We did it. Finally! The patriarchy is destroyed. Feminism? No longer necessary. It was about time—it’s 2025, after all. After running the world, women now run space. 

Or rather: five women run space. More precisely, they touched it—the very edge. For 11 minutes, including the round trip to the so-called Kármán Line, where “space” officially begins. 100 kilometers above Earth, the Blue Origin rocket’s “crew”—or more accurately, its tour group—were “taking up space,” as they laughed into the camera in unison.

After their brief moments in space, the five women came crashing back down to Earth, both literally and figuratively. Among them were pop star Katy Perry and Lauren Sánchez, fiancée of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (and owner of Blue Origin). What they framed as the next giant leap for womankind was, at best, just another PR stunt for space tourism.

On April 14, 2025, the patriarchy wasn’t dismantled. It shook hands with capitalism.

One of the richest men in the world handed out a free ride to five women – in exchange for what was presumably meant to be feel-good publicity and attract a new wave of customers ready to book their own trip on blueorigin.com. 

Feminism, in this spectacle, became little more than a label slapped onto a marketing campaign. The only real win for the public? Probably the memeability of the whole affair.

Of all the passengers, it was “California Gurl” Katy Perry who perhaps made the most “unforgettable” impression. In an interview with AP, she gushed, “I’m really excited about the engineering of it all. I’m excited to learn more about STEM… and just… the math of what it takes to accomplish this type of thing.” 

And she’s already begun her learning journey about “this type of thing”: she’s reading a book on string theory. “I was going to bed. That was definitely, like, helping. I was, like, ‘Pythagoras, Pythagoras’.”

One can only assume she was very tired—tired enough to start hallucinating Pythagoras in a book on string theory.

The 11-minute flight itself didn’t offer much time to learn anything. But during the four minutes of zero gravity, there was just enough time for Katy Perry and the other women to float in front of the onboard camera and put on a little show, holding up all kinds of things for the camera—including a plastic butterfly with the dates of Katy Perry’s next tour. 

And most prominently in her hand—and, conveniently, in the camera’s view—was a daisy. Daisy is not only the name of her daughter: The flower is as she explained in a post-flight interview, “a reminder of the beautiful Earth and the flowers here and God’s smile and the beautiful magic that is everywhere, all around us, even in a simple daisy. So, to really appreciate it, and to remember it, take care of it, protect it.”

Let’s not even get started on the fact that flying to space is essentially just a giant blast of CO₂ into the atmosphere—and definitely not a way to protect the Earth.

All of this has been rightly criticized in multiple media outlets and by thousands of people in social media comment sections.

Because this trip, clearly, is not a giant leap for feminism—it’s a playground for the rich, who pretend to care about something greater than themselves while serving little more than their own profit and public image.

But as angry as I am at this pathetic mockery of feminism, I’m also angry at something else—something harder to admit.

I catch myself falling into the trap of stereotypes.

When Katy Perry talks about things she clearly has no clue about, I don’t just see a wealthy celebrity who, as a singer, shouldn’t be expected to be an expert on astronomy. I see a woman.

And I wonder: what would have happened if it had been five men on that flight instead? If it hadn’t been a feminism-themed PR stunt, but a promotional event for the next Batman movie? What if George Clooney, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, and Robert Pattinson had been the “crew,” floating around and talking vaguely about space? Would the public—would I—mock them the way I mock Katy Perry?

Maybe I would. Maybe I would make Twilight memes: “I know what you are.” – “Say it. Out loud.” – “A space tourist.”

Or maybe I’d just notice the PR stunt, believe Robert Pattinson when he says he’s genuinely interested in “this type of thing,” then scroll on, and not feel compelled to write an article about it.

That said, I have no intention of stopping my criticism of the trip—or of the deeply questionable statements about “valuing the Earth” while simultaneously fueling climate change. And then there’s Katy Perry’s music video for “Woman’s World”—not exactly a feminist anthem, more like the male gaze set to a beat.

All of this criticism is valid. And yet, the public’s reaction—our anger, our memes, our debates—also reveals something else: that justified critique and casual misogyny often blur into the same viral firestorm. 

Feminism? Still needed—especially in 2025.