Have you every wondered what the heck happened to #FreeTheNipple? That's the question that inspired @thebugbeardispatch.bsky.social to write a deep dive on nipple equality: 

To celebrate the joy of building all of this together, we are giving 20% on subscriptions for a limited amount of time! Help us bite back, together, and get feminist cultural criticism in your inbox every week. Get the deal at the link:

And last but definitely NOT least, @katelynburns.com wrote about seeing herself in Heated Rivalry, a tender piece on queerness and sports. 

Another essential read, @andreagrimes.com on why modern fascism thrives on your loneliness, and how we can run towards each other as an antidote: 

@tinavasquez.bsky.social recently wrote this piece about the paradox of thrifting, and how finding high-quality items at the thrift store triggered her imposter syndrome:

We often say fuck the algorithm, but @sesmith.lol went long on how sex workers actually deal with income-stopping algorithms every single day: "This is not algorithmic softening. It is algorithmic violence."  

Have you ever wondered if things would be different right now if the media had actually tried to reckon with evangelical support for Trump? @thebugbeardispatch.bsky.social has: 

This week, @freeblackgirl.bsky.social wrote about a growing trend of pop culture about collectivism as a solution to the horrors. A hopeful piece for a terrible time in history: 

A few weeks ago, @nicolefroio.bsky.social wrote about children's rights, and how many, many societal issues could be fixed if we actually, truly considered children to be people: 

The Flytrap is having a 20% off sale, so what? Well, if you subscribe, you can get immediate access to hopeful, critical, feminist writing and reporting. You don't get that anywhere else but here. Here's some of out greatest hits so far:

Poetry of the Small and Strange returns this week, as I reflect on how one of my favorite board games (Arcs: the Blighted Reach) has helped me grow as a person and cope better with things I can't control. poetry-of-the-small-and-strange.ghost.io/confronting-...

If your wallet is fuller than most, we are also giving 20% off our Residents of the Bog tier, which comes with gift subscription for $88--basically, 20% off a 2-for-1 deal. Sweet, right?

We have so much we are excited to publish in the pipeline, but we need your support to keep going. We dropped prices so you can more easily help us through.

We are still a couple of months away from the World Cup of Fascism, but @katelynburns.com has promised us a piece about that. And it will be edited by @nicolefroio.bsky.social , our resident Brazilian and FIFA hater, so you KNOW it's going to be good. 

In a few weeks, we will be publishing @andreagrimes.com's piece on male loneliness and predatory betting markets, connecting the dots on a social phenomenon that depends on both patriarchy and uncontrolled capitalism. You don't want to miss that one. 

REMINDER: We are having a flash sale! Get your yearly subscription today for 20% off our regular pricing! You can sign up to our Friends of the Flytrap for a whole year for $52 at the link below:

Have you every wondered what the heck happened to #FreeTheNipple? That's the question that inspired @thebugbeardispatch.bsky.social to write a deep dive on nipple equality: 

If you grew up on Through Gates of Splendor and the martyrdom of Saint and Elliot I would recommend reading We Will Be Jaguars which tells another story of the same community. I didn't realize that when I picked it up, then I saw Rachel Saint's name in it. bookshop.org/a/84905/9781...

There is absolutely no question that political administrations have used Christians, particularly evangelical Christians, for decades to promote foreign and domestic policy. To build schools and hospitals that centralize people and move them off land needed for agriculture or extraction.

When liberation theology emerged from Catholic priests in Latin America, the US government encouraged churches to send missionaries to counter what they saw as communism from the Catholic Church. I grew up reading about the courage of men like Nate Saint and Jim Elliot, not Romero.

It is also the wrong question and simply calling Hegseth and others fake Christians lets millions of others off the hook. Why does it always WORK? That's the question. Why is the US government able to mobilize Christians so easily. And that's something for churches to work through.

The question of whether or not some people are really Christians is unhelpful because it assumes that there is a kind of "real" Christianity that is inherently good. @thebugbeardispatch.bsky.social has written EXTENSIVELY about this and her blog is worth subscribing to. www.bugbeardispatch.com

I’m so serious, if any of you are paying for that woman’s substack and not @autonomynews.co which is run by two trained journalists…

Tapping the sign again

Our subscriptions are currently 20% off, but what do you get if you subscribe? Well, here's a thread of some of or back catalogue. 👇

That's just a dollar a week, folks, to keep hard-hitting intersectional feminist cultural criticism alive on Al Gore's Green Internet

THIS OFFER IS GOING AWAY SOON. If you want to get a yearly subscription just for you, you can become a Friend of The Flytrap and get two great reads every week for just $52!

The liberation of Palestine is a threat to how we live today—that’s precisely why we should keep calling for it, writes @nicolefroio.bsky.social on pro-Palestine bands & artists. 

@freeblackgirl.bsky.social asks: what if P. Diddy’s victims were protected by labor laws instead of relying on the lack of justice of a sexist trial?

Nowadays, we are all beholden to the algorithm, and it's defining how we speak. @sesmith.lol writes about why that's a harmful trend: 

Have you every wondered what the heck happened to #FreeTheNipple? That's the question that inspired @thebugbeardispatch.bsky.social to write a deep dive on nipple equality: 

Was legit just re-reading some old Cassie Clare drama, so this topic is up my alley right now.

It is also possible to criticize art that you enjoy, or find partially successful, because you love art and appreciate it in all of its expressions, and want to see the best from artists you admire!

It's really wild that we are currently in a place where criticizing art and pop culture is seen as... bad? As if cultural criticism hasn't been a companion to art and pop culture for literally as long as art has existed.

Thanks for your permission, bestie! We will continue being haters, as prescribed by our mission of principled cultural criticism.

So what you're saying is, if there's something problematic or immoral about a social practice, don't point it out because people don't want to hear it. And it's not true that there wasn't critique of HP before all this, there's been a lot of it. Look up "Witch Please" for example.

But cultural criticism has existed for as long as art has--it is a kind of speech that goes hand-in-hand with the consumption of it. To say it "doesn't work" is bizarre, as it is a companion to art rather than a moral indictment.

What is an effective strategy, in your view? On your broader point, I think if people want to enjoy things, people who are unhappy with that are allowed to criticize. It's just free speech: if problematic things can exist, we are allowed to criticize them.

THIS OFFER IS GOING AWAY SOON. If you want to get a subscription just for you, you can become a Friend of The Flytrap and get two great reads every week for just $52! www.theflytrapmedia.com/feminism-in-...

This is a genuinely good offer imo.

HAPPY FLYTRAP TUESDAY!! This week, @sesmith.lolwrote about the trend of pulling Harry Potter fanfics to be published as books, and why that's harmful to trans people, emerging authors, and literature more broadly.  

"...when communicating with authoritarians, never assume they mean the same thing you mean when they use the same words—and never take their rhetoric at face value."

Please don’t use “unchristian” as an insult. Christian’s do not have a monopoly on goodness. Please! #Catholic & #Christian exceptionalism does not reflect Christ. It’s naked prejudice.

2/Every time I encounter this form of bigotry, I am newly grateful for the writing/work/ Chrissy Stroop has done on this. @thebugbeardispatch.bsky.social

It's taken awhile to really see it, but @thebugbeardispatch.bsky.social was instrumental in finally getting me to understand how pervasive Christian supremacy is in American culture, and how damaging that can be with her writings.

this post is so good! highly recommend subscribing to The Flytrap (a great idea anyway) so you can read it! JKR is a butthole!

A good reason to take advantage of @theflytrapmedia.com's current 20% off subscription sale and help keep feminist journalism alive through these tough evonomic times! The Flytrap share.google/WJehKDFX8fjz...

I just choked on my coffee.