Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 04/10/2026The strangest thing about being a ‘woke person’ is everyone insisting that you believe a set of totally stupid, largely fictional things, trying to debate you on that basis, and then getting cross when you try to explain that no, you don’t think that because that’s stupid. Anyone else had this? 101007
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 04/10/2026I’ve read three books this week where the author interrupts an interesting chapter to go off on a tiresome, ignorant, totally unrelated rant about MeToo/neurodivergence/‘standpoint theory’ like they’ve been inceptioned. What’s going on? 2283
Reposted by Laurie PennySaeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Headlines like “Has Woke Gone Too Far” or “Has ‘Me Too’ Gone Too Far” are a tell that those movements are just starting to take off. They are terrified of Black ethos breaking containment and so everything they can to shut down momentum. 441871
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Me, cleaning my little house, to the tune of ‘Hounds of Love’: ‘Take the bins out And throooooow them in the skip.’ 2270
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 28/09/2026I’M 40 TODAY. And if you would like to help me celebrate, I would love nothing better than if you’d subscribe to my Substack. It means a lot to me. And just for today, I’m doing a 40% sale for new subscribers: lauriepenny.substack.com/p/birthday-s...lauriepenny.substack.comBirthday Subscription Drive: 40% Off!Help me celebrate a new decade. This is the biggest discount I’ll ever do. 5282
Reposted by Laurie PennyLove Wins Always @lovewinzalways.bsky.social · 02/09/2026This important piece by @pennyred.bsky.social was both my introduction to Milo—in 2016—and the first accurate prediction of everything to come. This as normies were in absolute denial of both the seriousness of the alt-right's bloodthirst and the strength of its connections to Yarvin and Anglin.medium.comI’m With The BannedWhat my evening with Milo told me about Twitter’s biggest troll, the death of reason, and the crucible of A-list con-men that is the… 1205
Reposted by Laurie PennyCivilian Reader @civilianreader.com · 08/09/2026TBT for CR20: from 10 years ago, an interview with Laurie Penny (@pennyred.bsky.social)... civilianreader.com/2016/09/08/i...civilianreader.comInterview with LAURIE PENNYLet’s start with an introduction: Who is Laurie Penny? Back-of-a-napkin CV? I’m a writer and a political journalist, I live in London, and I come from the internet, just like you. I’m 2… 021
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 26/08/2026First Dolly, now Tim Curry. This is horrendous. All we can do is keep the memory of these icons alive. Who would we be otherwise? What kind of world would we be leaving for Keith Richards? 1612
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 24/08/2026I’m reading the book Professor Jason Arday co-wrote about neurodiversity politics and so far it’s charming and clever and we haven’t quite got past an extensive detour into synth-pop and fuck, this guy had a lovely brain. And the British media bullied him to death on purpose about it. 1498
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 24/08/2026The look on my therapist’s face when I told her I thought that was made up 130
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 24/08/2026An essay about ADHD, by me, featuring a definitely relevant detour to discuss Brian Blessed and yetis. lauriepenny.substack.com/p/the-great-...lauriepenny.substack.comThe Great ADHD Myth.Apparently, THE SYSTEM is to blame. For everything else, there’s Elvanse. 2213
Reposted by Laurie PennyNisa Malli @nisamalli.bsky.social · 24/08/2026“Only one type of person has ever questioned my ADHD, and that’s adults who have spent their lives wrestling with very similar traits. They’ve worked very very hard to convince everyone that they’re normal” - @pennyred.bsky.social lauriepenny.substack.com/p/the-great-...lauriepenny.substack.comThe Great ADHD Myth.Apparently, THE SYSTEM is to blame. For everything else, there’s Elvanse. 0144
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 24/08/2026The 2020s are a disabling place to live. Modern life makes it harder for people with certain traits to function. This does not sit comfortably with the Protestant Work Ethic. I wrote about the ‘The Great ADHD Myth’, here- lauriepenny.substack.com/p/the-great-ad…lauriepenny.substack.com 0144
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 24/08/2026Apparently, according to new investigations, not very fucking many mistakes at all. Apart from being good at several things. 030
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 17/08/2026Thousands and thousands of people here at the Jason Arday vigil in Trafalgar Square. This was taken just before the 6pm start. It’s now too packed to take photos. 16714
Reposted by Laurie PennyNanjala @nanjala.bsky.social · 17/08/2026Precisely. Creating a narrow standard of femininity predicated on weakness and using it as a weapon to punish especially black women. Notice they haven’t said a peep about soccer which is primarily played by white women in the US, has more teams and pays more money. 315362
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 16/08/2026Timeline cleanse: Weird wedding traditions in your country/community/family? I’ve just discovered that in Norway, if one half of the newly married couple leaves the room for any random reason, everyone else gets to line up to snog the other. 4121
Reposted by Laurie PennyArghavan Salles, MD, PhD @arghavansallesmd.medsky.social · 15/08/2026Over 200 articles were written about Jason Arday over the last few weeks in the British press alone. Here are some folks accused of plagiarism who didn’t get that kind of coverage. I’m hoping you can tell why. A thread. William O’Reilly: Professor at Cambridge who lifted 12 pages of text from… 1/ 311657
Reposted by Laurie PennyLaurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 15/08/2026The British press bullied a vulnerable person to death, and they had fun doing it. Jason Arday made mistakes. He was publicly humiliate and mobbed for those mistakes purely because he was Black and autistic. Anti-woke ghouls decided to make an example of him. It’s not a ‘tragedy’. It’s a travesty. 214635
Reposted by Laurie PennyArghavan Salles, MD, PhD @arghavansallesmd.medsky.social · 15/08/2026PS it’s worth noting this witch hunt was started by a guy (yes, he is) who lost his position at Cambridge for saying if we lived in a meritocracy there would be 0 Black faculty at Harvard. That’s whose bidding the media gladly did. 18326
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 15/08/2026*hollow laughter* yup. I hope you’ve found a community where solidarity is extended to you, too. You deserve that. 000
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 15/08/2026The British press bullied a vulnerable person to death, and they had fun doing it. Jason Arday made mistakes. He was publicly humiliate and mobbed for those mistakes purely because he was Black and autistic. Anti-woke ghouls decided to make an example of him. It’s not a ‘tragedy’. It’s a travesty. 214635
Reposted by Laurie PennyLaurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 11/08/2026If enough other people feel this way, I’m more than happy to spend some of my post-burnout spoons cross-posting everything to Patreon. Let me know! 7291
Reposted by Laurie PennyLaurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 11/08/2026open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe...open.substack.comNo, I Will Not Wear A Sunflower LanyardA Preliminary Taxonomy of Neurodivergent Aesthetics 6133
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 11/08/2026They are cool but I keep hoarding them because I’m worried about running out again. Anyway, that’s done now :) 120
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 11/08/2026Thank you. I cannot tell you how worried I was about my ridiculously limited reserve of spoons, but now I think I can manage. 150
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 11/08/2026You cannot imagine how unhappy I was to discover that I’m a Bright Winter. 120
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 11/08/2026Message received. I’m reviving my Patreon for everyone who would like to support my work without giving Substack their money. Thank you for being clear with me about that. Here’s the latest: www.patreon.com/lauriepenny/...patreon.comAutism and The English. | Laurie PennyAutism and The English. by Laurie Penny on Patreon. Join Laurie Penny's community for exclusive content and updates. 3353
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 11/08/2026www.patreon.com/lauriepenny/... My latest, now on Patreon for those with perfectly reasonable ethical objections to Substack.patreon.comAutism and The English. | Laurie PennyAutism and The English. by Laurie Penny on Patreon. Join Laurie Penny's community for exclusive content and updates. 0274
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 11/08/2026If enough other people feel this way, I’m more than happy to spend some of my post-burnout spoons cross-posting everything to Patreon. Let me know! 7291
Reposted by Laurie PennyLaurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 10/08/2026open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe...open.substack.comAutism and The EnglishThe neurodiversity backlash is about class. 5217
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 11/08/2026open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe...open.substack.comNo, I Will Not Wear A Sunflower LanyardA Preliminary Taxonomy of Neurodivergent Aesthetics 6133
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 10/08/2026open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe...open.substack.comAutism and The EnglishThe neurodiversity backlash is about class. 5217
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 05/08/2026substack.com/@lauriepenny...substack.comLaurie Penny (@lauriepenny)The purpose of a system is what it does. The pretext for the UK’s new transphobic bathroom bill is ‘women’s safety’. That is not what it does. This is the actual, real-as-in-actually-happening-rig... 0122
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 29/07/2026My essay on The Odyssey just dropped: open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe...open.substack.comThere's Only One Wrong Opinion About The Odyssey.Petty tyrants and intellectual invertebrates are determined to wreck this rare and lovely moment of mass culture. 0183
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 29/07/2026We are all trapped in modern fascism’s paranoid retcon engine, but it doesn’t work the way they want it to. open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe...open.substack.comThere's Only One Wrong Opinion About The Odyssey.Petty tyrants and intellectual invertebrates are determined to wreck this rare and lovely moment of mass culture. 1172
Reposted by Laurie PennyLaurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 11/07/2026Me and my sweetie are going to attempt to watch THE FOOTBALL. I am English. He is Norwegian. Neither of us know much about THE FOOTBALL and its various players. Please tell me what I need to know about the football NB If you lie I will believe you. 16331
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 11/07/2026I’ve seen that guy. My Norwegian sweetie is also massive and blonde with no eyebrows, so I do see the appeal. 070
Laurie Penny @pennyred.bsky.social · 11/07/2026Me and my sweetie are going to attempt to watch THE FOOTBALL. I am English. He is Norwegian. Neither of us know much about THE FOOTBALL and its various players. Please tell me what I need to know about the football NB If you lie I will believe you. 16331
Reposted by Laurie PennySpoonieAngrySpoonie @kentishish.bsky.social · 11/07/2026Talk to @pennyred.bsky.social! She's resisting (and running a writing seminar inspiring others to resist as well, I'm taking it). She wrote a spectacular article: open.substack.com/pub/lauriepe...open.substack.comAI Writes Like a Depressed Person If a Depressed Person Could Write.And there are important reasons for that. On Art, AI and a few things that happened to me. 074
