Sara, is there a piece or interview you could do like this on Boomer women? I'm finding as I get older that I have a lot more sympathy for my mom (b. 1955) and the mistakes she made as the mother of a daughter (b. 1986) in teaching me how to exist in the world and in relationships. I was angry at her; now I'm angry at *~the system~* that made her think that she was helping me. Because she really did! She was doing her absolute best with the knowledge and tools she had. I'd love to learn more about the forces that shaped her and her peers into the moms they became!
Cannot wait to get my grubby paws on this book when it comes to my side of the world! Thanks for another great read. This spoke to me on MANY levels - a girl who was born in 86, and now a mom of little people, still finding cobwebby bits of leftover 90s girlhood issues coming back to haunt me.
Absolutely obsessed with this convo—and yes, Demi Moore is such a fascinating lightning rod, especially when you consider how consistently she’s functioned as a kind of cultural testing ground for what women are allowed to be. She’s always just a hair outside the acceptable bounds: too sexy (the Vanity Fair cover), too muscular (GI Jane), too ambitious (Gimme Moore). She’s punished for trying to control the terms of her own image and punished when she doesn’t. I think the reason she’s been so polarizing for decades is because she’s one of the few public women who never really played dumb about beauty labor—she never tried to make it look effortless. And there’s something deeply threatening about a woman who acknowledges labor that's supposed to be invisible ie., non-existent yet magically making the capitalist project run.
Sara, is there a piece or interview you could do like this on Boomer women? I'm finding as I get older that I have a lot more sympathy for my mom (b. 1955) and the mistakes she made as the mother of a daughter (b. 1986) in teaching me how to exist in the world and in relationships. I was angry at her; now I'm angry at *~the system~* that made her think that she was helping me. Because she really did! She was doing her absolute best with the knowledge and tools she had. I'd love to learn more about the forces that shaped her and her peers into the moms they became!
Seriously. My mother in law still thinks her only value comes from how she looks and it’s such heartbreaking a legacy to see.
Cannot wait to get my grubby paws on this book when it comes to my side of the world! Thanks for another great read. This spoke to me on MANY levels - a girl who was born in 86, and now a mom of little people, still finding cobwebby bits of leftover 90s girlhood issues coming back to haunt me.
I think this is one of my absolute favorite and (to me) essential pieces you’ve written, Sara. Wow.
Absolutely obsessed with this convo—and yes, Demi Moore is such a fascinating lightning rod, especially when you consider how consistently she’s functioned as a kind of cultural testing ground for what women are allowed to be. She’s always just a hair outside the acceptable bounds: too sexy (the Vanity Fair cover), too muscular (GI Jane), too ambitious (Gimme Moore). She’s punished for trying to control the terms of her own image and punished when she doesn’t. I think the reason she’s been so polarizing for decades is because she’s one of the few public women who never really played dumb about beauty labor—she never tried to make it look effortless. And there’s something deeply threatening about a woman who acknowledges labor that's supposed to be invisible ie., non-existent yet magically making the capitalist project run.
YES - I was so surprised to hear how frank she was about it while it was happening (versus retroactively) in the 90s!
Pardon me Sara, but which RiverRun bookstore is this? I would love to order!
oh my gosh did i not paste the link?! here it is - so sorry!
https://riverrunbookstore.com/book/9780593656297