Rather Unladylike

For those who don't know, Fortune A Day can be found on Pillowfort and Bluesky. Updates might stop on Bluesky as it appears the app is rolling out age verification more widely ahead of actual regulation.

They are complying in advance for no reason.

Even if all these age verification laws were fully on the books in every US state, websites should still stand up for their businesses and the privacy of their users and not comply. That is a choice at scale if they would only fucking care to make it.

Bluesky's age verification is being handled by Veriff, a company that has already failed to protect peoples' data. There are data-hungry companies out there begging for websites and apps to comply with age verification ahead of time, calling it an inevitability, because they want to pump and dump our public and private identifying info. Naturally, protecting that data is not at all a concern to them. Lawsuits will be a slap on the wrist; they'll be the price of doing business and your information will continue to leak while they make millions of dollars off of it.

If you are in the US, please do this for all of us: Contact your representatives TODAY, June 29, 2026, to tell them to vote NO on the KIDS Act, HR 7757.

Here's more information through the Electronic Frontier Foundation. And this page has a way to send a form letter to your rep via email.

Do this right now. HR 7757 is being voted on today.

Phone calls are best and they can be incredibly quick. The person at your rep's office will answer the phone. They'll want your name and your location to confirm that you're a constituent. Simply tell them this and then: "I just want my representative not to vote for HR 7757, the KIDS Act. I know that it does nothing to actually protect children. It's about selling my information and stopping free speech." Thank them. Hang up. It is genuinely easy, even with phone anxiety.

Say No To Bad Internet Bills also has even more you can do to stop these things because there is an absolute deluge of these kinds of bills working their way through the US Congress right now.

Now we need to direct efforts to our Senators to stop it in the Senate. Find who your rep is and contact them early and often.

https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

Tell your Senators that you oppose the KIDS Act and KOSA.

It does not matter how Republican or vampiric your Senator is. One of mine is professional Skeletor impersonator Rick Scott, the worst of the worst. I will still be contacting his people to tell them I'm not fooled by this. Rick Scott has made enough money off of conning the American people (he, in particular, should be in fucking prison for exactly that). I don't need him restricting my speech, selling my info, or trying to arrest me for making posts like this calling for political action in protest of disgusting censorship.

Choke. Just think about it, seriously. Think about what choking is and imagine speaking while it’s happening. That would fuckin’ hurt, man.

Hiss. Look, it’s just not possible, okay? No matter how “evil” you want your character to seem.

Snarl. Animals snarls. The Beast from Beauty and the Beast snarls. The Hulk snarls. You know who doesn’t snarl? PEOPLE WHEN THEY’RE SPEAKING.

Shriek. Come on, 99% of the time, “shriek” is not the word you want.Let’s face it: if you put an exclamation point at the end of the sentence, your reader gets the picture. Don’t bring to mind banshees and screaming toddlers.

Hiss is a low, threatening whisper. Raw, guttural, vicious. It is NOT a literal hiss like an animal, it is a tone of voice that serves the same function. Someone will hiss that they’re going to cut your throat- a message from one person to the other.

Snarl is the same kind of thing. Not literal, it’s a tone of voice that serves the same function. It’s raw and gutteral like a hiss, but more savage than vicious. It’s loud, it’s showy, it’s intimidating. It’s very alpha male, big man, look at how fucking dangerous I am. I’ll take ALL of you on. Even if they’re snarling at one person in particular, nobody better back them up or they’re gonna get fucked up too.

Shriek. Come on, seriously? We’ve all heard people shriek either in fear or outrage. High pitched, loud, out of control, feminine. Men can shriek, but it’s funny and emasculating. Think angry italian women throwing pots and pans or ladies on tables who just saw a mouse.