1/24 - digitizing misogyny
Friday’s Newsletter: what you should know about natural birth control and the new Aquaphor
It’s hard having this vibe and being on a business trip to SF. The highway into the city from the airport is dotted with billboards advertising the “next big thing” for cloud computing or stack scaling or automation automating. The answer to all of their problems is AI. There is even an ad that says “stop hiring humans” which feels like the subliminal value prop for every other AI pitch.
Now, I’m not stupid. I know that AI is a helpful tool for combing through massive datasets and it can do some pretty amazing things. What I’m not cool with is the climate impact, the use of it in creative fields, how our data being co-opted to feed its algorithms without our explicit consent, the push for workers to use it to be “more productive” only for the outcome to be doing more work and getting paid the same amount.
It also feels gross that every AI “agent” I’ve seen appears to be the personification of misogyny in the tech industry. In a space where women only make up 35% of the workforce, it’s telling that every major AI agent I’ve seen advertised has the face, body, and voice of a woman. Maybe it’s the marketing firms they’ve hired and whatever tools they employ for research reflect the bias already in society but it adds insult to injury that the same companies rolling back DEI initiatives, claiming they are neutered by the forced feminization of their industry, are making bank off of a “woman” doing the tasks everyone hates.
:)
Thought Starters
Will women ever have a good alternative to chemical birth control?
*article*
After School linked to this article a couple days ago. We all want to live in a fantasy where we experience contraception without it negatively impacting our mental health, weight, periods, or sex life. For many, natural family planning via an app seems like a dream come true but experts are ringing the alarm on the false or misleading claims coming from many of these apps.
Last week, a study using data from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), published in the BMJ, said that 2.5% of women seeking abortions in England and Wales in 2023 reported that they had been using natural methods, such as fertility tracking, at the time when they fell pregnant – up from 0.4% in 2018.
“Some apps also require users to input data daily about their body temperature or cervical mucus, which can increase the accuracy. Between two and 23 out of 100 people using natural contraception get pregnant each year, depending on the method they use, the researchers said.”
“Past research into apps that give fertility predictions has found they are generally of poor quality, with a 2017 review of 73 calendar-method tracking apps finding that none could accurately predict ovulation, and another, in 2016, finding that just six of 40 apps had perfect accuracy in predicting the user’s fertile window.”
“A lot of them are free to download, and a lot of them indicate the woman’s fertile window. The reason that’s worrying is that period-tracking apps are not a medical device at all. They’re not regulated at all, besides by the advertising and data regulators.”
Exxon is a bond villain and it’s not cute
*article*
ExxonMobil ordered a lobbying firm, DCI Group, to hack climate activists in the hopes of discrediting “groups and individuals involved in climate litigation.” The U.S. is trying to extradite Amit Forlit, an Israeli private investigator, for allegedly plotting the hacking campaign. Of course Exxon is playing dumb - “What?? Us??? We’re just a hard-working small business, why would we ever do such a thing? 🥺”
The thing is, Forlit is closely associated with a man named Aviram Azari. He’s a former Israeli police officer and private investigator who “eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit computer hacking, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.” In a sentencing memo, the Justice Department linked Azari’s attacks on climate activists to ExxonMobil. Again, Exxon’s response was “Whaaaaat 🥺??”
“In a court document arguing for Forlit's extradition, the lawyer for the U.S. government described a sophisticated hacking operation that spanned continents. Forlit ran security companies that gathered information using various methods, including hiring ‘co-conspirators to hack into email accounts and devices,’ according to the court filing.”
“One of Forlit's clients from 2013 to 2018 was an unnamed "D.C. Lobbying Firm," the court filing says. That firm ‘acted on behalf of one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, centred in Irving, Texas,’ the document says. The company, in particular, wanted to discredit people and organizations engaged in climate change litigation against it, a lawyer for the U.S. wrote. Until mid-2023, ExxonMobil was headquartered in Irving, Texas.”
Things to do
Check out the January events on this list (I just added more!)
Products
Propolis Lipcerin
*skincare*
For all of my Aquaphor girlies, this is like an extra medicated version of it. The packaging is cute and it’s a very portable size. I picked up this lip treatment at Kosette in Ktown but please use the website I linked or honestly anyway to source it besides Amazon 🫶
What is it? CNP Laboratory Propolis Lipcerin
How much? $12