Rachel Jennings
@rachisaurus.bsky.social
Professional animal nerd. Museum curator. Autistic. Lover of kitsch. Queer. She/her.
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
“Autistic ppl are a natural part of the human experience & society needs to affirm the value of ppl—even with significant disabilities. I don’t think eugenics is ethical or warranted in science or research.” @drstevenkapp.bsky.social to @juliametraux.bsky.social:
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Disgust, horror, and "elimination": Trump and RFK Jr.'s eugenicist autism conference
The most striking omission from Monday's White House pageant: autistic people.
www.motherjones.com
September 25, 2025 at 2:05 AM
“Autistic ppl are a natural part of the human experience & society needs to affirm the value of ppl—even with significant disabilities. I don’t think eugenics is ethical or warranted in science or research.” @drstevenkapp.bsky.social to @juliametraux.bsky.social:
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... A lovely, responsible book on Trans lives, co-written by one of my colleagues, is at the centre of this hate campaign in Kent. It was nowhere near the children's section.
Apparently the book simply existing is somehow a 'safeguarding' risk for children.
What on earth.
Apparently the book simply existing is somehow a 'safeguarding' risk for children.
What on earth.
Backlash after trans books removed from children's library section
KCC says the move came after a
www.bbc.co.uk
July 5, 2025 at 12:07 PM
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... A lovely, responsible book on Trans lives, co-written by one of my colleagues, is at the centre of this hate campaign in Kent. It was nowhere near the children's section.
Apparently the book simply existing is somehow a 'safeguarding' risk for children.
What on earth.
Apparently the book simply existing is somehow a 'safeguarding' risk for children.
What on earth.
Sometimes I don't feel very autistic. But then I'll be on the bus listening to the Stardew Valley soundtrack on my NC headphones, having just bought £30 of embroidery thread to make a Stardew cross stitch, and realise: I am a walking cliche of autism.
June 21, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Sometimes I don't feel very autistic. But then I'll be on the bus listening to the Stardew Valley soundtrack on my NC headphones, having just bought £30 of embroidery thread to make a Stardew cross stitch, and realise: I am a walking cliche of autism.
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
Just full on rolling out the trans discrimination on the back of a shoddy corrupt supreme court ruling bsky.app/profile/indi...
BREAKING: Labour will formally recognise trans women as ‘men’ tomorrow. It means trans women will be banned from all women shortlists and all Labour women’s groups. Revolting. The party’s relationship with LGBT+ is over.
May 20, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Just full on rolling out the trans discrimination on the back of a shoddy corrupt supreme court ruling bsky.app/profile/indi...
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
I am giving a talk tomorrow for the INH series online, where I am looking at the origins of the Aburi Botanic Gardens in the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana) and the role that instructions and suggestions played in its management and early "success"
#botany #ghana.Bsky #HistSTM #aburibotanicgardens
#botany #ghana.Bsky #HistSTM #aburibotanicgardens
I argue that, as an experimental laboratory, the early success of the Aburi Botanic Garden played a key role in plans to permanently expand botanic stations across West Africa. Colonial “successes” however, did not come without its failures. instructingnaturalhistory.com/events/makin...
Nathan Bossoh (Southampton University) - Making Colonial Laboratories: Investigating the Role of Suggestions and Instructions in Managing the Aburi Botanic Gardens — Instructing Natural History
In his 1887 publication Sketch of the Forestry of West Africa , Cornelius Alfred Moloney, British Governor of the Lagos Colony, provided “suggestions” for the development of a network of botanic gard...
instructingnaturalhistory.com
May 20, 2025 at 12:29 PM
I am giving a talk tomorrow for the INH series online, where I am looking at the origins of the Aburi Botanic Gardens in the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana) and the role that instructions and suggestions played in its management and early "success"
#botany #ghana.Bsky #HistSTM #aburibotanicgardens
#botany #ghana.Bsky #HistSTM #aburibotanicgardens
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
In 2019 I had the extreme privilege of curating an exhibition with Jonathan Kingdon - I've never met anyone with a mind like his, able to firstly conceive profound biological concepts, and then translate them with astonishing art. I've just finished his latest book, Origin Africa. It is brilliant.
May 20, 2025 at 7:02 AM
In 2019 I had the extreme privilege of curating an exhibition with Jonathan Kingdon - I've never met anyone with a mind like his, able to firstly conceive profound biological concepts, and then translate them with astonishing art. I've just finished his latest book, Origin Africa. It is brilliant.
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
Shoutout to Whitney Plantation, who has always BANNED WEDDINGS at their location and allowed the entire facility and its grounds to be an indoor and outdoor museum. It also houses the genealogical records for over 100,000 enslaved people.
You can search for your loved ones in its archives.
You can search for your loved ones in its archives.
May 16, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Shoutout to Whitney Plantation, who has always BANNED WEDDINGS at their location and allowed the entire facility and its grounds to be an indoor and outdoor museum. It also houses the genealogical records for over 100,000 enslaved people.
You can search for your loved ones in its archives.
You can search for your loved ones in its archives.
Choo Choo! I'm on my first train of the day, on the way to Manchester for #NatSCA2025 🚂
May 7, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Choo Choo! I'm on my first train of the day, on the way to Manchester for #NatSCA2025 🚂
Pretty much everything that can go wrong in a museum has gone wrong this week, but I'm very proud of our brand new exhibition of elephant-inspired work by talented young artists!
May 2, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Pretty much everything that can go wrong in a museum has gone wrong this week, but I'm very proud of our brand new exhibition of elephant-inspired work by talented young artists!
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
As Morgan Page summarized it acidly, “apparently the Court will know women when they see them,” this being the litmus test for porn in the US Supreme Court in the '60s. The comparison to obscenity law is apt. “Deep in the judgment is an idea of trans people as moral contaminants,” notes Dave Renton.
The UK Supreme Court’s transphobic ruling on the definition of woman last week is a defeat for all women—even, ultimately, the self-described feminists celebrating it, and the women who will gain in the short term from their alliance with the carceral state.
my latest for @thenation.com
my latest for @thenation.com
The UK's Anti-Trans Ruling Is a Defeat for All Women
Even the self-described feminists celebrating the Supreme Court's attempt to banish trans people from womanhood will pay a heavy price.
www.thenation.com
April 23, 2025 at 2:14 PM
As Morgan Page summarized it acidly, “apparently the Court will know women when they see them,” this being the litmus test for porn in the US Supreme Court in the '60s. The comparison to obscenity law is apt. “Deep in the judgment is an idea of trans people as moral contaminants,” notes Dave Renton.
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
Keir Starmer is simply wrong in law. A trans woman with a Gender Recognition Certificate is considered a woman for the vast majority of legal purposes, as required by the ECHR. One would expect a former human rights lawyer to have a better grasp of legal detail.
Asked if Keir Starmer still believes that a trans woman is a woman, his spokesman replies "no".
Says that trans women must now use men's bathrooms
Says that trans women must now use men's bathrooms
April 22, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Keir Starmer is simply wrong in law. A trans woman with a Gender Recognition Certificate is considered a woman for the vast majority of legal purposes, as required by the ECHR. One would expect a former human rights lawyer to have a better grasp of legal detail.
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
Planned action!
Protest planned at parliament square on Saturday at 1pm to protest supreme court ruling.
Protest planned at parliament square on Saturday at 1pm to protest supreme court ruling.
April 16, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Planned action!
Protest planned at parliament square on Saturday at 1pm to protest supreme court ruling.
Protest planned at parliament square on Saturday at 1pm to protest supreme court ruling.
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
My analysis of today's UK Supreme Court judgment.
The UK Supreme Court Rules That Trans Women Aren't Women Under the Equality Act 2010
www.wearequeeraf.com/uk-supreme-c...
The UK Supreme Court Rules That Trans Women Aren't Women Under the Equality Act 2010
www.wearequeeraf.com/uk-supreme-c...
UK Supreme Court Rules That Trans Women Aren’t Women under the Equality Act 2010
The legal definition of a woman in the UK now excludes trans people: This is what it means for Trans+ rights in the country
www.wearequeeraf.com
April 16, 2025 at 3:23 PM
My analysis of today's UK Supreme Court judgment.
The UK Supreme Court Rules That Trans Women Aren't Women Under the Equality Act 2010
www.wearequeeraf.com/uk-supreme-c...
The UK Supreme Court Rules That Trans Women Aren't Women Under the Equality Act 2010
www.wearequeeraf.com/uk-supreme-c...
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
when the law says you cannot exist, the truest and best weapon at your disposal is to defy it and survive regardless. In the face of meaningless cruelty, defiance is all there is, really. For as long as it takes.
April 16, 2025 at 6:23 PM
when the law says you cannot exist, the truest and best weapon at your disposal is to defy it and survive regardless. In the face of meaningless cruelty, defiance is all there is, really. For as long as it takes.
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
Obviously things have got dramatically worse in the US recently, and I don't want to diminish that, but I've been at *so many* conferences in the UK on topics like empire, humanitarianism and development where multiple speakers from the Global South have been denied visas or held at the border
I just attended a conference in the US. We had one speaker detained and two others turned away at the border.
There are great conferences and science in the US, but with the way things are right now, it’s too risky to attend.
April 14, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Obviously things have got dramatically worse in the US recently, and I don't want to diminish that, but I've been at *so many* conferences in the UK on topics like empire, humanitarianism and development where multiple speakers from the Global South have been denied visas or held at the border
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
Book launch tickets on sale today at 10! Absolutely delighted to be in conversation with David Olusoga at Manchester Museum on 6 June, 6-8:30pm. Join us for a launch celebration among amazing ways of being!
Free, but limited places so register here. Pls share.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sadiah-qur...
Free, but limited places so register here. Pls share.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sadiah-qur...
Sadiah Qureshi in conversation with David Olusoga about extinction
Manchester Histories presents an 'In Conversation' event marking the launch of 'Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction' (Penguin 2025)
www.eventbrite.co.uk
April 14, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Book launch tickets on sale today at 10! Absolutely delighted to be in conversation with David Olusoga at Manchester Museum on 6 June, 6-8:30pm. Join us for a launch celebration among amazing ways of being!
Free, but limited places so register here. Pls share.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sadiah-qur...
Free, but limited places so register here. Pls share.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sadiah-qur...
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
To be clear, the Nazis tried this. Lutz Heck thought it would be cool to resurrect aurochs (a type of extinct cattle) and other creatures from the Reich's mythic past. It was a bait and switch then, it's a bait and switch now.
April 8, 2025 at 12:33 AM
To be clear, the Nazis tried this. Lutz Heck thought it would be cool to resurrect aurochs (a type of extinct cattle) and other creatures from the Reich's mythic past. It was a bait and switch then, it's a bait and switch now.
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
I have tariffed
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island
and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods
forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island
and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods
forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold
April 3, 2025 at 7:45 PM
I have tariffed
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island
and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods
forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island
and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods
forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
I mean. This is where we are, right
April 3, 2025 at 1:43 PM
I mean. This is where we are, right
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
One way the mainstream "over" (or "under") diagnosis discourse is misleading is the assumption there is some natural, correct number of neurodivergent people. But there is no natural number, as disability is relationally, materially, and socially produced.
March 25, 2025 at 10:01 AM
One way the mainstream "over" (or "under") diagnosis discourse is misleading is the assumption there is some natural, correct number of neurodivergent people. But there is no natural number, as disability is relationally, materially, and socially produced.
Museum people really are the best people! Just had a lovely chat about natural history data management with a colleague from another museum. #MuseumDocumentation
March 20, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Museum people really are the best people! Just had a lovely chat about natural history data management with a colleague from another museum. #MuseumDocumentation
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
📢Calling all natural historians!
This year our Summer Meeting is exploring the ✨senses✨
So we want to hear from you! We're looking for papers that explore the intersections of the senses - including sight, sound, smell, taste and touch - with the history of natural history.
This year our Summer Meeting is exploring the ✨senses✨
So we want to hear from you! We're looking for papers that explore the intersections of the senses - including sight, sound, smell, taste and touch - with the history of natural history.
March 8, 2025 at 11:20 AM
📢Calling all natural historians!
This year our Summer Meeting is exploring the ✨senses✨
So we want to hear from you! We're looking for papers that explore the intersections of the senses - including sight, sound, smell, taste and touch - with the history of natural history.
This year our Summer Meeting is exploring the ✨senses✨
So we want to hear from you! We're looking for papers that explore the intersections of the senses - including sight, sound, smell, taste and touch - with the history of natural history.
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
Comrades! Now the audiobook's finally out, I have five codes for free audible copies of *Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism*. If you want one just like and share/quote this post. After 48 hours I'll pick five sharers at random to send the codes to.
March 6, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Comrades! Now the audiobook's finally out, I have five codes for free audible copies of *Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism*. If you want one just like and share/quote this post. After 48 hours I'll pick five sharers at random to send the codes to.
Reposted by Rachel Jennings
So thrilled to say that my new article on the echoes of Section 28 in the moral panic around trans people in the UK is out now, along with the rest of the first issue of @genderandjustice.bsky.social !
doi.org/10.1332/3033...
doi.org/10.1332/3033...
Moral panics and legal projects: echoes of Section 28 in United Kingdom transgender discourse and law reform
A grounding in the queer history of the legal system in the United Kingdom reveals striking parallels between the moral panic leading to the enactment of Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, a...
doi.org
March 4, 2025 at 10:26 AM
So thrilled to say that my new article on the echoes of Section 28 in the moral panic around trans people in the UK is out now, along with the rest of the first issue of @genderandjustice.bsky.social !
doi.org/10.1332/3033...
doi.org/10.1332/3033...