iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

ding @not.dingherself.com · 17/09/2026

new haven folks! come by on Sep 28 for a screening & discussion of /Paris Is Burning/ (1990), the critically acclaimed—and thoroughly critiqued—Jennie Livingston documentary which exposed the mainstream American psyche to the Harlem ballroom scene, drag, passing/“realness,” chosen families, [1/2]

Flyer for the event:

Screening & discussion of Paris Is Burning
Monday, September 28, 1:30–3:25pm
William L. Harkness Hall 204
Presented by the feminist philosophy seminar

Suggested readings (short!):

* bell hooks, “Is Paris Burning?” (1991)
* Judith Butler, “Gender Is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion” (1993)
* Sandy Stone, “The /Empire/ Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto” (1991)
* Susan Stryker, “My Words to Victor Frankenstein above the Village of Chamounix: Performing Transgender Rage” (1994)

Please email Dr. Ding (ding.ding@yale.edu) for the readings or questions.

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 03/08/2026

went to a screening of the restored welcome ii the terrordome with the director @bambrooklyn.bsky.social . surprised to learn that this all started out as a student project!

photo of the Q&A after the screening. the director, Ngozi Onwurah, is speaking. shot on a flip phone so not the most visible.

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 20/07/2026

seagulls from santa cruz

seagull #1: standing on top of a white tent with the sun setting in the background

seagull #2: chilling on top of a green shipping container and having a moment with me (looking into the camera)

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 17/05/2026

what better time to start new coding projects than amid end-of-semester chaos dingherself.com/blog.html

Screenshot of my blog under construction along with the source html code I'm writing. There are 3 posts teased in the blog at the moment:

Making Blogs Chic Again, or: Belated Hello World

Might a post-apocalyptic Internet finally deliver the promises of the long ’50s?

AY 2025 Coffee in Review

When the clock struck midnight on NYE, the last thing I expected was to be blown away by beans from a Santa Cruz roastery. What has society become?

At Long Last, Introducing Noodles/麵/面/Miàn/🍜

Somehow The Matrix convinced my students that “reality is in the eye of the beholder.” Luckily even then you can trust a Sichuanese girlie how to noodle.

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 18/04/2026

group photos for good measure!

group photo at a turtle pond (!) on the upenn campus

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 18/04/2026

first birthday celebration in a long time & first keynote! the incredibly sweet, bright, and thoughtful grad students @ penn surprised me with birthday cakes at the end of Q&A. feeling so unbelievably grateful to get to be part of a grad conference on queer & trans philosophy (!!)

ding blowing out candles on birthday cakes!

two very cute cakes with the writing "Happy Birthday Ding!"

me giving my talk! wearing a black and red dress under a semi see through black shirt

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 07/04/2026

cisgender metaphysics is fascinating

Email from the Barnard Benefits Team with the subject “Transition from Calm and Headspace (via Cigna)”

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 23/10/2025

So thrilled & grateful to be part of this! My essay, “The Cisgender Tipping Point,” subjects being cisgender to the kind of scrutiny often confronted by trans people. What do we know gender to be if we treat trans ways of doing gender as paradigmatic? (Spoiler: The answer is not gender identity.)

Screenshot of the start of my essay, “The Cisgender Tipping Point”:

“Cis people puzzle me. Please don’t get me wrong—my feminism most definitely includes cis people. I believe that justice requires us to treat cis people’s sincere gender avowals as if they are legitimate. I defend cis people’s freedom to prefer names and pronouns that reflect their identification with their genital status even though this regularly weirds out trans people. I have no problem with cis people peeing where they like even though this poses real safety risks to trans people in general and trans women of color in particular. Hell, I can even get on board with the inclusion of cis athletes even though they dominate every single Olympic sport out there thanks to what I can only speculate is a biological advantage. Whatever allyship demands of me I’m here for it.

“No, when I say that cis people are so puzzling, I’m talking about them as a philosophical problem: What gives cis people the genders they claim to have? What do cis people mean that they are cis? What is it like to have a cisgender identity? Why do so many teens identify as cis now? Are cissexuals products of some sort of gender ideology—cissexualism, let’s say? Is cissexualism a diagnosable mental disorder? Do we want it to be? Are cis people just whining for attention because they are jealous of us? Could they be a counterexample to our metaphysics of gender? …

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 07/10/2025

i so love my students here

A page from a satirical newspaper edited by Barnard/Columbia students. The headlines read: “Barnard College to Sell ‘Entry Swipes’ Packages to Enter Campus” and “Columbia to House Overenrolled Freshmen in Tents on Butler Lawns”

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 27/09/2025

My fav scene from Reverse Tomboy: Not its insightful analysis of (hetero)sexuality as inseparable from (normative) gender, or the retroactive meaning-making we do for early exp., or even the malleability of embodiment desires. Just a girl over the moon about the smallest thing—being called daughter.

Photo of a page from Reverse Tomboy:

“I just don’t see why a trans woman has to be more feminine than the average woman. It would be a little insulting to cis women wouldn’t it, if all trans women went around done up like Don Draper’s wives.”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

“But you are being careful, right? No more walking at night in empty parks?” her father chimed in.

“Yes Dad, I promise I’m well aware I’m a trans woman.” Naomi said happily enough.

“I think any father would worry about his daughter.” Joy flooded through Naomi, as it did each of the three times she has heard her father refer to her as his daughter. She could think of nothing better from him. Suddenly, the dress felt a little more comfortable.

“Thank you.” It was a simple thing to say, but so is ‘daughter’. Besides, Naomi was grinning.

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 27/08/2025

An actual job ad: “When we refer to ‘women’ we mean those assigned female at birth. . . . Successful candidates will be asked to produce [a] passport or full birth certificate. . . . It is expected that this documentation will be in the female gender.” What a disgrace @newnhamcollege.bsky.social

Screenshot of part of a job ad posted on the website of Newnham College, University of Cambridge:

“Following the Supreme Court’s decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025], when we refer to ‘women’ we mean those assigned female at birth. . . . The successful candidate will be asked to produce identification documentation (e.g. passport or full birth
certificate). It is expected that this documentation will be in the female gender.”

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 18/08/2025

got @autoanon.bsky.social ’s new release in the mail (in physical form no less)!! still working my way through it so will have more to share, but this is the kind of texts I wish I could’ve held in my hands when I was figuring things out, and I really can’t wait to see how Naomi’s story unfolds 🫶

Cover of Auto Anon’s Reverse Tomboy: A Novel, photographed against the background of a backyard.

The back cover, which reads: Naomi Soloveitchik has taken the first steps towards the womanhood she hopes to embody but does not yet understand what that means for her relationships to friends, lovers, and her own body. She wrestles with the more masculinized womanhood she aspires to, asking herself if it is possible for a trans woman to be a tomboy. In addition to the central story, also included is a small collection of poems and a brief essay on trans femme butch identity.

"Sweet, poignant, and achingly honest, Reverse Tomboy is a gorgeously-sketched portrait of trans loneliness and pleasure."
- GRETCHEN FELKER-MARTIN

"An extremely personable writing voice, with moments of various joy - overwhelming joy, a stopping joy, a we-must-sit-in-this-joy — cut against usual romantic woes and the sense a fuller life, a social life, can lead to total ease, the opportunity to be newly still. Allusive and sweet and insightful with no caricature bogeymen or manufactured hand-wringing necessary, as AA brings an incredible millesimal fineness to bear on the Bildungsroman to fill out its every nook and cranny instead. In turns light as Hemingway and as funny and sharp as Torrey Peters, Reverse Tomboy is a remarkably brisk and exacting novel of small and sure steps toward grace in the garden of untamed harmony that is made by trans people alive and well in the public sphere."
- BENJAMIN C. DUGDALE

"Reverse Tomboy offers an intimate exploration of the lives of trans people today. Following in the footsteps of Leslie Feinberg's Stone Butch Blues and Imogen Binnie's Nevada, Auto Anon shares a semi-autobiographical narrative of how one becomes oneself. Wedged in the intersection of trans literature and philosophy, readers won't be able to put down the hilariously scathing — and satisfying — critique of the gender roles our society still clings to."
- ELI ERLICK

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 06/07/2025

doctoring ☀️🌵🎶

screenshot of ding's dissertation defense on zoom, with lots of friends attending; i look like i'm pondering super hard but in fact not really.

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 28/06/2025

so a trans masc spotted me at the SF trans march and handed me an invite to an a&pi trans masc support group 🎩🎀

selfie of Ding and Willow at Dolores Park just ahead of the march. I'm wearing a green baseball cap backwards, a black shirt under a dark red corduroy jacket, and a silver metal chain necklace.

Me holding the invite card I got. Behind me is Nico, holding a sign that says "Fuck you you fucking fuck" (not a reference to the card!).

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 30/04/2025

shaved off some hairrrr

This is a selfie to show off my new haircut—shaved sides, eyebrow length hair on top, parted in the middle! It's very cute and dykecore.

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 04/04/2025

happy girl with their birthday mail 💞

This is a photo of Ding holding their article (alt text in the post quoted below) in the spring 2025 issue of the Signs journal. There are cute trees and clear blue sky in the background. It all looks really joyful!

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 31/03/2025

no tdov at stonewall inn it seems

a photo of marsha p. johnson at christopher park just across from stonewall inn. people have surrounded the photo with flowers in what seem to be trans flag colors and text that reads “marsha p. johnson is here”

a photo of sylvia rivera, also at christopher park, surrounded by what are definitely trans and probably pan (?) flags-colored flowers and text that reads “sylvia will always be here [trans flag]”

photo of stonewall inn. lots of pride flags but nothing happening on tdov

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 31/03/2025

video evidence courtesy of rose fonth

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 20/03/2025

Can we still make sense of reproductive rights & pregnancy discrimination as a gender equality issue if we need to (1) affirm that people of all genders may and do become pregnant and (2) not alienate the many cis and trans women who do not? I argue that yes ofc!! Come find out how (link below)! 1/6

Screenshot of the first page of my article, "Pregnant Persons as a Gender Category: A Trans Feminist Analysis of Pregnancy Discrimination," which just appeared in the Spring 2025 issues of Signs. The start of the introduction reads: "Since 1974, the United States Supreme Court has recognized a constitutionally significant distinction between discrimination against women and discrimination against pregnant persons—for all the wrong reasons, and reaching all the wrong results. Upholding the State of California’s refusal to cover uncomplicated pregnancies under its otherwise comprehensive workers’ short-term disability insurance program, the court held in Geduldig v. Aiello that differential treatment based on pregnancy is not in and of itself a form of sex discrimination within the meaning of American gender equality law. Writing for a 6–3 majority, Justice Potter Stewart explained that this is because pregnancy as a “physical condition” is itself neutral on sex and fails to carve the social world at the gender seam between women and men. “The lack of identity between the excluded disability [i.e., pregnancy] and gender as such under this insurance program becomes clear upon the most cursory analysis,” Justice Stewart claimed. “The program divides potential recipients into two groups—pregnant women and nonpregnant persons. While the first group is exclusively female, the second includes members of both sexes. . . .”

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 16/02/2025

so that was the 6th FemPhilAZ! ☀️🌵🏜️🤩

it’s photo time! here is me and sofia weiss goitiandia. i’m wearing a light green sundress with yellow floral patterns, and sofia a black top. it’s sunny, we are outside on a restaurant patio, we are both smiling, and you can see some saguaros in the background. we are so cute!

and here’s me and rowan bell! i’m wearing a semi–see through dark red top, and rowan fun-colors sunglasses and suspenders. it’s a selfie, we are in a seminar room, we are both laughing, and i’m placing my paw on rowan’s shoulder. it’s a good time!

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 16/01/2025

didn’t expect to be flooded with so many wonderful emotions seeing your name on the page proofs for the first time! (and at a journal you’ve always looked up to ever since reading your first piece of feminist theory!!) so excited (and anxious!) that this will finally get to see the world

It’s the first page of the proofs! My name can be seen in the top-right corner. The paper's title is “Pregnant Persons as a Gender Category: A Trans Feminist Analysis of Pregnancy Discrimination.” It will be appearing in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, volume 50, number 3 (Spring 2025 issue).

The beginning of the first paragraph can also be seen: “Since 1974, the United States Supreme Court has recognized a constitutionally significant distinction between discrimination against women and discrimination against pregnant persons—for all the wrong reasons, and reaching all the wrong results. Upholding the State of California’s refusal to cover uncomplicated pregnancies under its otherwise comprehensive short-term disability insurance program, the Court held in Geduldig v. Aiello that differential treatment based on pregnancy is not in and of itself a form of sex discrimination within the meaning of American gender equality law. Writing for a 6–3 majority, Justice Potter Stewart explained that this is because pregnancy as a ‘physical condition’ is itself neutral on sex and fails to carve the social world at the gender seam between women and men. ‘The lack of identity between the excluded disability [i.e., pregnancy] and gender as such under this insurance program becomes clear upon the most cursory analysis,’ Justice Stewart claimed. ‘The program divides potential recipients into two groups—pregnant women and nonpregnant persons. While the first group is exclusively female, the second includes members of both sexes.’”

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 12/01/2025

You know it, you love it, it’s the FemPhilAZ 2025 program!! Go tell everyone, go throw a party, go bring your grad students!! Fully hybrid in person & on Zoom Free to register & open to all Fun activities to bridge the spacetime between in-person & Zoom participants February 7–8, 2025 FemPhilAZ.com

It's the FemPhilAZ 2025 conference program Day 1!

Zoom participants: Please note that we do not observe Daylight Saving Time here at the University of Arizona. All times listed are in Mountain Standard Time (MST or America/Phoenix), which is not the same as Mountain Time (MT) or Mountain Daylight Time (MDT)!

Friday, February 7, 2025

8:45–9:15
Breakfast

9:15–10:15
“Sexual Racism as Perception”
Yixuan Wu (University of Michigan)
Comments: Ella LaRose (University of Arizona)
Chair: Isabel Herburger (Rutgers University)

10:30–11:30
“A Beauvoirian Analysis of Ageism: Children & the Elderly as ‘Other’ ”
Adelle Goldenberg (Cornell University)
Comments: Urna Chakrabarty (Cornell University)
Chair: Luke Golemon (University of Arizona)

11:30–12:30
In-Person/Zoom Lunch-Together (feat. The FemPhilAZ Playlist)
We will have lunch together while listening to a conference playlist!

12:30–1:30
“Swimming Upstream Together: Catharine MacKinnon’s Alternative to Consent”
Yana Stoykova (Nuffield College, Oxford)
Comments: Ding (University of Arizona)
Chair: Sofia Weiss Goitiandia (University of California, San Francisco)

1:45–2:45
“You Lied to Me: Transphobia, Intimacy, and Intimate Deception”
Rose Fonth (Rutgers University)
Comments: Kexuan Liu (Duke University)
Chair: Giannis Vassilopoulos (Georgia State University)

3:00–5:00
Keynote Address/Philosophy Colloquium
Rowan Bell (Assistant Professor of Philosophy & SXGN, University of Guelph)
Chair: Ding (University of Arizona)

5:45–7:15
Dinner at La Indita (722 N Stone Ave) [TBC]

And here is Day 2!

Saturday, February 8, 2025

10:00–10:30
Breakfast

10:30–11:30
“Oppressive Acts and Pornography”
Shiying Li (University of Wisconsin–Madison)
Comments: Shramana Pramanik (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)
Chair: Rose Fonth (Rutgers University)

11:30–12:30
In-Person/Zoom Lunch-Together (feat. Feminist Poetry Open Mic)
Bring your favorite poems to read, by anyone & in any language!

12:30–1:30
“Loving Places: Murdoch, Candiotto, and Zwicky on Learning to Look and Listen”
Madeleine Léger (Georgetown University)
Comments: Jacob Blitz (University of Arizona)
Chair: Yixuan Wu (University of Michigan)

1:45–2:45
“ ‘Woman’: From Semantics to Pragmatics”
Isabel Herburger (Rutgers University)
Comments: Yashin Voss (Arizona State University)
Chair: Kyle Kirby (University of Arizona)

3:00–4:00
“A Defense of Allyship as a Political Commitment”
Giannis Vassilopoulos (Georgia State University)
Comments: Will Cailes (University of Arizona)
Chair: Henry Weiss (University of Arizona)

4:15–6:15
Keynote Address: “Aestheticizing Rape”
A.W. Eaton (Professor of Philosophy & Associate Dean of LAS, University of Illinois Chicago)
Chair: Ella LaRose (University of Arizona)
NB: Please note that I will be discussing rape culture and “high art” pictures that glorify and eroticize rape, as well as pictures that condemn rape.

6:45–
Unofficial dinner/hang-out in person & social hour for Zoom attendees

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 17/12/2024

is it too late to fall in love with chappell roan because wooaaahhh this rocks so hard

Screenshot of a selection of the lyric from "Pink Pony Club" by Chappell Roan:

[Chorus]
Pink Pony Club, I'm gonna keep on dancing at the
Pink Pony Club, I'm gonna keep on dancing down in
West Hollywood, I'm gonna keep on dancing at the
Pink Pony Club, Pink Pony Club

[Verse 2]
I'm up and jaws are on the floor
Lovers in the bathroom and a line outside the door
Black lights and a mirrored disco ball
Every night's another reason why I left it all

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 17/12/2024

kudos to the UC campuses for actually figuring out how to do chosen names on job apps (it's not rocket science!!)

Screenshot of the explanatory text under the name box on an job application: “Provide your preferred or lived name [i.e., a self-chosen personal and/or professional name], which may be the same or different from your legal name. Please note that you may be required to provide a legal name at a different time.”

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ding @not.dingherself.com · 17/12/2024

so thoroughly touched by @tagreathouse.bsky.social 's words from the very first page in the new collection. simply can't stop thinking about it for over a week straight now