iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Here is my comprehensive review of Wake Up Dead Man.

Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

And then he has the fucking temerity to conclude by saying "Trans studies is fine, QED, lets all hope to imagine a future to be trans in", as if the original article wasn't critiquing trans studies' failure to do exactly that imagining. "Moving beyond internal critique" indeed...

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

I wonder if Halberstam is able to think about desire in any terms other than penetrability.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Apropos of nothing, here's a quote from Emmet Harsin Drager, the other author of the article who Halberstam forgot about, despite having enough space in his 10-page response article to critique Chu's twitter jokes:

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

This is just some absolutely vile transphobia and lesbophobia. Indistinguishable from TERF vitriol about the inescapable burden of womanhood that transition can never overcome. Jack Halberstam, repress all your life if you want, but stop making it other people's problem.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Okay, sure, but Chu and Harsin Drager (long forgotten by this point in the essay) do actually explain why they see this as a problem. You could have responded to that, Jack. Just saying "yes, and you questioning that makes me angry" isn't enough. Again, how was this published.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Having now read Females (albeit quickly) I legitimately have no idea where this is coming from. The word "butch" does not appear in Females, nor does "trans man/men".

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Side note, but this is weird. Discussion of commitment to the bit is *Chu's* words from her book "Females". I have no doubt a response might have used the same language for effect, but it's strange to attribute it to the response and not the original. He did read Females, right?

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

See what I mean? This has fully devolved into him just going "this fucking bitch thinks she's so funny" and quoting her twitter. In an academic paper! How did this make it past publishing??? Citing the tweets is, admittedly, absolutely hilarious though.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

This is the point where Halberstam's criticism shifts explicitly from the article to Chu as a person I legitimately did not know where this came from, having only read After Trans Studies from Chu before this point. I assumed it must be an interpersonal beef or lore I've not run into yet.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Halberstam briefly remembers Chu has a coauthor, to highlight their "tempering" influence on Chu's rhetoric. Harsin Drager gets exactly one more mention in the article after this. I wonder why Halberstam is so focused on Chu, when both authors are broadly in agreement throughout. We'll never know.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

If only someone had written an article questioning whether trans studies' obsession with radical anticonformity actually provides a valuable future for the field, Jack. If only you could have written a response explaining why you think it is, rather than stating it as a priori justification, Jack.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Imagine getting two full pages into a rant about how decrying an entire field of study is solely a preoccupation of fascist reactionaries, only to then remember that you've done it yourself before and having to build a "not me though" exception in.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Halberstam's article opens strong and by that I mean he opens by poisoning the well and immediately juxtoposing Chu's words (in an incredibly clumsy, overdone, were-you-just-trying-to-hit-a-wordcount, sort of way) with bad faith right wing attacks on progressive fields of study broadly.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

In honour of the end of book 1 of RCBG's serialisation, and of What Comes Next, I did a calligraphy.

Photo of calligraphy reading Gender Phantoms. The text is bright pink on a yellow background, and two syringes are on top of the page

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

Much more succinct than what I've ended up doing. I should switch to your approach...

[top half of a text box with a red error message]

This text box is limited to 1000 words.

12. Is there anything you would change to make the explanation of the legal rights and responsibilities in this update clearer?

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Oh my fucking god I just read the actual post and we're not even wrong. "It is implied that Tony is similarly submissive in bed" as one of the reasons he's female-coded. This immediately following a passage where he's apparently woman-coded by virtue of being filmed like a victim of sexual violence

... is a turning point in the film. The third film contains a scene in which Tony Stark is zip-tied to a bed frame with the villain taunting him. It is implied that Tony is similarly submissive in bed. The main villain in the scene acts like a spurned lover, a definite air of seduction to his conduct toward the tied-up hero.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Cisheterosexuality strikes me as a lack of ambition, if nothing else.

Calligraphy in the colours of the progress pride flag which reads:

Rise above what you were "meant" to be.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

'tis the season for themed practice

Calligraphy in the lesbian pride flag colours, reading:

I am a lesbiab
lesbiam
less bien
girls

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

UK Our fairly organised shelf and not so organised drinks cupboard it sits on. Not pictured: Wilfa Svart grinder, KitchenAid variable temp kettle, big big unorganised basket of various teas etc. Current coffee is a Columbian Gesha our local roastery had in stock.

An open drinks cabinet with a few sets of matching cups and teapots on top, and a larger, much less organised collection of tea and coffee equipment inside.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Happy Pride to all the Gender Criticals out there realising with horror that a corrupt court ruling can't force your former friends and family to love you again. May your twilight years be full of all the joy and compassion you've shown others.

Pink and blue calligraphy which reads:

There is no lawsuit you can win to make your children talk to you again.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Pronounced like it's spelled. /brxh/

"Oh I'll tell you exactly where you can stick your so-called manhood, brxh."

At least the drugs haven't compromised my ability to pronounce "brxh".

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Begrudgingly getting a tattoo of this brb...

Cringe festers in refusing to take accountability for your own desires

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Just wanted to briefly comment on this bit: I have been in all-male environments, mostly rugby clubs, where I've witnessed exactly the sort of gloating confession Declan made here. And *everyone* laughed, except me. Some later confessed to being horrified, but in the moment, they laughed.

Maybe I'm coming to the chapter with a poor understanding of how bad the average recruit is, but "did a violent rape" isn't the kind of thing that usually wins friends and influence in my experience.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Could also be something that bridges the gap between castle and manor house, those can get a bit taller. Dalhousie Castle came to mind, I'm sure there's others. But those aren't so common in towns either, usually more rural, so still weird.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

These six words from @taliabhatt.itch.io's book Trans/Rad/Fem have haunted me since I first read them.

Me, holding a very large sheet of calligraphy in front of my face and upper body, so you can only really see my hands holding it.

The text is very large, six words stacked on top of each other to fill the whole page. It reads:

I refuse to be a man

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

I'm still at a loss for what to actually do right now, but at very least I'm a calligrapher, so I'm offering free commissions to trans and nonbinary people for the foreseeable future

Digital flier on a background of the trans flag which reads:

Free Calligraphy for trans and nonbinary people.

Signature designs
Quotes and gifts
Cards and letters
Hand-written documents
Any other lettering projects

If you are a trans or nonbinary person and some handmade calligraphy would bring you joy, I will do it for free

Open to work on any calligraphy or lettering project
Can deliver digitally or physically

DM to discuss

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Cool to get blocked for pointing out how weird it is to claim that trans women have disproportionate influence on social media because some of us are programmers...

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Trying to deal with the horrors by making Locked Tomb calligraphy.

White calligraphy on black background which reads "Is this really how it happens", a quote from Tamsyn Muir's book Harrow the Ninth. The capital I splinters and wraps around the skull icon of the Ninth House.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Dream // Ritual Original text, written on A5 paper, 2mm letter height. I'm still finding my feet with creative writing of any sort, after not really doing any since I was a kid. But this piece I'm reasonably proud of, even if it could be more polished. #calligraphy #creativewriting

A page of black paper showing tightly-packed alternating lines of white and gold calligraphy. The gold lines are upside down in this image, but the white, written in Bastarda script, is readable. The legible white text reads:

Last night, I dreamt we were together. You took my hand & we ran through crowded streets, until the air turned to concrete in my lings & grim faces circled. But they fled from your rising smile as you turned back. The mischief in your eyes drawing me home along a forest trail. Your soft fingers beckoning me off the path, onto the moss. Breathless from the climb & my chest aching for you, you kissed me atop a windswept crag. Relief overwhelmed me & I collapsed into your arms. You pushed me to the floor at the mouth of a cave. Waves lapping at our feet. Clay coating our naked bodies. I moaned & shuddered as your lips passed down my neck & to my breast. I guided your hands, returned caresses, tasted you, & we lost ourselves in our bliss. My body, completely, for you. And then we were stood on the shore of Czarny Staw. Hand-in-hand. Dark, still crystal before us. And the moment never ended.

The same as the previous image, but this time it is rotated so that the gold text, written in Insular half-uncial script, is legible. The text reads:

You will need a sharp knife, anti-septic, clean bandages, & fuel & ignition for a fire.
On a day which means nothing & marks no occasion, cut a branch from a young willow tree. Take the branch home & whittle it to a needle about the length of your little finger.
Burn the remnants in the centre of the room, along with your clothes & other possessions. Hold your goal clearly in your mind when you do so.
Walk naked to a growded place &, without anyone seeing, insert the needle into your palm at the base of your thumb. Push slowly & carefully, it must go all the way in.
If the needle breaks or bends, you must try again in a year.
Return home & wait. Feel everything.
It will be worth it. I promise.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Turning some frustration into calligraphy.

A page of Bâtarde script calligraphy in black text on white background. The text reads:

There is a word for people who cooperate with fascists, who reach across the aisle and find common ground, who decide that now is not the time to speak out, for the sake of their careers, who treat exterminationism as moderate & worth debate. They are called COLLABORATORS and their crimes will be remembered just the same, when we bury them beside their valued allies.

(The word "collaborators" is written larger, in brown ink and the textura script, spanning the whole width of a row on its own)

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Trying to learn textura using Zoe Leonard's "I want a president"

A calligraphied copy of the poem I want a president, by Zoe Leonard, in brown and red ink.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

I've checked the list of popes, and can confirm that they only started being transphobic with JP2.

Screenshot of the wikipedia list of popes, showing the four most recent popes. John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis are all highlighted red by Shinigami Eyes, but John Paul I is not.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

The catholic church too. Thanks for giving me the heads up, otherwise I might have thought the CATHOLIC CHURCH was trans-friendly 🤣

Screenshot of a small section of text from a wikipedia page, showing a link to the page for the Catholic church, highlighted in red by the Shinigami Eyes browser extension.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

There's something genuinely funny about shinigami eyes flagging Hitler's wikipedia page for transphobia. Like, obviously it's correct, but it's hilarious for a tool designed for finding out which twitter accounts have been retweeting JKR to be like "I dunno about this Hitler fella".

Screenshot of a small section of text from a wikipedia page, showing a link to the page for Adolf Hitler, highlighted in red by the Shinigami Eyes browser extension.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

During the banquet, the queen passes a note to her attendent, blushing slightly and trying not to glance too obviously at a certain courtier...

Faux middle english text in a medieval calligraphy style which reads:

I desyre that twynke be oblyteratede. See to it.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Doing a group project, need to come up with a good E design and it's driving me slightly mad.

Four pages of calligraphied capital E variations. One of the E is just a plain e with annotation text reading "What if I just do a normal E and hope no one notices?"

Also there's a pack of estradiol gel in shot, because I'm absolutely hilarious.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Also a close up that shows off the texturing on the later letters a bit better.

Close up shot of the imade in the previous post.

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Emma, probably @emmaprobably.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

I had a weird idea for a piece which becomes "more complete" as you read it. Feel like I could have done a better job, but it was pretty experimental so I'll take it.

$Page of calligraphy with various writing tools scattered around it. The text begins as a pencil sketch with guidelines, and becomes more and more "complete" as the piece progresses, until at the end it is a textured purple with flourishes and a vivid multicolour watercolour background. The final two words are written in white ink on the coloured background, and barely visible. The text reads: Can you feel it too broken song that calls frosted fractures seeking dissolution into writing colour existing more at last and hearing your voice echo back$

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