New level of administrative hell unlocked: I need a verification code from my verification to log into my account on the verification app in order to get the verification code. How does this end?!
Dr Anna Nelson
@annanelson95.bsky.social
Health Law & Fringe Festivals 📚 Interests: childbirth, doulas, birthing/maternity care, obstetric violence, ectogestation, and gendered experiences of healthcare & consent. Research Associate: King's College London. She / her. 🏳️🌈
Like a gut punch, this quietly spoken sentence from Lubaina Himid who is representing the UK at the Venice Biennale www.ft.com/content/2a58...
![Himid has lived in Britain for more than seven decades, grown up here, been educated here, built a life and a career here
- and yet the question of what "here" actually means, of who gets to belong and who is merely tolerated, has never left her work. "We do a thing, Magda and I, if we're booking a table on the phone, I will always do it," says Himid, whose RP-ish English has little trace of either London or Lancashire. "But when we go to a place we don't know, I always want Magda [who was born in Poland and is white] to go first. She signifies one thing visually and I signify another thing audibly. Together, we are incredibly belonging and unbelonging."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yhbp52uzo4vsn5hlkbrfvxoq/bafkreieix4etf3ysmqh3q7byirpq77phrqnu46njn466psddyk46qhi46i)
Got so wound up by an Instagram advert that I wrote a paper about it. I have a limited free access link if anyone is interested but paywalled: utppublishing.com/doi/10.3138/...
“Your comfort matters”: Analyzing the Visual and Textual Rhetoric of an Instagram Labiaplasty Advert | International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics
Advertising on social media is an important and pervasive form of modern discourse. Through description and critical analysis, this piece unpacks the textual and image-based messages inscribed within and through an Instagram advert for labiaplasty. I argue that the advert is both grounded in—and perpetuates—neoliberal ideals of self-improvement and “self-care” and patriarchal notions of neat and controlled “feminine” bodies. Although this article focuses on a single advert, this is emblematic of a larger societal issue and serves therefore to underscore the importance of equipping young people with media literacy tools.
utppublishing.com
I’ve enjoyed thinking with (and at times being challenged by) @quillkukla.bsky.social’s work on consent for while, so it was a pleasure to review their new book for @flsjournal.bsky.social: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Quill R. Kukla: Sex Beyond “Yes”: Pleasure and Agency for Everyone - Feminist Legal Studies
Feminist Legal Studies -
link.springer.com
We have now started the next stage of our project: focus groups with (1) birth doulas, (2) healthcare professionals involved with birth and (3) people who have used or considered using a doula during birth in the past 5 years. Please do share with networks! @annanelson95.bsky.social
Latest blog post from our birth doula project, with update on activities so far and next steps @annanelson95.bsky.social There is still time to submit an expression of interest for focus groups so please do share birthdoulas.mmu.ac.uk/2026/02/17/p...
Project Update - Birth doulas
As the project continues apace, we wanted to take a moment and reflect on the research so far and on our next steps. Our Research So Far In September we launched two surveys, one for […]
birthdoulas.mmu.ac.uk
Very excited to be heading down to London for the launch of the ‘Beyond Misinformation?’ project today! Also excited to have two uninterrupted hours to dig into this much anticipated book on the journey 📚
Sharing our surveys for birth doulas and for healthcare professionals (both broadly defined) for a project with @annanelson95.bsky.social on birth doulas and medical law. Please share widely!
Following from our MLR workshop last year, @zainamahmoud.bsky.social and I are organising a workshop on embodiment & colonialism in November! We are grateful to the @slsauk.bsky.social for supporting this event and look forward to what we hope will be a great discussion.
People often express concerns that birth doulas are entirely unregulated, but the reality is a little more nuanced - as @bevclough.bsky.social & I unpack here: birthdoulas.mmu.ac.uk/2025/09/22/b...
Birth Doulas and Regulation: A Socio-Legal Approach - Birth doulas
One of the claims which is often made by those expressing their concerns about birth doulas is that doulas are ‘unregulated’. The purpose of this post is not to provide […]
birthdoulas.mmu.ac.uk
On the theme of countering invisibility, I'm glad to support Black Maternal Mental Health Week UK 2025, led by The Motherhood Group (@TheMotherhoodGroup on Instagram/LinkedIn/TikTok). It’s time to #MakeBlackMothersVisible. #BlackMaternalMentalHealthWeek #BMMHW25 More: themotherhoodgroup.org/bmmhw25/
The Canadian player who is smashing this #RWC25 semi-final in full festival glitter is my new idol ✨
Now more people are back this seems like a good time to give another shout out about this NEW edited collection on consent in reproductive care, including chapters from @drsamhalliday.bsky.social @annanelson95.bsky.social @zainamahmoud.bsky.social @emmacave.bsky.social and more
People had abortions today and it didn’t affect their local politicians’ lives in any way!
"Obstetrics is one of the most expensive services provided by hospitals, especially in rural areas, which often see a larger portion of Medicaid patients. With financial hits looming, hospitals are primed to close maternity wards first, and rural areas are particularly vulnerable." @19thnews.org
Pregnant people in rural parts of the country are running out of places to give birth
Some doctors worry that massive cuts to Medicaid will leave pregnant people needing to drive hundreds of miles for prenatal care and delivery services.
19thnews.org
Despite my best efforts, we are back here… if anyone is looking for a socio-legal / medical law researcher do let me know! Particularly interested in all things #childbirth, #obstetricviolence #reproductivetechnology and #consent but absolutely not fussy at this stage 📚
Oh boy do I have *thoughts* on academic job hunting, institutional processes / practices, (lack of) care and candidate wellbeing.
Women's sport and social activism are closely intertwined in many way, which makes the silence about Palestine at the #WEURO2025 all the louder.
Ms. Magazine@msmagazine.com · last yr.Women’s sports, especially these sorts of sports moments, don’t just entertain. They draw us into larger social movements.
All Our Relations are doing brilliant work directly supporting and feeding families in Gaza: www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-...
HONESTLY supporting the Lionesses is starting to feel like supporting Scotland. My body can’t handle it.
An important framing here: “This isn’t just a story about a single miscarriage of justice, it’s also a story about how science can shape & reshape the law, and about all the ways that our ideas of women, of mothers, of motherhood shape the law too - often in ways that are invisible, but intractable”
Rachel Sylvester@rachelsylvester.bsky.social · last yr.I’ve spent the last three months investigating how genomics can prevent and overturn miscarriages of justice - particularly in the case of mothers accused of murder. The Lab Detective, new four part podcast series from @theobserveruk.bsky.social released today. Do listen lnk.to/thelabdetect...
Today, Five X More has published a comprehensive survey of 1,000+ Black and mixed heritage mothers, who were pregnant between 2021 and 2025. Their findings are worrying and shine a light on why Black mothers remain 3x more likely to die in pregnancy & childbirth. 1/6 🧵
“The issue doesn’t get the attention it deserves.” O'Neill's Jennifer Li talks to CRE Daily about the housing crisis threatening US cities ahead of the FIFA World Cup. www.credaily.com/briefs/housi...
Housing Crisis Threatens US Cities Ahead of 2026 World Cup
The 2026 World Cup may worsen the housing crisis as cities brace for short-term rentals, displacement, and long-term rent hikes.
credaily.com
New article! Embodied Experiences of Trans Pregnancy. Published in the journal Body & Society, this article is part of a special issue on Pregnant Bodies and Embodied Pregnancy. We draw on interviews with trans men and non-binary people to explore the lived, bodily complexities of trans pregnancy.
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journals.sagepub.com
New article: ✨Relational dynamite: Engagements with kinship at the interface of donor conception & DNA testing Petra Nordqvist, Leah Gilman, Caroline Redhead, Marie Fox, Nicky Hudson @fimaccallum.bsky.social @lucyfrith.bsky.social from #ConnecteDNA www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Relational dynamite: Engagements with kinship at the interface of donor conception and DNA testing
This article investigates how Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing (DTCGT) affects people impacted by donor conception by bringing empirical data on how…
sciencedirect.com
I'm excited for the day when 'the algorithm' can tell the difference between 'I've looked at this Uni course page repeatedly because I'm considering applying to study' AND 'I've painstakingly poured over this page to prepare for an interview/application for a job from which I've since been rejected'
This advert has stayed with me and the piece has grown legs - none of which are legal or bioethical so I’m not sure where to try and publish it! I’d describe it as a (feminist) close reading of the advert and its visual / textual rhetoric. Any suggestions about where might take it? (2000-3000 words)
Dr Anna Nelson@annanelson95.bsky.social · last yr.Has instagram ever served you an advert so egregious that you immediately lost three hours of your afternoon writing about it? On a totally connected note, does anyone have a suggestion for where might publish a piece that interrogates the framing of labiaplasty in an ad send from neoliberal hell?!