Power, consent, and craft: scandals, AI bias, and new writing tools
Digest Newsletter
·
Jun 23, 2026
Power, consent, and craft: scandals, AI bias, and new writing tools
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A messy week where power and consent keep bumping into one another — from political abuse and child-safety crimes to AI getting gender wrong and new tools reshaping how stories are written. Expect hard truths, strange admissions, and a few hopeful creative developments that might just repair some of the damage.
Sexuality
From child-abuse arrests to political sex-crime convictions
A string of disturbing cases has pushed sexual safety into the spotlight: a New York school-board VP was charged after troopers found videos of infant abuse on his phone (report), and a 66-year-old in Florida faces multiple counts amid warnings more victims may emerge (report). [P]Internationally and politically, the conviction of former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson on 18 counts and calls for ICC probes into alleged systematic sexual violence in detention show sexual-abuse accountability is expanding beyond individual crimes to institutional and state levels (Donaldson case, op-ed).
gender diversity
AI, children’s TV and the workplace expose a widening gender gap
UN Women warns that AI systems are reproducing gender biases and misrepresenting women as automation reshapes work and communication (UN story), while research on children’s TV and new workplace data show early media and a growing "gender belonging" gap are dragging down engagement and productivity (children's TV, HR research). [P]Meanwhile, female rangers in Zambia’s North Luangwa are rewriting the script on who does conservation, offering a practical model for changing male-dominated fields (profile).
Informed Consent
Public worries push safety-first framing for abortion pills and consent tech
Polls find about 68% of Americans prioritize patient safety over ease of access for abortion drugs, putting pressure on regulators to tighten safety disclosures around mifepristone (poll, analysis). [P]At the same time, digital health tools like Radar Healthcare’s platform aim to deepen consent beyond signatures by improving patient understanding and communication before procedures (feature), signaling consent is becoming both a policy and UX challenge.
Writing
From Write with Siri to estate gifts and cursive comebacks
Apple’s iOS 27 beta adds Write with Siri, folding AI drafting more tightly into writers’ workflows and changing how rough drafts are born (feature). [P]Academia and craft are in flux: a $630,000 estate gift permanently endows the University of Hawaiʻi writing center (news), while Florida’s SB 182 brings cursive back into classrooms, stirring debate about handwriting’s role in composition (report). For storytellers, notes from playwrights and romance writers remind that adaptation and so-called "plotless" forms still teach hard lessons in structure and voice (play adaptation, essay).
Fiction
Publishers hunt horror talent while readers revisit national stories
The Black List teaming with Zando launches an open search for the next big horror novelist, signaling industry appetite for genre breakout hits (announcement). [P]At the same time, curated lists of Ozarks-set historical fiction and essays on American letters for the nation’s approach to 250 years are nudging readers toward regional and national narratives that examine identity through place and time (Ozarks roundup, American letters).
BDSM
Armie Hammer revisits cancellation with blunt, controversial comparisons
Armie Hammer has resurfaced in interviews framing his five-year cancellation as akin to a martyrdom, even comparing himself to Jesus as he reflects on the fallout from disturbing allegations that ended his career (interview). [P]The comments re-open debates about accountability, public shaming, and how allegations tied to BDSM discourse are handled in media and culture — a tricky narrative for anyone who writes about desire and power to parse.