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Dr Fern Riddell

@drfernriddell.bsky.social
14K followers 361 following 753 posts

Historian. Author. On your TV/Radio. **Victoria’s Secret: The Private Passion of a Queen OUT NOW** Expert: Suffragette Terrorism, Music Hall, 19thC Sex + Culture, Queen Victoria & John Brown. www.fernriddell.com lnk.to/victoriassecretbook

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Reposted by Dr Fern Riddell
Claire E. Aubin @ceaubin.com · 15/08/2026
They took a minor internal issue at a university and used it to bludgeon Black academics, increase the public profile of eugenicist weasels, and prove ‘correct’ their presupposition that diversity is dangerous. Now the man they accused of the public execution-worthy crime of plagiarizing is dead.
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Heather Wallace @burntcopper.eurosky.social · 30/07/2026
The esteemed gloriousness that is matthew sweet and @drfernriddell.bsky.social 's takedown of Naomi Wolf's terrible research on this topic is a great example of this. www.theguardian.com/books/2021/f...
theguardian.com
Naomi Wolf accused of confusing child abuse with gay persecution in Outrages
Author’s history of Victorian ‘criminalisation of love’ was heavily criticised on publication in 2019. Now its new, revised edition is also under fire
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Jamie Smart @jamiesmart.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I know you know this on bluesky, but I posted it on insta so I thought I should post here too. And if it makes someone second guess using AI for these things then maybe it helps.
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
It is now available in the US as ‘Victoria In Love’
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Police launch murder investigation into death of Ann Widdecombe www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Police launch murder investigation into death of Ann Widdecombe
Death of 78-year-old former MP and TV personality was announced on Friday by her management
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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 19/06/2026
Did Reform lose because they were too woke? A columnist earning 8 times your salary assumes the answer is yes, and investigates from there.
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Absolutely delighted to hear today that I've had a short paper accepted to 'Belonging to the Victorians' (@djrgrey.bsky.social) at Wilton's in September. It's my first proper return to academia in 10 years, + I'll be presenting my discovery (+ recovery) of the John Brown Family Archive. *squeak*
static.klipy.com
Great News: Excited Clapping & Yay!
ALT: Great News: Excited Clapping & Yay!
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This Guy Sucked @thisguysucked.com · 16/06/2026
Happy Pride we love u and we hate feudal lords
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Sarah Elizabeth Cox @oispooky.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Truly a monster programme. This month in 1897 at the Royal Aquarium, London... - French lady-wrestler (with a bear) - a living giantess (nearly 8ft high and only 17 years old) - singing cats - topsy-turvey dancers - feminine quick-change artist - and so forth
Clip from The Globe newspaper 5 June 1897

The Royal Aquarium will have on Monday the usual monster programme, beginning at 10 a.m., closing at 11.30 p.m., and including on this occasion the performances of French lady-wrestler (with a bear), a living giantess (nearly 8ft. high and only 17. years old), singing cats, topsy-turvy dancers, a feminine quick-change artist, conjurors, ventriloquists, gymnasts, acrobats, divers, bicyclists, and so forth.
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
💪💪💪💪💪
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Thank you!
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Yes!! The fact the suffragettes - an extremist terrorist wing of the suffrage movement - are all that gets remembered, is one of the biggest failures of our collective memory & history. Most people don’t even know Suffragists exist, when they were the *massive* majority of the movement.
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
You’d think being the first woman to led the judiciary in 800 years & the most important judge in all of England might also have helped.
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Excellent!!
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Exactly this
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
I’ve actually been talking about uncomfortable histories and how we sanitise them for a very long time: www.history.org.uk/historian/re...
history.org.uk
Podcast: From sex to the suffragettes
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
I still teach this history in schools and to teachers’ networks. My work is in the KS3 history OUP workbook, Fight For Rights In Modern Britain. At least the next generation will be better educated than our judiciary, our MPs, and tomorrow’s op-Ed’s. www.amazon.co.uk/KS3-History-...
amazon.co.uk
KS3 Depth Studies: Fight for Rights in Modern Britain Student Book (KS3 History Depth Study): Amazon.co.uk: Gogo, Teni, Bruce, Lindsay, Carter, Rebecca, Fairlamb, Alex, Lyndon-Cohen, Dan, Preye Garry,...
Buy KS3 Depth Studies: Fight for Rights in Modern Britain Student Book (KS3 History Depth Study) 1 by Gogo, Teni, Bruce, Lindsay, Carter, Rebecca, Fairlamb, Alex, Lyndon-Cohen, Dan, Preye Garry, Josh,...
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
No-one in this whole stupid affair seems to want to admit that the suffragettes WERE terrorists, which - frankly - would have really pissed off the actual Suffragettes. [slide credit to me]
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Last thought, because this is the thing that really frustrates me: PA claim (it seems to me) not to be terrorists, because they are like the suffragettes. (Who were terrorists) The judge says PA *are* terrorists, and therefore they are NOT the suffragettes. (Who were terrorists)
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Thank you!
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
So true
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
The campaign to sanitise the history actually started with the Suffragette fellowship in the 1930s. It was part of my PhD - for a fully focused text, my book is the best resource: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1473...
amazon.co.uk
Death in Ten Minutes: The forgotten life of radical suffragette Kitty Marion: Amazon.co.uk: Riddell, Fern: 9781473666207: Books
Buy Death in Ten Minutes: The forgotten life of radical suffragette Kitty Marion by Riddell, Fern (ISBN: 9781473666207) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orde...
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Actually this is my last link: I wrote about how difficult it is for all sides - climate activists & the government - to invoke the memory of the suffragettes in this debate two years ago, when this law was being pushed through. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/society/6024...
prospectmagazine.co.uk
Treating protesters like terrorists isn't new—just look at the suffragettes
Suffragettes employed far more disruptive tactics than today’s climate activists—and fell foul of the same reactions
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
And finally: As I identified, there is no debate about whether or not the suffragettes were historically seen as terrorists, by both the law and society of the time. These are all from 1913, both nation and global newspapers.
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
8 years after a global campaign bringing this history to light for the very first time, and being the consultant for the BAFTA award winning documentary in the centenary year, it is sadly shocking to still see such ignorance of our history in our legal system. (As well as amongst MP’s).
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
You can also read my PhD research uncovering the Suffragettes and the bombing campaign in my book: Death in Ten Minutes. www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1473...
amazon.co.uk
Death in Ten Minutes: The forgotten life of radical suffragette Kitty Marion: Amazon.co.uk: Riddell, Fern: 9781473666207: Books
Buy Death in Ten Minutes: The forgotten life of radical suffragette Kitty Marion by Riddell, Fern (ISBN: 9781473666207) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orde...
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Telegraph: ‘the Young Hot Bloods: the secret terrorist wing of the suffragettes’ www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politi... Guardian: ‘We have sanitised our history of the suffragettes’ www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle... BBC: the actress who became a terrorist www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories...
telegraph.co.uk
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
But that is exactly how the suffragettes operated. With a nationwide organisation of sleeper cells of arsonists and bombers. I’m gratefully people have reached out and referenced my work today. I remain (I believe) the only academic expert on the terrorism of the suffragettes. Links below:
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@beatraxa @beatraxa.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
It’s frustrating and unsettling to turn on #R4Today to once again find them discussing the irrational talking points of the right and far right as if they were acceptable, desirable and practicable. Can’t we talk about reducing poverty and rebalancing economic inequality instead? Sometimes?
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
The media & political classes (left + right) tend to guess wrong about the public - who have a *much* stronger common sense consensus on civic "inclusive nativism" than most of the commentariat seem to realise
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
A reminder of what Nigel Farage said following the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer.
We must not allow the tragic murder of a
young woman turn into attacks on men
and attacks on the police
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Andrew Longhofer @andrewlonghofer.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
I have seen AI described as a "technology founded on a lack of consent" and it has been echoing in my head since then
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
In the last 12 months I’ve seen AI biographies generated about me online that include completely made up quotes and sources. At festivals I’ve been introduced by lovely & well meaning hosts who have used Ai for bio information that is completely false. Ai threatens expertise across the board.
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ᚔᚅᚄᚓᚏᚈ ᚄᚉᚐᚏᚍ ᚅᚐᚋᚓ @ciara2001.eurosky.social · 29/05/2026
Hard to see any point to this other than pure cruelty? What problem is this solving? That you'll come across a trans person in a single occupancy loo?
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
c.org/MLdFSNsGZ9
c.org
Sign the Petition
Investigate Judge Nicholas Rowland and Introduce a Judicial Accountability Framework Now
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
This is sick. Not only should this judgement be radially altered, but every rape or domestic violence case this judge has presided over needs to be checked.
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
They used a knife. They purposefully recorded the attacks - multiple attacks on two different victims - for social media *approval* and attention. The brutal violation of these incredibly brave girls, and the way they have now been abandoned by the justice system, is utterly incomprehensible.
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
The details of the Fordingbridge Rape case are so horrific and so shocking, that I cannot understand how the perpetrators have walked out of court with 11 rape convictions between them, yet no prison time.
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Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
There are powerful, well-connected, well-funded people in this country, today, who are deliberately, strategically, using the idea of a woman being made "uncomfortable" by the presence of a trans person to plot the removal of that woman's right to abortion, contraception, and divorce.
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
There's some welcome bits and pieces in that EHRC guidance, particularly on clubs and associations being able to remain trans-inclusive, but in general it's a mess. Imagine having to make a major financial decision on the basis of the endless, hyper-anxious impenetrable drivel in that document.
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Jamie McKelvie @mckelvie.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Just over a decade ago, Tegan and Sara asked a few of their artist friends to each create a poster for one of the songs on their album Heartthrob. I chose Love The Say for mine, as it's one of my favourites.
A poster based on the song Love They Say by Tegan and Sara, drawn by me. Two young women fly hand in hand across a clear blue sky above a city skyline. The poster is largely coloured with teal and pale yellow, except for two large red hearts on the chests of the couple.
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Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
What the guidance goes even further on is, if you suspect someone is trans, they have no way to disprove it. Even if you have a female passport, you aren't going in the women's gym if someone thinks you're clocky. This is a legal nightmare.
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
wherever you stand on this issue, the only logical conclusion is that this guidance is fucked. Rapists and sex offenders now get to be in changing rooms and toilets with your daughters, while a totally different section of our society now has no right to pee or change anywhere at all. congrats?
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
WHERE ARE TRANS PEOPLE SUPPOSED TO PEE? HOW DOES THE VILLAGE PUB STOP GIRLS BEING ASSAULTED IN THEIR UNISEX TOILETS? WHAT ABOUT NIGHTCLUBS? WHY DO ACTUAL SEX OFFENDERS & RAPISTS NOW HAVE *MORE* ACCESS TO INTIMATE SPACES THAN OUR TINY TRANS COMMUNITY?
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
and, is it not a LITTLE bizarre to proudly support the supposed enforcement of unisex spaces, when your movement spent YEARS telling us how dangerous unisex spaces are for women and girls? www.independent.co.uk/life-style/w...
independent.co.uk
Unisex changing rooms put women at danger of sexual assault, data reveals
The vast majority of reported sexual assaults at public swimming pools in the UK take place in unisex changing rooms, new statistics reveal.
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
any way, congrats on banning our tiny trans community from the safety of single sex spaces, which will only lead to greater risk of their sexual assault and attack, especially among younger trans people. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
School Restroom/Locker Rooms Restrictions and Sexual Assault Risk Among Transgender Youth
Transgender and gender non-binary adolescents experience high rates of peer victimization, but the prevalence of sexual assault in this population has not been established. Some schools restrict trans...
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
'Gender Critical' is dead, Gender Conformity is in. *is this why all the left wing-whoopsie-we-now-write-for-the-right feminists have spent the last few years growing out their early 2000s pixie cuts?
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
if just 'looking' like the opposite gender is enough to have you excluded from a single sex space, what is that going to mean for anyone who doesn't conform to a gender stereotype? butch lesbians? masc femmes? old school radical feminists?
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Dr Fern Riddell @drfernriddell.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
This is insane.
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