“I think the better question is: How do we want sexual mores to shift, and what will that do for the American experience of both consensual and nonconsensual sex?” Thinking Author:Vanessa Grigoriadis
“I finally stopped fretting and tried to think of Donald Trump's election as an opportunity. I didn't shift my thesis but I added some lines, in the Blurred Lines introduction, to my description of the progressive awakening that has happened in this country over the last five years - "Trump's presidency is a macroaggression". I wanted Trump to be a specter from the book's outset.” ThinkingCountryOpportunityElectionAwakeningProgressiveIntroductionThesis Author:Vanessa Grigoriadis
“Once Donald Trump announced that Betsy DeVos was going to be his Education Secretary - a few months before I finished the manuscript - I had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen. He was going to overturn as much of what Barack Obama did, and the attendant social progress, as he could.” ProgressBarackSecretarySocial Progress Author:Vanessa Grigoriadis
“I'm a staunch believer in the effect of pop culture - including advertising and the internet - on the young. Pop culture in its narrowest sense - mass-produced film, TV, and music - either truly reflects what's up in youth culture, or it reflects what youth-filled focus groups have told marketing companies that they want to consume.” FilmCultureFocusYouthInternetMarketingBelieverAdvertisingPop Culture Author:Vanessa Grigoriadis
“I don't think we get the degree to which technological mediums like Snapchat and Instagram are also changing our relationships. I think we will learn down the line that they have created profound changes in our social and sexual lives.” ThinkingProfoundOur RelationshipTechnological Author:Vanessa Grigoriadis
“In terms of activism, the Trump-era transformation of news into entertainment has had a deep effect on the way that collegiate politics are perceived. Campuses are a main flashpoint of the post-2016 culture wars about free speech, racism, and elite privilege. That's undeniable.” WarCultureTermRacismTransformationActivismFree Speech Author:Vanessa Grigoriadis
“A refusal of shame about sexual assault and the prioritization of speaking your mind while using your real name - instead of a pseudonym given to you by a journalist. Those ideas were soon taken up by Lena Dunham, Lady Gaga, and Kesha. And now, with Harvey Weinstein's unmasking, they've spread to the top of Hollywood.” MindRealTakenShameSpreadJournalist Author:Vanessa Grigoriadis
“An interesting reversal is happening right now. The college women who kicked all this off have been superseded in the mainstream media by celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie. And now a new group of college women - the ones in college now - are looking at Paltrow and Jolie as models for the appropriate way of dealing with sexual predators.” InterestingCollegePredator Author:Vanessa Grigoriadis
“As a journalist, I try to be as fact-based and objective as possible, though I'm also aware that objectivity is an illusion. This way of moving through the world is what separates journalists from activists.” WorldTryingMovingIllusionJournalistActivist Author:Vanessa Grigoriadis
“Regarding punishment, we've learned from the downfall of Harvey Weinstein and other famous men not only that times have changed, but also that ostracism is an efficient tool. It reminds me of the tradition of bathroom lists of sexual assaulters at Brown beginning in 1990. Back then the administrators called the students who wrote them "magic marker terrorists" and threatened them with expulsion if caught. Now a Shitty Media Men list can dominate the news for days as HR departments across the coasts hastily assess their employees and their liability.” MenMagicChangedStudentsTraditionTerroristEmployeeBathroomDownfallLiability Author:Vanessa Grigoriadis