Diana Bellonby
@dbellonby.bsky.social
Writer. Mother. English PhD. Feminist cultural critic. Philadelphian. Connoisseur of anxiety. Co-editor of *Victorian Gaslighting* (SUNY Press 2026). Working on a memoir / literary history of rape culture from Ovid to You-Know-Who. (she/her)
Pinned
Diana Bellonby
@dbellonby.bsky.social
· Jun 20
Wanna know the history of #gaslighting? My co-edited book of essays, *Victorian Gaslighting*, will make you an expert! This juicy guide, co-created with @noragilbert.bsky.social and @tara-macdonald.bsky.social, is officially in pre-production at @sunypress.bsky.social and slated for pub in 2026!
"The suppression of gender studies is not only an attempt to suppress a critical analytical tool, but also knowledge itself."
Gender studies courses are shutting down across the US. The Epstein files reveal why | Joan Wallach Scott
Texas A&M University is the latest school to end women’s and gender studies programs and teaching race. We know why
www.theguardian.com
February 14, 2026 at 2:59 PM
"The suppression of gender studies is not only an attempt to suppress a critical analytical tool, but also knowledge itself."
Reposted by Diana Bellonby
It's alive! Editor copies of "Victorian Gaslighting" arrived yesterday, and the book is now available for order at sunypress.edu/Books/V/Vict.... Go get (or go ask your library to get) yours! #gaslighting #Gaslight @dbellonby.bsky.social @tara-macdonald.bsky.social @sunypress.bsky.social
February 13, 2026 at 2:08 PM
It's alive! Editor copies of "Victorian Gaslighting" arrived yesterday, and the book is now available for order at sunypress.edu/Books/V/Vict.... Go get (or go ask your library to get) yours! #gaslighting #Gaslight @dbellonby.bsky.social @tara-macdonald.bsky.social @sunypress.bsky.social
God bless Bad Bunny. To be clear, I'm not a believer, but if God is real, I'd like her to know how fucking grateful I am for this beautiful man during this ugly time.
February 12, 2026 at 5:06 PM
God bless Bad Bunny. To be clear, I'm not a believer, but if God is real, I'd like her to know how fucking grateful I am for this beautiful man during this ugly time.
Reposted by Diana Bellonby
Reading a lot lately about the early women's rights activists who emerged out of the abolition movement in the 1840s and 1850s, and these women seem so modern and familiar in so many ways that it's really galling to then learn how dramatically constrained their legal rights were.
February 9, 2026 at 7:31 PM
Reading a lot lately about the early women's rights activists who emerged out of the abolition movement in the 1840s and 1850s, and these women seem so modern and familiar in so many ways that it's really galling to then learn how dramatically constrained their legal rights were.
Reposted by Diana Bellonby
Bad Bunny’s performance began in the plantation, featured broken electric poles, and ended by centering a hemispheric understanding of “América”—among many other things—and some Anglo journalists are like “his performance wasn’t political.”
This is why we need to be telling our stories.
This is why we need to be telling our stories.
February 9, 2026 at 2:00 PM
Bad Bunny’s performance began in the plantation, featured broken electric poles, and ended by centering a hemispheric understanding of “América”—among many other things—and some Anglo journalists are like “his performance wasn’t political.”
This is why we need to be telling our stories.
This is why we need to be telling our stories.
"Feminist theorizing feels both as urgent and as under threat as it was during the dawning of women’s studies as an academic enterprise." Yep. Aptly themed special issue CFP from Signs.
Calls for Papers
2027 Catharine Stimpson Prize for Outstanding Feminist Scholarship The University of Chicago Press and Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society are pleased to announce the competition for the…
signsjournal.org
December 19, 2025 at 2:19 PM
"Feminist theorizing feels both as urgent and as under threat as it was during the dawning of women’s studies as an academic enterprise." Yep. Aptly themed special issue CFP from Signs.
Reposted by Diana Bellonby
100% this
There isn't a single problem "solved" by edtech that couldn't be fixed with smaller classes led by well-paid teachers given real academic freedom
December 13, 2025 at 12:39 AM
100% this
How much like Pottersville is the fascist hell we're living in under Trump 2.0?
The dystopian Pottersville in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is starting to feel less like fiction
Frank Capra’s dark vision of corruption and greed highlights both the dangers of concentrated power and the quiet effectiveness of collective action.
theconversation.com
December 11, 2025 at 7:37 PM
How much like Pottersville is the fascist hell we're living in under Trump 2.0?
Reposted by Diana Bellonby
He’s really putting the rest into resting dick face.
December 5, 2025 at 3:02 AM
He’s really putting the rest into resting dick face.
Reposted by Diana Bellonby
Mamdani went to a small college similar to the one where I work and majored in Africana Studies. From now on my answer to the microaggressive question of “what can one (even) do with a Black Studies degree from a liberal arts college?” is “You can run New York.”
November 6, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Mamdani went to a small college similar to the one where I work and majored in Africana Studies. From now on my answer to the microaggressive question of “what can one (even) do with a Black Studies degree from a liberal arts college?” is “You can run New York.”
Reposted by Diana Bellonby
Socialism starts with me curled up under a blanket on my couch feeling joy for half a second
November 5, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Socialism starts with me curled up under a blanket on my couch feeling joy for half a second
Reposted by Diana Bellonby
Today is the official publication day for POETRY IN GENERAL: How a Literary From Became Public.
✨ Now available wherever books are sold ✨
Use CUP20 for a discount from the press
cup.columbia.edu/book/poetry-...
✨ Now available wherever books are sold ✨
Use CUP20 for a discount from the press
cup.columbia.edu/book/poetry-...
November 4, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Today is the official publication day for POETRY IN GENERAL: How a Literary From Became Public.
✨ Now available wherever books are sold ✨
Use CUP20 for a discount from the press
cup.columbia.edu/book/poetry-...
✨ Now available wherever books are sold ✨
Use CUP20 for a discount from the press
cup.columbia.edu/book/poetry-...
Reposted by Diana Bellonby
A reminder that we're collecting books, chapters, and journal articles by non-TT historians for publication in our year-end lists. Anything with a 2025 pub date is eligible and you can submit for your friends/colleagues! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...
Publications by Non-Tenure-Track Historians
Since we began publishing in 2019, Contingent has published end-of-year lists of books and articles by non-tenure-track historians released in the past calendar year. To submit something for inclusion...
contingentmagazine.org
October 24, 2025 at 12:09 AM
A reminder that we're collecting books, chapters, and journal articles by non-TT historians for publication in our year-end lists. Anything with a 2025 pub date is eligible and you can submit for your friends/colleagues! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...
Think you're an expert on all things #gaslighting? Check out what my co-editor has to say about the lost ending of *Gaslight*, which I suspect you've never heard about before! @noragilbert.bsky.social
The Lost Ending of “Gaslight” That You Didn’t Know You Needed - Public Books
The only way to really understand the term is to sit down and watch the harrowing psychological film from which it got its name.
www.publicbooks.org
October 28, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Think you're an expert on all things #gaslighting? Check out what my co-editor has to say about the lost ending of *Gaslight*, which I suspect you've never heard about before! @noragilbert.bsky.social
Reposted by Diana Bellonby
I couldn’t listen to the survivors of Epstein’s abuse without thinking about my own rape - questions unanswered by his enablers, reports unreleased by Stanford. But I’m glad I did listen, and I’m grateful for their astounding courage, eloquence, and generosity. Solidarity and #MeToo
September 5, 2025 at 4:48 PM
I couldn’t listen to the survivors of Epstein’s abuse without thinking about my own rape - questions unanswered by his enablers, reports unreleased by Stanford. But I’m glad I did listen, and I’m grateful for their astounding courage, eloquence, and generosity. Solidarity and #MeToo
Reposted by Diana Bellonby
I can’t believe my life is being affected by the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment
newrepublic.com/article/2013...
newrepublic.com/article/2013...
Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down
How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education
newrepublic.com
October 7, 2025 at 11:06 AM
I can’t believe my life is being affected by the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment
newrepublic.com/article/2013...
newrepublic.com/article/2013...
Happy Pub Day, @donikakelly.bsky.social! This book, like its author, is gorgeous. Go treat yourself to a copy.
The Natural Order of Things: Poems
Poems
bookshop.org
October 7, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Happy Pub Day, @donikakelly.bsky.social! This book, like its author, is gorgeous. Go treat yourself to a copy.
Look what has a website now! If you teach at a university, please tell your library to order a copy. I promise you'll enjoy teaching this book!
Victorian Gaslighting
sunypress.edu
September 30, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Look what has a website now! If you teach at a university, please tell your library to order a copy. I promise you'll enjoy teaching this book!
Reposted by Diana Bellonby
It is, far and away, the most challenging thing I’ve encountered since entering the academy. And that is saying a lot. I might be working on this but I keep putting it aside because I’m not medicated enough to describe how demoralizing it all is.
We have allowed the lazy, grifting Silicon Valley charlatans into the front door, & in doing so, we have learned just how many of our own colleagues & administrators simply are not interested in the actual business of education. It's incredibly demoralizing.
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
bsky.app/profile/mcop...
Thanks so much for your reporting on this, Ben. I just got an email from my campus's IT office triumphantly advertising free student access to four different AI models -- at the same time as we have a hiring freeze, caps on grad enrollment, and a 7% budget cut -- and wanted to scream.
September 27, 2025 at 9:29 PM
It is, far and away, the most challenging thing I’ve encountered since entering the academy. And that is saying a lot. I might be working on this but I keep putting it aside because I’m not medicated enough to describe how demoralizing it all is.
Reposted by Diana Bellonby
Reading books is becoming an act of resistance.
September 6, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Reading books is becoming an act of resistance.
Reposted by Diana Bellonby
One double bind of anti-rape feminism: women’s experiences of sexual violence are no guarantee of their feminist solidarity, and women’s loyalty to men or tolerance for their violence against other women is no guarantee of their personal safety.
August 26, 2025 at 2:54 PM
One double bind of anti-rape feminism: women’s experiences of sexual violence are no guarantee of their feminist solidarity, and women’s loyalty to men or tolerance for their violence against other women is no guarantee of their personal safety.
My 8-year-old calls cell phones "skinny rectangles of doom." I mean. He's not wrong.
August 25, 2025 at 10:05 PM
My 8-year-old calls cell phones "skinny rectangles of doom." I mean. He's not wrong.
Cover design is in! Nobody has a better "fuck you" face than Ingrid Bergman. #coverdesign #bookcover #gaslighting @sunypress.bsky.social @tara-macdonald.bsky.social @noragilbert.bsky.social
August 24, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Cover design is in! Nobody has a better "fuck you" face than Ingrid Bergman. #coverdesign #bookcover #gaslighting @sunypress.bsky.social @tara-macdonald.bsky.social @noragilbert.bsky.social
This Shakespeare-to-Millais-to-Swift gem is the unexpected literary allusion I needed today! Yes, there's a bathtub story behind Millais's 1852 painting AND Swift's album cover. Can't WAIT to hear "The Fate of Ophelia." (Images by Wikimedia Commons) #thelifeofashowgirl #taylorswift #lizziesiddal
August 15, 2025 at 6:09 PM
This Shakespeare-to-Millais-to-Swift gem is the unexpected literary allusion I needed today! Yes, there's a bathtub story behind Millais's 1852 painting AND Swift's album cover. Can't WAIT to hear "The Fate of Ophelia." (Images by Wikimedia Commons) #thelifeofashowgirl #taylorswift #lizziesiddal
If you like this fabulous essay, check out Grace's chapter in the forthcoming collection on Victorian Gaslighting (out March 2026, available for preorder Sept 2025), coedited by @tara-macdonald.bsky.social, @noragilbert.bsky.social, and me!
67.1 Essay Spotlight: "Gaslighting: The Material History of a Metaphor"
Read Grace Franklin's essay on the material history underpinning the concept of psychological gaslighting: muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/articl...
Read Grace Franklin's essay on the material history underpinning the concept of psychological gaslighting: muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/articl...
August 15, 2025 at 5:29 PM
If you like this fabulous essay, check out Grace's chapter in the forthcoming collection on Victorian Gaslighting (out March 2026, available for preorder Sept 2025), coedited by @tara-macdonald.bsky.social, @noragilbert.bsky.social, and me!