Laura Kelly

@tortietabby.bsky.social

9.7K followers 1.1K following 220 posts

Historian of medicine and gender in modern Ireland. Professor at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. I work on #histmed, reproductive health, and activism. Cat lover. 🐈 she/her. Personal views. 🇮🇪🇵🇸🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

https://www.strath.ac.uk/staff/proflaurakelly/ .. more

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Psychology 13%

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Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · Nov 12

Hello new followers! For those of you who don’t know me, I work on the history of medicine and gender in modern Ireland. My most recent book ‘Contraception and Modern Ireland’ came out last year and is free to read via this link: www.cambridge.org/core/books/c... (Cover image by Evelyn Hofer)

Contraception and Modern Ireland

Cambridge Core - History of Medicine - Contraception and Modern Ireland

www.cambridge.org

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · 4d

Cassie Ramone and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart in Glasgow tonight. This would have been a dream gig for me in 2009 but I don’t think either played Ireland then. So good to see them both tonight ❤️

Cassie Ramone singing on stage with a guitar.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart band on stage.

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · 8d

academic.oup.com/book/56382

Responsible Pleasure: The Brook Advisory Centres and Youth Sexuality in Postwar Britain

Abstract. This book is a sociocultural history of young people’s sexuality in Britain from the 1960s to the 1990s, using the Brook Advisory Centre (Brook)

academic.oup.com

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · 8d

academic.oup.com/shm/article/...

‘The Doctor Made Clear His Utter Contempt of Me, and I Can Remember It Still’1: Unmarried Women’s Experiences of Accessing the Pill in Scotland c. 1968–1980

Summary. In 1968, the barrier of marital status was removed from oral contraception. This meant that for the first time, unmarried women could legally acce

academic.oup.com

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · 8d

read.uolpress.co.uk/read/adultho...

8. ‘The Pill for an unmarried girl is hardly going to improve her character’: The impact of changing sexual behaviours on the construction of adulthood in Scotland, c.1968–80 | Adulthood in Britain an...

Transforming scholarly publications into living digital works.

read.uolpress.co.uk

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · 8d

We're discussing youth sexuality in my 'Sex, medicine and society' tutorial tomorrow so wanted to flag these brilliant publications by @kristinwh0.bsky.social on unmarried women & contraception in Scotland and @carorusterholz.bsky.social's fantastic book on the Brook Centres! Links below (all OA).

Reposted by Laura Kelly

Rose Ruane @regretteruane.bsky.social · 9d

Was really struck by what a lovely inspiring exercise this is, like a primary school version of Mary Oliver’s Instructions for living a life
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it

Page from a 1960s primary school English textbook with a lovely cartoonish illustration of a red haired white girl in blue shirt looking at a cockatoo on a black perch.
It is in the centre bottom and takes up about a third of the page, above is black serif text which reads Have you ever noticed?
Every day we "see" things without really looking at them at all. On the way to and from school look at just one thing that you have often passed but never looked at very closely - it may be a street lamp, a small plant in a hedgerow, someone's front gate, the wall and windows of an ofice building, the balcony of a house, an object in a shop window.
You are a secret service agent, and exact knowledge of this object is your password. Your life depends on it. Learn it by heart, and then describe it to the fellow agent who has to test you by your knowledge.

Reposted by Laura Kelly

Kieran Connell @kieranconnell.bsky.social · 16d

This discussion on multiculturalism in Ireland and Britain is happening *tonight* in Europe House in Dublin

Hopefully see any Dubs I follow there

dublin.europarl.europa.eu/en/events/le...

Learning From The Neighbours: Multiculturalism in Ireland and the UK | Office in Dublin | European Parliament

dublin.europarl.europa.eu

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · 22d

May McGee was such a courageous woman and had a huge impact. Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann. RIP.

The Irish Times @irishtimes.com · 22d

Death announced of Mary ‘May’ McGee who won historic Supreme Court contraception case

Landmark 1973 case found married couples had right to make private decisions on family planning

www.irishtimes.com

Reposted by Mary Corcoran, Laura Kelly

The Irish Times @irishtimes.com · 22d

Death announced of Mary ‘May’ McGee who won historic Supreme Court contraception case

Landmark 1973 case found married couples had right to make private decisions on family planning

www.irishtimes.com

Reposted by Laura Kelly

Seána @grantsana.bsky.social · 27d

This is the evidence given by Joseph Mahon at the trial of Soldier F who wa found not guilty today. He was 16 when he was shot on Bloody Sunday, read it and digest the reality of British Justice when the victims aren’t classed as fully human

"Q. Now, as you were lying on the ground did you come to see any of the soldiers or any soldier?
A.
I seen one walking across the square from the entrance where they came in walking towards, diagonally across the square towards where we were lying.
Q.
.. could you tell whether it was the first soldier?
A.
It was the first soldier came in. The thing that suit out the must was his rect of em a emerent
pattern, ... more like a smock, a smock combat jacket and it was ...
Q. And what happened when he approached?
A. He walked past me and Mr McKinney and before he did come across I heard a voice, a woman calling 'Lie still, pretend you're dead. I must have moved, I didn't know I was shot at the time, I still thought it was a rubber bullet for I was going to try and get up and run and I lay and let on I was dead.
And he walked, he walked past us ... Mr Wray moved and as he approached Mr Wray he fired two shots into him ... (then) went under the walkway and I don't know where he went then ... he came back ... leaned against the wall and took the helmet off and rubbed the back of his, rubbed his forehead with his hand. (And said). 'I've got another one Dave.' ... (He had) blond hair ... there was a lot of shouting behind me 'We're pulling out Dave.'"

Reposted by Laura Kelly, Laura McAtackney

The Author, Séamas O'Reilly @seamas.bsky.social · 27d

As we await a verdict in the trial of Soldier F, another reminder that in 2010 the Bloody Sunday inquiry found

- the killings were unjustified
- none of the 14 dead (7 of whom were children) had guns
- no warnings were given
- no soldiers were under threat
- the troops were the first to open fire

Reposted by Laura Kelly

Sam Rutherford (he/him) @echomikeromeo.bsky.social · Oct 20

A reminder that if you're in the area it is not too late to join us at the Glasgow Lab for Intersex, Non-Binary and Trans Studies launch event tomorrow afternoon! Register here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/glints-lau...

'GLINTS: Glasgow Lab for Intersex, Non-Binary & Trans Studies' printed in coral on a lavender background

Reposted by Joanna Bourke, Lesley A. Hall, Laura Kelly

Dr Hannah J. Elizabeth @sexhistorian.bsky.social · Oct 20

Join us on Wednesday afternoon next week for the @cshhh.bsky.social 20th anniversary! We have two fantastic public lectures from Tracey Loughran & @joannabourke.bsky.social! Tell your friends, tell your students and come along! #HistSex #HistMed

Reposted by Laura Kelly

Lauren MacIvor Thompson @lmacthompson1.bsky.social · Oct 9

Please acknowledge what is happening to American professors right now.

We do not deserve this.

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · Oct 8

Please consider emailing your government’s department of foreign affairs to demand the release of activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla Coalition ships.

🇮🇪 Irish friends: it takes two mins to email Tánaiste/Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Harris at Simon.harris@oireachtas.ie

Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition @freedomflotilla.bsky.social · Oct 8

Footage from the Israeli Occupation Forces assault on #Conscience, shortly before dawn. In international waters, close to Palestinian territorial waters. Another act of state piracy by the rogue, lawless Israeli occupation.
www.youtube.com/live/PSQcbIw...

Live from Conscience Boat to Gaza, FFC & TMTG (Live 3)

YouTube video by Freedom Flotilla Coalition

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Carme Borrell, Laura Kelly

Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition @freedomflotilla.bsky.social · Oct 8

Live from Conscience Boat to Gaza, FFC & TMTG (Live 3)

YouTube video by Freedom Flotilla Coalition

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Juliet B. Schor, Iain Davidson, Laura Kelly , and 1 more Juliet B. Schor, Iain Davidson, Laura Kelly, Nelson Flores

StrictlyChristo 🇺🇦🌻🚫👑 @strictlychristo.bsky.social · Oct 6

Greta Thunberg speaks to the press after being released from illegal detainment in Israel: "I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment. Trust me, but that is not the story.”

Reposted by Cas Mudde, Éric Verdeil, Juan Cole , and 9 more Cas Mudde, Éric Verdeil, Juan Cole, Renaud Le Goix, Smith, Gerald Roche, Michael D. McDonald, Laura Kelly, Aurélien Mondon, Mark Rice, Aviel Roshwald, Constance Bantman

Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · Oct 4

I’ve received multiple death threats + doxing (including my home address) directly following harassment from Turning Point USA, Jack Posobiec, Andy NGO, + Fox News which called me an antifa ‘financier.’

I have been forced to move my classes online.

If journalists want to talk, DM me or reply here.

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Lesley A. Hall, Anne Norton , and 1 more Jonathan Portes, Lesley A. Hall, Anne Norton, Laura Kelly

Roz Kaveney @rozkaveney.bsky.social · Sep 25

Even back in the 70s and 80s when I could be hassled by the police for walking while trans, no one ever tried to stop me pissing in the Ladies or tried to make me change into my swimsuit among men.

There is no dignity or respect involved in taking away rights I have exercised freely for forty years

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · Aug 25

Great piece, Emer!

Reposted by Lucy Munro, Laura Kelly

dr emer mchugh @emer.bsky.social · Aug 25

me on @cmatbaby.bsky.social’s EURO-COUNTRY and why it gives voice to a distressingly normalised post-recession malaise. i hope you read!

The emblem of modern Ireland? Not fiddles and Guinness but a soulless shopping plaza | Emer McHugh

The singer CMAT dances around a retail centre in a video for her new album. It is the elegy those of us who grew up in the post-Celtic tiger recession have been craving, says Irish writer Emer McHugh

www.theguardian.com

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · Aug 22

Such an important piece. Thank you, @larafreidenfelds.bsky.social.

Reposted by Laura Kelly

Nursing Clio @nursingclio.bsky.social · Aug 22

This week @larafreidenfelds.bsky.social argues that in a post Roe vs Wade world “Women who lose pregnancies, even before viability, are targeted in ways that strongly resemble early modern infanticide investigations.” nursingclio.org/2025/08/20/m...

Miscarriage is a Crime Again

In 1650, a young, single English servant named Anne Greene miscarried into the privy and did not tell anyone. We know her story because she was arrested for infanticide, convicted despite exonerati…

nursingclio.org

Reposted by Patrick Walsh, Laura Kelly

Niamh Cullen @niamhcullen.bsky.social · Aug 20

I have a new article in Modern Italy on mothers, children in 1970s Italian feminist magazine Effe - a lot familiar in their discussions of emotions, expectations and experience of mothering although I especially like their ideas about the radical potential of maternal love

doi.org/10.1017/mit....

Feminism and the family: mothers and children, between love, rights and duties, in Effe magazine 1973–82 | Modern Italy | Cambridge Core

Feminism and the family: mothers and children, between love, rights and duties, in Effe magazine 1973–82

doi.org

Reposted by Rebecca Solnit, Rosemary A. Joyce, Michael Kevane , and 8 more Rebecca Solnit, Rosemary A. Joyce, Michael Kevane, Rebecca Tushnet, Laura Kelly, Paul Fisher, Greg O’Brien, Nathan Richardson, Kathleen Kennedy, Nicole Guenther Discenza, Southern Africa

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Aug 19

from chandra manning's wonderful book "what this cruel war was over"

Nothing made slavery’s toxicity more obvious to Union troops than its effect on the fundamental unit of society, the family. For one thing, slave sales separated families. In the Upper South, where many Union soldiers were stationed in 1861, about one in three first marriages was broken by sale, and about half of all slave children were separated from at least one parent. 129 With their own eyes, soldiers saw slavery snap bonds between parents and children. The men of the Seventh Wisconsin were awakened by gunshots one November night. The following day, soldiers “learned, and saw the cause of the alarm in the form of two negro women—a mother and a daughter.” The pair had fled to Union lines to avoid the proposed sale of the “goodlooking” daughter into the so-called fancy trade, which soldiers viewed as a form of concubinage. Outraged by the plight and moved by the vulnerability of the mother and daughter, “every private in the ranks” cursed “that system which tramples on the honor of man, and makes merchandise of the virtue of women,” according to one member of the regiment. 130 When an Iowan encountered a young child about to be sold by her own father, who was also her master, he vowed, “By G–d I’ll fight till hell freezes over and then I’ll cut the ice and fight on.” 131

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Michael Kevane, Laura Kelly

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Aug 19

much easier to understand the sheer bloody intensity of the civil war when you have a good grasp on just how terrible slavery was.

Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · Aug 19

"How bad slavery was" is worse. Much worse. Much worse than you think, much worse than you're taught, much worse than museums depict. Worse.

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Mark A. Lemley, Steve Peers , and 12 more Ben H. Ansell, Mark A. Lemley, Steve Peers, Diane Ravitch, Jacob Montgomery, Joseph Schafer, Michael Kevane, Robert Wolfe, Andrew L. Whitehead, Laura Kelly, Daryl Adair, Christina Pagel, Rebecca Zorach, Dan Immergluck, Virginia Sapiro

Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · Aug 19

If you want to put back statues and memorials and names of Confederate traitors while tearing down museum exhibitions on slavery because they don't show the greatness of the nation... the nation whose history you're celebrating is whiteness. The kind of nationalist you are is a white nationalist.

Reposted by Richard Price, Rebecca Tushnet, Laura Kelly

Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · Aug 19

one extremely horrific aspect of slavery was systematic, vicious, constant rape and sexual abuse. there remain major taboos about talking about that, especially in schools or museums for all ages.

Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · Aug 19

"How bad slavery was" is worse. Much worse. Much worse than you think, much worse than you're taught, much worse than museums depict. Worse.

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