Brittney McNamara
@brittneymac15.bsky.social
Journalist + editor ✨ Digital @Playboy.com ✨ Editor @lafronde.bsky.social ✨ Pulitzer Center grantee ✨She/her.
A @kimkelly.bsky.social banger ICYMI
Playboy@playboy.com · 2mo ago"Online censorship is on a very delicate cusp worldwide right now, which means sex workers’ profiles are getting taken down arbitrarily and shadowbanned left and right due to increasingly conservative social media rules." Adult creators tell Playboy about the hardships running an OnlyFans page.
In 1963, an insurance company wanted to bring cheer to their company (because they were laying off a tenth of their staff in a merger to a larger company) so they commissioned an artist to create the smiley face. Essentially, it was a symbol of corporate humiliation and neoliberalism.
The Dark History of the Smiley Face
Journalist Bill Shaner looks behind the story of the smiley face—one filled with secrets you wouldn't guess from its happy veneer.
playboy.com
Men used to go to war, now they also bet on it. @evystadium.bsky.social speaks to the men making millions of dollars on Polymarket and Kalshi, and experts who say that the gamification of catastrophe and human suffering will make people even number to it.
We Talked to the Men Making Millions by Betting—On War
From war to routine speeches, people are making money on what will and won't happen in politics next on platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket.
playboy.com
The dark history of the smiley face? In 1963, Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance hired an artist to create it to bring cheer because they had just cut a tenth of their staff and relocated the rest a ritzier company. In effect, the smiley face became a plain old corporate humiliation ritual.
The Dark History of the Smiley Face
Journalist Bill Shaner looks behind the story of the smiley face—one filled with secrets you wouldn't guess from its happy veneer.
playboy.com
And our latest: A former Christian fundamentalist looks at the manosphere. "In both the manosphere and fundamentalist christianity, as much as women are vilified for having, let alone desiring consensual sexual intercourse, women are also expected to be willing vessels for their husbands 24/7."
Religion and the Manosphere Is a Match Made in Hell - Playboy
Is the culture downstream from religion, or is religion downstream from the culture? This question feels increasingly difficult to answer as each year passes since I left Christian fundamentalism. The...
playboy.com
Carnivore diets, Liver Kings, protein bars. What if our food didn't define our masculinity? “You see these carnivore influencers eating raw liver and sticks of butter on camera just for the shock value. It’s more of a weird identity thing than actual health at this point.”
Welcome to the Meatosphere
Carnivore diets, Liver Kings, protein bars. What if our food didn't define our masculinity? Let's go inside the meatosphere.
playboy.com
For a story: I'm looking for parents whose kids have fell for a conspiracy theory. Did a YouTuber convince your kid the earth was flat? Were they skeptical about the Artemis mission? I want to talk about what that was like, and how you helped them through.
After being laid off from Teen Vogue in November, I've been thinking about the state of youth media. We need quality, reliable media tailored to teens to help them navigate the world. But how can a brand do that effectively in the algorithm age? Maybe the answer is to go analog. cuqui.club
Did you know that the same law that’s threatening abortion access across the country almost took down Playboy? Read about the Comstock Act, its history with the Playboy, and its sinister future here—then catch me in the print mag later this month. www.playboy.com/read/politic...
The Law That Almost Killed Playboy Is Back With a Vengeance
The Comstock Act nearly toppled Playboy in the '50s, and now the same anti-obscenity law is back to target abortion.
playboy.com
Friday marks a year since RFK Jr. was sworn in as HHS Secretary, blasting his Make America Healthy Again agenda from niche to national policy. How's his goal going? I got three doctors to grade his performance so far. Spoiler: he's far from a straight A student. www.playboy.com/read/lifesty...
Three Real Doctors Review Our Year in MAHA
Three doctors grade RFK Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again agenda, and how he's impacted the country's health so far.
playboy.com
On what would be the 53rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Playboy resurfaced reader letters from our archives about what life was like before legal abortion—a reality many Americans are reliving today. Intro to the letters by @jillfilipovic.bsky.social www.playboy.com/read/politic...
The Playboy Readers Who Couldn't Get an Abortion
Old Playboy Forum letters reveal the truth about life before Roe v. Wade—one many Americans are reliving today.
playboy.com
If you're a parent to a teenager, I need your help! I'm working with News Creator Corps on a survey about parents, teens, and misinformation. The goal is to create engaging resources that parents and teens can use, but to best do that, NCC needs your input: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
News Creator Corps Teen Misinformation Survey
Hello! Thank you so much for taking part in our short survey about how you and your teens consume information. At News Creators Corps, we’re invested in ensuring access to quality news and information...
docs.google.com
This story is wild, but it's also a great look at journalistic ethics & the decision making process around what we report & how. Trust in journalism is at a low, partly because many don't know what the journalistic process is. Here's a look behind that curtain www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
I asked the Pentagon about Pete Hegseth's mentor. Then the threats started.
Journalism in the second Trump administration gets personal.
motherjones.com
Learned to be more like the smartest people you’ll ever meet (fact checkers!) for News Creator Corps newscreatorcorps.org/2025/12/late...
The research strategy you need to teach your kids to help them separate truth from fiction - News Creator Corps
Lateral reading involves leaving the website to figure out its legitimacy.
newscreatorcorps.org
Social media has a misinformation problem that’s making teens (and everyone, really) unable to spot the truth. Here’s my latest about how some creators are working to fix that. newscreatorcorps.org/2025/11/crea...
Creators are helping teens sift through the flood of misinformation - News Creator Corps
Frequent exposure to social media misinformation can make it even more difficult to discern what’s real and what’s fake online.
newscreatorcorps.org
Introducing Information Wasteland, a package about misinfo on the internet –– from AI iterations of digital blackface to a growing "alt-right pipeline" among wellness influencers –– edited by former features director @brittneymac15.bsky.social: www.teenvogue.com/information-...
I got a pitch today about how to talk about getting laid off, so it feels like a good time to say that I was laid off from Teen Vogue after almost nine years as they fold the magazine into Vogue. I did the work of a lifetime there and I’m so proud. As President Bartlet would say, “what’s next?”
I was laid off from Teen Vogue yesterday, along with 70% of my incredible team. @teenvogue.com Thank you to everyone who has reached out. I am so grateful. For nearly 4yrs as Culture Editor, I was dedicated to humanizing and empowering young people. We move.❤️🩹🚀 Cash App: $kmcnab Venmo: @/kaitmcnab
So many couples on Love Is Blind season 9 are looking for "traditional" marriages and gender roles. The show has officially entered its trad wife era www.teenvogue.com/story/love-i...
'Love Is Blind' Is Entering Its Trad Wife Era
If you've found it tough to watch, it may be that the cast's desire for "traditional" values reflects of our winnowing rights.
teenvogue.com
"Efforts to cure autism are built on the false idea that there is something inherently wrong with us." Read the full #OpEd asserting that RFK Jr.'s autism “cure” is less about Tylenol than it is "fixing" autistic people who do not want or need fixing. ⬇️
RFK Jr.'s Autism "Cure" Isn't About Tylenol, It's About "Fixing" Autistic People Like Me
Efforts to cure autism are built on the false idea that there is something inherently wrong with us.
teenvogue.com
"When someone promises a cure for something that is not a disease, like autism, that cure becomes a weapon to pathologize the very thing it claims to remedy." Emma Cieslik on the danger and pain of RFK Jr.'s autism "cure." www.teenvogue.com/story/rfk-jr...
RFK Jr.'s Autism "Cure" Isn't About Tylenol, It's About "Fixing" Autistic People Like Me
Efforts to cure autism are built on the false idea that there is something inherently wrong with us.
teenvogue.com
HAPPENING NOW: @tessholliday.bsky.social is our first #TeenVogueSummit keynote speaker in in conversation with @brittneymac15.bsky.social: "Do what you want to do, be what you want to be. Follow that voice in you.... Following my gut is ultimately how I got to where I am now." 👏
Have you seen a woman on TikTok claiming to know the "strict beauty rules" producers secretly enforce on Love Island? The secrets are pretty plainly fake, but spoiler alert: so is the woman. This AI scam is designed to sell wellness products. www.teenvogue.com/story/ai-lov...
AI "Love Island" Wellness Scams Are All Over TikTok. Did You Fall For One?
teenvogue.com
Lil Nas X faces felony charges of "battery" against an officer from an arrest during a mental health crisis in late August. I wrote about my family member's experience with police being sent during mental health episodes—still common for wellness checks—and how it ruined their life. @teenvogue.com
Why Lil Nas X's Arrest Is More Proof Police Have No Business Treating the Mentally Ill
"Police generally aren’t trained or qualified to respond to mental health crises."
teenvogue.com
Piper Rockelle's childhood was the subject of a recent documentary, "Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing." She talked to Teen Vogue about turning 18 and it's a reflection of what a monetized childhood in front of cameras can do. www.teenvogue.com/story/piper-...
Former Kidfluencer Piper Rockelle Is Ready to Be An Adult and Leave the Past Behind
“What if I think I’m going to have all these opportunities… and my life is going to be beautiful, but [it’s not] because of everything that’s still happened?"
teenvogue.com
today a UN body announced famine is in Gaza. this oped from New Disabled South connects US funding of Israel's starvation campaign to Trump's BBB cutting SNAP as fundamentally American. "The U.S. allegedly has no money to feed its children or the world’s children, but has plenty of money for war."
From Famine in Gaza to Trump Cutting SNAP, Child Hunger is An American Pastime
"At home and abroad, the U.S. government is participating in starving people, particularly children, and calling it policy."
teenvogue.com
