Cecile Simmons
cecilesimmons.bsky.social
Cecile Simmons
@cecilesimmons.bsky.social
Researcher specialising in online harms and gender equality. Recovering wellness enthusiast thinking about community and resilience. First book: CTRL, HATE, DELETE (out March 2025 with Policy Press).
Reposted by Cecile Simmons
A timely exploration of online male supremacy by @cecilesimmons.bsky.social

Thorough research and clear analysis paint a troubling picture.

Part 2 brings hope for fighting back and finding ways forward.

An unfortunately necessary book.

#books 💙📚💡
March 31, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Very much looking forward to this event at The Gilded Acorn on 10 April. Details below:
March 28, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Looking forward to this talk at @bookhaus.bsky.social alongside the excellent Lois Shearing and @finnfox.bsky.social about the far-right, male supremacy and women's roles in these ideologies.
Join us at @bookhaus.bsky.social #Bristol for a brilliant #WomensHistoryMonth double header event with @cecilesimmons.bsky.social, author of CTRL HATE DELETE and Lois Shearing, author of Pink-pilled, about far-right politics and the internet today. Tickets: www.bookhausbristol.com/events/#e124...
March 9, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Cecile Simmons
As with many things, the answer to why people are doing a silly thing is that someone else is making a lot of money off it www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fa...
December 30, 2024 at 7:24 AM
I'm not one for moral panics about the decline of men, but women accounting for 80% book sales should give us pause for thought. Men looking for a way to make sense of the world are increasingly turning to Joe Rogan.

www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/o...
Opinion | The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone
What happens if half the population is no longer involved in reading and writing?
www.nytimes.com
December 9, 2024 at 2:01 PM
Reposted by Cecile Simmons
“Don’t feed the trolls” also extends to bad opinion pieces in papers of record.

They run them bc people react to them the most.

If we stop linking to bad columns and instead post thinkers we find valuable (& generate convo around it), incentives change.

It’s not easy and takes constant practice!
December 2, 2024 at 6:19 PM
Important piece by @nataliapetrzela.bsky.social and @rachelschreiber.bsky.social on our societies' tolerance for antisemitic misogynistic tropes and how Jewish women have become "soft targets" in authoritarian white supremacist agendas.
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/01/o...
Opinion | Misogyny and Antisemitism Are a Toxic Brew
Stereotyping Jewish women is dangerously common.
www.nytimes.com
December 3, 2024 at 12:13 PM
With the shutdown of research tools and legal threats to research organisations, the pre-election period has already had a chilling effect on those trying to document online harms. Doing the job is becoming increasingly difficult.
Trump has vowed to crack down on universities involved in misinformation research, or what he dubs the "censorship cartel" - e.g. by curbing funds to those that have "flagged content for removal”, or legal threats

“I'm pretty fucking scared," one professor tells me.

www.ft.com/content/bfb4...
Donald Trump’s return sends shivers through the anti-misinformation world
Vow to crack down on the ‘censorship cartel’ has researchers worried — and Big Tech is on notice
www.ft.com
November 25, 2024 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Cecile Simmons
Brian Deer is the reason we know Andrew Wakefield is a complete charlatan. His dogged investigatory work, over the course of years, helped bring the vaccines-autism myth—and how much Wakefield was paid to invent it—to light.

He's just as critical of Bobby's grift.

www.nytimes.com/2024/11/25/o...
Opinion | Kennedy’s Antivax Views and Friends Can Cause Real Damage
What he did during a measles epidemic in Samoa shouldn’t be forgotten.
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2024 at 4:27 PM
Thank you for including me in this list of brilliant and dedicated colleagues who are working to make our digital landscape a little bit saner.
Women VS Disinfo

The Brave - The Bright - The Brilliant.

A huge selection of expert researchers, fact checkers, journalists, debunkers, science communicators, academics, vloggers, etc. of all things Disinfo / CT

go.bsky.app/FFCjgks
November 25, 2024 at 10:28 AM
Reposted by Cecile Simmons
The problem is this authora & many others don't realise that you cannot compare X to Twitter, X to Bsky. When I log into X I am presented with hate speech, terrorist content, gore, mass shooter videos. Bsky and its community is not an echo chamber for refusing to accept this content in our feeds.
Opinion - The problem with Bluesky: It won’t broaden our horizons: In the wake of Donald Trump’s election win, the social-media platform has enjoyed a surge of new users looking for an alternative to Elon Musk’s X. But will it be useful, if it just creates an echo chamber for the left?
The problem with Bluesky: It won’t broaden our horizons
In the wake of Donald Trump’s election win, the social-media platform has enjoyed a surge of new users looking for an alternative to Elon Musk’s X. But will it be useful, if it just creates an echo chamber for the left?
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 22, 2024 at 11:50 AM
Amazing show but also...should be a slogan for disinfo researchers.
November 22, 2024 at 11:52 AM
The contemporary obsession with witchcraft seems proportionate to our political powerlessness. In 1968, witches took on Wall Street. Now we're paying Etsy witches to curse Musk. I get there is such a thing as aesthetics but we're going to need better than that.

www.wired.com/story/viral-...
You Too Can Hire an ‘Etsy Witch’ to Curse Elon Musk
Riley Wenckus used TikTok to tell Elon Musk she paid “an Etsy witch” $7.99 to make his life “a living hell.” A new market has opened up for others looking to follow her lead.
www.wired.com
November 21, 2024 at 9:15 PM
Reposted by Cecile Simmons
These descriptions are so chilling:

“An increased interest in pursuing the ideal masculine appearance by going to the gym and the creation of new male-dominated social activities like the infamous exclusive poker nights had seemed innocent” but now 1/

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The boys in our liberal school are different now that Trump has won | Anonymous
Subtle high-fives were exchanged and remarks about the impending success of the next four years were whispered around
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2024 at 10:22 AM