Robin Skyer
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robinskyer.bsky.social
Robin Skyer
@robinskyer.bsky.social
240 followers 250 following 15 posts
PhD Candidate, University of Southampton. Political sociologist researching queer lives, care, mutual aid, young people.

(they/them/elle)
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Robin Skyer
lisadiedrich.bsky.social
The message on IG from Alice (posted by her friend Sandy Ho). As always, Alice blazes a path for the rest of us, fearlessly & with humor: "I'm honored to be your ancestor & believe disabled oracles like us will light the way to the future. Don't let the bastards grind you down. I love you all."
Yellow background with black text "This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the time of her passing. Hi everyone, it looks like I ran out of time. I have so many dreams that I wanted to fulfill and plans to create new stories for you. There are a few in progress that might come to fruition in a few years if things work out. I did not ever imagine I would live to this age and end up a writer, editor, activist, and more. As a kid riddled with insecurity and internalized ableism, I could not see a path forward. It was thanks to friendships and some great teachers who believed in me that I was able to fight my way out of miserable situations into a place where I finally felt comfortable in my skin. We need more stories about us and our culture. You all, we all, deserve the everything and more in such a hostile, ableist environment. Our wisdom is incisive and unflinching. I'm honored to be your ancestor and believe disabled oracles like us will light the way to the future. Don't let the bastards grind you down. I love you all."
November 15, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
sandraduffy.bsky.social
I have been waiting for Lizzie to post this so I can tell them publicly how proud I am of them (and Robin) for this article.

It's a landmark contribution to Mad and crip studies, disability and time studies, and UKHE analysis. More than that, it's a very personal exploration of failure and feeling.
lizziereed.bsky.social Lizzie Reed @lizziereed.bsky.social · Oct 27
Here we are then, the article I have been whining about for well over a year. Written with @robinskyer.bsky.social, our article explores failure and crip temporalities in UKHE and is published today with the Sociological Review

doi-org.soton.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/0038...

#bipolar #Sociology
Bipolar time is a metaphor for the complexities of times as we variously experience them, and as it intersects with other times and demands. It provides a way to index the components of time, of illness, of accelerating contexts, which construct the experience of failure. Bipolar time describes the non-rhythmic space where failure is everywhere and nowhere, personal-affective, contextual and structural. It is not just a metaphor for personal struggle; we offer it as a critical tool to analyse how times move – and how (or whether) we move against/with time – in ways which reinforce inequalities. Bipolar time offers a mechanism to explore how failure is attached to certain bodies and why ‘reasonable adjustments’ or accommodations for disability do not preclude the painful affective experience of delivering work on time, slowly, or not at all
October 27, 2025 at 3:44 PM
robinskyer.bsky.social
Published yesterday with The Sociological Review: 'Research failure, crip temporalities and bipolar time in UK higher education'

I'm honoured to be co-author of this article with wonderful first author @lizziereed.bsky.social ☺️

Available to read here, open access: doi.org/10.1177/0038...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
doi.org
October 28, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
gmtguk.bsky.social
Interception of the #GlobalSumudFlotilla is likely tonight.

📍 Join us TOMORROW at Parliament Square
⏰ 5:30pm mobilising | 6pm speakers

We demand:
- End the siege on Gaza
- Release flotilla hostages
- End arms sales to Israel
- Decolonise Palestine

#FreePalestine
October 1, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
ayoub.bsky.social
Global Sumud Flotilla is live as Israel threatens to stop them from breaking the starvation siege of Gaza.

A reminder that they are not entering Israeli waters, but Palestinian waters.

Israel intends to violate international law once again.

www.youtube.com/live/uEN2bWF...
24/7 LIVESTREAM OF GLOBAL SUMUD FLOTILLA
YouTube video by Global Sumud Flotilla
www.youtube.com
October 1, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
schock.cc
Apropos of nothing, here's a free pdf copy of my book Out of the Shadows, Into the Streets! Transmedia Organizing and the Immigrant Rights Movement. It focuses on #LosAngeles direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
Out of the Shadows, Into the Streets!: Transmedia Organizing and the Immigrant Rights Movement
An exploration of social movement media practices in an increasingly complex media ecology, through richly detailed cases of immigrant rights activism.For
direct.mit.edu
June 10, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
notrightruth.bsky.social
I made a new zine! It's full of advice on how allies can work alongside trans people to take action in the current moment, lovingly cut-and-pasted over the words of my enemies. Plus lots of nice pictures and memes.

Available as a free PDF! Read online or print your own copy! Share with everyone!
PDF zine: But what can I do? How to fight the trans panic
This is the latest version of a zine I have distributed at wormboys gigs over the last couple of years. I’ve recently updated it to address recent events, including the April 2025 Supreme Cou…
ruthpearce.net
May 27, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
kmunday.bsky.social
We can finally announce our full schedule for Intersections of Sociology with Crip Theory and Critical Disability Studies and Mad Studies Symposium!

11th June, Hybrid, Free. #MadCrip2025
Intersections of Sociology with Crip Theory and Critical Disability Studies and Mad Studies Symposium
On June 11, 2025, the University of Southampton will host a hybrid symposium for PGR and PhD scholars interested in Sociology, Crip Theory, Critical Disability Studies, and Mad Studies. Featuring keynote speakers and panel discussions, the event will include live BSL interpretation and provide lunch for in-person attendees. Registration is required.
autisticltd.co.uk
May 24, 2025 at 7:09 PM
robinskyer.bsky.social
We are hosting a free one-day event for PGR researchers interested in Sociology, Crip Theory, Critical Disability Studies and Mad Studies.

Join us online or in person at the University of Southampton on 11th June.

Ticket link here:
www.britsoc.co.uk/events/key-b...
May 21, 2025 at 6:36 AM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
anilsghost.bsky.social
“Palestine: A Sociological Issue is a way to reflect on the role of sociology in times of genocidal violence & settler colonialism" @kirsteen-paton.bsky.social
All the articles in the special section are free to access here
journals.sagepub.com/toc/SOR/73/2/
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
May 5, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
whatthetrans.com
Compilation of Protests Against the Supreme Court

whatthetrans.com/compilation-...
Person holding a blahaj under a bunch of flowers whilst holding a sign with a background of the trans flag and in front it says "trans bites now"
April 17, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
taliabhatt.itch.io
Okay. Not-a-lawyer-butt.

This to me is the tell. Women's oppression defined explicitly as a "shared disadvantage" resulting from "shared biology".

These are steps to formalize womanhood as a reproductive role, synonymizing it with certain features of anatomy that are "naturally" disadvantaged.
A certificated sex interpretation would cut across the definition of the protected characteristic of sex in an incoherent way. References to a “woman” and “women” as a group sharing the protected characteristic of sex would include all females of any age (irrespective of any other protected characteristic) and those trans women (biological men) who have the protected characteristic of gender reassignment and a GRC (and who are therefore female as a matter of law). The same references would necessarily exclude men of any age, but they would also exclude some (biological) women living in the male gender with a GRC (trans men who are legally male). The converse position would apply to references to “man” and “men” as a group sharing the same protected characteristic. We can identify no good reason why the legislature should have intended that sex-based rights and protections under the EA 2010 should apply to these complex, heterogenous groupings, rather than to the distinct group of (biological) women and girls (or men and boys) with their shared biology leading to shared disadvantage and discrimination faced by them as a distinct group.
April 16, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
richardhull54.bsky.social
It is now even more important to foster #MutualAid in our communities. The lovely people at Shareable have put together this excellent series of 4 online learning sessions, primarily for those starting out on this journey.
See also their other wonderful resources.

www.shareable.net/mutual-aid-1...
Mutual Aid 101
Are you interested in building a network of care and resistance in your local community? Join Shareable for a four-week mutual aid learning series! Open
www.shareable.net
January 24, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
mondoweiss.net
🧵 While Gaza is being destroyed, Israel’s parliament is quietly advancing apartheid laws against Palestinians — both inside Israel and across occupied Palestine. Here’s what they just did:
April 1, 2025 at 3:06 PM
robinskyer.bsky.social
Yesterday was wonderful: the UoS PGR LGBTQIA+ network spent a morning making mini-zines with @megenjm.bsky.social, amidst Queering Connections: Glitchy Kinship at the Winchester Gallery (created and curated by the excellent @lizziereed.bsky.social and @miloustella.bsky.social).
A tabletop covered in a selection of mini-zines and materials used to make them such as pens, scissors, felt, ribbons, paper, and a deck of tarot cards entitled Big Gay Tarot Deck. One of the mini-zines has the outline of a head and where a face would be, there is text that says Your Face Here. Another mini-zine uses a keffiyeh pattern as its background and has text that reads: what to do if you want to help Palestine but don't know where to start. There is also a mini-zine about radical queer demo chants. A section of the gallery with fluffy white carpet and pillows. There is a projection on the back wall showing a microscopic image of a cell. Below the projected image, on the floor, is an object that looks like a huge syringe made of soft textiles. The word trigger is embroidered onto the side of the object. There is a long pink piece of material that protrudes from the end like a tongue. A wall of the gallery painted to look like a fridge door. Magnets with a different words on them have been assembled to make sentences. Me heal body. Kindle your mad soil. Let him amuse our complex life. Communicate joke until delicate copy kinship.
February 20, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
lizziereed.bsky.social
Very well done to first author @robinskyer.bsky.social on publication of this article.

With @silkeroth.bsky.social, we argue that mutual aid can be prefigurative beyond anarchist thought and praxis.

Read it open access here: compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

#Sociology #AcademicSky
Mutual Aid as Prefigurative Politics—Beyond Anarchism
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, mutual aid has received increasing scholarly attention. Mutual aid has long been considered a form of ‘prefigurative politics’. Those engaged in mutual a...
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
February 10, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
kmunday.bsky.social
Planning our Mad / Crip / Critical disability conference for April.

Exciting stuff 💪

#AutRes #Mad #Crip
A light brown coffee table, my bright red diary sits next to a delightful chocolate topped cronut. my diary has three stickers, Autistic and Living the Dream logo, Trans Aware Cancer Care logo and a sticker by Artie which reads "Disabled is not a dirty word".
February 5, 2025 at 3:37 PM
robinskyer.bsky.social
With an excellent contribution by @obscureottomanist.bsky.social 💜
senthorun.bsky.social Senthorun S. Raj @senthorun.bsky.social · Jan 22
As a scholar-activist interested in how we use emotions for justice, it was energising to read “Capacities To: Affect Up Against Fascism.” It’s a new collection of essays, poems and art that invites us to confront how fascism materialises in our political worlds and everyday lives. Free to download.
Capacities To: Affect Up Against Fascism
<p>Capacities To: Affect Up Against Fascism is a collection of more than forty essays, poems, and visual works that convey myriad approaches for understanding, surviving, and creating counter-movement...
imbricate.press
February 6, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
lizziereed.bsky.social
Join us at the Winchester Gallery from 5pm on Thursday 30th January for the opening of Queering Connections: Glitchy Kinship. We've also got an 'In Conversation' with me (curator) and Milou (artist) on Thurs 6th Feb at 5pm. @unisouthampton.bsky.social @sspcatsoton.bsky.social
January 16, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
notrightruth.bsky.social
I know everyone is already very bored of examples of google AI lying and making stuff up

but I just made the mistake of doing a work-related google of "Harry Benjamin Syndrome" (a non-diagnosis made up by transitioned women opposed to trans language in the early 2000s)

and HO BOY
Image of google search for harry benjamine syndrome. Some of the AI overview is visible, and reads as follows. Harry Benjamin Syndrome (HBS) is a rare congenital condition that affects how the brain differentiates male and female gender identities. It's also known as a Disorder of Sex Development. Symptoms. People with HBS have a neurological gender identity that differs from their physical sex. For example, a girl with HBS may have a female gender identity but male genitalia. The condition occurs during prenatal development.
January 14, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
meg-fereday.bsky.social
What a dream of a CFP @ndhumanities.bsky.social!
ndhumanities.com/2024/12/17/c...
Call for Abstracts: Critical Neurodiversity Studies, 24–26 June 2025, Durham, UK – ND Hums
ndhumanities.com
January 8, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
neuro-observant.bsky.social
#BIPOC voices are often missing from autistic spaces, so here is a BIPOC starter pack! 😊

go.bsky.app/TtXfpAt

#racialequality #antiracism

The image of autism as “only white boys” leads to underdiagnosis, discrimination & isolation for many

Our autistic community is much more diverse than that! ❤️
December 14, 2024 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
ferrisjabr.bsky.social
In winter through early spring, you can sometimes find unspoiled, still-bright groundcherries sitting in the latticed remnants of their husks, like hearts suspended in paper ribcages
A photo of groundcherries (Alkekengi) in a garden in winter. The round, orange, cherry tomato-like fruits are suspended in the center of pendulous, vaguely heart-shaped husks made of networks of dried beige veins. The husks have a delicate, skeletal, lattice-like structure, reminiscent of laser-cut papercraft.
January 6, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
silkeroth.bsky.social
call for papers Sociology in the Times of Genocide @sociologicalreview.bsky.social thesociologicalreview.org/announcement... #sociologysky #conteniousky
Sociology in the Times of Genocide: call for expressions of interest Contribute to a forthcoming Special Section in The Sociological Review journal
thesociologicalreview.org
December 12, 2024 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Robin Skyer
catherinetan.bsky.social
New review of "Spaces on the Spectrum" (@columbiaup.bsky.social) by Robin Skyer in Soc Forum!

"Drawing upon a rich dataset of interviews and ethnographic observations, Tan's empirical writing is compassionate but refuses to shy away from painful realities."

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Spaces on the Spectrum
Click on the article title to read more.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 21, 2024 at 11:19 PM