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Its a bright mid-afternoon in Corinne Fishers New York apartment, where she apologises for her next door neighbour renovating for what seems like the past year. Dull beats punctuate the sentences of our conversation, one Ive been trying to organise for some three weeks, battling schedules and time differences.

For those trying to pin down Fisher, a long road lies ahead. People can accuse me of a lot of things, she laughs, twisting her shoulder-length brunette hair with her fingers to lie along the top of her spaghetti straps. Her broad New Jersey accent, thick and juicy like tomato sauce-covered meatballs, unravels as she meets me at eyeline again. But laziness is not one of them.

Born to a Jewish father and a lapsed-Catholic mother with a radical approach to sex (we were never shamed for talking about it), Fisher studied film direction in New York City before pivoting to open-mic nights and improvisation work (Fisher is an alumna of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatres prestigious improvisation training program) in late 2010.

Her art first made critics stand up with her debut one-woman show Corinne Fisher: I STALK YOU, which ran at The Peoples Improv Theater in 2010 and was featured in Time Out New York. Since then, she has boasted regularity on the stand-up scene, selling out shows across the US and internationally, including at The Comedy Store, New York Comedy Club, The Stand, and Carolines on Broadway as well as The Wilbur in Boston, the Athenaeum in Chicago, and the Tribeca Performing Arts Center in New York City.

In 2013, when Fisher was dumped by a then-boyfriend at a Panera Bread restaurant (Its like a step above McDonalds), she texted her friend on the comedy scene, then-Saturday Night Live intern Krystyna Hutchinson (they had previously teamed up at Gotham City Improv to tell tales about their own sex lives) to say: We should do a podcast where we interview the guys we fucked. Raunchy, rough, and a subverting mixture of absurdist and caustic, Fisher and Hutchinsons Guys We F**ked, debuted under the radar, later that year. A blend of bold-face interviews, mostly about sex with the people who they used to do it with; and tough-love agony-aunt style advice (Stalins regime, at times, was more compassionate), the series had an unusually high hit rate for a new comedy show.

We wanted the title to draw people in, and I guess we did that, Fisher laughs today. It quickly became a megalith, top-five iTunes chart sensation and self-proclaimed anti-slut-shaming podcast, drifting somewhere between voyeurism and education, all under episode titles such as WHERE DO YOUR ORGANS GO WHEN THE BABY COMES OUT? and DID I RUIN THE BEST SEX OF MY LIFE BY BEING A BITCH?.

The show... provides a fascinating insight into the way we shape our own narratives, like how we truly believe that the person we flirt with at work needs to be with us and not their live-in girlfriend

It grew to host several like-minded provocateurs, fellow comics and people in the sex industry such as Hannah Berner and Amber Rose, and remains steady at over one million listeners (f**kers, as theyre called) worldwide, who share not only intriguing sexual encounters but experiences of sexual assault, abuse and shame due to sexual exploration when censorship doesnt block their content, that is. I just think its so silly, Fisher says now. Out of all the problems we have in the world, the f-word is the thing youre gonna focus on?

The show, now in its 10th year and exceeding 500 episodes, provides a fascinating insight into the way we shape our own narratives, like how we truly believe that the person we flirt with at work needs to be with us and not their live-in girlfriend, or how we refuse to identify ourselves as victims because the sexual assaults weve experienced havent been that bad.

I dont ever want to make someone feel like a victim, Fisher shares. I dont know what its like in Ireland, but were obsessed with victimisation over in the US and sort of making it our whole identity. And I think that can be just as dangerous as not recognising that something bad has happened to you. Its a big reason why weve moved on from the term sexual assault victim to sexual assault survivor, because otherwise theres this like stench of stigma on having something like that have happened to you. If you really dont consider yourself a survivor or victim, then you really dont have to deal with it. Its a lot to ask someone to unpack. And, quite frankly, we dont have the time. Being a woman is exhausting enough already.

Corinne Fisher will be performing at Whelan's in Dublin on April 3rd. Photograph: Alex Schaefer/Joseph Alva Photography

As it happened, Guys We F**ked came at a good time. The early aughts bet on bawdy, female-driven comedy with a never-before-seen tenacity: Whats Your Number?, Bridesmaids and Bad Teacher which starred Cameron Diaz as a weed-smoking, foul-mouthed school teacher received widespread critical acclaim, allowing the new genre of hard female comedies, resplendent with women behaving badly, to provide new footing for the way we view us all. None of this dismisses Guys We F**keds brilliance, instead commending Hollywood for catching up.

[Comedian Grace Campbell: I treated my need for male validation as an addiction]

The ahistorical truism of internet comedy before that used to be that the more a site led with sexually explicit content, the fewer women signed up for it; early doors dating sites resorted to euphemism, letting users look for activity partners or meet-cutes and added questions about hobbies or children to attract people seeking long-term relationships, less the seedy underbelly. While comedy generally remained an outlier to such tact, shows such as Guys We F**ked allowed the underground feminist streaks finally to let their roots grow out.

Weve gotten a few people who have written things like, I bet your dads proud!, which is actually funny because no one was more proud of me than my dad

According to the Luminary, the US-based subscription podcast network on which Guys We F**ked is hosted, the typical listener is female, between 25 and 35, and lives in a big city, most likely New York or Los Angeles. Were huge in Australia too, Fisher continues. Im not sure where specifically, but big, big, big. She credits the recent cultural shift in sexuality with its simultaneous release and acceptance. Its so funny, when we started [the podcast], the idea of having a threesome was so interesting and shocking. These days you see, like, Refinery29 articles about 5 Ways To Make Your First Threesome Amazing. Its hacky, she smiles, but good.

Ten years down and topics such as transitioning, shower sex, codependency and flatulence are commonplace. Do they get tired of being the sex girls? Oh, god, yes, she laughs. We joke that its gonna say Guys We F**ked girls on our graves. I mean, you know, Im very proud of the show. But to me, I think my issue with it is that I dont think about it as a sex show. Its a feminist show. So, Id be perfectly happy to be thought of as a feminist, but it kind of bothers me that when people hear about this programme that weve done for a decade, all they get out of it is sex. That makes me feel like Ive failed in the messaging, you know? Its not at all about sex really, we just put that title on to get people to listen.

Theres nothing new about comedy with a feminist bent, but recognition of the hitherto artistic radicals who paved the way for Guys We F**ked, such as Eve Ensler of The Vagina Monologues or Candace Bushnells Sex and The City, act as useful relics when feminists were labelled as not funny, a smear that persists. Its just a joke, an anti-feminist (or reply guy in todays parlance) might retort. Weve gotten a few people who have written things like, I bet your dads proud!, which is actually funny because no one was more proud of me than my dad. He passed away not too long ago, but up until then he was literally my number one fan.

[I flattered him, knowing hed try to kiss me: Alan Partridge interviews Steve Coogan]

Offstage, Fisher behaves assuredly, breaking character occasionally to laugh. Her dark hair and sweeping eyes lean into Disney villain territory, with a brogue one might associate with the feminist heroines we categorise with Gloria Steinems 1970s, all steady-voiced and strong-postured. She talks about travelling and quotes Michelle Obama (or is it Hillary Clinton?) about learning about a place by the way they treat their women.

I ask her feelings on the word ladylike. My relationship with that word is estranged, she laughs

Onstage, shes fearless. Fisher draws your attention like a petite, pouting fawn ambling through a shooting club meadow wide-eyed and vulnerable, yet perennially the focus of your attention, nimbly darting through the danger. Her voice is an important part of that. Defiant and booming, it erupts from her lips like a loaded gun. I ask her feelings on the word ladylike. My relationship with that word is estranged, she laughs. I think its been used as a way to tell women to shut up and sit down in a way that sounds somewhat still socially acceptable.

This subject matter isnt Fishers alone, of course. It would be easy to lump her in with others who talk dirty, Amy Schumer, Grace Campbell, and Ali Wong among them, but such comparisons often read like a trap, suggesting that female comics exist only in the context of one another, rather than the world at large. That said, theres something to be said for Fisher and Hutchinsons work, allowing material of a sexual nature to become the default and not the exception.

The light dims in Fishers apartment as next doors renovations kick into a higher gear. She leaves for Ireland next week for eight days (my friends are going for 10 and no offence to them, but theres nothing relaxing to me about leaving for more than eight days) where her friends have a whole itinerary planned. Ding, my phone goes off. A bonus episode of Guys We F**ked has just dropped. SHOULD HE TELL YOU YA CANT SLEEP OVER BEFORE YOU GO TO HIS PLACE TO F**K? Another day another dollar, especially when podcast hosts wont let you use every letter.

Guys We F****d is available to stream or download on all podcast platforms

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'I don't think about it as a sex show. It's a feminist show': Corinne ... - The Irish Times

In February, Program Think, 46, reappeared in trial for the first time since his forced disappearance in May 2021. He was convicted of having "written more than 100 seditious and defamatory articles''. In addition to the harsh prison sentence, he was also deprived of his political rights for two years, while 20,000 renminbi (2,671 euros) worth of his property was confiscated.

Ruans wife noticed that after nearly two years in secret detention, her husband's weight had halved and most of his hair had turned white. In early March, one of his lawyers was denied a prison visit, and notified that two state-assigned legal representatives had instead been appointed by the court.

Mapping of corruption within the party

Launched in 2009, Program Think originally published technical advice on cybersecurity on his blog. In time, he started to translate foreign news, compiling data, and producing investigative and political content. In 2016, the blogger published a mapping of the connections and hidden wealth of high-ranking Chinese Communist Party members on Github, exposing the high level of corruption within the regime.

Since Chinese leader Xi Jinping took power in 2012, he began a crusade against journalism as revealed in RSFs report The Great Leap Backwards of Journalism in China, which details Beijings efforts to control information and media within and outside its borders.

China ranks 175th out of 180 in the 2022 RSF World Press Freedom Index and is the world's largest captor of journalists with at least 115 detained.

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China: Anti-censorship blogger sentenced to seven years for ... - Reporters sans frontires

Twitter users have noticed that tweets containing common LGBTQ+ terms are not displaying with a preview in direct messages. (Getty)

Social media users have noticed something strange happening on Twitter that appears to amount to the censorship of common terms associated with the LGBTQ+ community.

On Saturday (1 April), Twitter users and LGBTQ+ activists spotted that tweets shared by direct message (DM) no longer show a tweet preview if they include certain words.

Sharing a tweet via DM should automatically bring up a preview of the tweets contents, but now users are seeing just a plain link if the tweet contains the word trans, LGBT, LGBT+ or BLM (Black Lives Matter).

More concerningly, tweets that feature terms that are widely regarded as slurs by the LGBTQ+ community including trans-identified and t***n preview as normal. As do tweets mentioning the trans-exclusionary term LGB.

The concern around censorship in Twitter DMs is echoed by the UK-based Trans Safety Network, which reported that preliminary testing indicates that the platform is deboosting tweets containing words.

They include the words trans, gay, lesbian, queer and bisexual.

jane fae*, chair of Trans Media Watch, told PinkNews: Elon Musk arrived at Twitter, making great claims about his commitment to free speech.

Absent some innocent reason for this happening and it is hard to imagine what an innocent reason would look like this would put the lie to that.

If this is happening, fae said, clearly he is one of those selective free speech warriors who is only pro speech that endorses his own personal preferences.

As for arguments that trans topics may be sensitive: it does not make sense for DMs, and it certainly does not make sense when one sees that this setting does not impact terms like tro*n or trans-identified that many trans folk find deeply hurtful.

While this could simply be a Twitter glitch, it is perhaps unsurprising that LGBTQ+ users are concerned, as under the tenure of the platforms owner, Elon Musk, posts mentioning the anti-LGBTQ+ groomer narrative have soared by 119 per cent.

In February, researchers from the Centre for Countering Digital Hate found that Twitter is on track to make up to $19 million a year from ads on just 10 vitriolic anti-LGBTQ+ accounts reinstated by Elon Musk since he announced his general amnesty policy.

PinkNews has reached out to Twitter for comment.

*jane fae does not capitalise her name.

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Twitter appears to censor LGBTQ+ terms including 'trans' - PinkNews

Internet shutdowns, blocked platforms, malicious apps and a government set on stifling dissent this is the current state of protest in Iran.

Since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody last fall, Iranians have marched in the thousands against repressive hijab laws and to show displeasure with the regime of Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Having once taken over the streets of Tehran, the protests have now become more disparate, individualistic.

Building a snowman to depict a famous political prisoner. Publicly disavowing hijab rules. Dancing, hair down, in public.

Mani Mostofi has worked with some of those protestors. As director of the Miaan Group, a human rights organization focused on Iran, he and his team have been in touch with Iranians on the ground documenting arrests; distributing VPNs, or virtual private networks; and working with protestors to secure social media accounts. In an interview with the Click Here podcast, Mostofi discusses the current state of Irans internet censorship, malicious VPNs, and how a combination of online and in-person repression has created a climate of fear.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Click Here: When we spoke with a source in Iran this past fall, we had some pretty severe connection issues, in part because the government was slowing down the internet. What obstacles have you faced while working with protestors on the ground?

Mani Mostofi: We were doing a lot of network monitoring, so we were looking at connectivity during the protests. And what we were seeing was a range of ways of disrupting access to the internet. So there were internet shutdowns often targeting mobile data, and what an internet shutdown looks like in Iran is that you could use Iranian messaging apps, but you couldn't use WhatsApp or Telegram or internationally based Western apps. So we were in communication as much as possible under those circumstances with activists on the ground.

CH: And are you seeing differences between the fall and now in terms of digital connectivity or the way authorities are focused on what we think of as smaller protests?

MM: Yes, so Iran has been involved in different forms of censorship for a really long time. [The regime] can censor specific websites. It can censor specific applications. And then they do things which we could put under the category of internet shutdowns and disruptions. So these are ways of trying to fundamentally limit access either in targeted ways or nationwide. What that means is nobody can access the internet of the world, but they could access the National Information Network, which is the main project of the Iranian government to facilitate all its controls.

The National Information Network is an internet that's inside the country, and it's designed around an infrastructure with entry points to the international internet that the government controls. And then it has all the services and conveniences the people expect from the internet mirrored domestically. So you could have your version of domestic Uber or Wikipedia or Google. Digital services are mirrored to some extent as part of this national information.

CH: So its a little bit like the great firewall of China

MM: It's not a little bit it's modeled on it. They see China as their role model when it comes to internet controls. And the major disruption periods like shutdowns or other sorts of disruptions are also partly calibrated to get people to give up on the international apps and move to the new ones.

CH: So the protests have died down and we're seeing these sort of individual protests happening, right? These small acts of civil disobedience that are going viral. Are you seeing a change in the tactics that are being used against the protestors?

MM: Yes. Iran is constantly evolving its tactics. Every time since 2019 when there's been a sizable protest movement, we've seen some sort of internet shutdown or disruption. What we saw with the most recent protests is much more diversification of the tools that they're using. So for example, they're doing internet shutdowns, but they're doing it on a curfew basis so only during certain hours. They're also very focused on mobile data, and the reason for that focus and the curfew focus is they're trying to minimize disruption to the economy.

In 2019, the disruption was in the billions of dollars, and it was probably the same under the recent protests, even though we don't have solid projections yet. But businesses don't run as much on mobile data. The banks work on fixed internet [desktop computers on WiFi, not mobile phones]. So by being more surgical, which is really what we've seen, they're able to minimize disruption.

CH: What about VPNs? We often see people in countries like Iran use VPNs to access sites like WhatsApp or Telegram, which are blocked. How is the government dealing with that?

MM: The Iranian government has always disrupted VPNs, but now what we see is like a daily aggressive effort on their part to do it. Basically, they can find where a VPN is located and they can cut off that IP address. And we were seeing some major VPNs, like Googles Outline, that were only functional for about two hours and then they would go down. And then someone would have to create a new IP address with Outline, and about two hours later that would be down.

The number one thing we heard from people inside of Iran was: "Do you have a VPN that works? None of my VPNs work." [Some] VPNs are working, but what's happening is that a user has to basically try four, five, six VPNs, so they find the one that allows them to use some application like WhatsApp or Signal or Telegram. Our fear is that they start using the domestic, government-approved VPNs, which are slowly being rolled out, because the chances of surveillance on those are pretty high.

CH: Surveillance within VPNs? Tell me a bit more about that.

MM: Yeah, I mean definitely. State-sponsored hackers have used the desire for people to get online against users and activists. So when Elon Musk announced that StarLink was going to be available inside Iran, circulating on social media sites were files that were being advertised as, "if you download this file onto your phone or your computer, you can get onto Starlink." And those files contained malware, and they were able to steal data off the user's device.

Then we saw a couple months later, the attack of a very popular VPN called Argo VPN, which was doing better than other VPNs and getting people online during all of this crisis. And all of a sudden fake versions of our Argo VPN were circulating, and those fake versions were forms of spyware. So that type of state-sponsored hacking and surveillance has definitely ramped up in this era, and it very strategically uses people's own desperation to get online against them to make the internet less secure for them.

CH: I guess what I'm wondering is how people in Iran are responding to this. Have they gotten creative in terms of VPNs?

MM: What I can say is there are VPNs being made inside and outside of Iran. And all these VPNs had to become more creative in how they deliver their services, how they structure their architecture. So for example, the internet privacy organization Tor they're famous for their Tor Onion, which is a multi-layered, encryption-based search engine they also have their own VPN. And what their VPN has that makes it relatively successful inside of Iran is the sheer number of IP addresses. Its massive.

They have essentially a software that anyone me or you can just download and put on our computer. And the Tor VPN network can connect to our personal computers. So there's personal computers or small servers in the thousands and thousands and thousands that are on this Tor network it's called the Snowflake Network and because of that, it's just harder for the Iranian government to catch up.

CH: Would it be possible for the Iranian government to shut down those IP addresses, even if they do number in the thousands?

MM: Generally speaking, it's a cost-benefit analysis for them. They could eventually block that VPN. It's just, like, how much energy do they need to put into doing it successfully? And at a certain point, what the VPN providers or the security providers are trying to do is just outpace the Iranian government's resources.

What I would say is more important is the actual confiscation of devices. [The regime] arrested tens of thousands of people during these protests, and the first thing they did was confiscate their device. And then the second thing they would try to do was to get inside all of their social media channels WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram. Now we're hearing [that] a vast majority of arrests of protestors was at their home, which means they were identifying people who participated and then waited to get them later. But when they got to your home, they would essentially come and download your memory from your phone or your laptop almost immediately. So they wouldn't wait till they got to the interrogation location.

CH: I just wonder if, in a sense, when these protests are right in front of you, its easier [as the government] to just focus on the people on the street. But Im wondering if the civil disobedience has them more on edge because you never know when it's going to pop up.

MM: Generally speaking, their attacks on the internet have slowed a little as mass protests have dissipated. That said, the overall repressive nature of the internet is notably and measurably worse than it was before these protests started. They're very good at creating a climate of fear.

Will Jarvis is a podcast producer for the Click Here podcast. Before joining Recorded Future News, he produced podcasts and worked on national news magazines at National Public Radio, including Weekend Edition, All Things Considered, The National Conversation and Pop Culture Happy Hour. His work has also been published in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Ad Age and ESPN.

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Q&A: Amid growing censorship and malicious VPNs, protestors ... - The Record by Recorded Future

EXCLUSIVE: Members of a House select committee on China met with Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger and later with a group of Hollywood filmmakers and executives on Wednesday, amid concerns over industry business practices in engaging with Beijing.

The committees chairman, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), was joined by nine other members, including its ranking member, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL).

According to a source close to the committee, the hourlong meeting was constructive and it was candid.

Gallagher expressed concerns around censorship, and Iger spoke about the relationship with the Chinese Communist party and how it has changed, among other topics, the source said.

Iger was joined by other Disney executives, and they spoke about how their goal is not to change the stories, the source said, adding that the executives conveyed how they tried to walk the line between cultural and political requests from Chinese censors. They admitted it was a value judgment and dont always get it right, the source said, with the point made that sometimes the studio complies and sometimes it does not.

The private meeting was set up with Iger as lawmakers of both parties focus on Chinas influence over American business and culture. Hollywood has been a target of members on Capitol Hill in recent years over some high-profile examples in which movies were edited, or their storylines changed, to appease Chinese censors.

In 2020, Gallagher was among the lawmakers who previously sent a letter to then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek over Mulan and concerns over Disneys work with authorities in the Xinjiang, the region where Uyghur Muslims have held in detention camps. The U.S. has said the Chinese government has committed genocide against the ethnic population.

Gallagher raised the issue again at the meeting, the source said, and Iger talked of how measures have been put in place to make sure such a situation doesnt happen again. Also discussed were the kinds of requests that the studio gets from Chinese film authorities.

Gallagher has said that he wanted Iger to testify on Capitol Hill at some point, but it is unclear whether that is still a possibility.

Disneys global policy in countries where it operates is that we seek to share our stories in their original form as we and the artists involved have created them. If we make edits because of legal or other considerations, they will be as narrow as possible. We will not make an edit where we believe it would impact the storytelling. In that circumstance, we will not distribute the content in that market.

Disney has a large footprint in China beyond movie releases, including Shanghai Disneyland, which opened in 2016. The park is majority owned by Shanghai Shendi Group, with Disney having a 43% stake, according to corporate documents.

Other members at the meeting included Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI), Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA).

Later on Wednesday, five members of the House committee and 17 industry representatives met at Cecconis in West Hollywood for an off-the-record session in which Hollywood figures shared experiences of doing business in China. The group included filmmakers, executives and producers, as well as representatives from academia and industry associations, but the names of the attendees were not disclosed to allow for a more frank discussion.

Producer Chris Fenton, who has been serving as an unpaid adviser to the committee, said that the meeting touched on Chinas film quotas, revenue sharing, tech swaps forced edits, pre-meditated censorship and things that go beyond the China border.

Fenton said that the goal was to make sure it was as wide a perspective on the situation as possible, and to make sure that the members got as full an education and an idea of the nuances and the pressures on everybody with respect to China.

He added, Overall, the idea was, How do we unite on pushing back on things that have gotten out of control?

In a recent op ed, Fenton wrote that the industry, at the center of culture and commerce, should work with lawmakers so our community can help keep those two vital bars of connection while helping to design policies and regulations we can live with as an industry.

Without a healthy collaboration with Washington, I fear Hollywood will attempt to continue the status quo as China continues to impose its massive market leverage, forcing widespread industry compliance even as its domestic movie industry continues to rise, displacing American movies in theaters and smartphones, he wrote.

The House group also was planning meetings with Silicon Valley executives on Thursday, and was scheduled to meet with Apple CEO Tim Cook on Friday.

The committee named the Select Committee On the Chinese Communist Party held its first meeting in February, and was unusual for the bipartisan focus on concerns over Chinas influence.

In an appearance on Face the Nation in February, Gallagher told 60 Minutes, I think we can have a productive conversation with companies that have substantial business interests inChina, and we want to make sure that the power of the Chinese economy is not seducing certain companies into betraying American values.

Lawmakers have criticized studios for self-censorship in the way that movies are edited as a way to gain entry into China. One incident that created an uproar was when the trailerforTop Gun: Maverickshowed Tom Cruises character wearing a bomber jacket with two of the flag patches, for Taiwan and Japan, replaced with other symbols. The flags were restored when the film was finally released last year, albeit not in China. When he was attorney general, William Barr cited reports that in the case of Marvel StudiosDoctor Strange, filmmakers changed the nationality of a major character from a Tibetan monk to Celtic.

Continued here:
Lawmakers Meet With Bob Iger, Hollywood Creatives To Express Concerns Over Censorship And Beijings Influence - Deadline