Matthew Cooper
@mcooperk.bsky.social
PhD student in the UK, researching gender, monstrosity and the supernatural in Japanese (and Mexican!) literature. Horror and the Gothic in Japan. Irish, Queer, Hopeful. Kind is cool! EN/ES/日本語 OK
When I was growing up we didn't always have loads of money for books, and a family friend who worked at a book shop would sometimes save these de-covered returns from the rubbish pile to give to me instead. Some of my most cherished reading as a child was from cover-less paperbacks.
a few days left to send in your abstract!
Matthew Cooper@mcooperk.bsky.social · last mo.CfP now open! Come join us at the University of Sheffield on the 29th and 30th October for the Sheffield Gothic conference, 'Dark Enchantments: Gothic Folklore and the Monstrous Fairy-Tale'. Pls send your abstract and bio to darkenchantmentsconference@gmail.com Deadline for submissions 31st July!
✨🎀 NEW CFP: The Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures symposium (supported by the University of Tokyo, Media, Gender, and Sexualities Study Group) is coming back for its third edition!!!✨🎀 📩 Send us your abstract by August 15 at popculturesjapan@gmail.com✨ Share widely!
Call for Papers: Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures Symposium 2026
A platform for critical discussions about gender and Japanese animation, fashion, video games, literature and digital cultures
events.humanitix.com
(yes I've been massively in my head about writing for what feels like months and I finally feel unstuck and I'm very glad)
The cool thing about writing is that you can just... do it? You don't even need anyone's permission. Like every so often I remember that I can have an idea and just.. write about it? And even if it's bad I've still turned a thought into a thing that actually exists in the world. Pretty neat really.
CfP now open! Come join us at the University of Sheffield on the 29th and 30th October for the Sheffield Gothic conference, 'Dark Enchantments: Gothic Folklore and the Monstrous Fairy-Tale'. Pls send your abstract and bio to darkenchantmentsconference@gmail.com Deadline for submissions 31st July!
As it is Pride Month, I thought people might enjoy a list of the many queer themed talks that Romancing the Gothic has run over the years. Whether you want to explore trans rage in Polish cinema, explore the history of gay Gothic pulp, or lean about lesbian vampires, we've got it all! 1/
I had so much fun talking about Japanese b-horror, evil '80s salesmen and the terrifying concept of a public phone box at Horror Studies Now 2026. Very grateful to @horrorstudies.bsky.social for organising and to the many brilliant speakers redefining the ways we think and speak about horror.
returning from beyond the Bluesky grave to share a picture of a pond full of secondhand paperbacks does feel quite on-brand for me
I just saw the new Final Destination movie and honestly it was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me
this 'Labour' government cannot make it any clearer at this point: they will only be happy when every aspect of our bodily autonomy - medical care, gender expression, disability status, reproductive ability, the right to live or die - is fully deferred to the authority of state.
Lee Hurley@hleehurley.com · last yr.This should terrify everybody - "Shabana Mahmood will consider overhauling medical and legal convention that medical treatment must receive the consent of the individual." [Times]
So much of the discourse is focussed on the post-social, post-humanist futurist lure of AI, but for a lot of men I truly believe that their fanatical embrace of generative AI is largely just another indulgence of their puerile psychosexual fantasies of themselves as Lord of some medieval fiefdom.
“I asked ChatGPT-“ okay well I asked the big oak tree at the center of the woods and she said you’re a lazy dork
A Chicago Pope implies the existence of an MLA Pope and APA Pope
Feeling very excited (and only slightly trepidatious) about presenting a small slice of my PhD research for the first time tomorrow. It’s like letting a tiny little bit of my baby loose in the world.
The Taiwanese writer reflects on the importance of queer community, her ascent in Japan’s literary world and her ongoing battles against online harassment.
Li Kotomi: 'I refuse to choose death'
The Taiwanese writer reflects on the importance of queer community, her ascent in Japan’s literary world and her ongoing battles against online harassment.
japantimes.co.jp
I just published a new horror fiction zine! Strange Tales and Modern Legends collects three stories inspired by demonic folklore from Japan. You can download a free digital copy from Itchio, and I've put paper copies on Etsy. 👹 digitalterrarium.itch.io/strange-tales 👹 www.etsy.com/listing/4299...
Honestly? I’m extremely here for this (and not just because I’m currently writing something about Audition)
remember when LGB Alliance were asked in court what charitable works they do and they didn’t know
Alan Woke 2@mrpostsgood.bsky.social · last yr.Remember when LGB Alliance had to admit in court they only had 7% lesbian membership
Very very much looking forward to this! It'll be so nice to (virtually) see some familiar faces presenting and hopefully even more familiar faces attending 😁
Dr. Aurélie Petit 👩🏻💻✨@aurelievpetit.bsky.social · last yr.✨🗣️ Here is the link to register for the Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures symposium Second Edition 💕🌈🏳️⚧️🔥 a free and online event (May 19 to 22) with 20+ participants and three awesome keynotes ✨😎 Program below and at the link here 👉 events.humanitix.com/queer-and-fe...
At this point, the British state is pursuing a policy of forced medical detransition and coerced social detransition for all trans people, regardless of age. Any discussion of what comes next for UK trans people which fails to acknowledge this is either naive or in bad faith, and will go nowhere
“after 25 years, I personally still cannot (will not) read or speak Japanese. This means that the language is Uniquely Wacky and Impenetrable. I’m very smart”
David Leheny@davidleheny.bsky.social · last yr.Many Cultures Borrow. Japan Transforms. Well, Not Me. After All these Years, I'm Still the Self-Satisfied Dud Mansplaining the Country to Everyone Even Though I Neither Speak Nor Read Japanese. By Pico Iyer
TransgenderJapan (TGJP) has released a statement protesting the UK Supreme Court ruling made last week and extending solidarity to all trans people in the UK.
ジェンダー平等の後退を招く英国最高裁判所判決への抗議声明 - TransgenderJapan
4月16日、英国最高裁判所は2010年に英国で成立した"平等法"（以下、平等法2010）において、保護されるべ
tgjp.jp
ruining their own life with Islamophobia British bf / ruining their own life with transphobia British gf
transphobia is a disease and the British media machine is sick to its core
Lee Hurley@hleehurley.com · last yr.I started tracking paper numbers on 16 April 2024. On 14 April 2025, with one day left to complete the year, the total for the Telegraph, Times, Mail, and Guardian/Observer stands at 1,074 articles about trans people, nearly all of which were attacks and barely any with quotes from a trans person
