wise up

a cranky memo to takesters

tell me everything is not about her… but what if it is

Earlier this year there was a lot of drama about Blake Lively (blonde woman, actress) being toxic on the set of the film It Ends With Us and also just in general. There is something unsympathetic about Blake Lively when viewed from a distance—which is the only way I personally am ever going to view her. She feels a little smug. You feel as if she could easily be laughing at you as she makes a getaway. So it was easy to believe that she had been, again, “toxic” in an unspecified way, bossy on the set, insufficiently respectful of the director.

On the various self consciously progressive gossip forums people ate the idea up. It’s not just that Blake Lively looks annoying but that she has certain indelible marks on her record (like a plantation wedding). So oh—the general chorus goes—women can be bad, manipulative, they can “weaponize” feminism and victimhood. OK, here’s the first thing I would like to say: “women can be bad” is one of…