Jojo Siwa has been a lot of things: an eleven-year-old abused on television for public entertainment, a tween merchandising mogul with a billion dollar brand, Nickelodeon’s first out gay child star, and most recently, a dollar store trad wife. Behind the facade of endlessly shapeshifting court jester, though, Jojo Siwa is a 22-year-old human who has not known life without cameras and a momager since she was nine. Today, Kat Tenbarge and I do some good ole (queer) child star anthropology — and make the case that we, the viewers, are not morally neutral for tuning in. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon ! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity . Read Kat’s work at Spitfire News . Find me on Instagram . Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

On the twilight of Pride Month, the New York Times published (and sent out a push notification for) a guest essay titled “How the Gay Rights Movement Radicalized and Lost Its Way” by a gay journalist named Andrew Sullivan. If you thought I could resist this A Bit Fruity bait, you’d be wrong. Today, Chase Strangio — who recently made history as the first trans lawyer to argue in front of the Supreme Court in US v. Skrmetti — helps us parse out some genuinely difficult questions. What is the right way to ask people in power for your rights? Has the gay movement gone too far? What is the point of the New York Times? Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon ! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Get smarter about your (and your dad’s!) news media consumption with Ground News at https://www.ground.news/fruity Protect yourself online, wherever you go. Get a discount on NordVPN at https://www.nordvpn.com/fruity Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity Find me on Instagram . Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

From granola fascism to the manosphere, much gets said of the various right-wing pipelines people have gone down in the years since lockdown. One such pipeline remains more mysterious. When you think of conversion therapy, do you imagine a doctor administering shocks to a gay man strapped to a chair? A queer child sent to conversion camp against their will? What if a queer adult goes to ex-gay camp of their own volition? What if someone's conversion therapy is simply a playlist of ex-gay testimonial videos on YouTube — what can laws do to prevent kids and adults from watching them? Today, Kat Tenbarge and I examine ex-queer case studies, from beloved YouTuber Lohanthony to detransitioners, and try to understand what “conversion therapy” means in 2025. It’s understood that more people will come out as a society becomes friendlier to queerness — but can that pattern also work in reverse? Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon ! Subscribe to Kat’s work at Spitfire News . Find me on Instagram . Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Last week, world-class athlete Simone Biles stood up to failed-athlete-turned-crybully Riley Gaines when Riley antagonized a transgender child to her 1.5 million Twitter followers. A harassment campaign, which has become a standard (and winning!) online strategy for online right, ensued against Simone. The comments flooded in, eviscerating the gymnast (and her sponsors) — “So you want my daughter to compete against boys?” “How many medals would YOU have if you competed against MEN?” And perhaps most jarring, “I guess you want other little girls to get abused the way you did.” Things flew off the handle and became severely detached from reality, as they so often do in these campaigns. Facing endless harassment, Simone apologized, and Riley has been taking a Fox News victory lap ever since. Today, Natalie Wynn (a.k.a. Contrapoints) returns to the show as we explore the anatomy of a moral panic, the harassment campaigns which fuel them, and why you cannot compromise with a fascist. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon ! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off . Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity . Subscribe to Natalie on YouTube . Find me on Instagram . Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

“From the river to the sea” is antisemitic. “Free Palestine” is antisemitic. Children’s YouTuber Ms. Rachel raising money for child amputees is antisemitic. ICE is kidnapping college students for antisemitism. Trump is dismantling higher education because of antisemitism. As a Jew, I’m… confused. And uncomfortable. Today, we examine the validity of The Antisemitism Panic, the dark underbelly of it, and the people pulling the strings to make it happen. Hint: they aren’t Jewish. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon ! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Get an exclusive 60% on Incogni: https://incogni.com/fruity Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity . Listen to Matt Lieb’s podcat, Bad Hasbara . Follow Matt Lieb on Twitter . Find me on Instagram . Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

In today’s special episode, we’re taking a break from political and cultural analysis to chat with someone who’s been at the center of today’s culture wars but rarely in her own voice: Vivian Jenna Wilson, Elon Musk’s 21-year-old estranged trans daughter. She tells us about her decision to take back her voice after years of being spoken for by an unsupportive father, dealing with lunatics online, and putting Jordan Peterson in his place. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon ! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off . Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity . Find Vivian Wilson on Instagram . Find me on Instagram . Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Last week, the New York Times reported: “White House Assesses Ways to Persuade Women to Have More Children”. But who exactly is behind this push, and why, and what does it have to do with Elon Musk’s breeding compulsion? The answer is that “pronatalism”, a far-right movement that looks and smells a lot like a eugenics cult (despite what its leaders say), has entered the White House. Today, Emma Vigeland of The Majority Report and Moira Donegan of In Bed With the Right help explain how a particularly creepy strain of doomsday misogyny found itself at the center of the Republican party. COME SEE A BIT FRUITY LIVE! Tickets are on sale here . Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon ! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Protect yourself online, wherever you go. Get a discount on NordVPN at https://www.nordvpn.com/fruity . Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity . Find me on Instagram . Find A Bit Fruity on Instagram . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

When fitness influencer Ashton Hall’s absurd morning routine went viral a few weeks ago, I was… moved. The hours-long skincare, gym, and journaling ritual felt like an American Psycho-inspired metrosexual fever dream — one peppered with shocking misogyny and profound loneliness. Hall’s viral moment felt like a tipping in point in “alpha male” influencer culture, or the content ecosystem of men teaching boys what it means to be men. The further down the rabbit hole I went, the weirder it got — and between scammy financial incentives and an authoritarian take on gender, I began to understand why so many of these influencers are Trump supporters, and how they’re teaching their viewers to follow suit. Most disturbing is the message that underpins almost all alpha male content: a life well-lived is one lived alone. COME SEE A BIT FRUITY LIVE! Tickets are on sale here . Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon ! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity . Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity . Subscribe to Ryan Broderick’s newsletter, Garbage Day . Follow Ryan on Bluesky . Me on Instagram . A Bit Fruity on Instagram . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

What does “gender ideology” have in common with ISIS? Well, they are both… things, arguably. As more people become aware of opportunities to commodify their trauma into anti-trans right-wing media bait, the race for those opportunities is getting more competitive, and the results are… fascinating. Today, veteran trans YouTuber Kat Blaque and I interrogate the right’s shiniest new detransitioner, Maia Poet — an ex-trans October 7th survivor, kind of. In doing so, we take a closer look at what detransition means and looks like, and the right’s ultimate goal in selling “stories” like Maia’s. COME SEE A BIT FRUITY LIVE! Tickets are on sale here . Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon ! Get an exclusive 60% on Incogni ! Subscribe to Kat Blaque on YouTube . Me on Instagram . A Bit Fruity on Instagram . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

When Gwen Stefani made a tacit endorsement of Tucker Carlson earlier this month, I felt like somebody had knocked the wind out of me. Had the iconic 90’s ain’t-no-hollaback girl made a not-so-sweet escape to the dark side? Dizzy and disturbed, I set out to journey Gwen’s path from early aughts punk rock princess to… spokeswoman for a conservative billionaire’s anti-abortion prayer app. I learned a lot about how she’s changed — and perhaps more importantly, how she hasn’t. COME SEE A BIT FRUITY LIVE! Tickets are on sale here . Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon ! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/factorpodcast . Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity . Subscribe to Kat's journalism at Spitfire News . Subscribe to Taylor's journalism at User Mag . Listen to Taylor’s podcast on YouTube . Essays mentioned: The New Gwen Stefani Is A Lot Like The Old One by Anne Helen Petersen Gwenihana by Mihi Ahn Harajuku Girls by Margaret Cho Me on Instagram . A Bit Fruity on Instagram . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

To the mainstream news, she’s the mother of three of Elon Musk’s children. To a certain type of extremely online Tumblr user in the year 2012, she once approximated God. Today, we take a challenging look at the strange tapestry of Grimes’s life and unearth stories about the Internet era that shaped millennials, pipelines to right-wing radicalization, and domestic abuse as a public spectacle. COME SEE A BIT FRUITY LIVE! Tickets are on sale here . :-) Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon ! Thanks to today’s sponsors! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off . Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity . Subscribe to Taylor's journalism at User Mag . Subscribe to Kat's journalism at Spitfire News . Subscribe to Taylor's YouTube channel ! Me on Instagram . A Bit Fruity on Instagram . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Elon Musk just (allegedly) had his thirteenth child with a fourth woman — a 26-year-old “conservative” influencer named Ashley St. Clair. In a past version of the “traditional family values” party, this might’ve been a career-ending event. Today, it hardly generates coverage. In this episode, Moira Donegan and Adrian Daub (of In Bed With The Right ) help me make sense of the right’s impossibly contradictory code of sexuality: is MAGA the movement of the hot, virile new youth, or is it the movement attempting to ban contraception and abortion? Are women supposed to spit on that thang or dress modestly? And what does Elon’s public humiliation of Ashley St. Clair reveal about a woman’s place in the New Right? Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon ! Thanks to today's sponsors! Protect yourself online, wherever you go. Get a discount on NordVPN at https://www.nordvpn.com/fruity . Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at https://www.blueland.com/fruity . Me on Instagram . A Bit Fruity on Instagram . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Quiet luxury. Clean girl. Old money. Trad living. Kylie Jenner’s pivot from Black culture vulture to glass skin pilates princess. College youth dressed like polyester Shein replicas of Reagan-era prepsters. Something’s happened, and I’m uncomfortable. Listen to bonus episodes on Patreon ! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50off . Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at https://www.rocketmoney.com/fruity . SUBSCRIBE TO KAT'S NEWSLETTER ! SUBSCRIBE TO TAYLOR'S NEWSLETTER ! Listen to Taylor's podcast, Power User . Follow me on Instagram . Follow A Bit Fruity on Instagram . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Our country is now run by a bunch of spineless billionaires who were cast out as nerds in college so they launched a vendetta against humanity. Today, Edward Ongweso Jr. of This Machine Kills helps us understand the tech bro-ligarchy’s key overlords, why they are so far up the president’s rectum, their deranged philosophy on life, and their apocalypse escape plans. Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon ! Work smarter, not harder, with Factor meals ready in two minutes at https://www.factormeals.com/fruity50 . Get an exclusive 60% on Incogni! https://incogni.com/fruity Me on Instagram . A Bit Fruity on Instagram . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

The first episode of this podcast ever recorded was about Amber Heard and the online public’s inability — or unwillingness — to distinguish between their organic feelings about celebrity abuse allegations and their participation in a strategic, well-funded smear campaign against a woman coming forward. Since that episode, journalist Kat Tenbarge and I have become best friends. She’s also reported on this exact news cycle over and over again with different women. Today, we break down the new yet familiar legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni and attempt to sharpen our critical thinking skills, because the decisions we make online matter — and the success of these misogynistic campaigns can end with us. Support me + listen to bonus episodes on Patreon ! Start managing your money better and cancel unwanted expenses at www.rocketmoney.com/fruity . Get 15% off a cuter, more sustainable way to clean at www.blueland.com/fruity . Me on Instagram . A Bit Fruity on Instagram . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…