Taxpayer money was not used. I hope his chickens come home to roost.
