weekly pop culture roundup: best romance writer inspiration for stories

creating the best romance writer inspiration for stories, this is a weekly blog series on the culture and politics affecting women. this week’s news hits hard. women are feeling broke, burnt out, lonely, overexposed, and underpaid. yet they still are creating entire universes with their stories. these articles might sound like the handmaid's tale, but they’re also full of material.

romance writer inspiration themes:

burnout, loneliness & the grind that never ends

millennial women were told to chase our dreams. now we're broke and begging for a rich patron according to the guardian, we were sold a dream of passion-led careers and girlboss freedom, but what we got was burnout, gig work, and a fridge full of oat milk and anxiety.

read on the guardian

loneliness is real—even for the women who look like they have it alla millennial woman opens up about being constantly social and still feeling alone. this isn’t just a pandemic thing. it’s a culture thing.story spark: two women meet through a pen-pal app and start writing letters by hand. what begins as friendship becomes a full-blown love story.

read on newsweek

voice, faith & soft power

dear men who say they support women in ministry: stop centering yourselves is a fiery essay that dismantles the idea that allyship is about performance. women in faith are tired of being tokens in someone else's “progress.” read on baptist news

what does feminism even look like now? cosmopolitan says it’s not your mother’s movement. this “new feminism” is about softness, boundaries, vulnerability, and saying no to everything that feels forced, except everything these influencers recommend feels so forced. read on cosmopolitan

theme: media, representation & who gets to be too much

lena dunham’s new show is making millennials reflect and gen z feel confused. in her new project too much, lena explores womanhood, friendship, and middle age with less edge and more softness. some critics say it's lost its bite. others say it’s finally honest.

read on newsweek

kim kardashian is still profiting off our insecurities. her.ie questions whether skims is empowerment or just the same old beauty shaming in prettier packaging.

read on her.ie

the tea app is letting women rate their dates. gen z women are cheering. men? not so much. ny post reports the new viral app where women rate men after dates. think yelp, but for romance. messy? sure. but fun. read on nypost

nostalgia, beauty & who we’re allowed to be

the summer i turned pretty is triggering millennial women who grew up on the hills. there's something about messy love triangles, teen angst, and wistful soundtracks that brings back all the feels. read on yahoo

victoria’s secret x loveshackfancy is trying to reclaim hyperfemininity with lace, ruffles, and pastel corsets. vs x loveshackfancy might be dressing-up, but who knows if gen z will join the party. read on retail dive

books, awards & where YA is headed

these ya titles from july are giving emotional depth, girl rage & soft

queerness paste magazine’s round-up of this month’s best ya books is full of feelings and fierce characters. read on paste

barnes & noble just dropped their ya shortlist—and it’s stacked this year’s finalists for b&n’s children’s and ya book awards include stories about grief, friendship, survival, and healing.story spark: a character whose life mirrors one of these books—but they don’t realize it until they’re halfway through reading it. read on barnes & noble