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Sarah Parkinson

@separkinson.bsky.social
5.6K followers 2K following 1.1K posts

Political scientist at Johns Hopkins. SWANA, disasters, political violence, ethics, humanitarian crises, qual methods, & Star Wars. Wrote a book a/b Palestinian org evolution & social change in wartime Lebanon: bit.ly/3VEw64B. EMT. Opinions my own.

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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 21h
Everything in this thread so many times over, from internships to entry level jobs to friends' weddings to academic conferences. All shot through with the underlying sentiment that if we're not willing to play along, they're perfectly fine if all of us go home.
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Seth Masket @smotus.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I was so delighted to serve as editor for @separkinson.bsky.social's piece on the role of grief as a motivating force in the Star Wars universe. It's very much worth your time to read. @theforum-degruyter.bsky.social
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Something a/b how foreign policy analysts talk a/b "blowback" (basically: a gov't kills people & their families will seek violent revenge) has always bothered me. I spent months watching/reading Star Wars canon to think through rebellion & grief, wrote 6.5K words, & titled it "Grief and Grievance."
Screenshot of abstract for "Grief and Grievance: Lessons from Star Wars for US Foreign Policy" by Sarah E. Parkinson in The Forum (September 28, 2026)

Article
Abstract

This essay examines Star Wars canon as a compelling representation of politicized grief and uses it to complicate how US-based political analysts and media, and specifically the US foreign policy establishment, connects emotion and grievance to contentious and violent politics. It outlines how various characters embody, persevere, deflect, and work through grief of different sources, magnitudes, and expressions. At the same time, the essay considers the political meaning of death and mortality by using different characters’ experiences to consider how grief operates across different political registers and how it collapses distinctions between personal and political. The essay then explores how the franchise’s explorations of grief mirror, challenge, or reveal blank spots in US conceptions of loss, resentment, and mourning in war and how they reverberate politically. It argues that policy analysts’ reduction of people to their anger and resentment is an attempt to flatten and individualize their political behavior and motivations, rather than understanding these emotions as aspects of people’s multi-layered, communal and structural experiences of injustice and injury that feed into collective action.

Keywords: foreign policy; Star Wars; rebellion; insurgency; counterterrorism; emotion
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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 26/09/2026
"Mr. Vice President: Peter Thiel played a decisive role in your life. Recently, he suggested that evil is good and called the Pope a 'useful idiot.' How do you respond to these extreme statements from your benefactor? Do you agree with him?" —Question a DC reporter should ask (but likely won't)
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
🧵& language to call your reps. The critical thing to know here is that under this rule some DOGE alumni who doesn’t know what insulin does could wake up one morning & cancel a clinical trial (or 8) b/c of feels, basically trashing years of careful scientific work & endangering patients.
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Dr. Leonard Bright @drleonardbright.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
🚨 **TODAY is the LAST DAY** to comment on proposed changes to higher education accreditation. These changes could affect academic freedom, faculty governance & institutional autonomy. **Faculty voices belong in the public record.** ⏰ Deadline: 11:59 p.m. ET www.regulations.gov/document/ED-...
regulations.gov
Regulations.gov
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Phones are not luggage, but US courts basically treat them that way by allowing agencies such as ICE & CBP to search people's phones at the border *without suspicion* In no world does CBP need access to all of travelers' private photos, documents, communication etc. to make an entry determination.
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
A lot of food for thought in this piece; I appreciated the broader perspective at the end re: LLM slop’s pollution of the entire information space & related consequences.
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Plane was stuck on Heathrow tarmac for 4.5 hours. Now in terminal w/ everyone else who had an afternoon flight. I already went through the border but b/c my plane was at an int’l gate, need to re-enter. Staff are overwhelmed. No one has any idea where to go. People are being shockingly well behaved.
Wall to wall crowding in Heathrow Terminal 5Completely full hallway in front of UK border control in Heathrow Terminal 5
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Have been on the tarmac for 45 mins past departure time & we’ve been told that there are 68 flights scheduled for departure ahead of us. The article says that incoming flights aren’t affected, but a colleague is stuck on a runway in Europe. All I can think about is the 30 Rock “Sky Law” episode.
independent.co.uk
Flights grounded at UK airports including Heathrow due to air traffic control glitch
NATS confirmed it is investigating a technical issue
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Yair Wallach @yairwallach.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The revelations regarding Netanyahu are not surprising. But the reporting demonstrates the crucial role of the Biden administration in shaping Israel's response to Oct 7. They bear so much responsibility. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
haaretz.com
Netanyahu got an explicit warning before Oct. 7. He didn't brief security chiefs
In September '23, UAE President bin Zayed called Netanyahu to deliver a harsh warning. Netanyahu did nothing. An extensive investigation, conducted for a new book, reveals the PM's failures surroundin...
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
With the exception of the Soros family, all of the people pictured are donating to Republicans. Most are in the tech/crypto sector. With the exception of the Soros family and Miriam Adelson, all of these people stand to financially benefit from deregulation. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Meet the Megadonors Who Have Poured $1.2 Billion Into the Midterms
The leaderboard of the top 20 donors is dominated by the tech industry and ultrawealthy Republicans.
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Care a/b research ethics, admin, & int'l regulation & attending the APSA (@apsa.bsky.social) Annual Meeting this weekend? We're holding a special roundtable "Research Ethics & IRB Processes" Sat. at 4pm, of interest esp. if you're a journal editor, fieldworker, advisor, or teach research methods.
APSA Research Ethics and IRB Processes Roundtable
Saturday 9/5, 4:00 - 5:30pm
 
As a professional community, political science has made important headway over the last decade, advancing discussions and formulating policies addressing research ethics, including through APSA-sponsored initiatives.  Some advances have taken the form of changes in the standards and requirements of academic journals. There have also been improvements in research practices to ensure compliance with local laws and institutional efforts in IRB processes outside the United States and Europe, as these processes have been adapted to be better suited for research outside clinical settings.  Developments are uneven, varying country by country. This panel brings political scientists together to discuss this changing landscape. It will address changing expectations for researchers working outside of their home countries, as well as the challenges posed for non-US based institutions and researchers and US-based PhD students.  The panel brings together a range of perspectives on the topic, including: a) Scott Desposato (UCSD), who co-chaired the American Political Science Association’s committee to develop new guidelines for ethical research with human subjects; b) Lorena Barbería (University of São Paulo), who will speak to new rules and requirements in Brazil, one of the countries where requirements and norms have changed most dramatically in recent years; c) Meredith Weiss (SUNY Albany), a Southeast Asia expert who chairs APSA’s ethics subcommittee; and d) Sarah Parkinson (Johns Hopkins) a co-founder of the Advancing Research on Conflict (ARC) Consortium and Co-Chair of the Professional Development Working Group of the Research Ethics in the Middle East and North Africa (REMENA) project. Alison Post (UC Berkeley) will start by posing questions of the panelists before moving to audience questions. [Rest of abstract doesn't fit but you get the idea]
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
It is so hot in Italy that a passenger on my bus is fighting with the bus driver to turn the AC on. The bus driver doesn’t like AC. In the time it has taken me to write this post the situation has escalated to performative, loud, passive aggressive deference & I would hold my breath but I would die
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Chase Madar @madar.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Remarkable how little political noise it's made here in the US that a major American naval base in Bahrain was basically destroyed, and that this was kept quiet for five months www.nytimes.com/2026/08/14/u...
nytimes.com
Navy Carrier’s Problems Are Tied to Attacks on U.S. Base Early in War
Diego Garcia, a tiny island 2,200 miles from the Gulf of Oman, took over as the Navy’s logistics hub after Iran damaged a base in Bahrain.
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
As someone who is deeply critical of LLMs & the effects they've had on my field & classroom, this is an important point. I need to be more precise in my own language. There is another set of ethical conversations to be had a/b how AI's scientific applications are being adopted by police & military.
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
4th Dynasty Egypt: Old Kingdom builds the stunning Temple of Bastet 6th or 7th century CE: The Prophet Muhammad cuts off the sleeve of his robe rather than disturbing his sleeping cat 2026 CE: I drag a 109cm cat tree home through Bologna in a historic heat wave, hoping it will please The Gremlin
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
The post-2023 acceleration of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank has made settlers' use of arson far more visible in the media. But, it's an old tactic. Years back, I asked a few members of Palestinian Civil Defense a/b the leading causes of fires (structural & brush/wildland) in the WB. "Arson."
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Every military leader since antiquity: wars are won by logistics hegseth: you win wars when military look like fitness influencers
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Kind of wild given *waves hands around at general global situation* that we’re seeing potential accountability for bad governance in (checks notes again) FIFA
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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Interesting: DoorDash is supporting the GOP bill in Congress to limit D.C.'s ability to increase or decrease taxes and fees, largely in response to the D.C. Council's recent vote in impose a new 20-cent delivery fee to help fund food-access programs. www.notus.org/metro/uberea...
notus.org
That Food Delivery Is Soon Going To Cost You a Little More in D.C.
DoorDash unsuccessfully fought a 20-cent fee approved by the D.C. Council that will also affect UberEats deliveries.
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Sarah T Roberts, PhD @ubiquity75.xyz · 22/07/2026
A reminder that UC _faculty_ and Faculty Associations — not the universities themselves nor their administrators — are waging this battle in court, demonstrating great bravery and moral clarity.
apnews.com
White House admits it used keywords to kill billions worth of California research grants
Federal agencies that terminated more than a thousand research grants at the University of California last year admitted that they used keywords related to diversity, gender, vaccine hesitancy and COV...
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Katie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Our two investigations into Madison Square Garden are now unpaywalled and free for anyone to read.
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Welcome to polycrisis. Add to what the article describes: Aging infrastructure (water main break+sinkhole=floods in West Hollywood that LA first responders have to address as new wildfires break out) Mismanagement of emergency response agencies (e.g. FEMA, new Wildland Fire Service) & contractors
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
In the coverage I've seen of the problematic nature of family members "inheriting" seats, I am stunned no one has noted that family members would be susceptible to the same blackmail that their late partners/siblings/parents were. It's one of the core subjects of any security clearance investigation
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
The man is responsible for Jar Jar Binks, people. What did you expect?
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Counterproductive on multiple fronts. Research shows electability args maintain white male dominance in US politics via strategic discrimination: "Strategic discrimination occurs when an individual hesitates to support a candidate out of concern that others will object to the candidate’s identity."
cambridge.org
Strategic Discrimination | Perspectives on Politics | Cambridge Core
Strategic Discrimination - Volume 18 Issue 4
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Megaphone News @megaphone.news · 11/07/2026
The agriculture sector in Lebanon sustained an estimated $1 billion in losses and damage as a result of the Israeli war of aggression, according to updated figures by Agriculture Minister Nizar Hani during a tour of the South and Nabatieh.
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Audie Klotz @audieklotz.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
If you’re new to submitting public comments on US draft regulations: you can remain anonymous (keep scrolling down) TL;dr another effort to defund universities ⬇️
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Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Aaaaaahahahaha
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Explain all the screaming to the work from home neighbors who don’t care about football challenge 🇪🇬🇪🇬🇪🇬
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John Muller @johnspacemuller.com · 07/07/2026
VAR sifting through archaeological evidence from the reign of Ramses II to overturn that goal
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Shibley Telhami @stelhami.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
“Within a week, Israel bombed two art galleries, seven museums, two main archives in Gaza, and hundreds of archaeological sites,” says Amer Shomali, director of the Palestinian Museum. “This battle of trying to erase the Palestinian culture and Palestinian memory—it’s not something theoretical.”
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
It is objectively a gorgeous summer morning in DC; blue sky, 82 degrees right now. You can’t go outside safely b/c of the air quality. From my window, there is a thick, visible layer of smog over the city. Wunderground tells me there’s “fog.” All for a 12am fireworks show shrouded by its own smoke
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
This World Cup belongs to the goalkeepers
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
I worked EMS for far smaller & far more delightful events. #1 thing I treated? Heat-related illness. Teens who weren’t hydrated. Kids & elderly who can’t temp regulate well. Patients whose meds (e.g. some SSRIs & anti-psychotics, even antihistamines) made them heat vulnerable. Outright dangerous.
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
If I’m reading this right, a wildly narcissistic billionaire is building some version of a hedge fund Prospera lite for his company & employees in Miami because he feels personally victimized by taxes in New York & Chicago. The company town is back & it has a peptide-infused victim complex.
bloomberg.com
Ken Griffin Bought Out All 138 Condos in Miami Tower, One by One
The billionaire spent roughly $125 million to gain control of the last major property in the way of his planned Citadel campus. Now, he’ll tear it down.
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
"That night we learned three physicians and one nurse from our team would be blocked from entering Gaza. I was allowed in." "To tell a doctor or nurse that they cannot help someone punctures both their sense of self and their faith in humankind in ways that are difficult to explain or anticipate."
commondreams.org
When Hate Trumps Healing: How I Joined the Blocked-by-Israel Club | Common Dreams
Being of Jewish descent, an American, and a nurse affords no protection in the eyes of the Israeli or American governments. I was there to help Palestinian babies, so I was a threat.
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Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
yeah unfortunately the point at which security agents started manufacturing crimes to so they could arrest people to support the delusions of a single personalist ruler was the point at which the story stopped being silly heavy-handed metaphor and started being of real concern
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Friend shared photos from the top of the Washington Monument this morning. Looks like the administration tried to paint over the "8647" numbers that were burned into the grass last week (they're now clearer) & has left utter devastation on the South Lawn & the Ellipse following the UFC fight.
Photo taken by a friend from the top of the Washington Monument on Friday June 19 looking west. Foreground shows the end of the mall, with the numbers "8647" clearly burned into the grass (they are brownish grey), but with a dark uniform block of what could be green paint over them. The Reflecting Pool is in the background, featuring green water that is darker on the outside and brighter, lighter green near the middle. The Lincoln Memorial is in the distance to the west (at the top half of the photo).Photo taken by friend looking north from the Washington Monument on Friday June 19. In the foreground is the Ellipse, almost completely yellow and stripped of grass. There are a few, small, sad patches of remaining grass and what look like a couple of vehicles. The area of the South Lawn that was under the UFC stage is beige.
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
This World Cup belongs to the goalkeepers
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
If you didn't manage to score tix to the UFC fight on the White House lawn Sunday night & want to watch something about actual strength & toughness, you could instead come see the Sundance Selection documentary "American Doctor," which spotlights three US-based doctors who volunteered in Gaza.
dcdoxfest.com
American Doctor - DC/DOX
When three American doctors—Palestinian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian—enter Gaza to save lives, they find themselves caught between medicine and politics, risking everything to expose the truth.
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Can’t afford electric bills or gas? Fighting with your healthcare company? At least your taxes are funding the 1980s off-strip casino-ass light show emanating from the White House.
Photo taken facing south from northern Washington DC at night. Photo looks down to the skyline and the Washington Monument, and thus over the White House. There are dozens of high powered spotlights shining out from the White House’s location; to the east and west of the spotlight “sunburst” there are two towers of vertical spotlights. The night sky is glowing light blue.
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Read these two pieces. The story of simultaneous disenfranchisement, theft from the public, and surveillance is terrifying. The gov’t “is taking the parts of the federal government that touch you directly out of the agencies that legally own them and rebuilding them on White House infrastructure.”
substack.com
I found a second vote.gov — and it's registered to the White House
There is a moment in every investigation where the thing you have been looking for finds you instead.
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
“defense minister Israel Katz, said on Wed that the gov’t’s ultimate aim was for large numbers of Palestinians to leave Gaza by what he called “voluntary migration” but what human rights activists describe as a long-term plan for ethnic cleansing by making living conditions inside Gaza intolerable.”
theguardian.com
Netanyahu orders Israeli army to seize ‘70% of Gaza Strip’, violating ceasefire deal
Speaking in West Bank settlement, Israeli PM, who is fighting for political survival before elections, says ‘we are squeezing Hamas’
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
There is serious BS in the outdoor industry that needs addressing (REI's anti-union behavior looming large), so I definitely felt a way reading the full story & learning a/b the trademark implications for Patagonia. The "giant corp targeting activist drag queen" narrative here is pretty manipulative
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Trump's delusional diplomatic demand Saudi & Qatar join Abraham Accords gets stomped: "Trump is free to say what he wants and think as he wishes, but in the Middle East, strategic moves aren't made through public declarations or political fantasies," a Saudi source close to the royal family said.
haaretz.com
Saudi Arabia, Qatar hesitant about joining Abraham Accords, Gulf sources say
The Two Countries Have Not Yet Formally Responded to Trump's Request That They Join Normalize Relations With Israel, but Sources Who Spoke to Haaretz Said They Will Not Establish Relations With Israel...
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Sarah Parkinson @separkinson.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
“Liberal democracies should care about truth…there’s something authoritarian about reshaping our entire legal and social order on the basis of blatant falsehoods. Especially when the function of that reshaping is to demonize and marginalise an already vulnerable minority.”
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 22/05/2026
As a science fiction writer I really fucking resent tech bros for ruining the phrase "artificial intelligence." 80 years of it being all about cool androids and interesting computers destroyed by five years of "Spicy autocorrect making everything shittier for money." NEVER FORGIVE.
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Natacha @natacha.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
This, from Amnesty International, tells you all you need to know about transphobic bias in UK mainstream media.

The Corpus Linguistics Analysis shows sustained disproportionate levels of press

coverage of 'trans issues' between 2020 and 2025, averaging 264 articles per month

across the four outlets considered. The bigrams analysis shows that trans people are

virtually invisible in the content that concerns their lives. Top politicians instead recur

regularly, which suggests 'trans issues' have been elevated to key political priorities.
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