Laura Kelly

@tortietabby.bsky.social

9.7K followers 1.1K following 220 posts

Historian of medicine and gender in modern Ireland. Professor at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. I work on #histmed, reproductive health, and activism. Cat lover. 🐈 she/her. Personal views. 🇮🇪🇵🇸🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

https://www.strath.ac.uk/staff/proflaurakelly/ .. more

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History 38%

Psychology 13%

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Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · Nov 12

Hello new followers! For those of you who don’t know me, I work on the history of medicine and gender in modern Ireland. My most recent book ‘Contraception and Modern Ireland’ came out last year and is free to read via this link: www.cambridge.org/core/books/c... (Cover image by Evelyn Hofer)

Contraception and Modern Ireland

Cambridge Core - History of Medicine - Contraception and Modern Ireland

www.cambridge.org

Reposted by Laura Kelly

Willow Catelyn Maclay @willowcatelyn.bsky.social · 2d

Treat yourself today to this video

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydvU...

Reposted by Mary McAuliffe

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · 6d

Thanks to @irishhiststudies.bsky.social for the opportunity to review this fantastic edited collection by @drmarymcauliffe.bsky.social & @jenniferredmond.bsky.social. It’s already been v useful for my research&teaching in Irish gender history -highly recommend! www.fourcourtspress.ie/books/2024/t...

Reposted by Catherine Baker, Laura Kelly, Farah Mendlesohn , and 1 more Catherine Baker, Laura Kelly, Farah Mendlesohn, Lucy Delap

Rosa Campbell @rosavcampbell.bsky.social · 6d

Here, for @historyworkshop.org.uk I discuss the history of a refuge for trans women.

I show women’s shared experiences of violence across the spectrum of cis and trans.

I highlight histories of solidarity against male violence by feminists and trans women.

academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...

Reconsidering Violence Against Women through the History of a Refuge for Trans Women

Abstract. Both right-wing forces and gender-critical feminists currently frame cis and trans women’s needs as fundamentally different and conflicting. Viol

academic.oup.com

Reposted by Nandita Sharma, Lesley A. Hall, Lynn Abrams , and 6 more Nandita Sharma, Lesley A. Hall, Lynn Abrams, Malcolm MacLean, Duncan Bell, Keith Lilley, Charlotte Taylor, Laura Kelly, Pratik Chakrabarti

Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 14d

When will this crisis get any attention whatsoever!? A THOUSAND ACADEMIC STAFF AT ONE INSTITUTION SERVED REDUNDANCY RISK NOTICES! And that's not counting what's surely being visited on professional services staff too. This is an economic catastrophe, to say nothing of the intellectual catastrophe!

lucynoakes1.bsky.social @lucynoakes1.bsky.social · 14d

Ongoing decimation of British universities part 252:

Apx. 1000 academic staff at University of Essex just received formal ‘risk of redundancy’ letters via email.

Please share @ucuessex.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk

Reposted by Mary Bosworth, Richard S.J. Tol, Howard Williams , and 35 more Mary Bosworth, Richard S.J. Tol, Howard Williams, Dave O’Brien, Jonathan Wolff, Joanna Bourke, Elizabeth Stokoe, Martin Paul Eve, Charles West, Helen King, Lynn Abrams, Malcolm MacLean, John Foot, Jonathan Hopkin, Mike Rowe, Ben Worthy, Duncan Bell, Holger Nehring, Keith Lilley, Tom Griffin, Matthew Kelly, Adrian Vickers, Margot C. Finn, Michael H. Whitworth, Jonathan Birch, Laura Kelly, Pratik Chakrabarti, Stuart White, Katrina Navickas, Kathleen Kennedy, Mary Burke, Hayley Bennett, Pascale Aebischer, Kate Bradley, Stijn Smismans, Renaud Morieux, François Guesnet, Andrew Perchard

lucynoakes1.bsky.social @lucynoakes1.bsky.social · 14d

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · 14d

This looks amazing. 🤩

Voices of Motherhood @voicesofmotherhood.bsky.social · 14d

We are delighted to share the programme for our upcoming conference!

We will be running fourteen panels across two days in early February - all online and open to everyone 😊 please see our website for more details on speakers, panels and how to book.

‘The Politics of Motherhood: Maternalism, Maternity and Mothering’ Conference Programme – Voices of Motherhood

voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Laura Kelly

Voices of Motherhood @voicesofmotherhood.bsky.social · 14d

‘The Politics of Motherhood: Maternalism, Maternity and Mothering’ Conference Programme – Voices of Motherhood

voicesofmotherhood.wp.worc.ac.uk

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Laura Kelly

Women’s History Association of Ireland @whaireland.bsky.social · 22d

We are delighted this afternoon to announced the CFP for the 36th annual WHAI conference 2026. The conference will be held at Mary I Limerick on 29 & 30 May 2026. Closing dates for submissions on the theme of 'Gain' is 31 Jan. 2026.
sites.google.com/view/whai202...

WHAI2026

Welcome to the homepage for the next Women's History Association of Ireland conference. Our next annual conference will take place 29-30 May 2026 at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. The conferenc...

sites.google.com

Reposted by Smith, Amy W. Ando, Laura Kelly , and 2 more Smith, Amy W. Ando, Laura Kelly, Kate Starbird, Catherine J. Frieman

Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 24d

“The National AIDS Memorial, through a partnership with the AIDS Quilt Touch team, presents all 50,000 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in an interactive experience so people around the world can experience the beauty of the Quilt and witness the love and stories stitched into each panel.”

Interactive AIDS Quilt

The National AIDS Memorial, through a partnership with the AIDS Quilt Touch team, presents all 48,000 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in an interactive experience People around the world can experie...

www.aidsmemorial.org

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Laura Kelly

Ciaran O'Neill @ciaranon.bsky.social · 24d

Required reading of the most welcome sort in IHS this morning.

'It is in the space between our divining and conjuring that the argument lies, the debate happens, history is written and the story gets its endless quality.'

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Encountering modern Irish history: historiography, archives and imagination in the twenty-first century | Irish Historical Studies | Cambridge Core

Encountering modern Irish history: historiography, archives and imagination in the twenty-first century

www.cambridge.org

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Laura Kelly

Rose Ruane @regretteruane.bsky.social · Nov 22

Grief created by Joan Wisdom, November 1967, in the art therapy studio at Netherne hospital, Surrey where she was compelled to live.
Her surviving works express distress & critique the psychiatric system which held power over her & the dehumanisation she experienced within it

Drawing of a human head in wax resist charcoal and paint, the head is greyish pink, bald with black and orange eye and an ambiguous expression floating amongst blue and purple lines the word grief is written abov, below the date 17367 and the initials JW

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · Nov 15

Cassie Ramone and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart in Glasgow tonight. This would have been a dream gig for me in 2009 but I don’t think either played Ireland then. So good to see them both tonight ❤️

Cassie Ramone singing on stage with a guitar.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart band on stage.

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · Nov 11

academic.oup.com/book/56382

Responsible Pleasure: The Brook Advisory Centres and Youth Sexuality in Postwar Britain

Abstract. This book is a sociocultural history of young people’s sexuality in Britain from the 1960s to the 1990s, using the Brook Advisory Centre (Brook)

academic.oup.com

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · Nov 11

academic.oup.com/shm/article/...

‘The Doctor Made Clear His Utter Contempt of Me, and I Can Remember It Still’1: Unmarried Women’s Experiences of Accessing the Pill in Scotland c. 1968–1980

Summary. In 1968, the barrier of marital status was removed from oral contraception. This meant that for the first time, unmarried women could legally acce

academic.oup.com

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · Nov 11

read.uolpress.co.uk/read/adultho...

8. ‘The Pill for an unmarried girl is hardly going to improve her character’: The impact of changing sexual behaviours on the construction of adulthood in Scotland, c.1968–80 | Adulthood in Britain an...

Transforming scholarly publications into living digital works.

read.uolpress.co.uk

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · Nov 11

We're discussing youth sexuality in my 'Sex, medicine and society' tutorial tomorrow so wanted to flag these brilliant publications by @kristinwh0.bsky.social on unmarried women & contraception in Scotland and @carorusterholz.bsky.social's fantastic book on the Brook Centres! Links below (all OA).

Reposted by Laura Kelly

Rose Ruane @regretteruane.bsky.social · Nov 10

Was really struck by what a lovely inspiring exercise this is, like a primary school version of Mary Oliver’s Instructions for living a life
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it

Page from a 1960s primary school English textbook with a lovely cartoonish illustration of a red haired white girl in blue shirt looking at a cockatoo on a black perch.
It is in the centre bottom and takes up about a third of the page, above is black serif text which reads Have you ever noticed?
Every day we "see" things without really looking at them at all. On the way to and from school look at just one thing that you have often passed but never looked at very closely - it may be a street lamp, a small plant in a hedgerow, someone's front gate, the wall and windows of an ofice building, the balcony of a house, an object in a shop window.
You are a secret service agent, and exact knowledge of this object is your password. Your life depends on it. Learn it by heart, and then describe it to the fellow agent who has to test you by your knowledge.

Reposted by Laura Kelly

Kieran Connell @kieranconnell.bsky.social · Nov 3

This discussion on multiculturalism in Ireland and Britain is happening *tonight* in Europe House in Dublin

Hopefully see any Dubs I follow there

dublin.europarl.europa.eu/en/events/le...

Learning From The Neighbours: Multiculturalism in Ireland and the UK | Office in Dublin | European Parliament

dublin.europarl.europa.eu

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · Oct 28

May McGee was such a courageous woman and had a huge impact. Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann. RIP.

The Irish Times @irishtimes.com · Oct 28

Death announced of Mary ‘May’ McGee who won historic Supreme Court contraception case

Landmark 1973 case found married couples had right to make private decisions on family planning

www.irishtimes.com

Reposted by Mary Corcoran, Laura Kelly

The Irish Times @irishtimes.com · Oct 28

Death announced of Mary ‘May’ McGee who won historic Supreme Court contraception case

Landmark 1973 case found married couples had right to make private decisions on family planning

www.irishtimes.com

Reposted by Laura Kelly

Seána @grantsana.bsky.social · Oct 23

This is the evidence given by Joseph Mahon at the trial of Soldier F who wa found not guilty today. He was 16 when he was shot on Bloody Sunday, read it and digest the reality of British Justice when the victims aren’t classed as fully human

"Q. Now, as you were lying on the ground did you come to see any of the soldiers or any soldier?
A.
I seen one walking across the square from the entrance where they came in walking towards, diagonally across the square towards where we were lying.
Q.
.. could you tell whether it was the first soldier?
A.
It was the first soldier came in. The thing that suit out the must was his rect of em a emerent
pattern, ... more like a smock, a smock combat jacket and it was ...
Q. And what happened when he approached?
A. He walked past me and Mr McKinney and before he did come across I heard a voice, a woman calling 'Lie still, pretend you're dead. I must have moved, I didn't know I was shot at the time, I still thought it was a rubber bullet for I was going to try and get up and run and I lay and let on I was dead.
And he walked, he walked past us ... Mr Wray moved and as he approached Mr Wray he fired two shots into him ... (then) went under the walkway and I don't know where he went then ... he came back ... leaned against the wall and took the helmet off and rubbed the back of his, rubbed his forehead with his hand. (And said). 'I've got another one Dave.' ... (He had) blond hair ... there was a lot of shouting behind me 'We're pulling out Dave.'"

Reposted by Laura Kelly, Laura McAtackney

The Author, Séamas O'Reilly @seamas.bsky.social · Oct 23

As we await a verdict in the trial of Soldier F, another reminder that in 2010 the Bloody Sunday inquiry found

- the killings were unjustified
- none of the 14 dead (7 of whom were children) had guns
- no warnings were given
- no soldiers were under threat
- the troops were the first to open fire

Reposted by Laura Kelly

Sam Rutherford (he/him) @echomikeromeo.bsky.social · Oct 20

A reminder that if you're in the area it is not too late to join us at the Glasgow Lab for Intersex, Non-Binary and Trans Studies launch event tomorrow afternoon! Register here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/glints-lau...

'GLINTS: Glasgow Lab for Intersex, Non-Binary & Trans Studies' printed in coral on a lavender background

Reposted by Joanna Bourke, Lesley A. Hall, Laura Kelly

Dr Hannah J. Elizabeth @sexhistorian.bsky.social · Oct 20

Join us on Wednesday afternoon next week for the @cshhh.bsky.social 20th anniversary! We have two fantastic public lectures from Tracey Loughran & @joannabourke.bsky.social! Tell your friends, tell your students and come along! #HistSex #HistMed

Reposted by Laura Kelly

Lauren MacIvor Thompson @lmacthompson1.bsky.social · Oct 9

Please acknowledge what is happening to American professors right now.

We do not deserve this.

Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · Oct 8

Please consider emailing your government’s department of foreign affairs to demand the release of activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla Coalition ships.

🇮🇪 Irish friends: it takes two mins to email Tánaiste/Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Harris at [email protected]

Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition @freedomflotilla.bsky.social · Oct 8

Footage from the Israeli Occupation Forces assault on #Conscience, shortly before dawn. In international waters, close to Palestinian territorial waters. Another act of state piracy by the rogue, lawless Israeli occupation.
www.youtube.com/live/PSQcbIw...

Live from Conscience Boat to Gaza, FFC & TMTG (Live 3)

YouTube video by Freedom Flotilla Coalition

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Carme Borrell, Laura Kelly

Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition @freedomflotilla.bsky.social · Oct 8

Live from Conscience Boat to Gaza, FFC & TMTG (Live 3)

YouTube video by Freedom Flotilla Coalition

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Juliet B. Schor, Iain Davidson, Laura Kelly , and 1 more Juliet B. Schor, Iain Davidson, Laura Kelly, Nelson Flores

StrictlyChristo 🇺🇦🌻🚫👑 @strictlychristo.bsky.social · Oct 6

Greta Thunberg speaks to the press after being released from illegal detainment in Israel: "I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment. Trust me, but that is not the story.”

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