Byline Supplement - ‘Strong Men and Iron Women’
My latest report in Byline Supplement updates my original ‘Strongmen’ report with Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Recall when I mentioned I was typing at dawn to the sounds of the cheeky wild parrots outside my window? Well, here is that report:
I take a nuanced look at the ‘Strongmen’ mythos - offering updates on political leaders doubling down on lawlessness, and comparing how the pandemic was handled by women leaders vs. the ‘strongmen’ - whose anti-science rhetoric resulted in untold millions of lives lost.
As Ruth warned in our original report, beware the rise of the ‘strongwoman’, which I think we got a whiff of last night.
But as I wrote in today’s Byline Supplement report:
Even with their outsized role in media, Trump sycophants Kari Lake and Marjorie Taylor Greene are an extremist minority—the overall image of women leaders is the grace (and dance moves) of Finland PM Sanna Marin or the competency of Jacinda Ardern, whose resignation announcement was mourned throughout the world.
And as Ruth noted in an essay on lawless masculinity:
“Illiberal political solutions tend to take hold when increased gender equity and emancipation spark anxieties about male authority and status. A conquest-without-consequences masculinity, posing as a ‘return to traditional values’, tracks with authoritarianism’s rise and parallels the discarding of the rule of law and accountability in politics.”
Please read the report when you have a moment.
It is not lost on me that many of my supporters are also supporting Byline Supplement with an annual membership, and I terribly grateful. I think the need for independent reader-funded investigative reporting is evident.
****
Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine and Substack bestseller. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members. Thank you, as well, to those who support my work with coffee tips and who buy my ebooks. My reflection, Confessions of a ‘Fox Blonde’ was just published in Byline Supplement. In a review of my latest ebook, the erotic novella Fox Undercover, I’ve been called “The punk rock Anaïs Nin” and a “powerful woman - the book is smart and sexy AF.” Author Greg Olear called it “The Big Sleep 2.0” except with “not so much sleep happening.”
Fox Undercover can be purchased here.
Discount Code: Undercover
Save the date: the next Bette Dangerous ‘Speakeasy’ Zoom for paid members is Sunday, 2/12 at 4 pm PT 🤍. Who will be our very, very special guest? 🤔.
More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter, author, and music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.