Stacey Abrams, State of the Union, Justin Fairfax: Broadsheet Feb. 5th

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Stacey Abrams prepares to deliver the Dem’s response to the State of the Union, the mess in Virginia gets messier, and we look for smart ways to protect ourselves against trolls. Have a wonderful Tuesday.

EVERYONE'S TALKING

• Stay safe out there! As a woman who spends a big chunk of my life online—and who writes about other women, making me a bit of a twofer for trolls—I'm a fan of Mashable's occasional series on "how to be a woman on the Internet."

The latest entry was written by Chloe Condon, a senior cloud developer advocate for Microsoft, who shares a crappy troll experience of her own and offers a solid beginner's primer on what to do when you are being harassed online.

Some of her advice centers around her "eye-roll system" (three eye rolls and it's time to step away from your screen) and how to give yourself space when your timeline blows up in a bad way. But the most important bit is the actionable steps—the ones you need to take when an eye-roll won't cut it.

Condon recommends taking screen shots, filing a police report (if only to create more documentation), and speaking to HR if the harassment is affecting your work and/or making you feel unsafe at the office. Her final piece of advice is "understand your rights":

"Internet law is relatively new, and when dealing with bizarre situations it can be confusing to know where to begin. If you are able to get legal help, either through your company/benefits/family member/friend, that’s great and hopefully they can point you in the right direction. I highly recommend fightcyberstalking.org, not only for their guidance in regards to properly documenting and reporting the situation, but also for emotional support resources. It’s easy to try to act tough in these types of situations, but make sure to check in with your emotional state throughout this process. Online harassment is scary, stressful, and takes work."

Do you have other suggestions for things to do (or not do) when trolling gets out of hand? If so, I'd love to hear about them: [email protected]—and a heads up that I may use your responses in a future Broadsheet. Mashable

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

• SOTU preview. While tonight's State of the Union is President Trump's big moment, a lot of the coverage in the build-up to the event has gone to Democratic women or their SOTU guests. A quick recap: Stacey Abrams, who recently (and narrowly) lost the Georgia governor's race, will be delivering the Democratic response; Victorina Morales, the 45-year-old undocumented immigrant from Guatemala who worked as a housekeeper at Trump National Golf Club, is attending with Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ); Ana Maria Archila, the Queens woman who confronted Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake in a Capitol Hill elevator, is attending as the guest of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY).

• Bad day for VA. Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax has denied a sexual assault allegation that appeared on the same conservative website as a racist photograph from Gov. Ralph Northam’s medical school yearbook page. Both Fairfax and his accuser agree that the two had an encounter in 2004. But she says it culminated in a forced act, while he says it was consensual. The Washington Post reports that it was unable to corroborate either version. Washington Post

• Getting Goopier. Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle brand is about to get even bigger: Goop is rolling out a new docuseries on Netflix, a podcast partnership with Delta, and a bunch of other pods centered around beauty, food, and books. Variety

• New Deal next steps. Another bit of AOC news: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has gotten commitments from the Sierra Club, Tom Steyer's NextGen America, and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) to back her upcoming resolution calling for a Green New Deal. Her office is now seeking more initial co-sponsors for the resolution, which is slated to be introduced as early as this week. Axios

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Outdoor Voices has named Pamela Catlett president and chief operating officer. Catlett was previously SVP and group general manager of the Women’s and Youth categories at Under Armour. Jacqui Cheng, formerly the editor-in-chief of Wirecutter, is WQXR’s first-ever editor-in-chief of music. Extend Fertility has named Anne Hogarty as CEO.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

• Down Under ups women on boards. Women now account for nearly 30% of board members in Australia's ASX 200 index—an impressive increase over the 10% of director seats they held in 2010. Interestingly, the nation didn't use quotas to spur change. Rather, there was informal pressure from groups like the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, a membership body for investment firms, which said it would vote against the re-election of directors at companies that didn't move to diversify their boards. Quartz

• She's the boss? Alyssa Milano, who's emerged as a prominent activist in the #MeToo movement, was in Washington last week to fight for the Equal Rights Amendment. In this interview, she talks about why she's supporting the ERA and how she thinks the country would be different if it were to be ratified nationwide. Huffington Post

• A majority moment. Despite the fact that 50.8% of state representatives and senators, combined, are now women, only two states have a female majority in any one chamber: Nevada and Colorado. According to this NPR piece, "a single chamber majority has happened only once before, in New Hampshire about a decade ago." NPR

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