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64ordle.au
Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
@64ordle.au
270 followers 320 following 1.9K posts
Wife of @greenkat73.bsky.social. Superannuated queer.
She/her, usually
Living on unceded Wurundjeri country.
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64ordle.au
Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️ @64ordle.au · Nov 16
I changed my handle, as I own the domain ‘64ordle.au’ which is quicker to type than ‘catherine-cowie.bsky.social’.

I hope y’all understand. The current avatar photo was taken on 4 July 2022, and the banner picture more recently at a TMBG concert – a funny thing happened on the way to the forum …
Right to left: me, my brother, and his husband, at the Forum in Melbourne on 11 October 2024. Behind us, a Romanesque statue of Heracles wearing the skin of the Nemean lion(?) and the wall is painted blue and bathed in blue light to simulate the sky around an open amphitheatre. I am making a silly gesture towards the statue’s strategically placed fig leaf. My brother is looking sternly upwards at Herakles, almost in profile. And my brother-in-law has an unreadable expression looking three-quarters towards the phone, which might be, ‘am I related to these people now?’
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
robertdallasgray.com
the plainness with which this is put covers up a sort of powerless rage that you feel as a parent of a trans kid. it’s, to say the least, an alienating experience to see people bicker over the niceties of this or that pension policy when the party and the government has done this to your family
This Labour Government is the worst thing to have ever happened to trans children. They have step by step dismantled every protection that supported my daughter. We have tried so hard to help her grow up with happiness and self-esteem through a childhood in an increasingly transphobic UK. At every point when the Labour Government could have made something better, they have turned around and given her another kick.
October 3, 2026 at 9:47 AM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
debsnoise.bsky.social
It's much worse than Section 28 IMO, although S28 affected a larger population. S28 restricted POSITIVE speech and action, the new guidance mandates NEGATIVE speech and actions
October 3, 2026 at 6:43 AM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
inscrutablejoy.bsky.social
My Halloween Dorley microfic "Just Desserts" is now live on AO3
Just Desserts - a Halloween Hijinks tale - InscrutableJoy - The Sisters of Dorley Series - Alyson Greaves [Archive of Our Own]
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
archiveofourown.org
October 2, 2026 at 1:26 PM
64ordle.au
Cis people, read this post. The UK is NOT a safe place for trans people anymore, and it will only change for the better when cis people stand up for us. I’ve written polemics, I’ve written fiction to highlight how bad things are over there, but it won’t make any difference if cis people don’t help.
October 2, 2026 at 11:31 PM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
fiercemum.bsky.social
My new article, co-authored with @sandraduffy.bsky.social is out today, please read & share:

"Criminalising and eliminating affirmative healthcare: Trans childhood in a moral panic"

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Criminalising and eliminating affirmative healthcare: Trans childhood in a moral panic - Cal Horton, Sandra Duffy, 2026
Trans children in the UK are the targets of an escalating moral panic, centred around access to affirmative adolescent healthcare. Combining moral panic theory ...
journals.sagepub.com
September 29, 2026 at 8:15 AM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
The exclusive short story from July Last year on my Patreon has been released on scribblehub.

A secret, an accident, and a camping trip.

www.scribblehub.com/series/25799...
www.scribblehub.com
September 25, 2026 at 10:28 PM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
esqueer.net
Every day, the stories from the UK read like a dystopian novel.
​Screenshot of a Reddit post from r/transgenderUK titled "Excluded from school for supporting a trans girl." A parent describes their daughter, who has Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (CAIS), choosing to use the boys' restrooms in solidarity with a trans classmate who was forced to do so, resulting in her being excluded from school.
September 17, 2026 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
lillywachowski.bsky.social
Hi!
This is out today and it’s awesome!
And I am proud to be connected to it!
SUPPORT TRANS PEOPLE!!!
WE ARE FUCKING MAGICAL!!!!
What Happened at Aleister Crowley’s Boleskine House? | #WITCHYAF
YouTube video by Etch
youtu.be
September 17, 2026 at 1:37 AM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
kimasher.bsky.social
Happy 70th birthday to Australian television today!

📺🎂🇦🇺

youtu.be/UCRmx6g6mGE?...
ABC'S FIRST TELEVISION BROADCAST, 1956
YouTube video by ABC Education
youtu.be
September 15, 2026 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
goodlawproject.org
Trans rights are under greater attack than ever before. We cannot let politicians claim no one told them.

Our friends at @transsolidarity.bsky.social are hosting a mass lobby TOMORROW from 1 – 5pm, in the Houses of Parliament.

Join us
bit.ly/4i91O8O
Mass Lobby for Trans Equality - 9th September 2026
The law around trans equality is fundamentally broken. Government inaction is hanging trans people and organisations out to dry - with a confusing mess of challenging rules and lawfare.
bit.ly
September 8, 2026 at 9:18 AM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
64ordle.au
The hilarious thing about being queer is that sometimes they do shit like this to you /before you’re even aware that you’re queer/. That’s what happened to 13-y-o prepubescent me.

Oh sorry, ambiguous meaning of hilarious (depends on your point of view)
badambulist.bsky.social alyson “october” greaves @badambulist.bsky.social · May 14
male socialisation is when they hold you down and [cut footage of trans girl’s entire childhood and teen years] and after a while you stop even crying because what would be the point
maysuser.name may @maysuser.name · May 14
the idea that male socialization is something that pre-transition trans women take advantage of and not something enforced upon us is utterly laughable
May 28, 2026 at 10:59 AM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
natacha.bsky.social
“It is very appalling and sometimes quite frightening to see how trans-exclusionary feminists have allied with rightwing attacks on gender”

Today is exactly 5 years since @theguardian.com censored the words of non-binary academic, Judith Butler.

These are the censored words.
Still valid now.
It is very appalling and sometimes quite frightening to see how trans-exclusionary feminists have allied with rightwing attacks on gender. The anti-gender ideology movement is not opposing a specific account of gender, but seeking to eradicate "gender" as a concept or discourse, a field of study, an approach to social power. Sometimes they claim that "sex" alone has scientific standing, but other times they appeal to divine mandates for masculine domination and difference. They don't seem to mind contradicting themselves. The Terfs (trans exclusionary radical feminists) and the so-called gender critical writers have also rejected the important work in feminist philosophy of science showing how culture and nature interact (such as Karen Barad, Donna Haraway, EM Hammonds or Anne Fausto-Sterling) in favor of a regressive and spurious form of biological essentialism. So they will not be part of the coalition that seeks to fight the anti-gender movement. The anti-gender ideology is one of the dominant strains of fascism in our times. So the Terfs will not be part of the contemporary struggle against fascism, one that requires a coalition guided by struggles against racism, nationalism, xenophobia and carceral violence, one that is mindful of the high rates of femicide throughout the world, which include high rates of attacks on trans and genderqueer people. The anti-gender movement circulates a spectre of "gender" as a force of destruction, but they never actually read any works in gender studies. Quick and fearful conclusions take the place of considered judgments. Yes, some work on gender is difficult and not everyone can read it, so we have to do better in reaching a broader public. As important as it is, however, to make complex concepts available to a popular audience, it is equally important to encourage intellectual inquiry as part of public life. Unfortunately, we are living in anti-intellectual times, and neo-fascism is becoming more normalized.
September 7, 2026 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
daisygeekytgirl.northsky.social
I forgot to share this update yesterday but the trans-inclusive travel advisory has been changed. (1/2)
A map of the countries by safety. Red places (Do not travel) are places you should avoid. Orange places (Reconsider your need to travel) are places you should try to avoid unless you really have to go. Yellow places (Exercise a high degree of caution) are probably fine but keep an eye out. Green places (Exercise normal precautions) are relatively safe but do be careful since nowhere is risk free. Some countries have regional differences. They are represented with black lines except Canada since its provinces can be separated on the map. A map of the countries and their regions by safety. Red places (Do not travel) are places you should avoid. Orange places (Reconsider your need to travel) are places you should try to avoid unless you really have to go. Yellow places (Exercise a high degree of caution) are probably fine but keep an eye out. Green places (Exercise normal precautions) are relatively safe but do be careful since nowhere is risk free. Some countries have regional differences.
September 6, 2026 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
pollypw.bsky.social
Dear BBC News,

If you'd like to actually fulfill your mandate to inform the public of the reasons people take small boats please feel free to invite me onto any of your shows. I'm a world expert in this with an award winning book on the topic.

Or you can just have a man stood shouting in the sea.
September 3, 2026 at 9:55 AM
64ordle.au
This is appalling, as though Auntie had decided to berate the survivors from the SIEV-X.

Australia‘s ‘stop the boats’ anti-immigration racism has begotten so many illegitimate children.

Abolish the BBC.
marcusjdl.bsky.social M a r c u s 🏳️‍🌈🇧🇧 @marcusjdl.bsky.social · Sep 3
Due to the unique way the BBC is funded by you we can have a man stand in the sea wearing a shirt harassing desperate people fleeing Afghanistan
September 3, 2026 at 10:59 AM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
nataliereed84.bsky.social
I feel like there’s something deeply, deeply tragic that Terry Gilliam, the Brazil / Munchausen / Don Quixote guy, who spent his career celebrating the triumph of human imagination and possibility over the “realistic”, became a TERF in his old age. Eventually just switched sides to join forces…
September 3, 2026 at 1:04 AM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
geekonaleash.co.uk
Today, as many of us will sadly be aware, the Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 guidance came into force. This guidance will not keep children safe. I have written to the Minister for Education, telling her that she is fully responsible for the harm this guidance will cause these poor kids.
"Dear Secretary of State, Today was my daughter’s first day at high school. For her, it was everything a first day of high school should be: excitement, nerves, new teachers, new friends and the beginning of a new chapter. She walked through those school gates expecting to belong there, and came home with the joy of a child who has started something new. This is how it should be. But if she was trans this experience would be very different. Thousands of trans children will have experienced something very different today. As Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 comes into force, an estimated 3,500 trans children starting secondary school today have instead been left facing the possibility of being outed, segregated or made to feel that their very existence is a problem. While other children were worrying about whether they would make friends or find their classrooms, some trans children were worrying about whether the adults responsible for their safety would expose them, exclude them or treat them as fundamentally different from their peers. You have done this in the name of safeguarding, but there is nothing safe about making vulnerable children afraid of the very institutions that are supposed to protect them. There is nothing protective about policies that can make a child feel that being honest about who they are could put them at risk. And there is nothing responsible about ignoring the foreseeable consequences because it is politically easier to appease a small but extraordinarily noisy anti-trans movement than to stand up for the children you were elected to serve. You chose them. You chose their campaigners, their rhetoric and their relentless pressure over the wellbeing of the children affected by your decisions. You were warned. Parents warned you. Teachers warned you. Children's organisations warned you. Trans people warned you. For years, you have been given every opportunity to stop and consider where this road leads..." "There are an estimated 50,000 trans children in our schools...They deserve to walk through their school gates excited about seeing their friends, learning something new and finding their place in the world. Instead, your Government has made thousands of them wonder whether they are welcome in the first place... When you deliberately create an environment of fear, stigma, forced disclosure and exclusion around a group of already vulnerable young people, you cannot simply shrug your shoulders when those children suffer. When some of them become isolated, when some stop asking adults for help, when some become so overwhelmed by the hostility surrounding them that they lose hope, you cannot claim that nobody could have seen it coming... And that means you cannot later hide behind the comforting fiction that you were simply following the evidence, or that you had no alternative, or that somebody else was responsible. You are the Government. You have the power to decide what kind of schools our children grow up in, and today you have chosen to make those schools less safe for trans children. If a trans child is pushed further into despair because of policies your Government knowingly chose to implement, remember this moment. Remember the warnings. Remember the parents who told you what you were doing. Remember that you had the power to protect these children and chose political expediency instead. Their lives are being put on the line. And if the worst happens, the responsibility cannot simply be passed around until nobody is accountable. Their blood will be on your hands. ...Every child deserves to feel that way. Including trans children. You are the Secretary of State for Education. Your responsibility is not to the loudest campaigners, the easiest headlines or the politics of the moment. It is to the children standing at those school gates. Protect them. All of them. Before it is too late.'
September 2, 2026 at 9:22 PM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
rhyskamjones.bsky.social
The S4C public-service Welsh-language news managed to get through a whole interview feature and article on the same trans person denied healthcare without mentioning "biological sex" or a 29-year-old's lost breastfeeding opportunities, btw

The BBC specifically is making a choice here
lottelydia.bsky.social Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · Sep 1
"would mean, for example, that Jewell would not be able to breastfeed in the future" this person is TWENTY NINE YEARS OLD and the BBC is scaremongering about their choice not to breastfeed a baby that they do not have and have given no indication of ever wanting to have
elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · Sep 1
I can’t put into words the fury this reporting fills me with.

How more indignity must trans people be spoken be subjected to by our national broadcaster?
September 2, 2026 at 7:16 AM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
paulconstant.com
Yes. This isn’t about separating art from the artist. This is about the fact that if you watch or give any attention to this show (including piracy) you are putting money into a bigotry machine. You’re literally funding hate.
theverge.com The Verge @theverge.com · Sep 2
As a new Harry Potter trailer makes the rounds, it bears repeating that there’s no way to watch this show without supporting J.K. Rowling’s bigotry and the structural violence she’s inflicting on the trans community.
There is no ethical consumption of HBO’s Harry Potter series
You can’t without supporting Rowling’s transphobic bigotry.
www.theverge.com
September 2, 2026 at 4:16 PM
64ordle.au
So I suppose the story I wrote last month, where some inventive impersonation happens to obtain a prescription for testosterone, wasn’t that far off the mark.

Fuck the NHS.

archiveofourown.org/collections/...
September 3, 2026 at 3:26 AM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
64ordle.au
The new ‘Keep Children Safe In Education’ guidance that effectively requires transphobic segregation of trans students in UK schools, takes effect tomorrow, 1 September 2026.

The UK government has stripped trans youth of medical care, and now they’re going to make their lives a misery in education.
64ordle.au Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️ @64ordle.au · Jul 21
/First Day./

A transgender girl’s first day back at an ordinary London high school, a little over a month from now, once new guidance and policies come into effect for the 2026/27 academic year.

Please note the content warnings if that is needful for you.

www.patreon.com/catherinecow...
First Day | Catherine Cowie
Synopsis: a transgender girl’s first day back at an ordinary London high school, a little over a month from now, once new guidance and polic
www.patreon.com
August 31, 2026 at 12:50 PM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
64ordle.au
I don’t think a lot of cis people in the UK realise just how horrifying this repressive environment is going to be for trans children and youth.

I wrote a few stories to flesh out how bad it could possibly be, but I feel sure it will be worse in practice.

archiveofourown.org/collections/...
September 1, 2026 at 1:41 PM
64ordle.au
It seems both cowardly and exploitative of the Bigoted Bullies Corporation (BBC) to relaunch The Infinite Monkey Cage like so, without explaining why Robin Ince *isn’t* involved.

Boycott the BBC.
robinince.bsky.social Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · Sep 2
I just saw the press release of The Infinite Monkey Cage and kept thinking, “wasn’t there a presenter before all this who named it and greatly shaped the show?” , and then, after much head scratching, I remembered, “it was me!”
Patreon.com/robinince
Media Centre E Menu BBC Radio 4's acclaimed science and comedy podcast The Infinite Monkey Cage returns with guest presenters Adam Rutherford and Jessica Fostekew Broadcaster, author and science journalist Adam Rutherford and award-winning comedian Jessica Fostekew are stepping in as guest presenters Published: 01:30 pm, 6 August 2026 THE INFINITE MONKEY CAGE Since 2009, The Infinite Monkey Cage has brought together leading scientists, comedians and curious minds for its trademark witty, irreverent discussions on the world according to science. Now the Cage is expanding, with broadcaster, author and science journalist Adam Rutherford and award-winning comedian Jessica Fostekew stepping in as guest presenters for a new series. With Professor Brian Cox away on tour, the next instalment will see Adam and Jessica explore everything from human hibernation to nothingness, leaves, The First Britons and beyond. They will be joined by a range of academics and comedians. Adam Rutherford says: "Physicists have had their throttle hold on Radio 4 for too long now. It's time for some proper science. Is physics even a real science? I plan to run a tight ship, more monkeys, less monkeying. Infinitely." Jessica Fostekew says: "What an honour to be joining the hosting team of The Infinite Monkey Cage. I'm a huge nerd so being at the helm of a show as brainy Professor Brian Cox says: "I'm sure that Monkey Cage is in safe hands with Jessica Fostekew and Ernest Rutherford." The Infinite Monkey Cage has become one of BBC Radio 4's most successful and enduring flagship science programmes. Celebrated for making complex scientific ideas accessible, engaging and funny, the programme continues to bring experts and audiences together to share the joy of curiosity and discovery. The new series of The Infinite Monkey Cage will launch on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds in the Autumn. EG
September 3, 2026 at 1:13 AM
Reposted by Catherine Cowie 🏳️‍⚧️
tomel.bsky.social
Man who spent decades making a point of being cruel to people shocked to find the cruelty is the point.
bencollins.bsky.social Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · Sep 1
No fucking shit buddy. This is what we were trying to tell you.
Milo Yiannopoulos: "I didn't really understand the physical reality of how institutionalized the brutality is in America. The manner in which they arrest you, they put you in manacles, everybody is arrested like an MS 13 gang member. It was physically degrading. It was frightening. I don't think I've ever been frightened like that before. I was weeping like an old woman for an hour. I wouldn't wish it on anyone."
September 1, 2026 at 10:56 PM
64ordle.au
But, but, but…

That opinion piece in The Atlantic *told me* that “Sorry America: Donald Trump Is Too Funny To Be a Fascist”, so how are we to reconcile this genocidal piece of eliminationist rhetoric except as pretending to be a lil bit fascist for “fun” on Fox.

/sarcasm

Actually not fun. At all.
kaseygifford.bsky.social Kasey Gifford @kaseygifford.bsky.social · Sep 1
Someday soon hes going to be over and trans folk will continue to exist and, hopefully, thrive, for as long as there are humans on this planet.
September 1, 2026 at 11:01 PM