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samantha riedel

@samanthawrites.net

1.3K followers 450 following 800 posts

very tired word girl @them.us | member, @transjournalists.org pic by @phobia.bsky.social | banner by @jukeboxcomix.bsky.social Signal (for confidential tips): sriedel.90

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samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · Apr 10

hi freaks! I'm Samantha Riedel. I write about transgender politics, art, & culture, mostly for @them.us. after a decade I think I almost have the hang of it...!

my website: samanthawrites.net
irregular newsletter: samanthaistyping.beehiiv.com/subscribe
latest Them work: www.them.us/contributor/...

samantha riedel is typing...

The online home of journalist and essayist Samantha Riedel. If you're reading this, it's already too late.

samanthawrites.net

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 14h

may be more relevant as a vibe shift than as policy shift—because decrim requires changes to state laws, and also because there will be no meaningful decrim in NYC with the NYPD we have. I would be asking a lot more re: how he'd get the NYPD to abide *any* policy change he wants to make

Peter Sterne @petersterne.com · 14h

In the past, Zohran Mamdani has supported full decriminalization of sex work (which is undoubtedly the leftist position). But he's been harshly criticized by social conservatives for that position, and now his campaign suggests he may be open to the Nordic model. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/n...

“Criminalizing clients, friends, family and allies of sex workers makes it extraordinarily difficult for them to meaningfully participate in public life, including paying rent, earning a living or even walking down the street,” he wrote in a questionnaire when running for re-election in 2022.

He also said in the survey that he opposed the “Nordic model,” legislation that would prohibit arresting prostitutes themselves while allowing clients to be detained and charged.

Asked if Mr. Mamdani still opposes that approach, Dora Pekec, his campaign spokeswoman, said the campaign was still weighing the advice of policy experts and advocates.

Mr. Mamdani cosponsors several bills to decriminalize prostitution, none of which have advanced out of committee. One would have repealed “statutes that criminalize sex work between consenting adults, but keep laws relating to minors or trafficking.”

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samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 14h

PHOBES HOLY SHIT

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 14h

there are a lot of reasons why eric kaufmann's study is abject nonsense, as many others have pointed out already, but imo it's hard to beat "the weighted data directly contradicts this report's conclusion"

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samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 14h

breaking: "anti woke" academia fails at basic data analysis; matt walsh is a dope

www.them.us/story/eric-k...

Right-Wingers Celebrate Flawed Study Claiming a "Decline" in Trans Identity

One data scientist called the report “dead on arrival” over its inaccuracies.

www.them.us

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Dorothy @catandgirl.bsky.social · 16h

Cat and Girl vs the Merfolk

Cat and Girl walk down a bust street. Splash! Girl wades into the water. "How long have we been wet?" Cat asks. "Always-", replies Girl, "you weren't paying attention." "I guess I just got used to it" says Cat. "Is it getting deeper? Should we worry"? They wade further in. "It's OK," says Girl, "class is fluid." "I should have brought galoshes," Cat says. "Personal responsibility can only go so far" replies Girl. "It's all we can do to keep our own heads above water." "What's below the water," Cat wonders. "I should have brought my scuba gear" Girl says. "Personal responsibility can only go so far" says Cat. BUB BUB BUB, he sticks his head in the water. "Eventually the layers of sediment," Girl says, "hardens into caste." "WOW you don't want to be in there" says Cat. The water arounds them hardens, and they are stick in place. They look at the wasteland around them. A hand with a coffee cup peeks out of the newly hardened ground. A hat sits on a mound. "Looks OK up here" Girl says. Cat looks over - "Ooooh free hat!"

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More Carta @morecarta.bsky.social · 3d

I am fundraising for an anonymous friend, who is a trans sex worker and POC. They are at risk of losing custody of their children. Please, please donate. This is a situation that is painful and scary beyond description.

PLEASE SHARE GRAPHICS WIDELY

🫂 www.gofundme.com/f/help-keep-... 🫂

URGENT NEED! HELP KEEP FAMILY TOGETHER, DONATE NOW!

We are raising funds for a pillar of our community: a trans sex worker of color who is at risk of losing custody of their children. While their lawyers are confident they can win this discriminatory case, funds are needed by February 2026. We believe they should no longer have to face this on their own, which is why we are asking for your support.

Goal: $50,000

https://www.gofundme.com/help-keep-family-together-urgent

Venmo: carta-monir
Cashapp: $cartamonir

Send donations with a red heart emoji to ensure funds are redirected to this SWER

We are raising funds for a beloved community member; a trans sex worker of color who is at risk of losing custody of their children. For their safety and privacy they must remain anonymous, but this is a pillar of our community, loved and verified by those of us running this fundraiser.

Our friend is facing a trial in February regarding the custody of their young children. The case against them is based on the fact that their primary form of income is sex work. Notably, the judge of the initial custody arrangement ruled that their job was not reason enough to restrict their parenting time years ago. Because of this precedent, their lawyer feels very confident they will win their upcoming case.

To defend their rights to parent their own children, our friend needs to raise $75,000 by February 2026. This staggering amount of money is required by the court to cover the costs associated with a two day trial (lawyers fees, expert witnesses, the court reporter, depositions, creation of trial binders, the list goes on). If they cannot secure these funds by the February deadline, they will be forced to settle, resulting in severely reduced interaction with their children. We obviously do not want this to happen.

Our friend has provided for themself and their children for years, fighting their custody battle in private while continuing to be an incredible parent, friend, and educator. They can no longer face this by themselves, which is why we are asking for your support.

In our current political climate, we know that our friend's situation is especially precarious. This is a crucial moment to show solidarity with a community member who needs it more than ever.

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samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 2d

In fairness, we don't know that this wasn't the eventual plan for later games since things were kept so vague for sequel bait purposes

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samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 2d

This is a much better angle than "kett bad"

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samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 2d

well I romanced jaal and I'm here to say
I agree with Nikki in a major way

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 2d

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy passed away today according to the House of GG. She was a veteran of the Stonewall rebellion and a lifelong organizer for the safety and dignity of trans people, sex workers, and the incarcerated. She came from the same generation and milieu as Marsha and Sylvia. She was 78.

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samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 5d

both teams can resummon their starting pitcher from GY by tributing two infielders

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 6d

big galerider energy

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 6d

sliver hive rise up :3

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 7d

the rule of law is a system meant to maintain white innocence

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Corinne Green @ket.bsky.social · 8d

horrific whiplash in PR, which just several years ago was explicitly affirming our care had to be covered. but already this year PR enacted a criminal ban up to age 21 w/ a 15yr prison sentence, and now this. here's the donation page if you're able to pitch in:
www.trueselffoundation.org/donar/

BOUTHERN EQUALITY

kytranshealth and 3 others

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SUPPORT TRANS PUERTO RICANS

We learned a few days ago that on 10/6, Medicaid in Puerto Rico will stop covering all medications used for gender-affirming care.

True Self Foundation has established an emergency fund to cover the cost of GAC for trans Puerto Ricans, but they need more funding to meet the vast need.

The link to donate is in the KHJN Trans Health page bio.

Trans people in Puerto Rico are facing an unprecedented crisis. This Medicaid announcement comes just months after a ban on gender-affirming care for anyone under 21 was signed into law.

True Self Foundation is assisting trans youth + their families as well as trans adults. Donate to provide direct support to trans people in Puerto Rico.

The link to donate is in the KHJN Trans Health page bio.

kytranshealth: We learned a few days ago that on 10/6, Medicaid in Puerto Rico will stop covering all medications used for gender-affirming care.

True Self Foundation has established an emergency fund to cover the cost of GAC for trans Puerto Ricans, but they need more funding to meet the vast need.

Trans people in Puerto Rico are facing an unprecedented crisis. This Medicaid announcement comes just months after a ban on gender-affirming care for anyone under 21 was signed into law.

True Self Foundation is assisting trans youth + their families as well as trans adults. Donate to provide direct support to trans people in Puerto Rico.

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samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 9d

what the FUCK

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 10d

It's late afternoon in America, which means it's time for us all to share a cold one

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ACLU @aclu.org · 13d

BREAKING: Our client Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning journalist detained by ICE in retaliation for livestreaming law enforcement activity, will be deported tomorrow to El Salvador.

Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.

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Julia Serano @juliaserano.bsky.social · 13d

just learning now that "waffles" is about Jəsse Singəl, so I will re-up this piece that chronicles his long history of harassing primarily trans women (+ other trans ppl & allies) online... juliaserano.blogspot.com/2017/12/my-j...

screenshot from linked to article that reads (in part):
Jun 18, 2018 – Katherine Cross on Singal sending her an email “swearing a storm at me because I tweeted something he disliked that he felt was untrue.”
Jun 18, 2018 – Cat Fitzpatrick mentions Singal threatened to sue her for politely disagreeing with him.
Jan 15, 2019 – Singal levies legal threats against two writers who mention that they personally know trans women who’ve had bad interactions with him.
Jul 7, 2020 – the day the Harper’s Letter (which Singal was a signatory) was released, Singal instigated pile-ons of multiple people. I captured him initiating the pile-on of Jennifer Finney Boylan as it was occurring in this thread (both up & down from linked-to tweet). Emily VanDerWerff reacts to Singal’s pile-on of her here and, two days later, discusses the aftermath of that pile-on (which included “Death threats, rape threats, invitations to commit suicide, constant misgendering, etc”). Ari Drennen took screenshots of Singal targeting Aja Romano.
Because Singal’s attack on Emily VanDerWerff was premised on his false presumption that she was trying to get one of her employers fired (which she has denied), lots of other writers began coming forward with stories of Singal contacting their employers and editors because he disliked what they wrote. Here are some of those instances:
Jul 7, 2020 – Katelyn Burns on Singal “repeatedly emailing my employer until they fired me” is found here. A week later a co-worker corroborated that story.
Jul 7, 2020 – Noah Berlatsky shares: “also Jesse emailed me to demand I save DMs from Katelyn and others and investigate them for him, implying he would sue me otherwise.”
Jul 7, 2020 – Katerine Cross shares: “Back when I wrote for Feministing, he repeatedly badgered the editors trying to get a critical post that mentioned him briefly changed or taken down.”
Jul 9, 2020 – Harron Walker shares how Singal “emailed my editor many times after this was published seeking correction....o…

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Lex McMenamin (they/them) @leximcmenamin.com · 14d

Assata Shakur's story, Marian Jones writes in @teenvogue.com, is "also a reminder of the impact of COINTELPRO, and how it continues to impact activists today through technological surveillance, the criminalization of protest, and the targeting of dissidents." Shakur passed in Cuba on Friday.

Assata Shakur Was a Black Revolutionary Who Fought for Freedom Even in Exile

“Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.”

www.teenvogue.com

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Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 14d

One of my favorite anecdotes from THE PREHISTORY OF THE FAR SIDE: "That doesn't sound like the Jane Goodall we know."

A few days after this cartoon was published, my syndicate received a very indignant letter from someone representing the Jane Goodall Institute.
Not only did my syndicate and I both get read the Riot Act, there was a vague implication that litigation over this cartoon might be around the corner.
I was horrified. Not so much from a fear of being sued (I just couldn't see how this cartoon could be construed as anything but silly, but because of my deep respect for Jane Goodall and her well-known contributions to pri-matology. The last thing in the world I would have intentionally done was offend Dr. Goodall in any way.
Before I had a chance to write my apology, another complication arose.
The National Geographic Society contacted my syndicate and expressed a

desire to reprint the cartoon in a special centennial issue of their magazine. My editor, aware of what had just occurred, declined, explaining why.
Apparently, whoever it was that sent the inquiry from National Geographic was shocked. They told my editor that "that doesn't sound like the Jane Goodall we know." They did some checking themselves, and an interesting fact was eventually discovered: Jane Goodall loved the cartoon. Furthermore, she was totally unaware that any of this "stuff" was going on. Some phone calls were made, and the cartoon was not only reprinted in the centennial issue of National Geographic, but was also used by her Institute on a T-shirt for fund-raising purposes.
I've since had an opportunity to visit Dr. Goodall at her research facility in Gombe. It's a wonderful place (sort of like right out of National Geographic).
"To refer to Dr. Goodall as a tramp is inexcusable even by a self-described 'loony' as Larson. The cartoon was incredibly offensive and in such poor taste that readers might well question the editorial judgment of running such an atrocity in a newspaper that reputes to be supplying news to persons with a better than average intelligence. The cartoon and its message were absolutely stupid." —Excerpt from the above-mentioned letter that started the ruckus

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samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 14d

*pounding on the table* tfpreg! tfpreg!! tfpreg!!!!!!

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samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 14d

Holy fuck Kris got SWOLE

I need to get back into aew 🫣

samantha riedel @samanthawrites.net · 14d

and THAT'S allyship

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Prism @prismreports.org · 14d

“It’s not possible to pinkwash a genocide. The rainbow flag had morphed into a tool of colonial conquest.”

Israel claims to be an LGBTQIA+ haven. Some advocates see this simply as propaganda, but Palestinians say it leads to real harm against queer people in Palestine, Simi Kadirgamar reports.

How Israel uses ‘pinkwashing’ to terrorize Palestinians

Israel claims to be an LGBTQIA+ haven. Some advocates see this simply as propaganda, but Palestinians say it leads to real harm against queer people in Palestine

prismreports.org

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