👩‍💼😬 Why our girlboss era is OVER

It’s Monday, Boston.

🍳 Breakfast deal alert! You already know about cutie Allston brunch spot Cafe Weekend. But did you know from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. every weekday, you can get its iconic breakfast sandos, Nutella pancakes, or French toast for under $10? You’re welcome <3.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Another heat emergency

• Stay out of the water

• Braintree hits the big leagues

Up first…

CULTURE

Goodbye, girlbosses

Meet the trad wife’s younger, sexier sister: The stay-at-home girlfriend. Some young women are ditching their 9 to 5s and letting their boyfriends foot the bill(s) in exchange for a “softer,” more luxurious life of sleeping in, household chores, and, often, pilates. But what’s so appealing about women getting back … in the kitchen?

📲 The sales pitch: It’s an empowering way to reject girlboss culture. And after years of “Lean In” feminism dominating the zeitgeist, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the idea of a fancy, stress-free lifestyle is resonating with some Gen Zers who were already souring on hustle culture. “We had this whole girlboss era, and now we're kind of pulling back and retreating,” said self-proclaimed SAHG Lindsay Hoskins, a former designer who aspires to be a content creator. “I want to be empowered to follow a creative, aspirational career path rather than go work a 9 to 5 job.”

🗳️ But that pitch *might* be missing a few slides. Namely, the political context we’re living in. As SAHG culture has appeared on the scene, so has the pro-natalist movement that blames feminism for declining birth rates, political summits with slogans like “less burnout, more babies” dedicated to telling women they can’t “have it all,” and politicians openly criticizing childless women.

💬 Ultimately, nothing on your FYP exists in a vacuum. “No one is forcing me into [being a SAHG]," Hoskins said. “Feminism is … having freedom to choose and that's exactly what I'm doing.” This train of thought, also called “choice feminism,” is a common refrain among pro-SAHG videos. But many feminists bristle at this logic because it overlooks the systemic factors like capitalism or patriarchy that shape our choices behind the scenes. 

👀 So before you glamorize the SAHG lifestyle, tread lightly. There’s a “real and valid critique of work culture” at the heart of SAHG content, said Suzanne Leonard, a race, gender, and sexuality studies professor at Simmons University. But when the answer is an emphatic return to super-traditional gender roles, that should give you pause. “What's the endgame in getting women to go back home and make babies and not be players in the public sphere?” Leonard said. Spoiler: It’s not just avoiding burnout.

🤨 Because as frivolous as it may seem, TikTok trends can move the needle. “Desires are something that can be tapped into, but they're also something that are manufactured,” said Suzanna Danuta Walters, a sociology professor at Northeastern. Part of the work of pop culture is to tell us what we want, whether that’s a water bottle, a red light mask, or a whole ideology. “The thing about forms of dominance … they're always repackaged in new forms to continue to be effective,” Waters said.

TOGETHER WITH DOORDASH, SCAMPO, EL BARCO, ROCHAMBEAU, AND SUMMER SHACK

These four restaurant menus are built different 

🍽️ ✨ Restaurant Week might be temporary — but the dishes? Still available. Still iconic. And, yes, still deliverable. If you’re worried about hitting every must-try Restaurant Week spot in only 10 days, here’s a better idea: just get your favorite meals delivered with DoorDash whenever you want. Rochambeau’s lamb, El Barco’s churros, Scampo’s ravioli, Summer Shack’s lobster rolls, and countless other items are still on the menu year-round. Order now on DoorDash and live like it’s Restaurant Week every week. 

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🥵 This week’s forecast? Hot … again. Shot: Mayor Wu has declared a heat emergency from Aug. 11 to 13 ahead of what could be Boston’s third heat wave of the summer, with heat indexes forecast to hit the mid 90s on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Chaser: Thanks to lower humidity, it won’t feel quite as oppressive as our first two heatwaves. Plus, a cold front on Thursday will knock temps back toward the 80s just in time for what’s shaping up to be another gorgina summer weekend. That said, the weather is ever-changing, so keep up with the latest here.

🎱 Mass.’ financial outlook is … better than last year. On Friday, Gov. Maura Healey announced Mass.’ FY25 tax revenue came in at $2 billion more than projected, largely thanks to the nearly $3 billion it got from the “millionaire’s tax.” That’s much better than last year’s $233 million budget deficit, and leaves us with a “modest” surplus. Of course, no matter how good those returns look, much of Mass.’ financial future is still hazy thanks to massive federal cuts, but hopefully the extra cash will help. Thanks, millionaires!

🤢 That dirty water is really living up to its name. Surprise! Toxic blue-green algae is blooming in Fenway’s Muddy River between Brookline Avenue and Avenue Louis Pasteur, and in the Brookline Reservoir. These blooms can last for days or weeks, and direct contact can make you (and your furbabies) sick, so stay away! And it's not just the rivers: The number of Mass. beaches failing routine bacterial tests is on the rise. Last year, 58% of beaches had at least one test come back with unsafe levels of fecal (yes, fecal) bacteria. Here are the worst offenders.

😠 Well, we know how real estate bigwigs feel about a rent control ballot Q. Spoiler: They hate it! 24 hours after the proposed question was introduced, Mass.’ real estate titans made it clear they're prepared to fight hard (a.k.a. drop a LOT of $$$) to ensure it doesn’t get on the ballot — or hurt their bottom line. To be fair, the proposal does call for one of the tightest rent control policies in the country. But, when it comes to shooting down rent control, big real estate doesn’t discriminate.

QUICK QUESTION!

📲 Cute or cringey: Politicians using Gen Z memes on social media? (Note: We might use your write-ins for an upcoming story!)

THINGS TO DO

Weekday plans

❤️‍🔥 Come watch us play matchmaker. We’re hosting another free round of The Dating Game for our bi/pan friends at Aeronaut tonight. Fun fact: ALL the contestants are B-Siders. <3

🍿 Beat the heat wave with AC and a movie. Friendly reminder: Tickets to any movie at Alamo Drafthouse are just $7 on Tuesdays. 

😎 Rock your best Bieber ‘do. We’re going all the way back to the “One Less Lonely Girl” era at this queer Justin Bieber look-a-like contest on Aug. 12. 2010s/JB attire encouraged. 

💅 Network with the girlies. There’s a women’s networking night happening Aug. 13 where your ticket gets you a drink, hot bites, and the chance to meet like-minded ladies who are crushing it.

💏 Date like everyone is watching. ‘Cause they def will be at this It’s a Date comedy show on Aug. 13. Think: Blindfolded singles flirting with each other (with spicy audience participation!).

🐀 Celebrate the best of Rat City. Allston is going full … Allston … with its Rat City Art Festival on Aug. 13. Expect rat traps turned into works of art, a presentation of Allston’s rat history, and a return of the rat wall. 

✍️ Release your writers block. Lovestruck Books is hosting a $7 character-building workshop on Aug. 14 to help budding writers create fleshed-out characters from the ground up.

⚾ Hit up the Daddy Gang’s block party. There are still tickets left to the Call Her Daddy block party on Landsdowne Street on Aug. 15. What’s included? A game ticket, a sweet jersey, and access to the block party with carnival vibes. 

GIVEAWAY

Together with Spectacle Summer Nights

Enter to win two tickets to a Sunset Lobster Clambake on Spectacle Island for you and a plus-one! To enter, just refer a friend and have them accept your invite by the end of the day on Aug. 8. If you have already referred a friend to B-Side (and they’ve accepted), you're eligible! Full details below*

18+. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Limit one entry per person. See Official Rules & an additional entry option here.

ONE LAST THING

Braintree in the big leagues

We’re going to the world series, baby! But we’re not talking about the Red Sox. We’re talking about Braintree’s little league team, which miraculously secured a spot in this year’s Little League World Series for the first time ever — though from the reactions in this townie bar, you wouldn’t know the difference.

On Thursday, the team capped off an epic Cinderella story run by eking out a nail-biter against Bedford, N.H. in extra innings to win New England’s regional tourney and punch a ticket to the big leagues. Just check out this ICE COLD play. 

Before this run, the team had never even made regionals, let alone won the whole thing, and let’s just say, the town is VERY proud. Braintree will open against the Irmo, S.C. team on Tuesday, Aug. 14. You can watch it on ESPN, or, likely, at any Braintree sports bar.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

⚾Thanks for reading! Our prediction: Braintree wins it all, and THEN the Red Sox win it all *knocks on wood*.

💜Special shoutout to today’s sponsors, DoorDash, Scampo, El Barco, Rochambeau, and Summer Shack, for supporting local journalism and keeping Boston fed. 

🗿 The results are in: 48% of B-Siders said they thought Tom Brady’s statue at Gillette would be a flop, but we’re happy to report that it actually looks pretty good. One reader said: “It’s going to look exactly like him and that’s why it’ll be terrifying.”

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].