Does the “Free Britney” movement advance or undermine disability justice? — After years of speculation that she has been held, medicated, and generally manipulated by a nefarious network of familial and state actors, on June 23, Britney Spears finally spoke. During a 23-minute statement to a Los Angelos Superior Court judge, Spears explained the details of her conservatorship with excruciating clarity:

#2: It creates “good” and “bad” survivors — Note: This article was inspired by watching a naked man get shot by the Vancouver Police Department. I am ashamed that I watched the video. I won’t link to it here because the news outlet that aired it should also be ashamed. I am now reflecting on all the times…

But I do know what it says about the world around me. — 2020 has sucked. I needn’t reiterate the toll taken by the pandemic (and with it, isolation, income loss, conspiracy theories, and astronomical death rates in ostensibly “advanced” nations), nor need I review the extent to which police brutality, racial uprisings, state neglect, and an attempted coup in the U.S. …

Charitable giving can do more harm than good. Here’s why, and here’s what to do instead. — The Holidays are here, and ten months into a global pandemic that has ravaged families, exposed inequalities, and exacerbated wealth gaps, charitable giving is uniquely significant. People need help — badly — and those who can give, want to. Covid may have revealed the cartoon villianesque greed of the one…

Claiming that Beth’s ending was too “easy” reflects tired misconceptions about addiction — Warning: This article contains spoilers When I first read about The Queen’s Gambit, I expected it to be terrible. The Netflix miniseries dropped in October, and its protagonist, chess prodigy Beth Harmon, was immediately lauded for her beauty, wit, and nuance. …

What do we miss when we assume that eating disorders are just about appearance? — “Common — sense” narratives about eating disorders often refer to body image. …

Complicated. And More Common Than You Think. — When you read the words “eating disorder,” what comes to mind? Do you visualize a young woman? Is she White? Able-bodied? Emaciated? For decades this is who we have been taught to associate with disordered eating. That anyone else might struggle with food and body image concerns has been overlooked…

Like White saviorism, sober saviorism is based on coercion and control. It’s also inherently violent. How can we do better? — Sober saviorism: The personal, cultural, and institutional projects that frame drug users as helpless victims to be rescued from themselves by non — drug using actors. Drawing from “White saviorism,” the phenomenon of altruistic non — drug users guiding incompetent, unstable drug users from the margins to the mainstream in…

‘Medically unexplained’ symptoms are as misunderstood as they are common. Here’s what I wish people knew. — At 24 years old, my stomach hurt. A lot. It wasn’t “gastrointestinal discomfort” (though multiple doctors tried to argue about my diet), nor did it indicate that I was menstruating (I was anorexic and hadn’t done so in years). This was a “my abdomen is being sliced down the middle…