Toots & Boots // Beautiful Boy, Ocasio-Cortez, and #ThisIsNotConsent

Artful cinema, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's insta, and victim-blaming in Irish court have Boshemia all talking this week. Read below for this week's instalment of Toots & Boots.

TOOTS 🎉

A Star is Born

Lady Gaga is killing it in the recently released A Star is Born. This is her most extensive foray into film (although she has experience in writing and starring in TV, films and documentaries) and the performer is tummy-tinglingly brilliant opposite Bradley Cooper (also the film’s director).

Beautiful Boy

It stars Timotheé Chalamet. Need we say more? We don’t need to but we will anyway. The film details a young drug addict’s (Chalamet) relationship with his father (Steve Carell) as he tries to get clean. Carell delivers a surprisingly poignant performance, given his comedic acting career. Based on the best-selling memoirs of a father and son, the movie (less surprisingly) simmers with authenticity and nuance.

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Instagram

Ocasio-Cortez, who is set to become the youngest woman to serve in Congress in US history, has been chronicling her congressperson freshman orientation via instagram story – and we’re loving it! Not only is she delving into what actually goes on during the first 60 days before taking office but she is an example to us all on how to be gracious, grateful and sensitive to her supporters and peers.  

Soft Stud by Black Belt Eagle Scout

This six-minute track by Black Belt Eagle Scout, a self-proclaimed ‘radical indigenous queer feminist’ (like her yet?), is perfect to listen to whilst plotting your ‘comeback’ or sitting in the backseat of an Uber, driving through a midnight city.

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BOOTS 💩

Hill staffers shaming the very same congress gal

A Hill Staffer photographed Ocasio-Cortez from behind and sent it to Eddie Scarry, a writer at the Washington Examiner who then used it to shame her for wearing a nice suit, using it to argue that she's faking her financial difficulties (previously she has discussed how she can’t afford an apartment in DC). Scarry tweeted the photo with the caption ‘Hill Staffer sent me this pic of Ocasio-Cortez they took just now. I’ll tell you something: that jacket and coat don’t look like a girl who struggles’.

via Politico

Trump on Remembrance Day

“Rain, rain, go away come again another day - preferably when I have to discuss Stormy Daniels or climate change.” This week Trump skipped a veteran cemetery visit on Armistice day because drizzle grounded his helicopter. Why couldn’t he travel by car? He didn’t want to cause an ‘unexpected disruption to the city and its people’.

Women being blamed if they don’t stick around to provide men emotional labour

After the death of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller, Ariana Grande received a tumult of hate online and in papers for not being supportive enough. This narrative of inattentive women being the root of their partner's problems is toxic. Faima Bakar outlines the trend in her article for Metro.

Victim blaming in Irish court: #ThisIsNotConsent

In Ireland a man was acquitted of rape after his defence cited his victim's thong as evidence of her consent. This sparked mass protests across Ireland and social media with people sharing photos of their underwear and laying knickers on the steps of the courthouse. Irish lawmaker Ruth Coppinger, also took out a thong in parliament in solidarity and fought back against the intolerable victim blaming.