The Breakdown: Janet Mock Signs Historic Netflix Deal

Getty Images

The Breakdown is DoSomething's current events newsletter, where you can read the news and change the news. Want headlines and action in your inbox? Subscribe to The Breakdown.

(Trigger warning for our first story: suicide)

The One Big Thing

Suicide Rates Among Young People Highest Since 2000

According to a recently published report, suicide rates among young people have risen to their highest levels since 2000. Among the various trends shared by researchers, one statistic they found particularly concerning is that the suicide rate for boys aged 15-19 rose 21% from just a year earlier. Next up for the researchers? Finding out why. In the meantime, young mental health activists already stepping up to tackle this societal issue. If you want to talk to someone or are experiencing suicidal thoughts, text our friends at Crisis Text Line at 741-741.

Take Action: Read this guide on how to help someone who may be experiencing depression.

(Pop) Culture Shock

Janet Mock Becomes First Black Trans Woman To Sign Major Studio Deal

How did Pose director, writer, and producer Janet Mock choose to celebrate Pride Month, you ask? This past Wednesday, Mock made history by becoming the first Black trans woman to sign a major studio deal. The deal is a three-year, multi-million dollar deal that will give Netflix exclusive rights to her future projects. The deal affirms what we already know, which is that when trans people are given opportunities to tell their stories, people will listen. In a statement, Mock says that she hopes this deal “will be a huge signal boost, industrywide, to empower people and equip them to tell their own stories.”

The Good News Is...

Sexist Advertising Is Now Officially Banned In The UK

Back in December, the United Kingdom passed a law that banned sexism in advertising. As of today, the ban has officially gone into effect. "Put simply, we found that some portrayals in ads can, over time, play a part in limiting people's potential. It's in the interests of women and men, our economy and society, that advertisers steer clear of these outdated portrayals,” said Guy Parker, Chief Executive of the Advertising Standards Authority. The news is especially encouraging in light of a 2016 report that found women make up only ⅓ of the people shown in ads, and those who do appear are far more likely to be linked to motherhood than positions of power. Britain joins Belgium, France, Finland, Greece, Norway, South Africa, and India in successfully passing laws preventing gender discrimination in ads.

That's What He Said

“A nation is both its credits and its debts. And if Thomas Jefferson matters, so does Sally Hemings.” ”

-Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates in his Congressional testimony calling for reparations for descendants of people who were enslaved in the United States. Congress is currently considering a bill that would commission a study on the topic.

Quick Hitters

Why aren’t more people talking about… how Indigenous women and girls in Canada are 12 times more likely to be killed or go missing than other populations?

Meanwhile, in Russia... a lost and starving polar bear wandered a hundred miles from its home into a Siberian city. The polar bear has been captured and is being transported to a Russian zoo.

My heroes today are… the group of eighth grade girls who won the first-ever NPR Student Podcast Challenge for their podcast called* Sssh! Periods*, which aims to shatter the stigma around menstruation.

Today in viral cuteness… this dad filmed his ADORABLE son being picked up from preschool every day for a month.

I’m obsessed with… Keanu Reeves. There are a trillion reasons to love this man, but his most recent actions prove that society is right for embracing the Keanussance.