Sam Rutherford (he/him)

On Parenthood and Genocide A new mother and scholar of forced displacement writes about Israel's mass murder of Palestinian children in Gaza.

This is the 2nd anniversary of the start of a genocide that made Gaza the most dangerous place on earth for children— that has raised a mirror to the rot at the core of our world.

Never has it been clearer that none of us are free until Palestine is free.

inthesetimes.com/article/gaza...

Two years of genocide.

Yes, though also worth noting that there are a number of trans investigative journalists who have reported on this. It is widely known among experts and in community - not least because of how many of us have experienced it first-hand.

I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below.

It's especially for journalists covering this story!

Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.

UC Berkeley aligns with fascism, not Jewish safety To stand against genocide and to stand in solidarity with Palestine is not just a human imperative — it is a core Jewish value. UC Berkeley’s actions are a weak

"As anti-Zionist Jews, we experience antisemitism at the hands of Zionists; our members have been called “fake Jews,” “self-hating Jews” and “kapos"...our faith is disregarded and our perspectives are excluded from campus because we affirm Palestinian human rights."

www.dailycal.org/opinion/op-e...

Peacehaven: Fire at East Sussex mosque probed as 'hate crime' Video appears to show two people in balaclavas at the mosque before a large blaze spreads.

Men in balaclavas set fire to a mosque in East Sussex last night. It's only appearing on the BBC's local coverage, rather than its main national headlines, despite coming just a week after the (also under-reported) firebombing of an asylum hotel in London last week
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Freedom of information request uncovers gender critical bias within EHRC A new investigation has revealed significant lobbying efforts by gender critical groups.

A new investigation has revealed significant lobbying efforts by gender critical groups.

https://www.wearequeeraf.com/freedom-of-information-request-uncovers-gender-critical-bias-within-ehrc/

I’ve just added my voice to this consultation saying I don’t want a situation in which staff and fellow swimmers might scrutinise or judge my body, or anyone else’s, when I use the ponds. The current policy of trans inclusion works perfectly well. You can fill out the consultation linked below.

This from @krheyam.bsky.social is excellent - & useful for those of us who teach Kit’s work!

Josephine Quinn · At the Institut du monde arabe: ‘Trésors sauvés de Gaza’ This show has excited controversy: should we even be talking about damage to antiquities in the context of so much...

‘The message is clear: 20th-century colonialism created the conditions for a 21st-century tragedy.’

@josephinequinn.bsky.social on an exhibition of Gazan antiquities: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

I spoke to a Venezuelan woman who was arrested in this raid and later released with her 4yo son. She said agents broke down their door, pointed guns at them and made sexualized remarks about Venezuelan women. When she returned to her apartment it was boarded up and all her possessions were gone.

So delighted to be tuning into this this afternoon!

'For the sins we have committed': Reimagining Yom Kippur liturgy in a post-Oct. 7 world Hovering over this 5786 holiday season is a sense of moral and spiritual crisis that calls out for liturgical innovation.

forward.com/opinion/7726...

A new FOI release shows how the DHSC gave anti-trans lobby groups like Sex Matters & LGB Alliance direct access to shape policy on trans healthcare. These groups push for restrictions that leave trans people waiting, suffering & at risk of suicide.

tacc.org.uk/2025/10/03/i...

Stopping the Flotilla, for now, does not stop the work of peace, the struggle for justice, the humanitarian surge which is coming from the people of the world. It does not stop the hope or the love for the life of the Palestinian People that can overcome the worst of human crimes. It does not stop.

A crackdown will not keep us safe. Rhetoric from the government about the importance of keeping Jews safe when no such consideration is given to other communities turns us into scapegoats and fuels conspiracy theories.

Selma Dabbagh | On the Flotilla In 2010, I worked as a lawyer for the British passengers on a flotilla trying to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza through...

‘Democratically elected governments are enabling a genocide by supplying weapons to the perpetrators. This could stop tomorrow. More and more people globally are recognising that, and doing something about it.’

@selmadabbagh.bsky.social on the Global Sumud flotilla: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/oc...

Shoutout to @kenglish.bsky.social for the extremely good logo!!

Logo with the words 'GLINTS: Glasgow Lab for Intersex, Non-binary and Trans Studies' in coral text on a purple background.

We're starting a new 'ArtsLab' (research network) in trans studies at Glasgow! It's very exciting and I hope that in time we can become a real centre for research in this field. Find out more - including details of our upcoming launch event - on our website: www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/art...

A stall featuring books and zines written by co-directors and members of GLINTS. Also features our own zine beautifully crafted by Kirstie Ken. The table also has a trans flag on.

If you are a @uofglasgow.bsky.social staff or student interested in intersex, non-binary and trans studies join us for our GLINTS launch event later this month on October 21st: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/glints-lau... also enjoy this image of some our publications (books and zines!) from our stall.

6 staff and students all working across intersex, non-binary & trans studies hang out behind a stall of our publications with a trans flag. We smile and look vaguely professional.

A poster board with our excellent GLINTS logo to promote the Glasgow Lab for Intersex Non-binary and Trans Studies (GLINTS)

Yesterday I had a fab time meeting folk from @uofglasgow.bsky.social ArtsLabs & talking about our new Glasgow Lab for Intersex Non-binary & Trans Studies co-organised with colleagues inc @uofgsociology.bsky.social. Thanks to @echomikeromeo.bsky.social @kenglish.bsky.social @notrightruth.bsky.social

Omg!

Oh congratulations, this is so exciting! Can’t wait!

In this lecture, Catherine Clarke will re-visit the question of what makes history radical, asking what kind of radical history we need in our public life and contemporary context today. In particular, she’ll explore ways in which popular history – trade publishing for a wide public audience – has the capacity to be radical, drawing on experiences and examples from her own new book A History of England in 25 Poems (Penguin Allen Lane, September 2025). Catherine’s lecture will move towards a manifesto for how research-led, scholarship-driven popular history can and does make necessary, vital public interventions – from opening inclusive conversations and confronting the rise of AI, to modelling radical empathy and imagination.

I'm hugely honoured and very excited to be giving this year's Historical Research #Lecture at @ihr.bsky.social, on 'Can popular #history be radical? Historical research and writing for the #public'. Tuesday 4 November, all welcome. More info in AltText. Book here: www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

Contemporary British History The Contemporary British History seminar seeks to explore all aspects the recent past of the British Isles from a historical point of view.

Here's the full seminar programme for autumn 2025. Seminars are either hybrid or online only so plenty of opportunities for those not local to London to join us.

Please sign up using the links for any papers you'd like to come to.

www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Early last semester, Droubi said, students began approaching Cheyfitz with complaints that a graduate student in the “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance” class appeared to be recording them, possibly to “gather their names and comments” and intimidate them. “We believe that a student came to the course for the sole reason of surveilling and potentially harming students in the class,” Droubi said. “That ended up proving itself to be true because multiple students came forward and shared their concerns with Professor Cheyfitz.” Cheyfitz said one Palestinian student quit the class after telling him she felt upset and frightened. Current Issue Cover of October 2025 Issue October 2025 Issue According to Cheyfitz, the graduate student often steered conversations away from the assigned readings—which at that point mostly focused on definitions of genocide and international law on Indigenous rights—to defend Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza and argue with others in the class. “He clearly had not done the readings,” Cheyfitz said. “It was disruptive.” Cheyfitz said he met with the graduate student in late January and spoke to him about concerns from his classmates. During the conversation, he asked the graduate student to drop the course, and by the next class, he did, Cheyfitz said. The graduate student, Oren Renard, a PhD candidate in computer science whose identity was confirmed by other students in the class, previously served in Israel’s elite military surveillance agency, Unit 8200, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Cornell is cancelling a distinguished professor's classes on Gaza and suspending him because of the complaints of a student who previously served in Israel's military surveillance agency and was literally recording the comments of other students in class and deliberately derailing discussion.

P. 3 of Eve Sedgwick’s essay “Queer and Now,” where she talks about reading as a space for forging queer identity

No idea if the students will connect with this, but moved all over again by teaching it today:

Northwestern students blocked from enrollment after refusing controversial antisemitism training Students say mandatory training video is biased in favor of Israel and could inflame campus tensions over Gaza

Northwestern is banning over 300 students for refusing to watch an extremist indoctrination video that demonizes anti-Zionists, including Jews, as Nazis and Klansmen.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Just an extraordinarily grotesque story about a government agency acting in bad faith solely for the purpose of performative cruelty.

Teaching Gender: The British University and the Rise of Heterosexuality, 1860–1939. By Samuel Rutherford The unintended consequences of historical action inform Samuel Rutherford’s narrative in Teaching Gender: The British University and the Rise of Heterosexu

The first review of Teaching Gender is here! academic.oup.com/tcbh/article... I'm grateful to David Loner for engaging in such detail with my work.