ding

@not.dingherself.com

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philosopher @yale.edu, previously @barnard.edu; words @signsjournal.org; projects @being.transinphilosophy.org & @philosophy.lgbt; genders they/she/my love; more on https://not.dingherself.com

screenshot of two ads: Boot testosterone as low as $149/mo; lease menopause symptoms HRT for $78/mo
seagull #1: standing on top of a white tent with the sun setting in the background
Screenshot of my blog under construction along with the source html code I'm writing. There are 3 posts teased in the blog at the moment: Making Blogs Chic Again, or: Belated Hello World Might a post-apocalyptic Internet finally deliver the promises of the long ’50s? AY 2025 Coffee in Review When the clock struck midnight on NYE, the last thing I expected was to be blown away by beans from a Santa Cruz roastery. What has society become? At Long Last, Introducing Noodles/麵/面/Miàn/🍜 Somehow The Matrix convinced my students that “reality is in the eye of the beholder.” Luckily even then you can trust a Sichuanese girlie how to noodle.
group photo at dinner!
ding blowing out candles on birthday cakes!
Email from the Barnard Benefits Team with the subject “Transition from Calm and Headspace (via Cigna)”
Screenshot of the start of my essay, “The Cisgender Tipping Point”: “Cis people puzzle me. Please don’t get me wrong—my feminism most definitely includes cis people. I believe that justice requires us to treat cis people’s sincere gender avowals as if they are legitimate. I defend cis people’s freedom to prefer names and pronouns that reflect their identification with their genital status even though this regularly weirds out trans people. I have no problem with cis people peeing where they like even though this poses real safety risks to trans people in general and trans women of color in particular. Hell, I can even get on board with the inclusion of cis athletes even though they dominate every single Olympic sport out there thanks to what I can only speculate is a biological advantage. Whatever allyship demands of me I’m here for it. “No, when I say that cis people are so puzzling, I’m talking about them as a philosophical problem: What gives cis people the genders they claim to have? What do cis people mean that they are cis? What is it like to have a cisgender identity? Why do so many teens identify as cis now? Are cissexuals products of some sort of gender ideology—cissexualism, let’s say? Is cissexualism a diagnosable mental disorder? Do we want it to be? Are cis people just whining for attention because they are jealous of us? Could they be a counterexample to our metaphysics of gender? …
A page from a satirical newspaper edited by Barnard/Columbia students. The headlines read: “Barnard College to Sell ‘Entry Swipes’ Packages to Enter Campus” and “Columbia to House Overenrolled Freshmen in Tents on Butler Lawns”
Photo of a page from Reverse Tomboy: “I just don’t see why a trans woman has to be more feminine than the average woman. It would be a little insulting to cis women wouldn’t it, if all trans women went around done up like Don Draper’s wives.” “Yes, I suppose so.” “But you are being careful, right? No more walking at night in empty parks?” her father chimed in. “Yes Dad, I promise I’m well aware I’m a trans woman.” Naomi said happily enough. “I think any father would worry about his daughter.” Joy flooded through Naomi, as it did each of the three times she has heard her father refer to her as his daughter. She could think of nothing better from him. Suddenly, the dress felt a little more comfortable. “Thank you.” It was a simple thing to say, but so is ‘daughter’. Besides, Naomi was grinning.
Screenshot of part of a job ad posted on the website of Newnham College, University of Cambridge: “Following the Supreme Court’s decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025], when we refer to ‘women’ we mean those assigned female at birth. . . . The successful candidate will be asked to produce identification documentation (e.g. passport or full birth certificate). It is expected that this documentation will be in the female gender.”
Cover of Auto Anon’s Reverse Tomboy: A Novel, photographed against the background of a backyard.
screenshot of ding's dissertation defense on zoom, with lots of friends attending; i look like i'm pondering super hard but in fact not really.
selfie of Ding and Willow at Dolores Park just ahead of the march. I'm wearing a green baseball cap backwards, a black shirt under a dark red corduroy jacket, and a silver metal chain necklace.
This is a selfie to show off my new haircut—shaved sides, eyebrow length hair on top, parted in the middle! It's very cute and dykecore.
This is a photo of Ding holding their article (alt text in the post quoted below) in the spring 2025 issue of the Signs journal. There are cute trees and clear blue sky in the background. It all looks really joyful!
a photo of marsha p. johnson at christopher park just across from stonewall inn. people have surrounded the photo with flowers in what seem to be trans flag colors and text that reads “marsha p. johnson is here”
This is a video of Ding punching the punch machine. I hit a 005 level, which according to the machine is “baby swing” lol
Screenshot of the first page of my article, "Pregnant Persons as a Gender Category: A Trans Feminist Analysis of Pregnancy Discrimination," which just appeared in the Spring 2025 issues of Signs. The start of the introduction reads: "Since 1974, the United States Supreme Court has recognized a constitutionally significant distinction between discrimination against women and discrimination against pregnant persons—for all the wrong reasons, and reaching all the wrong results. Upholding the State of California’s refusal to cover uncomplicated pregnancies under its otherwise comprehensive workers’ short-term disability insurance program, the court held in Geduldig v. Aiello that differential treatment based on pregnancy is not in and of itself a form of sex discrimination within the meaning of American gender equality law. Writing for a 6–3 majority, Justice Potter Stewart explained that this is because pregnancy as a “physical condition” is itself neutral on sex and fails to carve the social world at the gender seam between women and men. “The lack of identity between the excluded disability [i.e., pregnancy] and gender as such under this insurance program becomes clear upon the most cursory analysis,” Justice Stewart claimed. “The program divides potential recipients into two groups—pregnant women and nonpregnant persons. While the first group is exclusively female, the second includes members of both sexes. . . .”
screenshot of some text messages: Unidentified texter: “A friend of mine literally just showed me a copy of your euthyphro paper and it looks anonymized. She hasn't actually read it. She's not a philosopher and got confused by your saying ‘metaphysically appealing.’ She has no clue what that means. She just read the sentence and I don't think she understands any of it tbh” Me: “well, so much for the hope that this paper might get read by regular trans people because it's short”
This is a photo of the backcover of the most recent issue of the Signs journal showing the articles forthcoming in the next issue; it’s taken outside and you can see some cute pink prickly pear cacti in the background. There is a pen pointing to my forthcoming paper, “Pregnant Persons as a Gender Category: A Trans Feminist Analysis of Pregnancy Discrimination.”
it’s photo time! here is me and sofia weiss goitiandia. i’m wearing a light green sundress with yellow floral patterns, and sofia a black top. it’s sunny, we are outside on a restaurant patio, we are both smiling, and you can see some saguaros in the background. we are so cute!
Photo of the door to a men's bathroom, covered in red tapes that read "danger"
Photo of a graffito featuring a blindfolded angel surrounded by the texts "Grand Central" and "Boys Lie," against a background of flowering saguaro and prickly pear cacti.
It’s the first page of the proofs! My name can be seen in the top-right corner. The paper's title is “Pregnant Persons as a Gender Category: A Trans Feminist Analysis of Pregnancy Discrimination.” It will be appearing in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, volume 50, number 3 (Spring 2025 issue). The beginning of the first paragraph can also be seen: “Since 1974, the United States Supreme Court has recognized a constitutionally significant distinction between discrimination against women and discrimination against pregnant persons—for all the wrong reasons, and reaching all the wrong results. Upholding the State of California’s refusal to cover uncomplicated pregnancies under its otherwise comprehensive short-term disability insurance program, the Court held in Geduldig v. Aiello that differential treatment based on pregnancy is not in and of itself a form of sex discrimination within the meaning of American gender equality law. Writing for a 6–3 majority, Justice Potter Stewart explained that this is because pregnancy as a ‘physical condition’ is itself neutral on sex and fails to carve the social world at the gender seam between women and men. ‘The lack of identity between the excluded disability [i.e., pregnancy] and gender as such under this insurance program becomes clear upon the most cursory analysis,’ Justice Stewart claimed. ‘The program divides potential recipients into two groups—pregnant women and nonpregnant persons. While the first group is exclusively female, the second includes members of both sexes.’”
It's the FemPhilAZ 2025 conference program Day 1! Zoom participants: Please note that we do not observe Daylight Saving Time here at the University of Arizona. All times listed are in Mountain Standard Time (MST or America/Phoenix), which is not the same as Mountain Time (MT) or Mountain Daylight Time (MDT)! Friday, February 7, 2025 8:45–9:15 Breakfast 9:15–10:15 “Sexual Racism as Perception” Yixuan Wu (University of Michigan) Comments: Ella LaRose (University of Arizona) Chair: Isabel Herburger (Rutgers University) 10:30–11:30 “A Beauvoirian Analysis of Ageism: Children & the Elderly as ‘Other’ ” Adelle Goldenberg (Cornell University) Comments: Urna Chakrabarty (Cornell University) Chair: Luke Golemon (University of Arizona) 11:30–12:30 In-Person/Zoom Lunch-Together (feat. The FemPhilAZ Playlist) We will have lunch together while listening to a conference playlist! 12:30–1:30 “Swimming Upstream Together: Catharine MacKinnon’s Alternative to Consent” Yana Stoykova (Nuffield College, Oxford) Comments: Ding (University of Arizona) Chair: Sofia Weiss Goitiandia (University of California, San Francisco) 1:45–2:45 “You Lied to Me: Transphobia, Intimacy, and Intimate Deception” Rose Fonth (Rutgers University) Comments: Kexuan Liu (Duke University) Chair: Giannis Vassilopoulos (Georgia State University) 3:00–5:00 Keynote Address/Philosophy Colloquium Rowan Bell (Assistant Professor of Philosophy & SXGN, University of Guelph) Chair: Ding (University of Arizona) 5:45–7:15 Dinner at La Indita (722 N Stone Ave) [TBC]
A photo of three books from LittlePuss Press on a foldable wooden table: Log Off by Katherine Cross, Girlfriends by Emily Zhou, and Faltas by Cecilia Gentili. On top of the books are two stickers from LittlePuss Press, featuring their LittlePuss cat. One reads "LittlePuss," and the other "Books Booze Belles Balls."
Screenshot of a selection of the lyric from "Pink Pony Club" by Chappell Roan: [Chorus] Pink Pony Club, I'm gonna keep on dancing at the Pink Pony Club, I'm gonna keep on dancing down in West Hollywood, I'm gonna keep on dancing at the Pink Pony Club, Pink Pony Club [Verse 2] I'm up and jaws are on the floor Lovers in the bathroom and a line outside the door Black lights and a mirrored disco ball Every night's another reason why I left it all
Screenshot of the explanatory text under the name box on an job application: “Provide your preferred or lived name [i.e., a self-chosen personal and/or professional name], which may be the same or different from your legal name. Please note that you may be required to provide a legal name at a different time.”
Photo of a poem titled “T4T” by torrin a. greathouse There is no known root for how the word cum came to mean what it does. But imagine if you could stitch a lineage back to the Latin *cum* meaning *to step*. Hence: movement. Hence: a destination. The body moving, perhaps dancing, toward a kind of end. Vanishing point of flesh—trembling tongue -fucked apocalyptic. *Apocalypsis*. A veil shifted & what awaits beneath. A rose by any other given name could still draw blood if it wanted. But shit, turns out there’s no emoji for a rubber dick sat heavy on the tongue. Go figure. I can still feel it twitch. Hold you in my mouth spit slick apocrypha. Sweet faggot magic the way we speak organs out of their Christian names—lick cock to clit, bruise breast to flattened chest, bury knuckles inside a redrafted anatomy. Sucked finger shudder. Lust -hot alchemy. Holy, how even the air becomes *wind* when moving. Holy, how you fuck me by my one unburied name. & when I tell you how beautiful you are, you riot-laughter, kiss me & call me a *dyke*. Your smile arrives, day-bright, unburdens the slur of all its blood.
Photo of the cover of a book titled “Philosophy Gone Wild: Environmental Ethics,” by Holmes Rolston, III. The cover is mostly brown, displaying a giant painting of nature/mountains.
photo of two doodles on a piece of paper that kind of look like me? the person has short-ish hair, wears glasses, and wears what looks like t-shirt.
selfie: I have a new long pixie/short bob/boy band style haircut. It's really cute.
Screenshot of course catalog entry for PHIL 130 - Sex, Gender, and Love: An Introduction to Social Philosophy: What is sex? Is it a mere accident that the English term "sex" refers to both an activity and a system of categorization? How does sex relate to gender and love, and how might the experiences of queer and trans people both complicate and illuminate these connections? What counts as having sex in the first place, and what counts as having good sex? How should we think about consent, desire, objectification, and sexualization in connection to sexual autonomy and gender equality? This course surveys these central questions about sex, gender, and love, and in so doing, aims to introduce students to the burgeoning interdisciplinary field of social philosophy.
Screenshot: “Congratulations on passing your comps! Advanced to doctoral candidacy-$35 Candidacy Fees Billed to Bursar's Account”
A photo of coin-sized ice balls on the ground