Fearless Firsts

Planned Parenthood Endorses Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton (The Washington Times)

Planned Parenthood has endorsed a candidate for the primary election: Hillary Clinton, the only woman running for the Democratic nomination. This is the first time in Planned Parenthood’s 100-year history that the organization has endorsed a candidate.

For this who’ve been living under a rock, Planned Parenthood provides a number of serves for womens’ reproductive health, including birth control, Pap smears and abortions.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that women’s issues will take up a prominent share of issues discussed leading up to this year’s election. Last week, Republicans in the Senate voted to defund Planned Parenthood. Thankfully, they didn’t get very far, since President Obama vetoed it.

I hope this endorsement brings out women (and men!) to the polls who might not’ve voted otherwise come November.

Rock Icon David Bowie Has Died

David Bowie (BJournal)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the biggest news this weekend, that music legend David Bowie has died. He passed away after a year-long battle with cancer, and had just released his 25th album two days before. Bowie was 69 (too young!).

Sure, his music made an impact, but so did Bowie’s sexuality. In the beginning of his career, he identified as gay. Then he said he was bisexual, and later backtracked on that. Bowie later married two women, one of them being supermodel Iman, and two children.

Bowie had a huge influence on anyone, especially kids coming of age, who felt out of place and was an icon with the way he played with gender and sexuality. He really enjoyed letting each part of himself out to play, and was very curious about everything. And those are lessons we can all take to heart.

Rest in peace, David Bowie. You were, and always will be, my favorite alien.

Beth Comstock is GE’s First Female Vice Chair

GE Vice Chair Beth Comstock (Fast Company)

Big news from a major corporation: Conglomerate General Electric named Beth Comstock a new Vice Chair. She oversees marketing for the company, becoming chief marketing officer in 2003. Oh yeah, she’s the first woman to hold the executive position (no big!). She joins three other men as her fellow vice chairs.

Comstock’s official title is Vice Chair of Business Innovations (pretty cool, huh?). Per “Fast Company,” here’s what the Business Innovations unit actually is and does:

[It] accelerates new business and helps established commercial ventures transition into GE’s technology universe. The Business Innovations arm houses GE Lighting, GE Ventures & Licensing, software commercialization and corporate marketing, sales, and communications.

Comstock is credited with helping GE focus on the future, in terms of the “industrial internet.” The concept marries data analysis with GE’s traditional, industrial products. CEO Jeff Immelt has called her “a catalyst for digital innovation and growth.”

I can’t wait to see how she’ll evolve GE into the future.

Female/POC Video of the Year Winners at the MTV VMAs: By The Numbers

Singer Rihanna performs “Umbrella” at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas September 9, 2007. Rihanna won the award for Monster Single of the Year for the song. REUTERS/Mike Blake (UNITED STATES)

When the nominees for MTV’s Video Music Awards (VMAs) were announced earlier this summer, acclaimed rapper Nicki Minaj pointed out the glaring absence of women of color in the Video of the Year category. She had a point: The video for her song “Anaconda” broke VEVO viewing records, racking up 19.6M+ views in 24 hours, and propelled a huge cultural impact. (I know you know of at least one person who dressed in one of Nicki’s outfits for Halloween.) To have Minaj’s video snubbed ignores all of those not-insignificant achievements.

I had a sneaking suspicion that the numbers were pretty dismal, not just for women performers of color, but also for women performers in general. I wanted to see exactly how skewed the numbers were, so I looked up the data.

First, some context:

31: Years the Video of the Year Award has been presented (this year will be the 32nd)

69: Number of solo musicians who’ve been nominated

16: Number of solo musicians who’ve won

67: Number of groups who’ve been nominated (including feature artists, not counting 2015 nominees)

15: Number of groups who’ve won (including feature artists)

Let’s look at the stats of the women:

13: years where women solo artists or groups won

0: years after the award began that the first woman artist was nominated (Cyndi Lauper in 1984, nominated during the Award’s first year)

6: years after the Award began that the first woman artist won (Sinead O’Connor in 1990)

4: times Madonna has been nominated

1: time Madonna has won (1998)

And the stats of women of color:

9: years after the Award began that a female group of color was nominated (En Vogue in 1993)

11: years after the Award began that a female group of color won (TLC in 1995)

1: times a women of color group won (TLC in 1995)

If you counted the “Lady Marmalade” group who won in 2001, which had Lil’ Kim, Missy Elliott, and Mya, the number goes up to 2.

1: time Missy Elliott has been a double-nominee in the category (2001)

2: winners that have won twice (Missy Elliott in 2001 and 2003, Rihanna in 2007 and 2012)

1: time that Beyoncé has won (2009)

2: times that Beyoncé has been nominated, not counting her 2015 nomination (2007 and 2009)

You don’t have to be a math genius to see that Minaj was correct about the institutional bias in the music industry with regards to awards, and that this should not be tolerated.

This year’s VMAs will air on Sunday, Aug. 30th.

The White House Hires Its First Transgender Staffer

Raffi Freedman-Gurspan (ABC News)

Last week, the Obama administration made a historic hiring: Raffi Freedman-Gurspan is the first transgender person hired to serve the White House. She’s not only the first transgender person, but also the first transwoman.

Freedman-Gurspan comes with a lot of experience to her new role: She had previously served as policy adviser at the National Center for Transgender Equality, and will be the recruitment and outreach director on Obama’s staff.

While the administration has hired other transgender people to other government agencies, this is the first time a transgender person will work directly with the White House.

The hiring indicates that President Obama is becoming more comfortable in openly supporting the LGBT community: Earlier this year, he spoke out about ending conversion therapy for LGBT youth.

Black Women Covering the September Issue for “Vogue:” By The Numbers

Beyonce’s ‘Vogue’ Cover, September 2015 (PopSugar)

Sadly, the number of Black women covering the famed September issue of “Vogue” is very short. It really needs to be longer (how the hell is it 2015, and we’re still talking about this?!), and I have no doubt that it will be. Someday. But not soon enough.

As everyone knows by now, the ***Flawless Beyoncé will be covering the fashion bible’s September issue, which comes out Aug. 25th. It’s her first time covering the issue, though it’ll be her third time around as a “Vogue” cover model.

3: The number of Black women covering the September issue solo

1989: Supermodel Naomi Campbell covers the September issue

2010: Academy Award-winning actress Halle Berry covers the September issue.

The fashion industry is notoriously slow to change its ways (look at how many Black women were on “Vogue” covers in 2014). I hope Queen B’s new issue means we’ll see more diverse cover models, and soon.

Jen Welter is the NFL’s First Female Coach

Jen Welter coaching the Arizona Cardinals (AZ Central)

Late last month, the Arizona Cardinals announced a new hire to the their coaching staff, someone that brings plenty of experience. Jen Welter has coached linebackers and special teams for the Texas Revolution of the Indoor Football League. She brings 14 years of professional football experience during her time in the Women’s Football Alliance, and holds advanced degrees in psychology and sports psychology. She also won two gold medals playing for the United States on two separate occasions during the International Federation of American Football Women’s World Championship within this decade.

Welter will be the first woman to coach on a National Football League (NFL) team.

But she’s used to blazing trails: She was the first female coach for the Indoor Football League, another men’s professional sports league. Welter was hired to that position this past February.

As for her day-to-day work, CNN reports:

Welter will work with the Cardinals’ inside linebackers and will coach throughout training camp and the preseason as a training camp/preseason intern.

It’s fantastic that the NFL is continuing to break barriers: Earlier this year, the league hired Sarah Thomas, its first female official. The two actually met during a recent preseason game.

American Ballet Theatre Promotes Filipina-American Stella Abrera to Principal Dancer

Stella Abrera (Ballet UK)

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard that New York City’s American Ballet Theatre (ABT) recently promoted dancer Misty Copeland to principal, making her the first Black principal in the company’s 75-year history. But that wasn’t the only important promotion that was made.

Stella Abrera became the first Filipina-American to ascend to the rank of principal. (Two promotions, two history-makers this round for the ABT, if you’re keeping track.) She was born in the Philippines and moved to the U.S. when she was four years old. Beginning in Pasadena, Abrera also studied ballet in San Diego and Sydney, Australia. She joined ABT in 1996, and became a soloist in 2001. Abrera’s various roles have included the titular role in “Cinderella,” Emilia in “Othello,” and Clara and The Snow Queen in different versions of “The Nutcracker.”

Ballet is an art form notorious for having little diversity. I hope Abrera’s promotion (and Copeland’s) opens the door for more non-white dancers.

Caitlyn Jenner Receives the ESPYs’ Arthur Ashe Courage Award

Caitlyn Jenner, 2015 ESPYs (JustJared)

Happy Friday! The ESPYs aired last night, and all anyone can talk about is Caitlyn Jenner receiving the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. Named for tennis great/AIDS victim Ashe, the award is given to individuals whose actions “transcend sports,” and has been awarded since 1993.

It was her first public appearance at a major awards event, and she killed. Jenner gave a speech that highlighted her personal journey to self-acceptance as a transwoman. She also talked about her fellow athletes’ responsibility to crew the change:

How do we start? We start with education. I was fortunate to meet Arthur Ashe a few times, and I know how important education was to him. Learn as much as you can about another person to understand them better.

Jenner later spoke about how her transition felt, and what the trans community needs from larger society:

But this transition has been harder on me than anything I could imagine. And that’s the case for so many others besides me. For that reason alone, trans people deserve something vital. They deserve your respect. And from that respect comes a more compassionate community, a more empathetic society and a better world for all of us.

Jenner is the first transwoman to receive the award.

#ThrowbackThursday: Lauren Anderson in the Houston Ballet’s “Don Quixote,” 2006

Lauren Anderson, with Carlos Acosta, in Houston Ballet’s ‘Don-Quixote’ (DanseTrack)

Misty Copeland may be the most recognizable Black almost-principal ballet dancer right now. But she’s not the first.

Lauren Anderson danced with the Houston Ballet from 1983 until her retirement in 2006. Born and bred in Houston, she began training at the company’s Ben Stevenson Academy (named for the company’s artistic director, now emeritus) before joining the company itself.

In 1990, Anderson was named principal dancer. She was the Black woman to achieve the rank within the Houston Ballet, but also became one of the most visible Black classical ballet principal dancers within a major company.

The above photo shows Anderson dancing with Carlos Acosta in the Houston Ballet’s 2006 production of “Don Quixote.”

Sex & Stats: Where Numbers Come to Bang

Statistics. Economics. Sex.