Dear John,
It’s been a week of reflection on the series of devastating Supreme Court rulings that ended last week—rulings that legal scholars predict will have massive implications in the months and years to come.
At UC Irvine Law School’s annual Supreme Court Review, co-hosted by Ms., Court analysts detailed how the term revealed a Court entirely unconcerned with ethics or with its proper place in our constitutional democracy. The New York Times’s Jamelle Bouie observed that the Court has begun to see itself and operate as a 'super-branch'—one that controls the others. “There’s strong evidence to suggest that the Court is incredibly corrupt,” he added.
If you’re tired of hearing about the corrupt patriarchs gunning for our rights and rolling back 50 years of progress, you can join us in celebrating a different 50th anniversary: this year marks 50 years since the birth of hip-hop.
On this important occasion, Ms. contributor Janell Hobson writes women back into the genre’s history—which they’ve been systematically erased from, since the very beginning—while asking a crucial question: how do we love hip-hop when hip-hop doesn’t always love us back? Hobson speaks with pivotal women scholars, writers, and industry players—including Drew Dixon, a former executive at Def Jam Recordings who was a major figure in bringing to light stories of sexual assault and harassment in the music industry.
“I’m really proud of the role that I played in hip-hop,” Dixon tells Hobson. “It’s very painful to me, though, that I have very little to show for it because it was untenable for me as a woman to remain in the industry. And to find myself again and again having to navigate around sexual harassment, sexual assault and the constant 3D chess game that I had to do again and again in interactions with men after the trauma of the rape. It’s just very hard to do your job.”
As we wrap up this short holiday week, I encourage you to pick up a copy of our Summer print issue at your local bookstore or buy it online now—where you can read Hobson’s piece, as well as in-depth reported explorations of the promise of gender-integrated sports, a new Florida law that could ban gender studies programs in Universities, and so much more.
And make your plans now to join us in Seneca Falls, as we mark the 100th anniversary of the Equal Rights Amendment and demand congress act now to enshrine the ERA in the Constitution.
Onward,
