Why The Internet Is Arguing About Its Favorite Feminist
ICYMI
Slate Podcasts
3.9 • 800 Ratings
🗓️ 21 March 2026
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Slate senior writer Scaachi Koul, who profiled author Lindy West. West’s new book, Adult Braces, details, among many things, her coming to grips with being in a polyamorous relationship. But opening up this complicated story to an audience has incited a tidal-wave of feedback about not just West, but also her partners, Aham Oluo and Roya Amirsoleymani. West is no stranger to online trolls, but something about this time feels different—and the way she and her partners are responding (including in emails to Koul herself) is only making things worse.
This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay, with help from Kevin Bendis.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, I'm Kate Lindsay, and you're listening to I-C-Y-M-I, or in case you missed it, Slate's podcast about internet culture. And back so soon across from me is one |
| 0:25.2 | Sachi Cole. Hello, Sachi. Welcome. Hi, Kate. They never let me leave. I've actually been stuck in here |
| 0:30.6 | this whole time. Yeah, it's been very treacherous. I know. We have sort of like a siren that goes |
| 0:35.6 | off whenever a husband is maybe being like sauce about their about their wife and then we get sotchy in. |
| 0:40.1 | Yeah. |
| 0:40.6 | Because yeah, that it seems to be your beat and that's why you were last here. |
| 0:43.4 | And I won't say our discourse today is dissimilar. |
| 0:47.2 | Something in the water, perhaps. |
| 0:53.4 | And today's episode is about Lindy West. |
| 0:57.3 | Now, depending on whether or not you're a millennial, that name either means nothing or |
| 1:02.0 | everything to you. |
| 1:03.3 | She was a very prolific writer, very prolific feminist writer who wrote for platforms like |
| 1:08.3 | Jezebel. |
| 1:08.9 | She's released books. |
| 1:09.9 | And her new book, Adult Braces, |
| 1:12.1 | Driving Myself Sane, is a memoir of a road trip she takes to work through some things, many things, |
| 1:17.6 | actually, but one of the most notable being coming to terms with her marriage evolving into a |
| 1:22.2 | polyamorous relationship. This was like discourse catnip. There were TikToks. There were |
| 1:27.3 | Instagram, like furious Instagram comment sections. |
| 1:30.1 | My substack, like for you page is pretty much unusable. |
| 1:33.2 | It is all hot takes about Lindy. |
| 1:35.2 | And so we are here to talk about this reaction to the book today and why people have so many |
... |
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