open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe... New essay on Lena Dunham, misogyny and millennial cognitive dissonance.

Glenn Beck is quoting from the US Declaration of Independence and insisting that rights come from ‘the Creator’. He has made an enormous crowd of angry English nationalists go completely silent. This is hilarious.

interesting that anti trans activism has become a safe niche within the broader fascist movement for cis women. they are excluded from leadership positions, they know their place. but anti queer activism is outsourced to them.

Proud ‘Terf Island’ flags at the Unite The Right March.

The most Spirit of Britain thing to happen at the Unite the Kingdom rally is this one drunk South East Asian lady in a brown fleece, sitting on the steps of St Martin In the Fields, cheering everything, singing a song about Jesus and swigging from a two litre bottle of cider. Queen of our hearts.

Wow who could've seen this coming, except everyone paying attention...

I LOVE HER

This person at the nationalist Unite The Kingdom march is apparently dressed as a Knight Templar. I thought they were Darth Maul.

Tommy Robinson is now shilling for some ‘financial freedom’ and urging people to get their phones out and scan a QR code. I see two people doing it.

The Unite The Kingdom Rally continues weird. An American musician is now singing a song about Jesus and Charlie Kirk and people are actually leaving.

At the Unite the Right march, I just heard a speaker say that he proudly voted for Brexit…and almost nobody cheered.

At the far right Unite the Kingdom rally, The hugest crowd reaction, by far, is the booing every time someone says the name ‘Keir Starmer.’

‘As our President, Donald Trump, says…’ *dead silence* ‘Make England Great Again!’ *extremely weak ‘wahey!’* -Glenn Beck bombing at the Unite the Right march.

Proud ‘Terf Island’ flags at the Unite The Right March.

Glenn Beck is quoting from the US Declaration of Independence and insisting that rights come from ‘the Creator’. He has made an enormous crowd of angry English nationalists go completely silent. This is hilarious.

Glenn Beck is speaking at the Unite the Right march, and people are very confused. ‘I bring you greetings from the United States of America!’ …tumbleweed. A handful of people weakly clapping.

Me: trying to sleep My brain: what if Zack Polanski and Wes Streeting were secret lovers who started as bitter rivals. What if they broke up over political differences in a dramatic rainswept scene. What if Wes thought he could only impress Zack and win him back by becoming a party leader himself.

Me: trying to sleep My brain: what if Zack Polanski and Wes Streeting were secret lovers who started as bitter rivals. What if they broke up over political differences in a dramatic rainswept scene. What if Wes thought he could only impress Zack and win him back by becoming a party leader himself.

Out of interest, how many people are rereading Lord Of The Rings right now? Is it just everyone I know, or is there a spasm in the zeitgeist?

open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe... New essay on Lena Dunham, misogyny and millennial cognitive dissonance.

Look, ok, I’ll grudgingly admit that what doesn’t kill you can indeed make you stronger. I’ve done a lot of the old healing and recovering and growing. It was boring and I hated it. I’m a better person and a better writer because of it. But I’m still pissed off that I had to do it at all. UGH.

The line is: In most elections, you’re not choosing your fighter. You’re choosing your enemy.

It’s 2026, it’s 10pm, I’m in a foreign country in the empty apartment of a creative, sensitive man I am seriously fond of. I have my laptop lodged in the only uncluttered space. I am answering work emails and wrapping up a 2k word essay on Lena Dunham. I’ve grown as a person since 2011, I promise.

"Why has it taken so long for us to treat misogyny as a political problem? The modern manosphere has been metastasising for many years – and for years, mainstream culture has responded with a helpless shrug." @pennyred.bsky.social #misogyny #manosphere

"It was apparently inconceivable that violence against women could constitute a crisis – unless, of course, the violence was blamed on immigrants or on transgender people, at which point women’s safety suddenly shot to the top of the political agenda." @pennyred.bsky.social gees it laldy

Candid footage of me meeting my best friends’ baby for the first time

May I take this opportunity to congratulate all the anti-wokers for winning their precious little culture war. Well done, guys, hope the liberal tears were worth it.

May I take this opportunity to congratulate all the anti-wokers for winning their precious little culture war. Well done, guys, hope the liberal tears were worth it.

"But until straight men can be trusted not to self-regulate with sex and romance in that compulsive, dehumanising way - well, anyone who behaves like that probably shouldn’t be dating at all, let alone dating multiple people."

"I’ve watched genuinely good-hearted men, who truly didn’t set out to exploit anyone, become fuckboys simply because they were overwhelmed by options, were pathologically conflict-avoidant and hated making choices." open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe...

Sorry to be obnoxiously 2014 about all this, but patriarchy is still the problem. open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe...

"I’ve watched genuinely good-hearted men, who truly didn’t set out to exploit anyone, become fuckboys simply because they were overwhelmed by options, were pathologically conflict-avoidant and hated making choices." open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe...

open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe... I really wish it hadn’t come to this. (New essay)

Comics retailing legend Greg Ketter standing up to ICE in Minneapolis. Yes, that's tear gas. He's 70 years old.

This is a good response.

open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe... ‘Patriarchy is a pyramid scheme’

"Weaponising male rage against women’s supposed social-sexual dominance is a convenient proxy war. It’s a decoy for the rage… that comes with being in a putrefying world system. It is a stand-in for t unspeakable experience of class shame. For t indignity of loneliness & disappointment and decline."

Patriarchy is a pyramid scheme. Patriarchy funnels the rewards of male violence towards the elite while collectivising the shame, pain and frustration. Ordinary, alienated men & boys are left to stew in the self-loathing that says intimacy is something they have to tear from another human by force.

Brill “The story claims that the real power differential in society, the one that actually matters, is women’s sexual power over men. … The power, specifically, to withhold sex and everything that is supposed to come with it: pleasure, care, intimacy, validation, belonging, status, self-respect.”

Patriarchy is a political system for making traitors out of men. I wrote about organised misogyny and the Epstein Files. open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe...

"Patriarchy is a political technology. It is designed to persuade men that their interests lie with a small elite rather than with the other half of the human race."

open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe... ‘Patriarchy is a pyramid scheme’

Patriarchy is a political system for making traitors out of men. I wrote about organised misogyny and the Epstein Files. open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe...

This is the most practical, in-depth piece of writing advice of the series so far. Narrative Voice is such a basic technique that almost nobody bothers to explain it- which leaves a lot of writers struggling without knowing why. Here’s how it works. You’re welcome. substack.com/@lauriepenny...

They finally arrested the Arsehole Formerly Known As Prince.

They finally arrested the Arsehole Formerly Known As Prince.

This is the most practical, in-depth piece of writing advice of the series so far. Narrative Voice is such a basic technique that almost nobody bothers to explain it- which leaves a lot of writers struggling without knowing why. Here’s how it works. You’re welcome. substack.com/@lauriepenny...

Good Ideas are Overrated: lauriepenny.substack.com/p/how-to-pic... Part 4 of my new writing seminar.

‘Your problem is not lack of ideas. It’s not lack of originality. It’s about commitment.’ lauriepenny.substack.com/p/how-to-pic...

What we’re watching is the enshittification of democracy. Milk it for profit, load it with liabilities, strip it for parts.