1. Robin Wright Demands Equal Pay.

Run, Forest, run? More like yas, Jenny, yas. Robin Wright, AKA ethereal goddess of our childhood dreams and hardlined business biz-natch of our semi-adult dreamy nightmares, announced this week that she is being paid the same amount of money as her House of Cards co-star Kevin Spacey--but only after she truly demanded it. Studies showed that Wright was making $420,000 to Spacey’s $500,000 an episode, despite the fact that her character Claire Underwood was (at least for a time) more popular with viewers than his. She negotiated her equal salary by threatening to take the fight public, and voila! Another chink in the gendered wage gap is removed. We can hear the cracks forming in the glass ceiling already.

2. Magic Wand Named in Top 50 Most Influential Gadgets.

A revolution in the bedroom (or the shower or the car or the airplane? Idk, you do you) can apparently have some, err... reverberating effects. This week, the famed intimate massager--that’s the classy name for your joystick--called the Magic Wand was named to Time Magazine’s 50 Most Influential Gadgets of All Time. Hell yeah, it would appear that someone finally gets it. Furthermore, the Magic Wand has been named 2016 Sex Toy of the Year by the magazine XBIZ, and has been acclaimed by therapists and consumers for decades. So why is this a big deal? As we’ve seen in previous weeks, inventions and achievements for and by women aren’t often afforded the same accolade as those for and by men, because they are generally deemed less important. And though vibrators can be used by people of any gender, they’re traditionally marketed as a female sex toy, so it’s *exciting* to see it getting some well-deserved recognition. Magical!

3. Obama Spearheads Gender Neutral Bathroom Directive.

Sometimes you watch a video of Michelle and Barack Obama dancing with a couple of stormtroopers in the White House and you wonder how you could love either one of them even more than you already do--and then you read about the new directive from the President requiring all public schools to allow students access to whichever bathroom matches their gender identity even if it doesn’t match the gender they were assigned at birth, and you decide you love ‘em even more. But yeah: this announcement made mega waves throughout the land this week, as politicians on both sides of the aisle engaged in hearty discussion about the merits and dangers of committing to such an act of political will. Prez O added that if states choose not to abide (ahem, Texas), they will be at risk of losing federal funding for education. Bunches of conservative politicians have spoken out against this directive, citing the many ways it will put young girls and women at risk. But when I read that Ted Cruz is claiming that he suddenly cares about the safety and health of a young woman, I had to laugh. More of my thoughts here.

4. Blake Lively Posts Controversial Instagram.

Some were confused when, this week, actress Blake Lively Instagrammed a ‘razzi pic of herself with lyrics from the 1992 romantic slow jam “Baby Got Back,” one of many hit singles from the always poetic Sir Mix-A-Lot; but they weren’t confused for reasons you may think. In the post, Lively referred to herself as having an “LA face” while also possessing an “Oakland booty”--taking Mr. Mix-A-Lot’s words and applying them to a picture of herself dressed all the way to the tens at the Cannes Film Festival. Lotsa folks on social media conveyed their frustration with the post, thinking it racially insensitive for this to come from the mind of a white woman. And TBH, it would be racially insensitive if it were coming from the mind of a white woman; however, this lyric came from the mind of a man, which strikes me as a key detail (on that people appear to be comfortable enough leaving out of this conversation). No one is pissed that Sr. M-A-L wrote this sexist and racially degrading line until a white woman decides to quote it as an awkward attempt to seem funny and relatable? Come onnnnnnn. Yes, it was dumb and insensitive to caption an insta pic with this line. But wouldn’t it be cool if we decided to think critically about the way women are characterized in popular music before we decided to take it from Blake Lively to Blake Dead-ly in 3.5? (Had to.)

5. Mika Brzezinski Calls for Resignation of DNC Chair.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee, has been bernt over her fair share of harsh criticism during this election cycle, but this week it appears that the heat has intensified. Along with Sanders aide Jeff Weaver, MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski broke the journalistic fourth wall this week to convey her personal outrage with the Democratic Party and chairwoman Schultz, going far enough to demand Schultz’s resignation. She’s dissatisfied with what she called the “unfair treatment” of the Bernie Sanders campaign and said that if it were her running, she would have switched to the Independent Party by now. To clarify, Bernie supporters aren’t happy with what many of them think are conspiracies between Schultz and HRC, leading to Hill’s success in non-caucus states like Nevada and New York. Ain’t politics fun? Well, that's all, folks!

MOARRR ~ UNDIE THE SURFACE: LEAH GOREN // POP CULTURE TUESDAY: SHAHI, PANETIERRE, SARANDON, COX // WOMEN'S HEALTH WEDNESDAY: YONI MASSAGES // Ain't No Hollaback Girl (for your discrimination): This shit is bananas, T-E-D C-R-U-Z

by Team Thinx