September 1, 2016

“With female backers, they also weren’t subject to the normal demands of studio filmmaking: no gratuitous nudity or foregrounded love stories. ‘Nobody said, ‘The women are talking to each other too much.’’” “Equity,” a financial thriller written, directed, produced, and financed by women, reflects many truths of professional women’s lives that rarely make it to the big screen. / New York Times

A deep lifetime affection for pop culture and comfort with the inherent silliness of the medium has enabled Michelle Obama to advance her agenda in ways no other first ladies could imagine. / Variety

“Maybe women are so busy faking it—to be more like a man at work, more like a porn star in bed, more like 30 at 50—that we don’t trust our natural responses anymore. Maybe all that wine is an Instagram filter for our own lives, so we don’t see how sallow and cracked they’ve become.” Why did drinking become the default expression of women’s independence? / Quartz

A whole stack of organizational research suggests that women are more collaborative and empathetic and significantly less violent than men, and the American public regards female politicians as considerably more honest, ethical, and willing to compromise than men. / Pew Research Center, psychologytoday.com, The Washington Post, Time, NPR, hewlett.org

“You can quote facts and figures until you are blue in the face; more women on boards, on leadership teams, on creative teams makes sound business sense and study after study proves it. But if any of those facts and figures worked, our industry would look completely different. Rational facts and figures do fuck-all for this issue. You have to make it emotional.” After retiring as chief marketing officer for a top global advertising agency, Cindy Gallop has made a second career out of empowering women—at work and in bed. / Ad Age