Michael Ann, sociotechnical femme
@michaelann.bsky.social
Online Communities, Social Tech, Folk Theories, Epistemic Justice, Queer/Trans HCI. Assistant Prof of Computer Science & Comm Studies @ Northeastern University. @nusealab.bsky.social director. Neurodivergent, trans woman, wife girl, femme lesbian, dork.
Pinned
Hi, I'm Michael Ann, and I'm a Computer Science professor and longtime shitposter! I work on improving social technology. The shitposting is below, the science I'm responsible for is on my site:
- Epistemic Justice: wp.me/P2O4Fr-hN
- Folk Theorization: wp.me/P2O4Fr-9m
- Queer HCI: wp.me/P2O4Fr-9s
- Epistemic Justice: wp.me/P2O4Fr-hN
- Folk Theorization: wp.me/P2O4Fr-9m
- Queer HCI: wp.me/P2O4Fr-9s
Reposted by Michael Ann, sociotechnical femme
My wife is the first partner I've had who really viscerally understands that my gender is both Butch and woman not as separate but as expressions of each other
My Butchness is part of my womanhood
And it just sucks how often media portrays being Butch and being a woman as inherently in conflict
My Butchness is part of my womanhood
And it just sucks how often media portrays being Butch and being a woman as inherently in conflict
I *rarely* repost NSFW, but there's so little good representation of butch women these days. IMO this piece nails something about butch identity, esp. the kind of butchness that I see in my own wife. It's beautiful.
If you're a femme and don't 100% "get" butchfemme... stare at this for a bit maybe?
If you're a femme and don't 100% "get" butchfemme... stare at this for a bit maybe?
mcr played an unreleased song at my show so here’s a ro pinup
November 26, 2025 at 6:19 PM
My wife is the first partner I've had who really viscerally understands that my gender is both Butch and woman not as separate but as expressions of each other
My Butchness is part of my womanhood
And it just sucks how often media portrays being Butch and being a woman as inherently in conflict
My Butchness is part of my womanhood
And it just sucks how often media portrays being Butch and being a woman as inherently in conflict
I *rarely* repost NSFW, but there's so little good representation of butch women these days. IMO this piece nails something about butch identity, esp. the kind of butchness that I see in my own wife. It's beautiful.
If you're a femme and don't 100% "get" butchfemme... stare at this for a bit maybe?
If you're a femme and don't 100% "get" butchfemme... stare at this for a bit maybe?
mcr played an unreleased song at my show so here’s a ro pinup
November 26, 2025 at 4:58 PM
I *rarely* repost NSFW, but there's so little good representation of butch women these days. IMO this piece nails something about butch identity, esp. the kind of butchness that I see in my own wife. It's beautiful.
If you're a femme and don't 100% "get" butchfemme... stare at this for a bit maybe?
If you're a femme and don't 100% "get" butchfemme... stare at this for a bit maybe?
I continue to the bummer, I know, but uh.... the ten years thing..... would be excellent training data.... for many horrible AI applications.... so....................... stop?
November 26, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I continue to the bummer, I know, but uh.... the ten years thing..... would be excellent training data.... for many horrible AI applications.... so....................... stop?
Nonessential oils only, please
November 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Nonessential oils only, please
I hope we can find a way to screw things up so the end of the world is snowy and cold, I think that would be better
November 26, 2025 at 3:07 PM
I hope we can find a way to screw things up so the end of the world is snowy and cold, I think that would be better
Reposted by Michael Ann, sociotechnical femme
Reminder that lesbians have a more positive view of trans people than trans people do
November 25, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Reminder that lesbians have a more positive view of trans people than trans people do
As always my album of the year is that one from ten years ago
November 25, 2025 at 3:00 PM
As always my album of the year is that one from ten years ago
Reposted by Michael Ann, sociotechnical femme
there is such immense grief in attempting to share information and resources that support folks in making informed decisions about their health only to be disregarded no matter how the topic is approached. it’s torture watching folks get so sick.
November 25, 2025 at 2:42 PM
there is such immense grief in attempting to share information and resources that support folks in making informed decisions about their health only to be disregarded no matter how the topic is approached. it’s torture watching folks get so sick.
Reposted by Michael Ann, sociotechnical femme
"feminists" who say bullshit like "trans women have internalized misogyny because of ""male socialization""" completely ignore how trans women are far more likely to support bodily autonomy for all women than cis women.
it's not trans women who oppress women, it's the patriarchy and whiteness.
it's not trans women who oppress women, it's the patriarchy and whiteness.
I wonder if anyone has ever actually done a poll of trans women's support for abortion it's got to be like fraudulent numbers
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
Moreover, ICE must be destroyed
November 24, 2025 at 5:10 PM
"feminists" who say bullshit like "trans women have internalized misogyny because of ""male socialization""" completely ignore how trans women are far more likely to support bodily autonomy for all women than cis women.
it's not trans women who oppress women, it's the patriarchy and whiteness.
it's not trans women who oppress women, it's the patriarchy and whiteness.
Reposted by Michael Ann, sociotechnical femme
i'm so sick of existing online coming at the price of being constantly watched, stalked, and harassed without ANY ways to protect myself or my friends.
November 24, 2025 at 10:28 PM
i'm so sick of existing online coming at the price of being constantly watched, stalked, and harassed without ANY ways to protect myself or my friends.
I am proposing this very ambitious thing where we start a development process by listening to users, and then - see if you can follow me on this - we KEEP listening to users throughout the development process.
November 24, 2025 at 6:49 PM
I am proposing this very ambitious thing where we start a development process by listening to users, and then - see if you can follow me on this - we KEEP listening to users throughout the development process.
3D chess but the kind from Star Trek not the one centrists construct through motivated reasoning
November 24, 2025 at 5:50 PM
3D chess but the kind from Star Trek not the one centrists construct through motivated reasoning
Theory: the core thing tying all the characters and spaces of Mad Men together is that they all always smelled fucking TERRIBLE
Haunted.... by the ghost of capitalism past!
And also by the oils, smells, and residue of the first 30 years of this exposed internal concrete building allowing smoking indoors
And also by the oils, smells, and residue of the first 30 years of this exposed internal concrete building allowing smoking indoors
November 24, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Theory: the core thing tying all the characters and spaces of Mad Men together is that they all always smelled fucking TERRIBLE
On the one hand I'm a pretty good scientist.
On the other hand, yeah, probably that thing/system/building is haunted, absolutely.
On the other hand, yeah, probably that thing/system/building is haunted, absolutely.
November 24, 2025 at 5:08 PM
On the one hand I'm a pretty good scientist.
On the other hand, yeah, probably that thing/system/building is haunted, absolutely.
On the other hand, yeah, probably that thing/system/building is haunted, absolutely.
Reposted by Michael Ann, sociotechnical femme
At this point, I close the tab when I realize a link I clicked on is hosted on Substack. It's not worth reading. I certainly wouldn't share it (let alone subscribe/pay for it).
It baffles me that people are leaving readers and money on the table in favor of "discoverability" in...that ecosystem.
It baffles me that people are leaving readers and money on the table in favor of "discoverability" in...that ecosystem.
Let me (again) put this in the simplest possible terms:
If I subscribe or share a link to your substack, I'm supporting you, but I'm also complicit in funding Nazis.
I'd like to read your takes on music/animation/film/comics/culture/art/politics, but that's a hard line for me. Wish it was for you.
If I subscribe or share a link to your substack, I'm supporting you, but I'm also complicit in funding Nazis.
I'd like to read your takes on music/animation/film/comics/culture/art/politics, but that's a hard line for me. Wish it was for you.
November 24, 2025 at 4:58 PM
At this point, I close the tab when I realize a link I clicked on is hosted on Substack. It's not worth reading. I certainly wouldn't share it (let alone subscribe/pay for it).
It baffles me that people are leaving readers and money on the table in favor of "discoverability" in...that ecosystem.
It baffles me that people are leaving readers and money on the table in favor of "discoverability" in...that ecosystem.
Reposted by Michael Ann, sociotechnical femme
TERFs have a bizarre notion that sexually harassing total strangers is feminist.
November 24, 2025 at 1:36 PM
TERFs have a bizarre notion that sexually harassing total strangers is feminist.
Reposted by Michael Ann, sociotechnical femme
It’s blowing my mind that schools, universities, public services would run headlong into this. We spent 15 years documenting black boxes. This is a black box in a black hole!
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
November 23, 2025 at 11:16 PM
It’s blowing my mind that schools, universities, public services would run headlong into this. We spent 15 years documenting black boxes. This is a black box in a black hole!
When I was a little girl I had an imaginary friend. She was a young Klingon warrior. And it was okay for her to get mad about how I was treated, even when it wasn't okay for me, because Klingons are allowed to be mad at dishonorable treatment.
Thinking about her today, and how she was just me.
Thinking about her today, and how she was just me.
November 23, 2025 at 1:46 AM
When I was a little girl I had an imaginary friend. She was a young Klingon warrior. And it was okay for her to get mad about how I was treated, even when it wasn't okay for me, because Klingons are allowed to be mad at dishonorable treatment.
Thinking about her today, and how she was just me.
Thinking about her today, and how she was just me.
Putting it out there: if Destiny 2 reintroduced crafting, I'd come back immediately.
I need to see the Bungie respects players who can't sink 80+ hours a week into the game, and cares about folks who aren't streamers or full time gamers. So, you know, the vast majority of us.
Grindy ass bullshit.
I need to see the Bungie respects players who can't sink 80+ hours a week into the game, and cares about folks who aren't streamers or full time gamers. So, you know, the vast majority of us.
Grindy ass bullshit.
November 22, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Putting it out there: if Destiny 2 reintroduced crafting, I'd come back immediately.
I need to see the Bungie respects players who can't sink 80+ hours a week into the game, and cares about folks who aren't streamers or full time gamers. So, you know, the vast majority of us.
Grindy ass bullshit.
I need to see the Bungie respects players who can't sink 80+ hours a week into the game, and cares about folks who aren't streamers or full time gamers. So, you know, the vast majority of us.
Grindy ass bullshit.
I continue to think that in a world obsessed with thinness, it’s crucial to loudly appreciate, support, and highlight the beauty of fat bodies.
And if it makes skinny folks feel bad… IDK, continue deprograming yourself? Or… consider it’s not about you? Journal a bit? Whatever.
And if it makes skinny folks feel bad… IDK, continue deprograming yourself? Or… consider it’s not about you? Journal a bit? Whatever.
November 22, 2025 at 10:11 PM
I continue to think that in a world obsessed with thinness, it’s crucial to loudly appreciate, support, and highlight the beauty of fat bodies.
And if it makes skinny folks feel bad… IDK, continue deprograming yourself? Or… consider it’s not about you? Journal a bit? Whatever.
And if it makes skinny folks feel bad… IDK, continue deprograming yourself? Or… consider it’s not about you? Journal a bit? Whatever.
I have a negative relationship to some “classics” in the trans memoir genre because I frequently have to debunk the assumptions cis folks make based on them. One in particular bugs me, as it generally acts to reinforce the false notion that the role of a trans lesbian is to inseminate an AFAB person
November 22, 2025 at 9:05 PM
I have a negative relationship to some “classics” in the trans memoir genre because I frequently have to debunk the assumptions cis folks make based on them. One in particular bugs me, as it generally acts to reinforce the false notion that the role of a trans lesbian is to inseminate an AFAB person
I think anyone saying “trust the scientific process” or anything like it about that new NHS study: a) doesn’t know a damn thing about “the scientific process”; b) would have fit right in with the kinds of monsters whose torture experiments prompted us to set up ethics boards in the first place
November 22, 2025 at 7:33 PM
I think anyone saying “trust the scientific process” or anything like it about that new NHS study: a) doesn’t know a damn thing about “the scientific process”; b) would have fit right in with the kinds of monsters whose torture experiments prompted us to set up ethics boards in the first place
A lot of people “do theory” from the position of living lives where they don’t have to interact and live directly with those they’re theorizing, and that creates a nastiness based in a complete lack of epistemic authority and field experience
Theory is stronger when you can’t just write people off
Theory is stronger when you can’t just write people off
November 22, 2025 at 6:59 AM
A lot of people “do theory” from the position of living lives where they don’t have to interact and live directly with those they’re theorizing, and that creates a nastiness based in a complete lack of epistemic authority and field experience
Theory is stronger when you can’t just write people off
Theory is stronger when you can’t just write people off
Reposted by Michael Ann, sociotechnical femme
i would love to know what "risks" people are citing when they say that hrt is "unsafe" without medical supervision. do you consult your doctor when you take advil or tylenol?
it's one thing to see cis people propagate fearmongering lies and disinformation, but trans people should not be doing that!
it's one thing to see cis people propagate fearmongering lies and disinformation, but trans people should not be doing that!
November 20, 2025 at 10:57 PM
i would love to know what "risks" people are citing when they say that hrt is "unsafe" without medical supervision. do you consult your doctor when you take advil or tylenol?
it's one thing to see cis people propagate fearmongering lies and disinformation, but trans people should not be doing that!
it's one thing to see cis people propagate fearmongering lies and disinformation, but trans people should not be doing that!
Mostly I want McBride to decide if she's representing Delaware or representing all trans people, because those are two very different jobs and I'd love to be able to have actual criteria to evaluate her on.
And if it's the second one... yeah, then we get to critique her for her actions.
And if it's the second one... yeah, then we get to critique her for her actions.
November 21, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Mostly I want McBride to decide if she's representing Delaware or representing all trans people, because those are two very different jobs and I'd love to be able to have actual criteria to evaluate her on.
And if it's the second one... yeah, then we get to critique her for her actions.
And if it's the second one... yeah, then we get to critique her for her actions.