I originally wrote this piece for Bitch Media in 2017. Given *looks around* everything happening with GLP-1s and the re-rise of diet culture, I updated the story to reflect on our current moment. There is also no paywall on our Bitch reprints, so get into it ⬇️

You should also read this fascinating @prismreports.org exclusive from the brilliant @nicolefroio.bsky.social. Nicole spent months studying social media posts from U.S. embassies in Latin America, identifying the State Department’s xenophobic campaign of fear in Venezuela, Brazil, and Mexico:

“Hollywood’s aversion to original stories isn’t a bug,” writes Vanessa Willoughby in her postmortem of “And Just Like That” for @theflytrapmedia.com. “It’s a long-standing feature.”

It’s Giving Tuesday, and the support of readers via Patreon means the world to this writer, speaker, and advocate. I’m a truth teller who doesn’t bothsides issues or kowtow to the powerful and wealthy for access. This isn’t lucrative, but with your help I can keep doing it www.patreon.com/cstroop

Being part of a Bitch Media Access Issue that Alice Wong co-edited with @freeblackgirl.bsky.social was really special, even more so now. My piece was republished in the @theflytrapmedia.com today (with some updates to make the piece more current). the-flytrap.ghost.io/complex-futu...

Anna Hamilton and worker-owner of The Flytrap @sesmith.lol examine the nuances of anti-ableism and language in online spaces: the-flytrap.ghost.io/language-wars/

Julia Métreaux investigates the future of remote work: the-flytrap.ghost.io/complex-futu...

Jaipreet Virdi and Liz Jackson imagine the potential of accessible design: the-flytrap.ghost.io/beyond-funct...

Podcaster Thomas Reid delves into the importance of culturally accurate audio descriptions in entertainment: the-flytrap.ghost.io/in-living-co...

Start here: A roundtable about disabled Black girl magic, with Vilissa Thompson and Keah Brown. the-flytrap.ghost.io/let-freedom-...

In honor of @sfdirewolf.bsky.social's legacy as a disability activist and writer, today we are republishing Bitch Magazine's Access Series, which was originally curated by Alice Wong. Worker-owner and former Bitch editor-in-chief Evette Dionne updated the intro to the series here:

Can Elon come in?

“There is a very clear and distinct caste system in prison.” Aaron Edward Olson reports for @thenation.com and @typeinvestigations.org about how prisons in Washington State intentionally discriminate against incarcerated immigrants.

In a beautifully illustrated piece for the @nytimes.com, Robert Lee Williams writes about how he came to embrace trees as a symbol of freedom.

“Until reproductive justice and climate movements truly center incarcerated voices ... their work remains incomplete.” EA writer @kwanetaharris.bsky.social joined @omisadeburneyscott.bsky.social for a @scalawagmagazine.bsky.social piece about menopause, incarceration, and the climate crisis.

I care mostly about envisioning new realities for Black, Indigenous, incarcerated, and LGBTQ+ (specifically trans) journalists. I just do not care what yt folks are doing in journalism because it usually involves them doing fucked up stuff to maintain the status quo.

One thing about me: I rarely, if ever, know what white people are doing in media. I just know it is usually fucked up … and that’s enough for me. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Hey y’all! I am safe but I still need some help reaching my latest goal of 1000 for housing and food costs. If you are able to donate and/or repost, I would truly appreciate it 🧡

We're reprinting another Bitch mag classic today and celebrating @scarleteen.com, the internet's best sex-ed site.

One of our writers, @joinjeremy.org, spoke to @inquest.bsky.social, about the obstacles he and other incarcerated journalists encounter when trying to share what is really happening inside our prisons, jails, and detention centers—the most secluded public institutions in the United States.

It is Tuesday, which means I am devoting a few hours to this project. I will be doing so on Tuesdays for the foreseeable future, so if you published stories in Bitch Media and want to consider having them republished, please get in touch! You can also drop your email below and I will reach out. 💜

Today is my birthday. I would like many things but from you specifically I want $2,500 for @scarleteen.com's annual fundraiser, which is supporting staff & volunteer healthcare this year. We need $2,500 to unlock a $10,000 match and this would really make my day! Donate to my campaign page here.

She was extraordinary, and extraordinarily generous. Alice Wong: I am so grateful to have been alive in her lifetime. She was one of our species' best. She deserved better. My her legacy be for a blessing.

It was announced on October 16, 2025 that VIBE was "joining forces" with Rolling Stone. As a result, the majority of VIBE employees were laid off. If you have the means to give, this team could use the support! www.gofundme.com/f/support-vi...

I do not have words, just immense sadness and gratitude. I will miss Alice Wong deeply. We are all better because she was here. 💔

BREAKING: Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt stops the scheduled execution of Tremane Wood today, commuting his sentence to life without parole. In doing so, Stitt accepted the recommendation of the Pardon and Parole Board. This is Stitt’s second death-sentence commutation as governor.

Okay, so, we’re all going to have to agree that it’s wrong to have sex with children. Like, if you don’t agree with me inside your own head, you should keep that inside until you tell a therapist. Also, people who defend pedophiles can not be trusted with your children. At all. AT ALL. EVERRRRRRRRR.

What if instead of Cyber Monday (aka Daddy Bezos Day), we did a Support Indie Media Monday? What are your favorite indie publications? Who are some of your favorite freelance and indie reporters and commentators? Can we make this a thing?

For my Xtra column this month, I wrote about what it's been like living as a trans person in Trump's first year and the outlook moving forward. xtramagazine.com/power/politi...

It’s Flytrap Tuesday, and I have thoughts about boobs the-flytrap.ghost.io/amid-fierce-...

⬇️ A reminder for writers who published stories in Bitch Media

For @teenvogue.com I wrote about the death of trans athlete Lia Smith and how trans youth kind themselves with central pillars of their lives being constantly ripped away from them because of politics. www.teenvogue.com/story/politi...

BREAKING: The Supreme Court DENIES former county clerk Kim Davis's request for the justices to take up her longshot bid to overturn 2015's Obergefell v. Hodges marriage equality decision. No justice even writes about the request.

I wrote about the fecklessness of the Democrats ending this shutdown for my newsletter this morning. www.burnsnotice.com/what-was-the...

This has not gotten much attention, but it should. Virginia under Youngkin returned to an insanely harsh system where people convicted of any felony lose their voting rights FOR LIFE. Dems' win this week mean they'll get to advance a constitutional amendment to end lifetime disenfranchisement.

Remember the #FreeTheNipple movement? An artifact of a more optimistic time, do you think it’s still relevant and that topless equality is worth fighting for? As “problematic” and naive as some of the activism of a decade ago could be, I do. I’ll say more on this soon in @theflytrapmedia.com

This week, @michellepolizzi.bsky.social writes about TV & film that depict coercive control and how survivors could actually be helped by the system and the community around them: 

ICYMI: Last week, @freeblackgirl.bsky.social wrote about Netflix's The Perfect Neighbor, a documentary that subverts police body cams to tell a heart wrenching story of fatal racism.

We are an independent nonprofit that relies on donations to keep our training and coaching free for all writers — so they can shift the narrative on mass incarceration. You can help support our work:

So uh. I've spent the last five years working on a book about grief, mourning, who is allowed to grieve and how, and where we go from here, and... you can now preorder it!

I had the honor of reading and blurbing @sesmith.lol’s book and it is as amazing as it sounds. Please consider preordering!

BREAKING: Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that would raise state income taxes on higher-earning households to fund free meals for all public school students. Follow AP for live updates.

I need the Democratic establishment to wake tf up. Progressives are done playing patty cake with y’all. Get with it or get out the way.

What's happening with SNAP is incredibly uncertain and I'm hearing from comrades all over who are struggling, confused, and getting mixed messages about their bennies. I wrote about how SNAP affects families with medically complex children who use SNAP/WIC at @civileats.com!

Zohran Mamdani will be New York’s youngest mayor in over a century and the city’s first Muslim and first South Asian mayor. He has twice defeated Andrew Cuomo, who resigned as governor in the face of sexual harassment allegations. https://bit.ly/47pa8LH

ZOHRAN MAMDANI

⚠️PAYWALL DROP ALERT⚠️ As we all watch New Yorkers vote, why not read @katelynburns.com's case for shortening the election cycle? Free to read today only!

Hi! I have reached out to as many writers as I could find for the Bitch x @theflytrapmedia.com project I am shepherding. If you published stories in Bitch and want to have them potentially republished at The Flytrap, email us! I’ll be responding. flyteam[at]theflytrapmedia[dot]com

“Condé was content to hold Teen Vogue up as a prop for diversity, youth representation and progressive ideals when it benefited it, and then to unceremoniously discard the entire publication” a sad, too-fucking-familiar story