September 6, 2022

"In the past, of course, Thiel has personally expressed some attention-grabbing thoughts about both women and health technology."

"In a 2009 essay, he famously expressed the opinion that giving women the right to vote made the country less libertarian and thus worse. And as Inc. magazine reported in 2016, Thiel reportedly expressed an interest in having young people’s blood transfused into his own body as a potential fountain of youth; a year later, people connected with Thiel Capital began making the rounds to deny that story, not very convincingly. (Disclosure: Thiel also funded a lawsuit against Gawker Media, the company where I used to work, that successfully bankrupted the company.) That—and Thiel’s traditional interest in panopticon technology—makes Thiel Capital a curiously appropriate choice...." 

From "Peter Thiel’s Investment Firm Is Backing a Menstrual Cycle-Focused ‘Femtech’ Company/Evie Magazine is COVID-skeptical, transphobic, and obsessed with traditional womanhood. Now, with Thiel Capital’s help, they’re launching a 'wellness' company based on menstrual cycles" (Vice).

Evie has long stressed the notion that women should only engage in “feminine” exercise, discouraging lifting heavy weights, and written about why women shouldn’t, in its words, “work out like men.” 28’s website and TikTok announcement both feature many photos of women with very long hair delicately posing in bikinis, drinking from coconuts, and running, extremely gently, across sandy beaches. 

“If your cycle is your compass,” 28’s website promises, “then 28 is your path to healthy hormones, self-discovery, and a beautiful, feminine physique.” It’s fairly easy to see where 28 dovetails with the rest of Evie and [Evie founder Brittany] Hugoboom’s interests—namely, promoting a more “traditional” model of femininity. 

Along with a hostility towards birth control, Hugoboom has also tweeted about how modern women got “scammed” by feminism and working outside the home, a notion that Evie’s Twitter account has also echoed many, many times. One particularly weird Evie article posited that feminism was a “psyop to get women to pay more taxes to the government,” an ahistorical grab bag of words that also manages to get in some fretting about Marxism. (“By pushing women out of the home, Marxists were able to achieve two goals at once,” the author declares. “They destroyed the biologically strong glue of the nuclear family while doubling their workforce.”)

Well, what can you do? The personal is political. And there's been so much talk about hormones lately. Tying women's health products to the menstrual cycle is a clever move.

The "traditional woman" phobia seems a tad overwrought, and that "particularly weird" Evie article is making quite standard points about the political agenda of selling women on outside-of-the-home work. Tone done the hysteria please — whether it's got to do with your menstrual cycle or no.

41 comments:

Spiros Pappas said...

What Gawker did to Hulk Hogan was disgusting.

n.n said...

Social progressives are trans/homophobic.

Gaia is mysophilic with baby privilege.

Mike Sylwester said...

A few weeks ago, I read a 1952 book titled The Natural Superiority of Women, written by Ashley Montagu.

(Until I began writing this comment, I thought mistakenly that the book's author was a woman, but now I realize that the author was a man.)

I would summarize this very interesting book's thesis as being that being a normal woman is healthier than being a normal man. In particular, a normal woman is much less competitive and combative than a normal man. A normal woman is more sociable and cooperative.

Therefore, women should not be eager to live as men live. If they do try to do so, then they should be aware of potential consequences for their physical and mental health.

gadfly said...

In a 2009 essay, [Thiel] famously expressed the opinion that giving women the right to vote made the country less libertarian and thus worse.

Considering libertarianism is a political philosophy that advocates only minimal state intervention in the free market and the private lives of citizens, the man's thoughts and actions should be nowhere close to justifying interest in or power over women's rights, MAGA populism, or using panopticon technology to control groups of people.

Money is power, and because libertarians are not interested in societal control, Thiel is not libertarian and is only interested in power and control over the people. Freaky Authoritarian #2 is coming your way in 2024.

Tom T. said...

*Every* women's magazine promotes "healthy hormones, self-discovery, and a beautiful, feminine physique." Trying to mansplain that as something nefarious seems a little desperate.

Evie's views about work seem ironically congruent in many ways with those of the far-left outlets like Teen Vogue, which I think would firmly endorse the idea that the corporate working world is toxic for women.

Buckwheathikes said...

Spiros wrote: "What Gawker did to Hulk Hogan was disgusting."

What Gawker did to Peter Theil was disgusting. They outed his sexual identity and then questioned whether Thiel was mentally unbalanced in attempting to have privacy about his personal sexual matters, which as you know is none of the media's fucking business.

Bad move.

Peter Thiel, it should be noted, has "fuck you" money. So he bankrolled everybody else they were smearing in their lawsuits against Gawker and bankrupted the company. There are a few other media companies that also need bankrupting and others with "fuck you money" should take notice that they can use this tactic.

Buckwheathikes said...

Spiros wrote: "What Gawker did to Hulk Hogan was disgusting."

What Gawker did to Peter Theil was disgusting. They outed his sexual identity and then questioned whether Thiel was mentally unbalanced in attempting to have privacy about his personal sexual matters, which as you know is none of the media's fucking business.

Bad move.

Peter Thiel, it should be noted, has "fuck you" money. So he bankrolled everybody else they were smearing in their lawsuits against Gawker and bankrupted the company. There are a few other media companies that also need bankrupting and others with "fuck you money" should take notice that they can use this tactic.

Achilles said...

Thiel and the Evie group appear to be rational thinking people.

This is more of a window into the writer of the Vice article and the little bubble world of leftist thought.

My wife wants to work part time. She also wants to spend most of her time with the kids.

Most women don't mind working a little, but they really want to spend time with their offspring.

That the Vice writer and leftists in general have a problem with this and think it is weird reflects more on them than on Thiel and Evie.

But it also reflects the totalitarian nature of the political left that they have to cast these majority points of view in our society as thought from the Others.

Narr said...

Anything to get menstruating women out of the isolation hut and back to work.

tim maguire said...

Thiel also funded a lawsuit against Gawker Media, the company where I used to work, that successfully bankrupted the company.

I was surprised by the verdict--I thought the result would be closer to "a pox on both your houses"--Hogan would win and be awarded symbolic damages (i.e., $1). In any case, Theil's funding of the lawsuit is irrelevant to its success. Gawker lost big because 12 people apprised of the facts felt Gawker should lose big.

n.n said...

get menstruating women out of the isolation hut and back to work.

Affordable, available, and taxable, and religious sanction to "burdens" of evidence aborted, sequestered, and divested (SAD), perhaps cannibalized, in darkness

n.n said...

Men and women are equal in rights and complementary in Nature/nature. Reconcile... as humans do.

Kevin said...

In any case, Theil's funding of the lawsuit is irrelevant to its success.

Much of what corporations "get away with" these days is because individuals and small firms lack the resources to fully prosecute their claims.

Lurker21 said...

"No Labels" sounded good, until it just became "No Trump and No Republicans."

I'd be skeptical about putting any money into something based on menstrual cycles, but do we really need to know up front that they are "COVID-skeptical, transphobic, and obsessed with traditional womanhood"?

Can't people just make up their own minds, even if it means actually reading the article?

Inga said...

“Evie has long stressed the notion that women should only engage in “feminine” exercise, discouraging lifting heavy weights, and written about why women shouldn’t, in its words, “work out like men.”

Ridiculous. Women lift heavy things multiple times a day as a stay at home mother raising children. How many of you ever lifted those heavy car seat/ baby carriers with a 6 month old baby in it on one arm and a heavy diaper bag with the other arm. How about lifting a heavy Le Crueset large size Dutch oven full of chili or a large roast? How about women rearranging their furniture-pushing it around themselves? Women throughout the ages have lifted heavy things repeatedly during the course of their day at home as a homemaker.

Howard said...

Gynophobia

Inga said...

And women who worked in the fields, stooping, picking and lifting heavy bushels of produce with a baby strapped to her back? That historical woman laughs in your face.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Thiel must be a long time rhhardin fan.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dave Begley said...

I don't believe a word of that Vice story. Another hit piece.

realestateacct said...

Where's the lie in Mr Thiel's and Evie's opinions about what's good for women and good for keeping the state's purview limited? Most women want to be home with their children. Some women (including myself) do not and I'm very much against those women being obstructed in their ambitions. But why have we built a society that is based on the norms of some women instead of most women?

Women who want children should have them in their 20's and early 30's, not when they've "established their careers." It's perfectly feasible to start a career after child rearing like Margaret Thatcher, Jeanne Kirkpatrick and a slew load of professionals.

Critter said...

In contrast with the Left, Thiel is not trying to shut down discussion or mandate anything. He's bankrolling a business. People can choose to work with Evie or not. What's wrong with having a choice? I thought the Left was all about choice?

donald said...

Anna Merlan was the moron at Gawker who went BIG on the VA Rolling Stone debacle. She has a masters in Journalism from Columbia so she’s smart.

Jim Gust said...

"feminism was a “psyop to get women to pay more taxes to the government,” "

Anyone remember the Greenspan Commission to save Social Security during the Reagan Administration? The program was given a new lease on life through benefit cuts and tax increases. The expectation was that it would be good for 20 more years, until the end of the century.

In the event, far more Social Security revenue came in than projected. Why? Because women entered the labor force in far higher numbers than anyone thought possible, and they relied upon paid child care (more women working for wages) to stay in the labor force.

But wasn't all the new tax revenue offset by an increase in benefit obligations? No, it was not, thanks to the
Social Security marriage penalty that few people recognize. Paying Social Security taxes buys a joint and survivor annuity for the taxpayer and spouse. When both spouses work, they each are buying joint and survivor annuities, but you can only claim one, either the survivor benefit or your own earned benefit. For a few years you could game the system, collecting one and then switching to the other, but that loophole is closed.

So feminism was not likely a "psyop," but it did give the government a big boost in tax revenue.

Joe Smith said...

I love Thiel for the Gawker bankruptcy alone...everything else is gravy...

Dave said...

"Thiel must be a long time rhhardin fan."

I know I am.

"Women lift heavy things multiple times a day as a stay at home mother raising children. How many of you ever lifted those heavy car seat/ baby carriers with a 6 month old baby in it on one arm and a heavy diaper bag with the other arm. How about lifting a heavy Le Crueset large size Dutch oven full of chili or a large roast?"

I love it when Inga talks dirty.

Dave said...

"And women who worked in the fields, stooping, picking and lifting heavy bushels of produce with a baby strapped to her back?"

Please excuse me, I need a cold shower.

rehajm said...

Remember Becky Slater? She worked with Thiel for a while…

mikee said...

Compare and contrast this Thiel guy's treatment in the media for his new line of women's products, versus those much less controversial, but sometimes infection-causing, GOOP products by Gwynneth Paltrow.

Thiel might have avoided bad press by having a female take the lead on his product line.

Kate said...

Wake me when they get to menopause. None of what they're saying is particularly radical.

As an aside, women used to spend two days of every week on clothes washing. Just because some woman in the past performed heroically is no reason for current society to use her activities as a bench mark.

tim maguire said...

Inga said...How many of you ever lifted those heavy car seat/ baby carriers with a 6 month old baby in it on one arm and a heavy diaper bag with the other arm.

Every single guy here who’s a dad. Sexist much?

Kevin said...
“In any case, Theil's funding of the lawsuit is irrelevant to its success.”

Much of what corporations "get away with" these days is because individuals and small firms lack the resources to fully prosecute their claims.


Possibly true, but not at all the point.

Mr. T. said...

Anna Merlan...

How helped Rolling Stone defame and lie by propelling a false rape.

Everywhere she goes-Gawker, Rolling Stone, Vice- everywhere she goes journalistic dishonesty and malfeasance and corruption follow as surely and decay and worms and corruption follow death.

This is no coincidence.

Drago said...

Inga: "Women lift heavy things multiple times a day as a stay at home mother raising children. How many of you ever lifted those heavy car seat/ baby carriers with a 6 month old baby in it on one arm and a heavy diaper bag with the other arm. How about lifting a heavy Le Crueset large size Dutch oven full of chili or a large roast?"

Wow.

Combine this latest Inga offering with her previous declarations that fathers showering with their adolescent daughters is "perfectly normal" and you really have to ask yourself just what the hell is going on in democratical households?

ken in tx said...

Inga forgot to mention washer women. There's an historical exhibit in a museum in Atlanta shows the huge baskets of wet laundry washer women used to lug around in commercial laundries back in the day--I couldn't lift them.

Inga said...

“Combine this latest Inga offering with her previous declarations that fathers showering with their adolescent daughters is "perfectly normal" and you really have to ask yourself just what the hell is going on in democratical households?”

Your obsessive lying is evil Drago.

Inga said...

“Every single guy here who’s a dad. Sexist much?”

The quote I was responding to was some dumbass saying how women should not engage in heavy weight lifting. Why accuse me of sexism? The admonition to not lift heavy objects was addressed to women. Do you feel left out?

walter said...

Seems like a timely focus given the dysmennorrhea from the jabs...which might explain some of Gadfly's behavior. Won't even go into the miscarriages in the suppressed studies because that's just not polite.
"How about lifting a heavy Le Crueset large size Dutch oven full of chili or a large roast?"
I mseeing that routine as I walked by Curves. Those chicks were not messing around. Though I doubt they were using Le Creuset, you humble bragger.

TaeJohnDo said...

Bloody hell! What a story...

Ted said...

"Thiel reportedly expressed an interest in having young people’s blood transfused into his own body as a potential fountain of youth."

--This is supposed to portray Thiel as an idiot when it comes to health, or, worse, some sort of blood-sucking vampire. But several peer-reviewed studies have proved that this is a beneficial anti-aging technique. I imagine many high-priced clinics are paying healthy young people for blood donations right now. It's not even morally wrong -- donating small amounts of blood on a regular basis is healthy, especially for men (because it prevents excess iron buildup). I suppose if you really wanted to make it ethical, you'd say "for every pint of blood I take in from a younger person, I'll donate a pint of my own to the Red Cross for medical purposes." Then everybody wins.

Drago said...

Inga: "Your obsessive lying is evil Drago."

Adult males showering with their daughters is evil.

You labeling a family where a father does that as "perfectly normal" is astonishingly evil.

My pointing out the evil of those 2 facts is perfectly reasonable.

You trying to squirm out of responsibility for your previous evil statements by labeling me "evil" for pointing it out is triply evil.

Something tells me you already have a quadruply evil ploy to launch right away.

And I am never going to stop pointing out your serial lies, lunatic conspiracy hoaxes and groomer enabling policy preferences.

Drago said...

So Inga, would you like revise your earlier declarations that the Biden family is "perfectly normal"?

Remember, you cant pretend you dont know what that currupt and sexually deviant family has been up to.

So choose your new and revised answer carefully.