It's Not a Woman's World – and an All-Female Space Flight Won't Change That

When Katy Perry dropped the single “Woman’s World” last summer, critics and fans alike slammed the pop star for being out of touch. The song and its accompanying video felt very early 2000s with its phony message of female empowerment. While stomping around in kitschy costumes, Perry tells her audience that women can be both soft and strong (I’m imagining toilet paper), and sexy and confident, too. What a revelation! If watching “Women’s World” made you feel like a time traveler to a low-rise jeans, Von Dutch trucker hat past, you weren’t alone.

On Monday, Perry flew to outer space on a Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket with a star-studded all-women crew in another problematic display of pop culture feminism. The trip was touted as a kind of feminist victory, with the media calling it a “historic” all-female space flight, but the hype just raises questions., she is. Such as, how feminist really was their cosmic journey – and how admirable is the brand of feminism they’re hawking?