Lonely Emotional Labo(u)rs: the Tyranny of Gogo In-Flight
Today’s missive comes from 30,000 feet on Virgin America wheeeeee! I say this every time I fly, but guys, we have the technology to get in a tin can and fly across the country, and send silly little newsletters while we do so! THE FUTURE IS NOW. But then I also complain about the fact that Gogo has a monopoly on in-flight internet and it is le worst, which is why there are no pretty pictures today.
Today in badasses: Saba Ahmed, the president and founder of the Republican Muslim Coalition, who appeared on Megan Kelly to spar with Trump’s spokesperson, all the while wearing a glorious American flag hijab. Ms. Ahmed, I salute you. Seems like I've read a ton of pieces on gender equality challenges in the workplace in the past week - though I am aware how my own POV contributes to confirmation bias. For your perusal:
HBR looks at the economics of mentoring vs. sponsoring, and how women are often mentored but seldom sponsored. To ridiculously generalize the premise, while mentoring has an abstract gain for the mentor, in that you get an emotional warm fuzzy from knowing you’ve helped someone else, sponsoring assumes more of a quid pro quo for the sponsored and the sponsoring. Unsurprisingly, sponsorship is far more valuable from a career perspective.
Jezebel looks at how “emotional labor” is valued, pointing out that expecting females to be “nice, caring, and genial” could be due to conditioning, not innate gender abilities (to which I say no shit, Sherlock.) Also: can we talk about women and “office housework?"
And former Gawker writer Dayna Evans exposes institutional gender issues at Gawker itself, issues which have led to the overlooking and undervaluing (and eventually moving on) of some of the most talented writers and editors in the business, IMHO. It’s a long read, but just do it already.
And just in case you’re just not saturated yet, there’s a conference called the Gentlemen’s Expo, wherein dudes "full-time cosplay[] Mad Men” with manhattans and vape pens.
Today in headlines: Amusement Park Sued Over Lonely, Cigarette-Smoking, Soda-Drinking Chimpanzee
And finally, if you haven’t watched the video of classic movie dance scenes set to Uptown Funk, I don’t know if we can be friends, because I mean COME ON it’s excellent :)
Good day, doodles!
a reminder that views, cussing, and bad jokes expressed above do not represent my employer, my clients or any particular benevolent flying spaghetti monster.