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Sam Caslin

@moderndecorum.bsky.social
3.3K followers 658 following 114 posts

Historian at the Uni of Liverpool. They/she. 🏳️‍⚧️📚

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Sam Caslin
Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
In 1974, Cornell lecturer Lin Farley began recognizing a pattern in the experiences women shared in her Women and Work course: women were being pushed out of jobs by men’s sexual behavior. Farley coined the term, “sexual harassment.”
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Sam Rutherford (he/him) @echomikeromeo.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Does anyone have a scan of Roberta Cowell's Story (1954) that you might be willing to share?
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Kit de Waal @kitdewaal.com · 26/08/2026
As I was saying … just looking for an excuse
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Ooh fun! Maybe get a night vision camera for the garden?!
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Well done for prioritising your mental health. Keep on taking care of yourself.
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
That sounds tough. Would a random fact help? Dolly Parton was an executive producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
I’ve just added it to my students’ trans history reading list!
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
This is great research which brings together histories of sex work and trans histories in England. The article notes that trans women who sold sex were targeted using laws on homosexuality, furthering our understanding of the ways medical and legal models were used to construct sex.
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Ika Willis @ikax.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
#BookHistory friends, this is the finest moment in our discipline’s history
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Cameron Giles @gilescameron.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Just a week until the deadline for this call: please do consider submitting or getting in touch if it’s of interest!
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Sam Wetherell @samwetherell.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Excited to announce that Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain will be out in paperback on July 16. I’ll be doing a launch event that day with the wonderful people at West Kirby Books. See below for tickets! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/liverpool-...
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Sam Rutherford (he/him) @echomikeromeo.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
You might like this if you are interested in where the fields of modern British history, intellectual history, & history of gender/sexuality are at atm! Or in my reflections on my intellectual & personal journey from PhD to permanent job. Also there is a summary of the book but it comes 55 mins in.
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Pluto Press @plutopress.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
This is the rich, overlooked history of trans activism in Britain Deviants and Trailblazers is OUT NOW: www.plutobooks.com/product/devi...
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Arthur Webber 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 @bernietranders.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Amongst many other things, what saddens me about the guidance is that it punishes openness. I’m “cis-passing” & am lucky enough to have been so for years, so people don’t know unless I tell them, & I like seeing the smile appear on trans people’s faces when I do share. I don’t want to be stealth.
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Lisa Power @thisislisapower.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Today’s the anniversary of the passing into law of Section 28 in 1988, the first homophobic legislation in a century. Politicians and media said it was our own fault, told us to shut up and give up. We didn’t. Dont you dare give up now on trans people.
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Weird Alex @jackalpants.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
For business owners, the important part of the new ECHR advice is this: 13.179: There is no type of official record or document in the UK which provides reliable evidence of sex. [...] Therefore, it is unlikely to be proportionate or practical to ask for further evidence of a person’s sex.
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
How are they even going to define “biological sex”? How can this even be policed?
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Julia Serano @juliaserano.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
if Anita Bryant was still alive and promoting Florida orange juice, you couldn't pay me enough to drink it. how is Harry Potter any different? here is a timeline of JK Rowling's transphobia: web.archive.org/web/20241225... & here is where her HP money is going: www.advocate.com/news/jk-rowl...
advocate.com
J.K. Rowling uses Harry Potter wealth to fund anti-transgender organization
This is where "Harry Potter" profits are going.
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🌈 Dr Ross Brooks @rossbrooks.co.uk · 30/01/2026
My first book, Darwin and the Queer Origins of Life, will be published by Yale University Press on 11 August (UK) and 8 September (US). Please help spread the word! 🙏 UK: yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300... @yalebooks.bsky.social 🏳️‍🌈📚🐵 US: yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300... @yalepress.bsky.social 🏳️‍⚧️ 🗃️🦋
Jacket design for Darwin and the Queer Origins of Life: A History of Sex and Science by Ross Brooks. It features a historic, drawn image of a gynandromorph gypsy moth, with distinctive female patterning on its left side and male on its right. Against a black background, the image and text (title and author's name) are brightly rendered in a spectrum of colours resonant of the Progress Pride Flag.
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Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
my dad didn’t go to university and he was extremely happy to pay taxes for his four children to do so; and, indeed, for the doctors who treated him at Addenbrookes to have gone to university as well.
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David Allsopp @doublehelix.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
If you feel "hamstrung" by human rights laws and by health and safety laws - you are the person those laws were designed to protect us against. You need to be obstructed by those laws. Also, she's lying.
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Liam Thorp @liamthorp.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Worth remembering when looking at the horrific scenes in the US right now that both Reform and the Tories have pledged to bring in ICE-style organisations to the UK if they win power
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🌈 Dr Ross Brooks @rossbrooks.co.uk · 22/01/2026
🤩 This is how it's done, folks! 'A lesbian couple at the centre of their community and a pair of brothers said to have been among the first people to medically transition are among the people whose stories are told in the Queer Norfolk archive.' 🏳️‍🌈📚🏳️‍⚧️📜🗃️ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #queerhistory
bbc.co.uk
Archive reveals hidden stories of Queer Norfolk
Figures such as Barbara Ross and Anna Gurney were ahead of their time, says archivist Adam Baker.
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Ashleeee 🌊🪭 @reactiveashley.cat · 22/01/2026
I’ve seen drafts of this guidance several times before, but I’ve only just come across it in its published leaflet form.
A dark blue and red leaflet, titled A GUIDE TO THE SEX DISCRIMINATION gender reassignment REGULATIONS 1999, with gender reassignment in larger stylised letters. Logo of the DfEE, Department for Education and Employment.Page 14 
Section. Flexibility regarding Dress Codes
Many employers operate a Dress Code system. It is good practice to allow enough Rexibility in the dress code to accommodate the process of transition from one sex to the other.
Good practice example: M was working as a sales assistant when she began her transition to female. Her employer discussed the possibility of temporary redeployment out of the public gaze, but M preferred to remain with her team.
The company dress code was therefore relaxed along similar lines as for Muslim women and other groups, giving M flexibility over hair length and style, jewellery and makeup, prior to the point at which she felt comfortable in a skirt rather than trousers and without reference to any specific point of change of social gen-der. For a period some customers perceived her as female and others as male, but M felt happy to accept this, and indeed used the perceptions of customers as an indicator of when to begin presenting as unequivocally female.
Section. Use of Single Sex Facilities
The employer and employee should agree the point at which the use of facilities such as changing rooms and toilets should change from one sex to the other. An appropriate marker for using the facilities of the employee's "new" sex may, for example, be the point at which the individual begins to present permanently in the sex to which they identify. It is not acceptable to insist for the long term on a transsexual employee using separate facilities, for example a disabled toilet.
Transsexual employees are entitled to expect support from their employer including any necessary discussions and explanations with other members of the workforce or members of the public. Similarly, a transsexual employee should be granted access to "men only" or "women only" areas according to the sex in which they permanently present.

New page

Section. The role of the Equal Opportunities Commission
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Dr Sam Hirst @romgothsam.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
I'm running a popular romance course at the University of Liverpool... but only if enough people sign up! Come and join us! www.liverpool.ac.uk/continuing-e...
A poster for 'Falling in Love with Love: A History of Popular Romance: An Online Course' including front covers from the following books:
Fantomina by Eliza Haywood, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, The Sheik by E M Hull, The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer, Tabitha in Moonlight by Betty Neels, Indigo by Beverley Jenkins, Hen Fever by Olivia Waite, The Isle of the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Ah, I don't know! What is it?
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Sarah Churchwell @sarahchurchwell.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Also we've fetishized "debate” in these spaces as some kind of civic good, when what matters is competence, trust, shared purpose. Medicine, engineering, boardrooms aren’t organized around debate or requirements of false balance. We've poisoned public discourse by insisting it be adversarial.
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Oh indeed! And that reminds me of Kate Mulgrew, who gives off Hepburn vibes.
media.tenor.com
a woman is sitting in a chair holding a remote control
Alt: Captain Janeway sitting in her ready room on Voyager and telling someone to sit down.
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Very few women in responses to a post about actors with iconic voices, so: Holly Hunter, Jennifer Tilly, Joey Lauren Adams, Cate Blanchett, Jodie Foster.
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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Hello! I’m seeking volunteers to be interviewed for my PhD thesis on the cultural significance of the tailored suit within queer communities during the 1970s and 1980s. If you’re interested and would like more information, please contact me. Thank you, and feel free to share this with your networks!
A poster with a title that says "Call For Participants." The poster states: 

Are you part of the LGBTQIA+ community and have vivid memories from the 1970s and 1980s? We invite you to participate in an exciting project exploring the cultural significance of the tailored suit within the community.

We are looking for volunteers, aged 18 and older, to participate in an exciting project exploring the cultural significance of the tailored suit within the LGBTQIA+ community during the 1970s and 1980s.

This study is open to:
• Individuals who self-identify as queer or belong to the LGBTQIA+ community and were 18+ in the 1970s and 1980s.
• Relatives or close associates of queer individuals from this era, are encouraged to join.

You would be invited to participate in an interview session, either online or in-person. If you choose to come to one in person, they will be held in The Townsend Room, located in the Bishopsgate Institute (230
Bishopsgate, London, EC2M 4QH) or in public spaces such as coffee shops, public libraries, or LJMU classrooms. If you choose to take part virtually, you will be sent a secure link to a Microsoft Teams meeting
which you can join from.

Each session would take about two hours of your time. You would be asked to share your personal stories related to the tailored suit, and ideally, bring a photograph or meaningful clothing item, although this is not required.

If you are interested and would like more information, please reach out to the investigator. There is no obligation to take part. You will receive a gift card as a thank you for your valuable contributions.

Thank you!
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Trans+ History Week @transhistoryweek.com · 27/11/2025
🗓️ Mark your calendars for Trans+ History Week 2026 04–10 May Get the history lesson you never had, find our what’s in store, early-bird ticket alerts and a history article every day of Trans+ History Week with @wearequeeraf.com Sign up www.wearequeeraf.com/transhistory...
Brightly coloured and textured background with crumpled plastics and paper. Pinks and blues with a pink triangle and a blue spray paint effect giving the image energy.

Atop all of this is “save the dates” scribble underlined and “Trans+ History Week 04-10 May 2026”

Handwritten beneath on a ripped bit of paper is “our history, our power”

And at the bottom it reads “a QueerAF launchpad project”
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Sabine Volk @sabinedvolk.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
📣 New publication! The second article of my postdoc project on the far right and anti-gender mobilization is now out #openaccess in #GermanPolitics doi.org/10.1080/0964... It examines antifeminism in far-right party politics through the case of AfD Key findings: Antifeminism ✅ Radicalization ✅
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
What an amazing sci-fi archive! 💙💙🟦
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Me: *Tells a joke that gets a slight chuckle from a room full of students* Also me: Yeah, I could do stand up comedy.
media.tenor.com
a man 's face is shown in a black and white photo with a purple background
ALT: a man 's face is shown in a black and white photo with a purple background
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
This is a gorgeous history of dogs - and a perfect present for dog lovers!
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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
This month’s suitably spooky blog post is from our Research Associate, who has been speaking with the dead in the archives of the Society for Psychical Research! Read here: www.thevictorianhand.uk/gallery/spir...
Black and white photo of a man sitting on a chair with prosthetic arms stroking his head and arms.
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Dr. Sabrina Mittermeier @smittermeier.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Tfw when a student cites people I know
media.tenor.com
a man in a yellow shirt is sitting in a chair holding a cup and pointing
ALT: a man in a yellow shirt is sitting in a chair holding a cup and pointing
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
This looks so good! I'll share it with my students!
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Emily Brand @emilybrand.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Feels a bit early in the day to be posting this, but if I'm spending the morning with 18th-century sex therapist & supposed 'Prince of the Quacks' Dr James Graham then so can you 🍆
Detail from an 18th-century print depicting bewigged James Graham riding astride a large phallic instrument labelled 'Largest in the World' as a little duck says 'quack quack quack' at his feet
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Anna Cusack @annacusack.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
If anyone needs a freelance researcher in London (or across the UK), I'm your person! I've reasonable rates, lots of archive experience & great recommendations from academics globally. I'm only teaching 1 module this term, as the job market is what it is. Therefore, I'm open to all work. DM me!
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Thanks so much! That is so kind. I may well take you up on that at some point!
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
The details about the 'gentleman publishers', and the ways they were all interconnected, are also really fun to discuss too!
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
I ran this seminar with students last year, too. Your work is a core text! We use your article to discuss the overlaps between early sexology and erotic print cultures. Your work is so useful for demonstrating how things weren't always so simple as medical text vs erotic text.
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
This week, some of my classes are going to be thinking about @sarahebull.bsky.social's 2021 research on adult entertainment and early sexology. I highly recommend this article to anyone interested in the topic. journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
This is, I believe, the first official word from the Government on what happened yesterday in London. Not only inaction in the face of violence and hate, but a celebration of it. I passed through London twice yesterday with my two kids & what Labour seem to be missing is that people aren't just...
'Scale of unite the kingdom march shows free speech alive and well in UK, says minister
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
The professor has been fired and senior administrators removed from their post. No mention of this in the New York Times, The Free Press, The Atlantic or other outlets who drove the campus speech moral panic.
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Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Dear me, "students need to be exposed to challenging beliefs" season is over already
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Professor Peter Matthews @urbaneprofessor.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
This frontispiece in my book just made me laugh a lot. Is this Buddhist reincarnation, or some other form of afterlife?
Bram Stoker
1847-1912
A PENGUIN SINCE 1979
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