#69: On beauty in America, outnumbered by Johns, and a must-see Summit lineup
Happy Saturday, from San Francisco!
Reminder... this newsletter is a mix of marketing (my profession), business (my industry) and life (everything else.) Across nearly 70 issues, and over 400 pieces shared, there's probably a pretty equal distribution of "the business stuff" and everything else.
This week, it gravitates towards the latter. Buckle up.
In this edition #69 of the World's Best Newsletter:
1. Must-see lineup at Marketo Summit
2. I Feel Pretty: Faux Feminism back at it again (damn Daniel)
3. On beauty in America
4. Outnumbered by Men Named John
5. Incel - involuntarily celibate, unbelievably pathetic, and a threat to women.
6. Quote of the week - a right to happiness
1. Must-see lineup at Marketo Summit
What brings me to my other-favorite-city-that-isn't-Boston is the 10th annual* Marketo Marketing Nation Summit. I was here for the marketing technology giant's 2nd annual event back in 2010 (reading the recap from that event is like a time capsule).
Since then it's grown from 600 people to well over 5,000 with 120+ sessions and a slew of celebrity headliners. Just what you'd expect from world's largest independent marketing technology company.
This year, I had the fantastic opportunity to contribute to the effort behind the scenes. Read my curated list of smartypants who will be presenting at Summit this year, and absolutely add them to your agenda! If you're in town please reach out to say hello.
Not in SF? You can watch the keynotes live here.
2. I Feel Pretty: Faux Feminism back at it again (damn Daniel)
This article in the Atlantic by Megan Garber is a well-timed read, not only because of the movie I Feel Pretty with Amy Schumer (dubbed "Hollywood’s latest work of faux feminism") coming out, but also because of where we sit in the history of women's culture, and our attitude towards beauty.
"So here, again, as so often happens in works of commercialized feminism, is the person questioned while the system she’s caught in remains intact and assumed and inevitable.
Here is beauty, still, treated by easy default as the axis around which so many lives must spin. Here is that convenient catch-all, “self-esteem,” portrayed as both the corrective to the beauty myth and the evidence of its continued power.
I Feel Pretty, in all that, comes to feel distinctly petty: Love yourself, despite your flaws! the movie cheers. And then it whispers: But remember that they’re really massive flaws."
Related - my take on faux feminism in advertising.
3. On beauty in America
The same article above makes a poignant observation about the state of "beauty" in America I also wanted to share:
"The Americans of 2018 have at their disposal, arguably, more ways than ever before to control their personal levels of attractiveness, from makeup to Spanx to exercise regimens to hair dyes to nail polish to retinols to the services plastic surgeons carefully euphemize as “procedures.”
Those things can have positive effects (makeup can be a means of self-expression; skincare can be a communal exploration). But they have also raised the stakes.
Not only do they reaffirm the notion that beauty can be bought—that it is a matter of class privilege—but they also, steadily, transform the meaning of beauty itself: from a matter of luck, an accident of atomic arrangement, to the product of dedicated labor. Beauty, in that frame, becomes a commentary on one’s work ethic.
.... Which means that it’s perhaps easier than ever, if also as unjust as ever, to blame the person who fails to live up to the narrow standard."
Sigh.
4. Outnumbered by Men Named John
NYT found that the number of Fortune 500 women who are women is the same number as Fortune 500 men named John. Full article here.
It's funny, and sad, all at once.
I am especially nerding out about the way the NYT arranged this data in such a digestible, easy-to-consume way. (It'll gain more attention that way, spread further, and remain memorable.) Overall, it's an important benchmark as to where we are - and how far we have to go.
5. Incel - involuntarily celibate, unbelievably pathetic, and a threat to all of us.
I learned this week of a very real and present danger: Incel is "an online community of 'involuntarily celibate' men who believe women unjustly deny them sex."
Not just pathetic, but dangerous. The guy who plowed a rental van through a Toronto sidewalk killing 10 innocent people was angry because he didn't get laid.
I appreciate most how this article re-names the harmless sounding "incel:" Misogynist terrorism. Grateful to Ginger for sending me this article, which had come across my own NYT reading this past week.
"Not every attack is preventable, but the misogyny that drives them is. To stop all of this, we must trust women when they point out that receiving streams of death threats on Twitter is not normal and that online communities strategizing about how to rape women are much more than just idle chatter. There is no reason another massacre should happen."
6. Quote of the week - a right to happiness
“I do not think we have a "right" to happiness. If happiness happens, say thanks.”
- Marlene Dietrich
Thanks for reading this week, as always - especially if you're male-identified, read this far, and didn't bin the email because it dealt with women's issues.
(Hint: They're yours too.)
Best,
Katie
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Events not to be missed
May 2-4, the 4th annual Content Marketing Conference comes to Boston. I'm sharing the Master of Ceremony duties with the illustrious Jon Burkhart. 20% off your ticket: CMC18MARTELL
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