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U.S. Soccer Argued Biological Differences Justify Paying the Women's Team Less, According to Court Filings


Last summer when the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team won the World Cup (their fourth) in France, the stadium erupted into chants of “Equal pay!” Despite the women’s team’s total dominance, they’re paid less than their male counterparts, an issue that came to a head in March 2019 when the players sued U.S. Soccer for gender discrimination.

Back in August 2019, we learned talks between the two parties had broken down—and a new court filing this week gives us insight, perhaps, into why.

Per Buzzfeed, the documents show one of the arguments against equal pay being made by U.S. Soccer lawyers is that, under the Equal Pay Act, “The job of a [men’s national team player] carries more responsibility within U.S. Soccer than the job of a [women’s national team] player.” Excuse me?!?

You remember the USWNT, of course, as the winners of last year’s World Cup which turned stars like Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, and Ashlyn Harris into household names for people who’d never even watched a game before then. Unless you’re a big soccer fan, you’re probably less familiar with the men’s team who have had, well, a lot less success in recent years as the women’s team dominates.

But, wait, the court documents get worse. U.S. Soccer also argued that indisputable “science” and biological differences prove that women should be paid less because the men’s team “requires a higher level of skill.” We’re not sure anyone has argued that there aren’t biological differences between men and women—just that those shouldn’t matter when determining how much to pay someone for the same job.

Buzzfeed also accessed court documents which showed U.S. Soccer’s questioning of some of the women’s teams stars. “Do you think that the team could be competitive against the senior men’s national team?” one asked Carli Lloyd. “I’m not sure,” she said. “Shall we fight it out to see who wins and then we get paid more?” Another asked Morgan, “Do you think it requires more skill to play for the U.S. Men’s National Team than the U.S. Women’s National Team?” She replied, “No,” Morgan replied. “It’s a different skill.”

It’s quite infuriating to see the national governing body of a sport be so dismissive (and regressive) in defense of their antiquated position that women deserve to be paid less for a job where they have proved they are quite literally the best in the world. But it’s not unsurprising, especially to any woman who has been faced with a similar situation in her own job where she has to be better and fight harder for the same rights and money automatically afforded a man.

We have no doubt the USWNT will keep pushing for what’s right—and that’s just one of the many reasons to celebrate them.



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Why You Should Be Paying Attention to the Costumes in All Those Holiday Movies


Full disclosure: I haven’t ever been a holiday movie person. The constant suspension of disbelief you need to get through one (how did they not see that mistletoe hanging above them?!), the chuckle-inducing over-exposition, the heteronormativity of it all… It’s all a bit much. But they’re an annual tradition for hopeless romantics and seasonal spirits—and networks go all in on them.

Lifetime is releasing 14 original holiday movies this year, while the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries properties are pumping out a whopping 37 through New Year’s Day. In 2017, 82 million—48 million women and 34 million men—watched Hallmark holiday programming “at least once” during the season, according to USA Today; Lifetime’s seasonal movies attracted 56.9 million viewers, per E!. This year, Netflix is getting in on the game, with such titles as The Princess Switch and the much-anticipated (and timely) A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding. And if you watch enough of them—as I now have, in the name of research—you start to notice how the fashion in these movies plays as much as a role in driving home those cherished holiday tropes as all those snowy carriage rides do.

There are the buttoned-up suits worn by the big-city lead, who has been disconnected from her roots (and holiday spirit.) There are the spectacular ball gowns that all those wink-wink implausible coincidences built up to. There are, of course, more red and green outfits that you’d normally see in any given closet. While you see some IRL trends reflected on screen, they might feel a little bit heightened—that’s because clothing plays a different role here, one that directly correlates to the emotional journey the character goes through.

For starters, structured pantsuits and corporate environs frequently help establish the lead character in these movies as no-nonsense, over-scheduled, and, oftentimes, job-obsessed. In Lifetime’s Every Day is Christmas, Atlanta finance CEO Alexis (Toni Braxton) wears a black streamlined Calvin Klein suit, courtesy of costume designer Patricia Hargreaves, in the opening office scenes—as she withholds her beleaguered staff’s holiday bonuses and makes them work on December 25 (when the markets aren’t even open!) When we first see lawyer Lucy (Tatyana Ali) in Hallmark’s Christmas Everlasting, she’s wheeling and dealing in an aubergine pantsuit. The message becomes clear: This is a person in need of some holiday down time.

PHOTO: Brian Douglas

A still from Christmas Everlasting.

Fashion exemplifies the divide between the two worlds coming head-to-head in the film: big-city and hometown, royalty and commoner… Like the towering heels Lucy wears when she first goes back to Nilson’s Bay, teetering around the snowy town square (there’s always a town square!): They’re totally out of place, and that’s precisely the point. Costume designer Amanda Riley tells me that Lucy’s impractical footwear is reflective of a fish-out-of-water New Yorker packing for a supposedly brief visit to the Midwest. Over time, though, this friction gradually subsides, as our heroine begins to feel the holiday spirit.

These movies regularly make us of a handful of beloved seasonal tropes, from the treasured tradition that is holiday cookie decorating to the climactic, perspective-altering event the plot hinges on, which could be anything from saving a treasured hometown landmark (Christmas Everlasting) or salvaging the Aldovian economy (A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding.) There’s also plenty of red and green, namely in the character’s wardrobes when they’re partaking in these holiday-specific events.

In Christmas Everlasting, Lucy demonstrates the can-do holiday spirit to save childhood favorite McHenry’s Bakery, while wearing in a polished red wool coat and forest green sweater. “It’s such a powerful time for reflection and family,” explains Riley. “I just wanted something felt like it really popped and really felt like there was a lot of strength brought to the moment.” (Fun fact: At one point in the movie, Lucy wears a fit-and-flare dress by Ted Baker in a cheery holiday hue—which department store HR manager Noelle also wears in A Shoe Addict’s Christmas, costume designed by Marya Duplaga.)

Christmas Everlasting Final Photo Assets

PHOTO: Brian Douglas

A still from Christmas Everlasting.

The red and green might read as “on-the-nose,” but designers have other ways of referencing the season through color. “The holidays feel really wrapped in a lot of these rich colors,” Riley says, specifically of Lucy’s affinity to purple: “Purple felt very close to red, which felt like this heart-opening color, which is the whole point of the movie. Lucy is really opening her heart for the first time in a really long time.”

If you’re really paying attention, you’ll also catch some reference to beloved holiday classics—we’re talking A Christmas Carol—in the costumes. In Every Day is Christmas, Alexis is clearly the Ebenezer Scrooge time-jumping with Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future—and while a set of Victorian-costumed carolers appear in a party scene, her nod to the Charles Dickens classic is more subtle: “We play a little bit with corseting [of the Victorian era] with the form fitting-ness of her clothes,” says Hargreaves.

Arguably, the most important fashion moment in any of these films is the major community event —a black-tie party, a Christmas wedding—that usually marks the pinnacle of the plot, when the lead comes to realize the value of family, the spirit of the season, and their true sense of love and self. That’s where the show-stopping (perhaps even “princess”) gowns come in.

A Shoe Addict's Christmas Final Photo Assets

PHOTO: Steven Ackerman

A still from A Shoe Addict’s Christmas.

In A Shoe Addict’s Christmas, Noelle relishes the chance to wear a striking red halter ball gown (a noticeable departure from the streamlined, earth-toned silhouettes she wears earlier in the movie) to the climatic holiday gala. Before the winter ball in A Very Nutty Christmas—and after a shopping montage full of delightful rejects, like an ‘80s studded “Madonna”-inspired number—Kate splurges on an ivory tulle and crystal-embellished confection, which costume designer Chantal Filson custom-designed with “a lot of Cinderella elements.” (“Her skirt had 10 layers of netting and I crammed in a glitter layer in the middle,” the costume designer adds.)

Then, of course, there’s the Royal Wedding dress of A Christmas Prince: Royal Wedding. The process of picking out said dress in the movie is a metaphor for Amber’s central conflict: reconciling her practical, journalistic roots with the reality of her imminent royalty. Her options start with “inspiration from the rigid Victorian era,” according to costume designer Luminita Lungu. “Then, I went more into the past for inspiration from the Renaissance period. Therefore the entire outfit is ridiculous and flamboyant—and, of course, uncomfortable. The result needed to be ridiculous.” But in the final reveal, Amber walks down the aisle in a streamlined, more Kate Middleton-esque style, paired with high-top sneakers that are so clearly her.

PHOTO: Courtesy of Netflix

A still from A Christmas Prince: Royal Wedding.

“The wedding sneakers are, of course, Amber’s trademark,” Lungu adds. “The wedding outfit would not have been authentic in their absence”

Your eyes may be fixated on the seemingly fake snow, but the effort that goes into the costumes of your favorite cheesy holiday movie—as romanticized and polished as the plot points—are just as crucial in immersing the viewer in this world. That’s as true for the big ball gown reveal as it is for the earmuffs and scarves worn by the background actors you see milling about the requisite holiday market and convening for tree-lighting ceremonies.

Because when it comes to holidays, everyone has to look the part.

Related Stories:

The Secret Formula Behind Hallmark’s Christmas Movie Empire

Here’s Why Hallmark’s Upcoming Hanukkah Movies Are Such a Big Deal

There’s a Reason You See the Same Women in All Those Hallmark Christmas Movies



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Hospitals Billed Sexual Assault Survivors for Rape Kits. Now They're Paying the Price.


The cost of rape may be incalculable—but this wasn’t supposed to be part of it.

New York hospitals illegally billed survivors for hundreds of forensic rape examinations, a new investigation by state Attorney General Barbara Underwood finds.

In a deal first shared with Glamour, seven hospitals have signed a settlement with Underwood’s office to pay back sexual assault survivors who were charged for their rape exams and to set up new policies to keep it from happening again.

“Survivors of sexual assault have already gone through unfathomable trauma; to then subject them to illegal bills and collection calls is unconscionable,” Underwood said in a statement provided to Glamour. “Hospitals have a fundamental responsibility to comply with New York law. My office will continue to do everything in our power to protect survivors and their rights.”

The seven hospitals in the settlement, according to the attorney general: Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, Columbia University, Montefiore Nyack Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Richmond University Medical Center, and St. Barnabas Hospital.

Settlement documents reviewed by Glamour said the hospitals didn’t admit or deny breaking the law, but that they agreed to repay patients who were improperly billed and also to adopt written policies that make clear survivors are not to receive bills for rape exams.

PHOTO: Tetra Images

“Survivors of sexual assault have already gone through unfathomable trauma; to then subject them to illegal bills and collection calls is unconscionable,” says New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood.

New York law says hospitals that provide services to sexual assault survivors—including forensic exams, commonly called rape kits—are supposed to send bills directly to the state’s Office of Victim Services (unless a patient chooses otherwise).

That system is supposed to protect survivors’ privacy by making it less likely that a relative or employer might learn they sought medical help. The added layer of confidentiality ideally encourages more people to agree to undergo the exams—which means more physical evidence that can help police find attackers.

But the new investigation found that in the case of these hospitals, that process went awry.

Instead, at least 200 forensic rape examinations conducted by the health care providers were billed to patients or their insurance companies. Amounts ranged from approximately $46 to $3,000, an Underwood aide said. The hospitals also repeatedly failed to inform survivors about their billing options, according to the settlements. In some cases, the bills were sent to collection agencies whose job it was to chase down the outstanding balance.

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PHOTO: Deborah Jaffe

Forensic rape examinations at seven hospitals got wrongly billed to patients or their insurers, Underwood’s office says.

Last year the New York attorney general’s office settled with Brooklyn Hospital after an investigation that started when a patient came forward to say she had been billed—not once, but seven times—for care associated with a sexual assault case.

Underwood is the first woman to serve as New York attorney general. She took over the state’s top law enforcement job on an interim basis earlier this year after Eric Schneiderman resigned amid a flurry of accusations of abusing women, which he publicly contested. In this year’s midterm elections, New Yorkers elected Letitia James to become the first black woman in state history to fill the role. James will take office in January.

It remains to be seen whether the New York settlement will encourage fresh investigations or changes in hospital and clinic rape-kit billing elsewhere, but the problem is not new, with past controversies reported from Arkansas to Alaska.

For now, Underwood’s office encourages anyone with questions about their New York hospital billing to contact its health care bureau at 800-428-9071.

Celeste Katz is senior political reporter for Glamour. Send news tips, questions, and comments to celeste_katz@condenast.com.



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