Alicia Spencer-Hall
@aspencerhall.bsky.social
Writer. Researcher. Editor. Genderqueer femme. Crip. She/they.
// medieval lit / media / gender / disability / pop culture //
https://linktr.ee/aspencerhall
// medieval lit / media / gender / disability / pop culture //
https://linktr.ee/aspencerhall
Pinned
So I wrote a book about Twitter. Medieval Twitter to be exact---the interconnections between Twitter's textual modes & medieval literary culture(s), plus medievalists' use of Twitter and the #MedievalTwitter hashtag
www.arc-humanities.org/978194240195...
@archumanities.bsky.social #MedievalSky 🗃️
www.arc-humanities.org/978194240195...
@archumanities.bsky.social #MedievalSky 🗃️
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
1. It would appear that in recent reporting, the BBC is now using the phrase "biological male who identifies as a woman" when they mean to talk about a transgender woman.
This is an incredibly demeaning way to talk about transgender women in news pieces.
Subscribe to support our journalism.
This is an incredibly demeaning way to talk about transgender women in news pieces.
Subscribe to support our journalism.
BBC Now Calling Trans Women 'Biological Males Who Identify As Women'
These stories come in the aftermath of allegations that a small but mighty cabal of “LGBT reporters” had somehow seized control of the BBC and “censored” right-wing views.
www.erininthemorning.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:13 AM
1. It would appear that in recent reporting, the BBC is now using the phrase "biological male who identifies as a woman" when they mean to talk about a transgender woman.
This is an incredibly demeaning way to talk about transgender women in news pieces.
Subscribe to support our journalism.
This is an incredibly demeaning way to talk about transgender women in news pieces.
Subscribe to support our journalism.
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
TIL: the Netflix fireplace has closed captions and said closed captions are "[fireplace crackling]"
November 26, 2025 at 9:40 PM
TIL: the Netflix fireplace has closed captions and said closed captions are "[fireplace crackling]"
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
For a small fee, I will go to your historian enemy’s seminar presentation and say “I guess I’m just wondering what the “so what” of this paper is?”
November 26, 2025 at 9:45 PM
For a small fee, I will go to your historian enemy’s seminar presentation and say “I guess I’m just wondering what the “so what” of this paper is?”
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
I read the Cheryl Hines book so you don’t have to www.patreon.com/posts/144407...
What is Cheryl Hines thinking? Nothing, apparently | Men Yell at Me by Lyz Lenz
Get more from Men Yell at Me by Lyz Lenz on Patreon
www.patreon.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:39 PM
I read the Cheryl Hines book so you don’t have to www.patreon.com/posts/144407...
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
A reminder this holiday season:
Your fat friends/family can hear the way you talk about food. Please don’t let your disordered eating be our problem.
Your fat friends/family can hear the way you talk about food. Please don’t let your disordered eating be our problem.
November 26, 2025 at 1:47 AM
A reminder this holiday season:
Your fat friends/family can hear the way you talk about food. Please don’t let your disordered eating be our problem.
Your fat friends/family can hear the way you talk about food. Please don’t let your disordered eating be our problem.
New parenting hack unlocked
ask.metafilter.com/388091/Gende...
ask.metafilter.com/388091/Gende...
November 27, 2025 at 12:21 AM
New parenting hack unlocked
ask.metafilter.com/388091/Gende...
ask.metafilter.com/388091/Gende...
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
There is literally a 20 year old West Wing episode about Molly Orchansky and exactly why the poverty line is a problem, and this is why it’s important to take humanities and the arts seriously. It is often oracular, because it’s written by research nerds with an obsession for human behavior.
This is an insightful but deeply upsetting article about why everyone in the US feels poor, and why the current political situation emerges as a direct result.
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
Part 1: My Life Is a Lie
How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America
www.yesigiveafig.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:34 PM
There is literally a 20 year old West Wing episode about Molly Orchansky and exactly why the poverty line is a problem, and this is why it’s important to take humanities and the arts seriously. It is often oracular, because it’s written by research nerds with an obsession for human behavior.
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
Lots of people sharing this clip because it's funny and cathartic but I also genuinely believe it's important.
We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."
We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Lots of people sharing this clip because it's funny and cathartic but I also genuinely believe it's important.
We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."
We have to win the narrative battle between "I live in a corrupt society and that's just how it is" and "I live in a corrupt society and we are going to defeat and humiliate these ghouls."
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
everyone knows the number one quality of rigorous, responsible journalism is waiting months and months to reveal urgently newsworthy information until it can cause the most harm in your personal vendettas
November 26, 2025 at 10:53 PM
everyone knows the number one quality of rigorous, responsible journalism is waiting months and months to reveal urgently newsworthy information until it can cause the most harm in your personal vendettas
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
yes my friends, it's raining. come up from the earth and spend time with me
November 26, 2025 at 7:40 PM
yes my friends, it's raining. come up from the earth and spend time with me
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
Hey, congratulations to all of Olivia Nuzzi’s horny media critic defenders. Heckuva job!
November 26, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Hey, congratulations to all of Olivia Nuzzi’s horny media critic defenders. Heckuva job!
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
So I wrote a book about Twitter. Medieval Twitter to be exact---the interconnections between Twitter's textual modes & medieval literary culture(s), plus medievalists' use of Twitter and the #MedievalTwitter hashtag
www.arc-humanities.org/978194240195...
@archumanities.bsky.social #MedievalSky 🗃️
www.arc-humanities.org/978194240195...
@archumanities.bsky.social #MedievalSky 🗃️
November 18, 2024 at 2:41 PM
So I wrote a book about Twitter. Medieval Twitter to be exact---the interconnections between Twitter's textual modes & medieval literary culture(s), plus medievalists' use of Twitter and the #MedievalTwitter hashtag
www.arc-humanities.org/978194240195...
@archumanities.bsky.social #MedievalSky 🗃️
www.arc-humanities.org/978194240195...
@archumanities.bsky.social #MedievalSky 🗃️
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
Slop Evader is a tool from artist and researcher Tega Brain that lets you search the web for results exclusively before November 30, 2022—the day that ChatGPT was released to the public.
'Slop Evader' Lets You Surf the Web Like It’s 2022
Artist Tega Brain is fighting the internet’s enshittification by turning back the clock to before ChatGPT existed.
www.404media.co
November 26, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Slop Evader is a tool from artist and researcher Tega Brain that lets you search the web for results exclusively before November 30, 2022—the day that ChatGPT was released to the public.
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
God this is so motivating.
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 1:43 PM
God this is so motivating.
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
Just to note, it took me 6 years of consistently posting to get to $200 on Patreon. And I don't regret it but getting to this point was a lot of work.
November 26, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Just to note, it took me 6 years of consistently posting to get to $200 on Patreon. And I don't regret it but getting to this point was a lot of work.
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
forgot about this old book riot post because we’ve been having these conversations for so long bookriot.com/book-pirates/
Book Pirates Buy More Books, and Other Unintuitive Book Piracy Facts
Contrary to most depictions of book piracy, this extensive survey suggests that book pirates buy more books than the average reader.
bookriot.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:05 AM
forgot about this old book riot post because we’ve been having these conversations for so long bookriot.com/book-pirates/
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
almost every novelist you read who's not from the airport fiction or bestseller sections is working a full on day job, including multi-award winners and absolute legends, or they have a spouse or trust that supports them. virtually across the board. just normalize in your mind that's how it works.
I know we know this, but authors need to get better at talking about how they actually make their money. Stop pretending it's from the books.
November 25, 2025 at 10:35 PM
almost every novelist you read who's not from the airport fiction or bestseller sections is working a full on day job, including multi-award winners and absolute legends, or they have a spouse or trust that supports them. virtually across the board. just normalize in your mind that's how it works.
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
If you have ever thought that my journalism or my first book were net positives for the world, understand that they probably would not exist if I did not have a spouse who paid the mortgage. If I'd been a solo earner/parent, I likely would have left criticism, journalism or book writing long ago.
And the folks who are actually writing full-time generally only got there after years of day jobs, family support, or both.
The point of sharing this is not to demoralize anyone, but to let emerging writers know they're not failing if they can't make a living off writing alone. Almost no one can.
The point of sharing this is not to demoralize anyone, but to let emerging writers know they're not failing if they can't make a living off writing alone. Almost no one can.
almost every novelist you read who's not from the airport fiction or bestseller sections is working a full on day job, including multi-award winners and absolute legends, or they have a spouse or trust that supports them. virtually across the board. just normalize in your mind that's how it works.
November 25, 2025 at 11:40 PM
If you have ever thought that my journalism or my first book were net positives for the world, understand that they probably would not exist if I did not have a spouse who paid the mortgage. If I'd been a solo earner/parent, I likely would have left criticism, journalism or book writing long ago.
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
Maybe it's mAIbelline, maybe it's vaporware? Finished my "Vaporware Luddites" print & it is very extra indeed:
November 25, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Maybe it's mAIbelline, maybe it's vaporware? Finished my "Vaporware Luddites" print & it is very extra indeed:
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
In stead of sending a link to old threads every time someone uses the term "Dark Ages", I decided to put it all in an article.
Why most historians no longer use the biased misnomer “dark ages”.
Read it here:
fakehistoryhunter.net/2025/11/25/w...
or:
fakehistoryhunter.substack.com/p/why-most-h...
Why most historians no longer use the biased misnomer “dark ages”.
Read it here:
fakehistoryhunter.net/2025/11/25/w...
or:
fakehistoryhunter.substack.com/p/why-most-h...
Why most historians no longer use the biased misnomer “dark ages”
This is not YET another article on why calling the early middle ages the dark ages is iffy, it’s a list of sources & references. These days most historians no longer use the term “D…
fakehistoryhunter.net
November 25, 2025 at 5:33 PM
In stead of sending a link to old threads every time someone uses the term "Dark Ages", I decided to put it all in an article.
Why most historians no longer use the biased misnomer “dark ages”.
Read it here:
fakehistoryhunter.net/2025/11/25/w...
or:
fakehistoryhunter.substack.com/p/why-most-h...
Why most historians no longer use the biased misnomer “dark ages”.
Read it here:
fakehistoryhunter.net/2025/11/25/w...
or:
fakehistoryhunter.substack.com/p/why-most-h...
Recently, Blake Gutt and I had the great fortune to sit down with @eocieslik.bsky.social & record a converation for the Whiplash pod with @maxwellkuzma.bsky.social on medieval trans & genderqueer saints--and why they matter today, more than ever
#MedievalSky 🗃️
#MedievalSky 🗃️
Full episode is on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube. Links and full episode description here:
open.substack.com/pub/maxwellk...
open.substack.com/pub/maxwellk...
Medieval Trans and Genderqueer Saints
Queer and trans people are often told that our lives have no place in the Christian past—that we’re modern disruptions, not part of the story. But when you look closely at the Middle Ages, that certai...
open.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Recently, Blake Gutt and I had the great fortune to sit down with @eocieslik.bsky.social & record a converation for the Whiplash pod with @maxwellkuzma.bsky.social on medieval trans & genderqueer saints--and why they matter today, more than ever
#MedievalSky 🗃️
#MedievalSky 🗃️
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
Queer saints aren’t a modern invention, they’ve always been part of our story. And knowing that can save lives. Medieval scholar @aspencerhall.bsky.social breaks it down on our latest episode:
November 25, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Queer saints aren’t a modern invention, they’ve always been part of our story. And knowing that can save lives. Medieval scholar @aspencerhall.bsky.social breaks it down on our latest episode:
I keep forgetting that this is the season for buying all the shit. So if you want to shop queer, shop small, and shop medieval weird then Sticker Church is for you
Postcards! Stickers! Gift wrap, oh my!
👇👇👇
www.sticker.church
Postcards! Stickers! Gift wrap, oh my!
👇👇👇
www.sticker.church
November 25, 2025 at 11:52 AM
I keep forgetting that this is the season for buying all the shit. So if you want to shop queer, shop small, and shop medieval weird then Sticker Church is for you
Postcards! Stickers! Gift wrap, oh my!
👇👇👇
www.sticker.church
Postcards! Stickers! Gift wrap, oh my!
👇👇👇
www.sticker.church
Reposted by Alicia Spencer-Hall
BREAKING: This is huge news, the EU's equivalent of the 🇺🇸Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling.
🇪🇺Court of Justice just ruled all 🇪🇺countries must recognise same-sex marriages granted in other member states.
This effectively legalises gay marriage across 🇪🇺
🇪🇺Court of Justice just ruled all 🇪🇺countries must recognise same-sex marriages granted in other member states.
This effectively legalises gay marriage across 🇪🇺
www.reuters.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:10 AM
BREAKING: This is huge news, the EU's equivalent of the 🇺🇸Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling.
🇪🇺Court of Justice just ruled all 🇪🇺countries must recognise same-sex marriages granted in other member states.
This effectively legalises gay marriage across 🇪🇺
🇪🇺Court of Justice just ruled all 🇪🇺countries must recognise same-sex marriages granted in other member states.
This effectively legalises gay marriage across 🇪🇺