TueDo List: Brooke Shields + Pet Shop Boys + Gender Fluid Journeys
Incredible '80s energy this week
THIS WEEK
📖 READ: Brooke Shields’ MeToo moment. What’s behind the “grunts and gasps” our midlife bodies make. How 27 years in one place can give you “a perfectly maximalist apartment.” Margit rewatches GIRLS, more than decade later.
🎧 LISTEN: New music, but make it ‘80s: Pet Shop Boys are “Living in the past,” dramatically and beautifully. Depeche Mode is “Wagging Tongue.”
🤣 LOL: Miss New York plays God. “These AI generated ‘women laughing with salad’…are clearly the pinnacle of the genre.” Molly Shannon on “hot cocoa girls.”
🛒 ADD TO CART: Those are not dusters, they are early-aughts jackets. And they’d look great with one of these Chloe May Brown bandanas.
🎟️ GO: We’re not endorsing attending, but if you go, please, please, please report back: The Bridgerton Experience Queen’s Ball, for when you want to cosplay Regency England. Screening of Judy Blume: Forever in NYC.
📺 WATCH:
Wednesday: Emergency: NYC. ER IRL, but also maybe triggering after the last few years. YMMV. (Netflix) Unseen. Fresh Netflix noir, this time with a mysterious Black female lead. (Netflix)
Friday: The Power. Adaptation of the bestselling novel about electrically angry teen girls. (Amazon Prime Video) A Thousand and One. Sundance 2023 Grand Jury Prize winner; "a love letter to mothers, sons, and hustlers of NYC.” (Theaters)
Monday: Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields. 57-year-old Brooke Shields on growing up a sexualized child model and actress in the pedo ‘70s. (Hulu)
STORY: Discovering Gender Fluidity: A Late Bloomer's Journey to Self-Acceptance
By Leoh Blooms
“How old do you have to be before you live for yourself,” I asked myself, peering past the tweezers. “How many years of your life will you put the comfort of others first?”
I shave my face now. I’m fascinated by the stubble growing along the bottom ridges of my jaw. I rub it back and forth, feeling the bristles’ refusal to give way, and delight in the sandpaper tongue licking my fingertips.
I’m what they call a late-bloomer. I came out at age 45. I’m queer, genderfluid, and nonbinary trans….
TUENIGHT 10: Hatty McCafferty, Certified Menopause Consultant
Your Age: 49. (I’m excited for 50 this year.)
Basic bio: Based in South London, Hatty McCafferty is the host of the Real Menopause Talk, a podcast about perimenopause to post-menopause, talking about real experiences and offering real resources.
Originally a TV commercial producer, Hatty completely changed direction to enter the realm of well-being. In true TueNighter fashion, she went all in. She’s qualified as a Hatha yoga Instructor, a Yin yoga Instructor, a nutrition coach, and most recently, a personal trainer.
As her clients began to talk to her about menopause, Hatty felt she needed to serve them better and became a certified menopause consultant. Her goal is to share untapped resources and open up the conversation, to help menopausal women thrive.
#GENXAPPROVED: Question of the Week
This week TueNighter Mallory is looking for discreet digital meeting lighting:
🤔 ASK YOUR OWN QUESTION! If you’re a premium subscriber, you can learn how to submit your questions here or head straight to the new section to chime in with your recommendations.
PARTNER: Sex in Menopause, Tips from Evernow
We’re sharing some clutch (and juicy) tips from our friends over at Evernow, a research-backed digital health company built for women in the second half of their lifetimes. Through 24/7 provider messaging, prescription treatments (including MHT), health programs, and symptom tracking, Evernow addresses the short and long-term health changes that accompany perimenopause and menopause.
Here are a few of their top stories, ripe for Gen X and sex. 💋
Speak up, TueNighters!
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I just read the linked article about Brooke Shields' MeToo experience. I think a lot of us are like her, processing sexual trauma from 30 years ago. Her story may have taken place in Hollywood, but it could've been anywhere.
The truth is, if you were assaulted after going anywhere willingly with a male then, you were blamed for whatever happened. It was a “yeah she was asking for that” culture. So you didn’t talk about it. The “would-if-he-could” kind of guys stayed protected. And our pain stayed frozen until we heard others talk about it post-MeToo.
These conversations are important, but getting mental health care help is really important. This is at the end of the article: National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.