People Worried About the Health of Suni Williams, the Astronaut Boeing Stranded in Space. Which Apparently is Sexist for Some Reason.

Joe Raedle. Getty Images.

One of the great plot points of Apollo 13, still one of the great films of the past 30 years, was how three astronauts struggling to survive brought America - indeed, the whole globe - together. That while moon missions had begun to seem so routine that one character says they're as "exciting as a trip to Pittsburgh," the human drama playing out in real time captivated the world on a human level. 

And while the situation facing astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams:

 … has not reached that level of crisis, their plight has stayed in the public imagination as their 8-day excursion to the ISS will now last until February at the earliest. Which I guess is what happens when the government goes into business with a company that can't keep a door on a passenger aircraft, but is really efficient when it comes to charging an 8,000% markup on a soap dispenser:

But I digress. The issue here is Williams. Because well-intentioned people are concerned for her after seeing images of her looking thin and unhealthy:

Which is nice, when you think about it. People are busy with their own lives, worried about their own health and their loved ones. So an outpouring of concern for someone they've never met is a positive, in my humble opinion. Williams is an inspiration to us all. (Even if she wasn't a Boston sports fan, which only makes her more of a hero.) Universally admired for having the courage to strap herself into the top of a tower of rocket fuel designed by a company that functions off of no-bid federal contracts. She's gotten a raw deal. They're emotionally invested in seeing her come out of this OK and to return safely to Earth. So the milk of human kindness she's being shown is a pure good, right? 

Wrong. Check your calendar. This isn't the early '70s, when worrying about astronauts was your patriotic duty. This is 2024, where everything you care about is bad to somefuckingbody:

Source - A recent photo of Williams sparked headlines in The New York Post and The Daily Mail that speculated over the astronaut’s health, suggesting that she had lost weight and describing her appearance as “gaunt.”

 

“I’m the same weight that I was when I got up here,” Williams said during a recent interview with the New England Sports Network. … Williams also described a phenomena known as fluid shift, which may cause astronauts to appear as though they have a slightly larger head as their bodily fluids are distributed more evenly in the microgravity environment. 

The astronaut gave a fair explanation, but her being forced to address these issues highlights the media’s bias against women astronauts. As the first American woman to go to space, Sally Ride had to deal with a slew of sexist questions from reporters who were curious to know whether she had packed makeup for her mission and if she wept during her training. NASA’s first female astronauts were also subject to similar sexist remarks by the media, which often included their marital status, height, and weight when referring to them in news articles.

 

Williams arrived to space with another astronaut, and yet his health isn’t being questioned nor are his photos being examined for clues about how much he weighs.

Yup. That's it. This public reaction is not concern, empathy or common decency. It's sexism. It's the Male Gaze. Men judging women on their looks. Wondering why our space explorers can't tart it up for us a little bit more. You know, keep it tight in low Earth orbit so we can have a little of that Spank Bank material we send you up there for. 

Imagine your take being, "I don't see anybody asking the man about how he looks!" Like we're all down here going, "Hey Suni, give us a smile, wouldya?" and asking her to keep the weight on because we want her shaking that moneymaker for the boys down here on terra firma. But of course, not wanting her to put on too much weight, because we still want to see her in the 2025 Swimsuit Issue of ISS Illustrated. 

What a way to go through life. What a career to choose. You go to school. Get your degree in Journalism. Graduate with six-figure student loan debt. All so that you can grow up spending your professional life finding ways to be offended by every conceivable thing. Even try to turn the public's legitimate compassion for a person trapped in the most unnatural environment possible into just another example of the patriarchy's oppression. Like any day now NASA is going to rocket up a Handmaid's Tale costume and order her to put it on. Because a bold woman like her can slip the surly bonds of Earth, but she still can't slip the dreaded Double Standard this male-dominated society imposes on her. 

The best part will watching these same journos lapse into hysteria when Williams is rescued by the same eccentric billionaire who impregnates a woman every other week:

That's when the real fun will begin. Until then, eat up, astronaut. The world is just looking out for you.