Carol Ballantine

Carol Ballantine

@cballantine.bsky.social

Slow. Learner.

1K followers880 following310 posts

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Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social

Some news: my memoir, Little Oases, will be published in March! 🥳 It's about what mothering my identical twins taught me, an Irish feminist sociologist, about gender and sex. Preorders and shares very welcome! @eoinpurcell.bsky.social fullsetbooks.com/products/lit...

fullsetbooks.comLittle Oases. Carol Ballantine book, published by Full SetCarol Ballantine book, Little Oases: A memoir, draws on Carol's personal and academic expertise to explore questions about gender identity in childhood as she raises her twins. Published by Full Set.

Carol Ballantine reposted

Una Mullally
@unamullally.bsky.social

This, from the hugely experienced Irish courts reporter, Isabel Hayes, on the Minister for Justice’s performative outrage over an ad about children and consent, is worth reading.

Carol Ballantine reposted

Gary Gannon TD
@garygannontd.bsky.social

It makes me deeply uncomfortable that the Minister for Justice has used his Twitter account to create an online pile on of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. It also appears to me a dangerous precedent that this minister, and his dept. have instructed the DRCC to remove content that he disapproved of.

Carol Ballantine reposted

Rebekah Higgitt
@rhiggitt.bsky.social

Bristol-based We The Curious science centre worked with a PhD researcher in post colonial linguistics to produce a guide for astronomy, and STEM more broadly, engagement: Decolonising Your Planetarium www.wethecurious.org/news-blog/de... (link to the full PDF guide at the bottom) #scicomm📜🔭

wethecurious.orgDecolonising your planetariumA practical checklist for science communicators who want to remove barriers to engagement through decolonisation.
Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social

I absolutely despair of this country. Massive solidarity with the Dublin rape crisis centre and the we-consent team today. Absolute heroes doing the goddesses’ work, they deserve better than this.

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Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social

I teach gender and international development, and when we talk about cultural violence, I always lead with US fraternities - rather than the more typical FGM/ honour based violence. It’s so easy to see structural misogyny in an alien or minority culture. It’s always present closer to home.

Nicole Bedera@nbedera.bsky.social

We’ve seen schools do this before. If this one-year party suspension doesn’t turn into a permanent ban, then it’s just a message to fraternities that they have true impunity. That even the worst, most violent behavior will result in a temporary slap on the wrist.

apnews.comCornell suspends fraternity parties for rest of academic year amid sexual assault controversyCornell University is suspending parties and other social events at fraternity houses for the rest of the academic year.
Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social

So many research articles about “culture change” initiatives that systematically replace misogynistic practices. I want to see a Kenyan ngo implement culture change in an Ivy League college

Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social

I teach gender and international development, and when we talk about cultural violence, I always lead with US fraternities - rather than the more typical FGM/ honour based violence. It’s so easy to see structural misogyny in an alien or minority culture. It’s always present closer to home.

Nicole Bedera@nbedera.bsky.social

We’ve seen schools do this before. If this one-year party suspension doesn’t turn into a permanent ban, then it’s just a message to fraternities that they have true impunity. That even the worst, most violent behavior will result in a temporary slap on the wrist.

apnews.comCornell suspends fraternity parties for rest of academic year amid sexual assault controversyCornell University is suspending parties and other social events at fraternity houses for the rest of the academic year.

Carol Ballantine reposted

Laura McAtackney
@lauramca.bsky.social

Replying to @lauramca.bsky.social

It was especially lovely to see the bottom of the gravestone, which was pretty much covered by grass in August. Thinking of Eva and Esther’s less than conventional Theosophist beliefs i love how they made peace with being laid to rest in an Anglican churchyard: ‘Life that is Love is God’

Carol Ballantine reposted

Hari Kunzru
@harikunzru.bsky.social

So happy that my former NYU colleague Anne Carson has won the literature Nobel. She used to run a class that involved physical improv (confronting for MFA writing students). I taught straight after her, moving the tables back and wishing I too had spent three hours with Anne being a tree

Carol Ballantine reposted

Nicole Bedera
@nbedera.bsky.social

Replying to @nbedera.bsky.social

In general, trainings are a poor substitute for cultural change in an organization. They’re lecturing the people with the least power to abide by values that those with more power don’t hold for themselves.

Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social

I’ve researched campus sexual violence in ireland, and this article comes close to something I’ve seen again and again.

Senthorun S. Raj@senthorun.bsky.social

“But taking sexual violence seriously and taking institutional responsibility are not the same thing… Fixing the future is a convenient way to avoid answering for the past.” Brenda Cossman writes painfully clearly on how institutions fail sexual assault survivors.

brendacossman.substack.comTaking Sexual Violence Seriously Is Not the Same as Taking ResponsibilityThe Cornell case exposes how overlapping legal systems leave nobody accountable to the person at the centre of it all.

Carol Ballantine reposted

Nicole Bedera
@nbedera.bsky.social

I've gotten a lot of requests from faculty about how to talk to their students about the Cornell 7. I'll post a few resources I've built over the years that I've heard are the most helpful:

Carol Ballantine reposted

Tim Clare
@timclare.bsky.social

Replying to @timclare.bsky.social

So much of what we think of as 'good' style in persuasive or informative writing asks us to strip out 'hedging' phrases that limit or qualify claims. We want clear, bold theses - they're easier to understand, quicker to read, more exciting, & we take lack of qualifiers as a sign of authority.

Carol Ballantine reposted

Liv
@fixyourheartsor.bsky.social

Are YOU a transgender and/or non-binary filmmaker? Would YOU like to have your work screened as part of a bustling mid-April weekend of trans film in beautiful Dublin City? THE THIRD ANNUAL TRANS IMAGE / TRANS EXPERIENCE FILM FESTIVAL IS OPEN FOR SHORT AND FEATURE SUBMISSIONS

Carol Ballantine reposted

🇵🇸 Dean Tāne 🇵🇸
@dean-tane.bsky.social

Britain’s original plan for New Zealand had the islands split into three provinces, with nonsensical borders typical of any British colonial project. The provinces were named after Irish ones (the guy who came up with them was an Anglo-Irish colonial officer). These didn’t last for long.

Katelyn Burns@katelynburns.com

Tell me a fun fact.

Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social

I’d devour a long read about this history and its lessons for today

Zach BOOroney@zachmoroney.eurosky.social

Silver lining is I'm hoping we'll see a new art movement emerging due to AI, same the way the Arts & Crafts movement popped up after industrialisation.

Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social

I’d devour a long read about this history and its lessons for today

Zach BOOroney@zachmoroney.eurosky.social

Silver lining is I'm hoping we'll see a new art movement emerging due to AI, same the way the Arts & Crafts movement popped up after industrialisation.

Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social

This is powerful: heartfelt testimonies of Jason Arday from his former students. Teaching really isn’t valued in the academy. He transformed lives. Rest in power.

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Carol Ballantine reposted

RanTLaw
@rantlaw.bsky.social

"People would share a meme about a book they have not read rather than having read the fucking book." From Plato, 'The Republic'

This post is unavailable.
Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social

Yep

Sacha Coward@sachacoward.bsky.social

Writing a book: First you're going to go quietly mad for a few years. You're going to make a private precious thing that only you know about. It's delicate, introverted and lonely work. Ok? Good so now PUT IT OUT THERE FOR EVERY PERSON TO SEE!!! NOW SELL IT!!! MARKET THE PRECIOUS SECRET BABY!!!!!!

Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social

Many people struggling this week with the perennial problem of a famous artist who was also a known groomer, warned about among young women. The fact that our lives are bound up with those of abusers is hard to deal with. We have been here before, we are never not here. Some writing has helped me:

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Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social

These are essential conversations, and difficult to have. When people say they have been abused, believe them. I didn’t follow the frames, but I knew enough predatory musicians (and enough non-predatory ones) to know this story. Ignoring it won’t help, nor will sensationalising it. We must listen.

Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social

Many people struggling this week with the perennial problem of a famous artist who was also a known groomer, warned about among young women. The fact that our lives are bound up with those of abusers is hard to deal with. We have been here before, we are never not here. Some writing has helped me:

Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social

Clare dederer’s book Monsters explores the fan’s dilemma - though she doesn’t imagine anything like the intimacy of Dublin’s music scene. I often return to Emer o’toole’s piece: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... Roe McDermott opened this conversation in Dublin this year ifi.ie/2026/04/ifi-...

theguardian.comHow should women respond when a man we like is accused of harassment? | Emer O’TooleMy time with Dublin theatre titan Michael Colgan showed me power can be wielded with kindness, as well as less subtly, says author Emer O’Toole
Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social

Really helpful detail on the range of approaches to conversion practices in the uk

Gareth Davies@garethtbij.bsky.social

Labour LGB's intervention comes a few days after LGBT+ anti-abuse charity Galop published a report- Still not illegal - into coversion practices in the UK, including emotional and psychological abuse, threats, forced marriage, or restriction and surveillance

galop.org.uk"Still Not Illegal": Evidence of modern-day conversion practices from Galop's frontline services | Galop"Still Not Illegal": Evidence of modern-day conversion practices from Galop's frontline services
Carol Ballantine
@cballantine.bsky.social

This is really good

Assigned Media@assignedmedia.org

It almost seems too obvious to say, but no, the Supreme Court is not being moderate and sensible on trans rights while being extreme and partisan on every other case. A new opinion piece addresses Helen Lewis-ism, by @evanurquhart.bsky.social assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

assignedmedia.orgThe Supreme Court That Struck Down the Voting Rights Act is Not Right About Trans Segregation - Assigned MediaAttempting to separate the Supreme Court's actions on transgender rights from their overall extremism is a serious mistake.