Why Lindy West’s Memoir Became a Scandoval for Feminists

Unladylike

Unladylike Media

Feminism, Gender, Media Analysis, Body Politics, Patriarchy, Intersectionality, Society & Culture, Cultural Commentary, Beauty Standards, Internet Culture, Womens Rights

4.8 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2026

⏱️ 47 minutes

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Summary

Better late than never read! In March, Adult Braces – and three unfortunate emails to a Slate reporter – inspired a thousand Substack hot takes, reactionary declarations of failed feminism and social media rage against Lindy West’s husband, Aham Oluo. Now that Cristen’s finished the book, and the controversy’s faded out from our feeds, the drama looks a lot like a feminist Scandoval: a parasocial fandom reckoning with the gaps between a woman's public politics, private relationships and the marriage she’s choosing to stay in.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and ladies at long last.
0:07.6	I am here to talk to you about the book that, well, I don't, you know, people are kind of done
0:15.1	talking about it for the most part, but better late to the discourse than never, question mark.
0:25.6	I have read Lindy West's adult braces.
0:28.6	I have read a number of substack pieces in response to that, and I have also read a horrendous
0:35.6	piece from The Atlantic that declares the book
0:40.3	The End of Millennial Feminism. We'll be getting into all of it. Also, I got to say, I want to say
0:47.3	the very tippy top of this episode, there were things about adult braces that I personally really enjoyed, and let's get into it,
1:00.0	shall we?
1:01.9	Now, adult braces came out over a month ago by this point, and I would say only in the past
1:10.0	week or two has the discourse cycle really started to fade out
1:16.2	and part of the reason why there has been so much tumult on the internet over this book
1:24.4	is not just the content of adult braces, but also the response, the public
1:30.8	response to people's criticism of the book by the book's three main characters, Lindy West,
1:41.5	her husband Aham, and their girlfriend, Roya. All right. Now, obviously, I couldn't weigh in on all of
1:51.5	the discoursing until I had read the book, and now I have, side note, it's a, well, I was about to say
1:59.9	it's a fun read. It's a fun read in places.
2:03.4	One word that I have seen in a number of write-ups on it is heartbreaking, that it is heartbreaking to kind of go through this emotional journey with Lindy as she's going on this actual journey
2:21.6	road trip across the U.S.
2:24.6	So my logline for adult braces would be it is a story about a woman taking a two-week solo road trip to decide whether she should stay with or divorce.
2:39.5	The husband who she has just found out has had a secret girlfriend.
2:45.8	We later find out there's another secret girlfriend.
	...

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