Ruth Pearce

@notrightruth

Activist, punk musician, event promoter, feminist academic. Illegal lesbian.

379 Siguiendo6496 Seguidores1471 Publicaciones

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education music politics

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Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Jul 12

Faded Alchemy are a really exciting new Leeds group with catchy rocking tunes and loads of energy. They don't have any recordings yet that I'm away of, but you can keep up with them via their instagram: www.instagram.com/fadedalchemy...

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Jul 12

Saturday 25 July: join us for good times in Leeds! I'm running *and* playing this gig in Wharf Chambers, fundraising for a Black trans kid to access care. Live music from wormboys (noise-pop), Faded Alchemy (alt-rock), Lucas Assagba (genrefluid singer-songwriter), and bughotel (folky rock n'roll).

Gig poster, featuring a drawing of a black male torso and swirly patterns pink, blue, and ivory. Text reads as follows. A gig for Isaac: trans youth healthcare fundraiser. Wormboys, Faded Alchemy, Lucas Assagba, Bug hotel. Plus! Vegan bake sale. Saturday 25 July, Wharf Chambers, Leeds. 7:30pm doors. £5 to £10 in advance, £15 on the day. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Jul 6

I've created a new instagram page for Rolling Head Promotions, through which I run gigs! We've got info on our upcoming fundraiser in Leeds on 25 July, plus I'm gradually writing a potted history of my event organising. We'll also be announcing a Glasgow show soon! www.instagram.com/p/DaIsCuPjVMN/

Screenshot of an instagram post. The photo is a side-by-side comparison of Ruth in 2006 and 2026, with a sheep skull and a sign with Rolling Head Promotions written on it. Text reads as follows.

Hey there! I'm @notrightruth and I've been running gigs with my pals for just over 20 years! Follow this page to keep up with cool punk, metal, indie, and folk happenings in Glasgow and Leeds 😊

Rolling Head Promotions started out in Bath in 2005. It moved with me to Warwickshire and then to Yorkshire - and now I'm rebooting it from my current home in Scotland.

We originally promoted gigs through Myspace, before shifting to a Facebook page in 2009. While I've run the odd event since 2020, I haven't really used that page since the pandemic hit. Now if you want people to come to show, Instagram has become the place to be.

My honest belief is that every one of these social media platforms is a parasitic curse upon our creative scenes. I'm fully aware that Insta is also owned by Meta, and I do hope it follows Facebook soon in beginning to die a slow, horrible death. But not everyone looks at the posters I love to put up over town, so here I am.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Jul 3

many of my friends

Photo of a shop window displaying black sesame and blackberry tarts, with a label reading "goth tart"

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Jun 30

Today I am at the opening day of the World Community Development Conference at the University of Glasgow! I may experiment a bit with liveskeeting - curious how people feel about this on Bluesky!

Photo of hundreds of people in a lecture theatre.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· May 22

Past users of the women's toilets had a lot to say.

Photo of a toilet wall, featuring graffiti written in many different hands. Messages include: ACAB! Dykes for trans rights. Alder supports trans rights. Or fuck off!!

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· May 21

In Sheffield, ready to rock! Oh, and I've been using the women's toilets. Obviously.

Photo of a stage set up, with instruments and a trans flag.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· May 17

I’m returning to Yorkshire next week, for a gig in Sheffield on Thursday 21 May! My band wormboys will be playing alongside Shrub at Alder – so if nothing else, you’ll leave the event very well-fertilised.

Poster for gig at Alder in Sheffield on 21 May, at 7:30pm.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· May 12

As if I wasn't already excited enough for the Shh...Diam! movie, I just realised I was there when this photo was taken for the movie poster?! This was 2018 at the 1 in 12 in Bradford. The band plus filmmaker Yihwen Chen stayed with me in Leeds the previous night, after a gig I ran at Temple of Boom.

Film poster, featuring three people posing dramatically in an allyway, and the title Queer as Punk: a film by Yihwen Chen.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· May 10

Exciting news - I will doing a spoken word set at the next Oestrogenesis! Thursday 14 May, at Stereo, Glasgow, with an amazing line-up of other drag and spoken word performers, and DJs. Get down early for a good time and a good cause!

Poster for featuring a colourful drawing of a cocktail. Text reads as follows. Oestrogenesis - hot doll summer. Hosted by Medea. Performers - Fair Verona, Nat Raha, Ruth Pearce, DJs Husane and Arcadio. Raising funds for Brooklyn's visa fees. Doors 6:30pm. Party starts 7pm. Stereo, 14th May.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· May 1

Do the robots provide any benefits? Not benefits to your friend and confidant Uber Technologies Incorporated – who can relieve themselves of giving jobs to gig economy workers, many of whom are immigrants – but benefits to you: the empty-stomached dinner-thirsty customer. The customer who needs to wait longer for cold food because your calzone is being snail-ferried across town by the Mars Rover.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Apr 29

The Office for Students claim - that inclusion policies infringe on academic freedom - has the whole issue back to front. The people actually being silenced are oppressed staff and students. I addressed this a few years back in a short piece for Nature Human Behaviour: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Trans and pro-trans scholars and students do face a threat to our academic freedom: from those who subject us to hate speech or actual violence. If we are afraid to speak out, or have to adapt research to minimize harassment, we are not truly free to undertake our studies.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Apr 22

Suffragist poster from the early 20th century, showing a large cat eating a woman. Text reads as follows. The Cat and Mouse Act - passed by the liberal government. The liberal cat - electors vote against him! Keep the liberal out!

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Apr 6

Screenshot from the video game Majora's Mask, showing a moon with a sinister face coming closer.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Mar 25

From Instagram - today the Dyke Project shut down NHS England HQ to protest the politically motivated ban on trans youth healthcare.

Photo of protest. A security guard stands on a banner reading Silence = Death, HRT saves lives. A protester lying on the floor holds up a placard that says, 48% of trans people have attempted suicide.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Mar 21

oh yeah, and

Screenshot from youtube credits. Credits read as follows. With the voices of Matthew Schwarz, Tom Scott, Caelan Conrad, November Kelly. Script consultations Sasha Baker, Julia Serano, Ruth Pearce. On the left is an image of Abigail Thorne wearing a dramatic paper dress.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Mar 17

Photo of 16 women from a range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, standing together with awards in a library.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Mar 9

Okay, who just donated £3?? Because this IS quite funny, and you SHOULD be proud of yourself.

Screenshot from crowdfunder titled, Help a Black trans kid afford care. £3,333 of a target £8000 has been raised.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Mar 3

DJ setlist and review: There Will Be Blood! @ Stereo, Glasgow

I’m currently in the middle of a busy fortnight for work-related travel (more on that soon!) But last night, I managed to make the most of a brief return to Glasgow.

The occasion was There Will Be Blood! a fundraiser at Stereo for the brilliant group Trans Healthcare Access Glasgow. They are helping to provide free laboratory testing for bloods. This is really important for trans people on HRT who are increasingly denied monitoring by GPs. If you couldn’t make it but would still like to donate, you can do so here.

The organisers put together a fantastic lineup and there was a great turnout – especially for a Monday night. It was exciting to see so much talent from within our community, and loads of people come out to support both the cause and a pretty eclectic collection of artists. And exciting for me to be a part of it, performing a DJ set as ROGD.

The night kicked off with a luscious set from singer-songwriter and drag artist Sersi. He’s probably the first person I’ve ever seen sport a Britney mic at a DIY gig, which was very cool but sadly couldn’t quite capture the sheer dynamic range of his vocals on the night. At the same time, it enabled him to completely own the stage for a series of ballads that were by turns beautiful and strange. Sersi was ably supported by a pal with a laptop, and Johanna Kirkpatrick (of trad folk bands Chanterelle and Madderam) looking dead dykey on acoustic guitar.

Next to take the stage were Deep Filff. I hadn’t had a chance to look them up before the gig so had zero idea what to expect, although they did arrive with an absolutely enormous inflatable swan. Deep Filff turned out to be a two piece, with Nadia Fiffsky playing bass and belting out epic sun-baked vocals, while Jenny Tingle methodically destroyed the drumkit. As purveyors of some of the dirtiest psychedelic grunge-punk riffs I think I’ve ever heard, they were extremely well-named. It was engrossing, hypnotic stuff. Eventually the swan came out and bounced around the audience, most likely representing a serious hazard to some of the important-looking wires and glitterball hanging from the ceiling.

Local heroes comfort never fail to disappoint, and this evening they truly tore up the stage as the final live act of the evening. The sibling duo have a truly unique sound, with Natalie’s staccato vocals punctuating a skitterish soundscape of totally artificial electronic sounds, underpinned by Sean’s assertive drumming. It was impossible not to dance. My favourite moments came whenever the band’s weird, abrasive noise would suddenly gave way to a transcendentally beautiful synth melody for a minute or two, before we all dived collectively back into the tumult.

Finally, following a quick raffle, I was up! The gig was due to end at a remarkably civilised 10pm, so I had a tight half hour DJ set.

I've thought a lot since returning to DJing that the landscape of queer and feminist music and activism has completely changed. Back in the day, I used to do quite a few "Women's Voices" DJ sets, especially for feminist events such as Reclaim The Night afterparties, and the woman-only Women's Aid and NUS Women's Conference discos. The idea was that every song played (sometimes for sets of up to four or five hours) had a woman on lead vocals, and ideally women also playing instruments. Finn Mackay always used to refer to me as "feministDJRuthPearce" (all in one breath!) which was never failed to be delightful.

Unfortunately, many of the people who were only too happy to join the dancefloor for those events are now either actively backing trans-exclusionary politics and the grossest forms of transmisogyny, or otherwise failing to speak out again them. (Junior equalities minister Liv Bailey, I'm looking at you - remember when you hoped I'd DJ your wedding one day?!) It's odd to reflect on just how normal it was for trans women to be involved in woman-only politics spaces in the UK, given the extremity of the post-2017 moral panic.

Anyway, I digress.

Another thing that has happened over the last decade is the enormous influx of excellent trans artists to both underground and mainstream music scenes. We live in an age where I listened to jasmine.4.t for the first time because my mum told me she'd done a good interview with Craig Charles on BBC 6 Music(!) So, while I'd like to do more Women's Voices DJ sets in the future, for the first time it felt realistic to put together a Trans Voices set, with a mixture of tunes fronted by trans women and men, and/or non-binary, genderqueer, or genderfluid people, that I could reasonably expect a large number of people in the audience to be familiar with.

So, here's what I played:

Shopping – The Hype
My Chemical Romance – Teenagers
100 gecs – mememe
SOPHIE – Immaterial
underscores – Locals (Girls Like Us) [with gabby start]
Kae Tempest – Move
Ada Rook – BURY YOURSELF
Janelle Monáe – Make Me Feel
jasmine.4.t – Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation
G.L.O.S.S. – Outlaw Stomp
Against Me! – True Trans Soul Rebel

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Feb 19

Out now! Issue 60.4 of the Community Development Journal, featuring a special section on "Radical pedagogies for territorial contestations", with lots of exciting articles centred on Latin American community work and activism. academic.oup.com/cdj/issue/60/4

cover of the community development journal

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Feb 13

Australian scholars Dr Bridgette-Desjardins and Taryn Hepburn explore international impacts of Cass in "The Gender Agenda's Agenda". They say Cass draws on "transphobic pop-cultural discourses", showing "a direct line between public discourse and restrictions on trans rights" doi.org/10.1111/soin...

The Cass Review and its impact is significant for two reasons. First, it demonstrates that transphobic pop-cultural discourses have real material effects. Transphobic discourses became increasingly publicly popular, which led to increased criticism of current care models for trans youth. Heightened public scrutiny led to the Review's commissioning and the subsequent banning of puberty blockers. There is a direct line between public discourse and restrictions on trans rights.

Second, the Review's impacts are not limited to the United Kingdom. Medical practitioners in the United States are debating how the Review's findings should or should not be implemented (Knopf 2024). In Australia, 17 psychiatrists sent an open letter to The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists advocating that the College “acknowledge the recommendations of the Cass Review as relevant to Australian paediatric gender services” and “call for health ministers to establish an independent body to investigate Australian paediatric gender services and implement relevant recommendations from the Cass Review” (Spencer et al. 2024). Though the College rejected their members' call, it is clear that the sentiments leading to the formation of the Cass Review and the increased skepticism regarding gender-affirming healthcare for youth that has resulted from the Review's reports are not isolated.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Feb 13

Dr Rachel Hubbard, an expert on social work at the University of the West of England, has published "Weaponizing Safeguarding in the Age of Cass: English Social Work and Paternalism in practice with trans children and young people and their families": doi.org/10.1332/2049...

The first sentence of the introduction to the final report (Cass Review, 2024) states “this Review is not about defining what it means to be trans, nor is it about undermining the validity of trans identities, challenging the right of people to express themselves, or rolling back on people’s rights to healthcare” (p. 12). In reality, the Review achieved all of these
things and more. Outcomes of Cass in the UK include the closure of GIDS and its replacement with a regionally based CYP gender service based in pediatric, rather than mental health, care. Resources developed for training healthcare professionals who may be involved in these
services talk about trans CYP in the language of the Review, as “young people who are gender questioning or distressed” (NHS England/MindEd, 2025, n. pag.) rather than potentially trans.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Feb 13

Happy Friday 13th! To celebrate the success of the UK establishment's continued "clarity" on trans exclusion, I am delighted to share a major update to my blog post "What's wrong with the Cass Review?" The biggest change is an entirely new section on harms caused. ruthpearce.net/2024/04/16/w...

Bernie Sanders meme, with text as follows: I am once again updating my mega post about how awful the Cass Review is.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Feb 9

Given Sarwar has already shown enormous contempt for the safety of women and girls, I suspect his sudden, poorly-planned turn on Starmer is less to do with Mandelson and Epstein, and more to do with Scottish Labour's disastrous prospects for the 2026 Holyrood elections...

Graph showing opinion polling over time for the constituency vote for the next Scottish election. The graph depicts Labour support falling dramatically following the 2024 general election. As of February 2026, the SNP clearly lead, with Reform slightly beating Labour for second place. The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and Greens are all hovering around joint fourth place on approximately 10% each.

Graph showing opinion polling over time for the regional vote for the next Scottish election. The graph depicts Labour support falling dramatically following the 2024 general election. As of February 2026, the SNP clearly lead, with Reform slightly beating Labour for second place. The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and Greens are all hovering around joint fourth place on approximately 10% each.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Feb 3

I'm glad Dr Todd and Prof Callard remind us right at the start of their article that the Sullivan Review was commissioned as part of the Conservative Party's "Kicking Woke Ideology Out of Science" programme. A strong and stable grounding for policy-based evidence-making.

Badly-designed poster featuring the slogans "Long term decisions for a brighter future", and "Kicking woke ideology out of science". There are also some swirling red, white, and blue ribbons, and some jars with colourful liquids.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Jan 25

Three key things that need to happen for trans children, in Scotland and beyond: 1) Meaningfully consult with young trans people. Take them seriously. 2) Draw on knowledge that already exists about trans children's experiences and needs. 3) Acknowledge the negative influence of eliminationists.

So with all that in mind, what has to change to ensure that the rights of trans children, whether that be under the UNCRC or simply to exist at all, are truly respected in Scotland?

“I would say three things. Number one would be to genuinely consult with young trans people and ask what they want and need. They deserve real and meaningful consultation.

“Number two is that there is a huge amount of knowledge that already exists, both on young trans people's experiences and on how to consult with young people. Draw on the knowledge that already exists.

“And number three is to acknowledge that there is a trans-eliminationist movement. Acknowledge that there is an active attempt to stop anyone from doing the first two things.

“There's an active attempt to stop any anyone taking seriously what young trans people have to say about their own lives, and an active attempt to stop any accessing of existing knowledge, and that comes from a place of prejudice.

“One of your starting points has to be acknowledging that that exists.”

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Jan 25

There is still much that can be done to support trans children's UNCRC rights! We argue: 'We need to hear two statements significantly more often across Scotland: “what does this mean for trans children in Scotland?” and “is this compliant with our obligations to trans children under the CRC?”.'

Putting Child Rights into Action.
Institutions and actors that engage with or impact on children across Scotland
have a responsibility to consider the rights of trans children. This includes a
need explicitly to recognise trans children as right holders under the crc, and
to document potential crc rights violations in impact assessments of existing
or proposed policy and practice.
We need to hear two statements significantly more often across Scotland:
“what does this mean for trans children in Scotland?” and “is this compliant
with our obligations to trans children under the crc?”. The first question
explicitly recognises the existence of trans children; the second explicitly
recognises their rights under the crc. Both questions can only be responded
to through close and trustworthy collaboration with trans children, centring
their voices and perspectives, and ensuring such voices and perspectives
meaningfully shape policy and practice.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Jan 25

Dr Horton and I show how trans children's UN Convention rights are ignored in terms of education, healthcare, social transition, conversion practices, and gender recognition. Most importantly, young people's groups such as Trans Kids Deserve Better are ignored in policy discussions entirely.

Importantly, all of these submissions pre-dated more recent rights violations, including the 2024 criminalisation of GNrH agonist puberty blockers, the 2025 Supreme Court ruling on legal gender recognition, and subsequent ehrc efforts to segregate trans children at school. In response to recent events, the advocacy and direct action group, Trans Kids Deserve Better Scotland, was founded in 2024. This group is run by and for trans people under the age of 18. In public speeches and social media statements, Trans Kids Deserve Better Scotland have highlighted human rights violations in healthcare and legislation, including the puberty blocker ban and responses to the For Women Scotland Ltd vs. The Scottish Ministers verdict from public bodies. In particular, they have observed how trans children’s perspectives are widely ignored, ‘by shutting trans bodies and voices out of every room that matters [and] pretending we don’t exist’ (Trans Kids Deserve Better, 2025).

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Jan 25

New research on trans children and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC): With the UNCRC recently incorporated into Scottish law, @fiercemum.bsky.social and I teamed up to discuss the urgent actions needed to protect trans children's rights. brill.com/view/journal...

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Rights of Trans Children in Scotland. In: The International Journal of Children's Rights. Authors: Cal Horton and Ruth Pearce.

Abstract.

In January 2024, Scotland incorporated the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) into domestic law, strengthening commitments to child rights. Trans children are vulnerable to a wide range of rights violations in systems and institutions impacted by ignorance, pathologisation or prejudice. This article outlines trans children’s rights under the CRC, drawing attention to implications for organisations working with trans children across Scotland and beyond. It applies CRC rights to key policy arenas, including Scotland’s failed gender recognition reform, trans children’s healthcare, and segregation policies introduced in 2025, highlighting areas of recognised or potential rights violations. The article then examines the processes that can enable rights-based policy and practice for trans children. This can include monitoring and recording trans children’s rights violations, and efforts to enhance child participation and child accountability. The article emphasises the importance of targeted action to uphold trans children’s rights under the crc. Institutions need to critically appraise current approaches, protecting trans children’s rights and ensuring compatibility with CRC obligations.

Keywords: children; transgender; lgbt; youth; rights; crc; participation; accountability; ethics.

Ruth Pearce@notrightruth· Jan 11

I'm playing this super cool gig at The Attic in Leeds with wormboys next week (Friday 16 January). Come for the stonking line-up, stick around to help raise money for trans-inclusive feminist football!