Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social
Social scientist, researcher, writer. Currently researching sexual & gender based violence in HEIs. Adjunct fellow, ucd school of geography. Writing in the Stinging Fly, Banshee & elsewhere. She/ Her
Pinned
Opinion: Trans lives aren’t black and white, our conversations about them shouldn’t be either
Carol Ballantine says she worries about parents like her trying to make sense of gender in an ever-more polarised context.
www.thejournal.ie
Carol Ballantine says she worries about parents like her trying to make sense of gender in an ever-more polarised context.
www.thejournal.ie/readme/trans...
www.thejournal.ie/readme/trans...
Reposted by Carol Ballantine
"The notion that queerness is "un-African" is one of Britain's most successful lies, and most enduring exports."
www.wearequeeraf.com/the-colonial...
www.wearequeeraf.com/the-colonial...
The colonial lie at the heart of Africa’s homophobic 'culture war'
The notion that queerness is "un-African" is one of Britain's most successful lies, and most enduring exports
www.wearequeeraf.com
January 2, 2026 at 10:01 AM
"The notion that queerness is "un-African" is one of Britain's most successful lies, and most enduring exports."
www.wearequeeraf.com/the-colonial...
www.wearequeeraf.com/the-colonial...
What a delicious #bookmas, 🎄 📚 I am stoked to get stuck into this pile and most especially this one by @badaude.bsky.social
December 25, 2025 at 2:02 PM
What a delicious #bookmas, 🎄 📚 I am stoked to get stuck into this pile and most especially this one by @badaude.bsky.social
Reposted by Carol Ballantine
Don’t forget that #joinin is
Around for anyone spending this time alone, or feeling alone in a crowd for that matter.
Hell, you don’t even need to be lonely, you might be perfectly happy on your own, but enjoy an online chat to break it up a bit.
Do you. Join in if you like.
Around for anyone spending this time alone, or feeling alone in a crowd for that matter.
Hell, you don’t even need to be lonely, you might be perfectly happy on your own, but enjoy an online chat to break it up a bit.
Do you. Join in if you like.
Feeling alone at Christmas? Why not join an annual virtual party started by Sarah Millican on X but now here?! I’m doing my best to keep this tradition going. Use #JoinIn on Dec 25 if you need company or just want a chat. Like/Save this feed to see all the #JoinIn posts bsky.app/profile/did:...
a kid in a knight costume is asking who will join us
Alt: a kid in a knight costume is asking who will join us
media.tenor.com
December 24, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Don’t forget that #joinin is
Around for anyone spending this time alone, or feeling alone in a crowd for that matter.
Hell, you don’t even need to be lonely, you might be perfectly happy on your own, but enjoy an online chat to break it up a bit.
Do you. Join in if you like.
Around for anyone spending this time alone, or feeling alone in a crowd for that matter.
Hell, you don’t even need to be lonely, you might be perfectly happy on your own, but enjoy an online chat to break it up a bit.
Do you. Join in if you like.
Reposted by Carol Ballantine
This thread by a former NYT editor documents how the NYT came to push the Cass Review so hard over other reviews. It was dictated from the top by editors. They sidelined their own London reporter to put Azeen Ghorayshi on it.
How the nyt used the Cass report to restart its anti-trans propaganda campaign in the US:
Coverage of the report was initially assigned to a nyt UK correspondent, usual practice for a UK report. The story being prepared cited critics who called Cass a shoddy, political document that defied science
Coverage of the report was initially assigned to a nyt UK correspondent, usual practice for a UK report. The story being prepared cited critics who called Cass a shoddy, political document that defied science
One reason the NYT has burned its credibility with trans people is that they still cite the discredited Cass report in reporting on trans healthcare. Never the German, Utah, or other systematic reviews supporting care. They also never provide the political context behind restrictions in care.
December 20, 2025 at 10:59 AM
This thread by a former NYT editor documents how the NYT came to push the Cass Review so hard over other reviews. It was dictated from the top by editors. They sidelined their own London reporter to put Azeen Ghorayshi on it.
Reposted by Carol Ballantine
A colloquial German word about someone viewed as low on intellect, especially popular in the 1990s, was Teletubbyzurückwinker. It means “one who waves back at the Teletubbies.”
December 19, 2025 at 12:38 PM
A colloquial German word about someone viewed as low on intellect, especially popular in the 1990s, was Teletubbyzurückwinker. It means “one who waves back at the Teletubbies.”
Reposted by Carol Ballantine
A PhD is a great idea if you want to work your ass off for a few years and then somehow feel like a failure when you finish it successfully
December 8, 2025 at 2:55 PM
A PhD is a great idea if you want to work your ass off for a few years and then somehow feel like a failure when you finish it successfully
Reposted by Carol Ballantine
If you see this please share (i.e. repost, not just like)! The Barbellion Prize is a unique award for writers with disabilities. We need to raise £20k to secure its future, so please make a donation, no matter how large, no matter how small, here: barbellionprize.org/donate/ Thank you!
donate | The Barbellion Prize
barbellionprize.org
December 6, 2025 at 2:38 PM
If you see this please share (i.e. repost, not just like)! The Barbellion Prize is a unique award for writers with disabilities. We need to raise £20k to secure its future, so please make a donation, no matter how large, no matter how small, here: barbellionprize.org/donate/ Thank you!
Sadly, I know nothing about publishing, but I suspect this is the correct take. It was dreadfully bookless, as book segments go.. #toyshow
Kielty has taken one of the most powerful platforms for selling children’s books in Ireland and absolutely trashed it. #ToyShow #LateLateToyShow
December 6, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Sadly, I know nothing about publishing, but I suspect this is the correct take. It was dreadfully bookless, as book segments go.. #toyshow
I feel the book section is insufficiently bookish #toyshow
Not to criticise Bonnie, but this is a lot of book time being used to look at a dress #LateLateToyShow
December 5, 2025 at 11:41 PM
I feel the book section is insufficiently bookish #toyshow
Reposted by Carol Ballantine
In Ireland they force children to stay up late to watch other children perform in a toy show for adults
December 5, 2025 at 5:25 PM
In Ireland they force children to stay up late to watch other children perform in a toy show for adults
Correct take.
And also: I’ll still watch it, and cry when Troy Parrot shows up, dope that I am
And also: I’ll still watch it, and cry when Troy Parrot shows up, dope that I am
The Toy Show has gone too far. It's become this weird combination of the Telathon and Jim'll Fix It, and there aren't enough books.
December 5, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Correct take.
And also: I’ll still watch it, and cry when Troy Parrot shows up, dope that I am
And also: I’ll still watch it, and cry when Troy Parrot shows up, dope that I am
Reposted by Carol Ballantine
This is an amazing thread, pls read all the alt text 😂
THREAD.
3 years ago, with no warning, a brilliant orange farm cat wandered over from the draughty barn where he had been living, in rural Cornwall, and decided he wanted to live with us instead.
We decided to call him Jim.
This is the first photo I took of him, on that night: December 1st, 2022.
3 years ago, with no warning, a brilliant orange farm cat wandered over from the draughty barn where he had been living, in rural Cornwall, and decided he wanted to live with us instead.
We decided to call him Jim.
This is the first photo I took of him, on that night: December 1st, 2022.
November 27, 2025 at 9:25 AM
This is an amazing thread, pls read all the alt text 😂
Reposted by Carol Ballantine
I'm no Luddite - far from it - but the ways in which in this development has been spoken of seem blind to, or completely uninterested in, what cannot be machine read and searched for: the pounce, sweat marks, soot, or wax; the non-semantic yet semiotically rich substrate that OCR strips away.
November 26, 2025 at 10:12 PM
I'm no Luddite - far from it - but the ways in which in this development has been spoken of seem blind to, or completely uninterested in, what cannot be machine read and searched for: the pounce, sweat marks, soot, or wax; the non-semantic yet semiotically rich substrate that OCR strips away.
Reposted by Carol Ballantine
Excellent piece by my colleague, Professor Ciara Smyth:
The real migration crisis is not the one you’ve been hearing about – The Irish Times
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...
The real migration crisis is not the one you’ve been hearing about – The Irish Times
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...
Opinion: The real migration crisis is not the one you’ve been hearing about
‘Politics of affect’ stokes anxieties about immigration, allowing Government to then respond
www.irishtimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Excellent piece by my colleague, Professor Ciara Smyth:
The real migration crisis is not the one you’ve been hearing about – The Irish Times
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...
The real migration crisis is not the one you’ve been hearing about – The Irish Times
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...
Reposted by Carol Ballantine
Rest in Peace and Power, the incomparable Margaretta D'Arcy. 90 years of activism for #peace. She never gave up.
Ní bheidh a leithéad arís ann.
Ní bheidh a leithéad arís ann.
November 23, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Rest in Peace and Power, the incomparable Margaretta D'Arcy. 90 years of activism for #peace. She never gave up.
Ní bheidh a leithéad arís ann.
Ní bheidh a leithéad arís ann.
Reposted by Carol Ballantine
My latest cartoon for @theguardian.com books pages.
November 16, 2025 at 4:15 PM
My latest cartoon for @theguardian.com books pages.
Reposted by Carol Ballantine
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk 🎤
If you’ve read this far and still need convincing, please check out our preprint arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 and this infographic: doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
10/10
If you’ve read this far and still need convincing, please check out our preprint arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 and this infographic: doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
10/10
November 13, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk 🎤
If you’ve read this far and still need convincing, please check out our preprint arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 and this infographic: doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
10/10
If you’ve read this far and still need convincing, please check out our preprint arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 and this infographic: doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
10/10
Reposted by Carol Ballantine
Many call on researchers to behave differently. But researchers are dispersed across disciplines, institutions & countries. Let's face it, we are hard to coordinate.
So we call on the actors with real power:
Funders and institutions. 💪
They can set the policies and reshape incentives. 8/n
So we call on the actors with real power:
Funders and institutions. 💪
They can set the policies and reshape incentives. 8/n
November 13, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Many call on researchers to behave differently. But researchers are dispersed across disciplines, institutions & countries. Let's face it, we are hard to coordinate.
So we call on the actors with real power:
Funders and institutions. 💪
They can set the policies and reshape incentives. 8/n
So we call on the actors with real power:
Funders and institutions. 💪
They can set the policies and reshape incentives. 8/n
What a phenomenal cartoon.
When my twins were very young, I had to have conversations with a lot of people who worried that allowing them to wear princess dresses would result in them being bullied. This would have been a wonderful response to have had 🌈🦋🏳️⚧️
When my twins were very young, I had to have conversations with a lot of people who worried that allowing them to wear princess dresses would result in them being bullied. This would have been a wonderful response to have had 🌈🦋🏳️⚧️
November 9, 2025 at 2:04 PM
What a phenomenal cartoon.
When my twins were very young, I had to have conversations with a lot of people who worried that allowing them to wear princess dresses would result in them being bullied. This would have been a wonderful response to have had 🌈🦋🏳️⚧️
When my twins were very young, I had to have conversations with a lot of people who worried that allowing them to wear princess dresses would result in them being bullied. This would have been a wonderful response to have had 🌈🦋🏳️⚧️
Fascinating article, about language, gender, and research communication (click bait science): highly recommended!
To which we might add that, as with so many things, the solution (as proposed by some of the people discussed here) isn't simply "do as the men do"—it's to rethink whether the norms associated with femininity (friendliness, warmth) don't have some advantages we could do to embrace more.
This is a really fascinating discussion of changing linguistic conventions and how women are expected to write differently.
debuk.wordpress.com/2025/11/06/e...
debuk.wordpress.com/2025/11/06/e...
November 9, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Fascinating article, about language, gender, and research communication (click bait science): highly recommended!
Reposted by Carol Ballantine
A reminder that Zohran's da is one of the great African anti-colonial social scientists
penguinrandomhousesecondaryeducation.com/book/?isbn=9...
penguinrandomhousesecondaryeducation.com/book/?isbn=9...
Good Muslim, Bad Muslim | Penguin Random House Secondary Education
Distinguished political scientist and anthropologist Mahmood Mamdani, father of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, offers an “exceptionally clear [and] especially shocking” (San Francisco...
penguinrandomhousesecondaryeducation.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:46 AM
A reminder that Zohran's da is one of the great African anti-colonial social scientists
penguinrandomhousesecondaryeducation.com/book/?isbn=9...
penguinrandomhousesecondaryeducation.com/book/?isbn=9...
This article about Indian equality activists in Dublin is fascinating. Gen Z influencers animating an overlooked tradition of anti-caste organising.
From a Dublin base, an anti-caste influencer has been growing a global audience. In less than two years, Amit Wasnik has attracted tens of thousands of online followers with his posts focused on the life and ideas of BR Ambedkar.
From a Dublin base, an anti-caste influencer grows a global audience
In less than two years, Amit Wasnik has attracted tens of thousands of online followers with his posts focused on the life and ideas of BR Ambedkar.
www.dublininquirer.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:38 AM
This article about Indian equality activists in Dublin is fascinating. Gen Z influencers animating an overlooked tradition of anti-caste organising.