First things first, you’re probably wondering about my name. Well, I was introduced to the early Tank Girl comics in Deadline in the late 1980s/early 1990s and fell in love with her energy, anarchy, and enthusiasm. When I moved to the States in the late 1990s, Tank became my nickname. (I am back in the UK now.) Nearly two decades and a PhD later, I realised Tank had become my real name, and so Dr Tank Green was born (via a Deed Poll). If you want to know more, I can only recommend the early Tank Girl comics and will trash talk the abominable movie until the cows come home.
Other things currently of relevance:
I identify as a woman and have been an avowed feminist since I was five years old, yet put me in a dress and I feel like I’m in drag. Don’t even get me started on high heels or make-up. Also, there’s no such thing as a male feminist, so you can miss me with that.
I’m deeply concerned by Big Data and their tracking and surveillance capabilities. I love the internet, I love technology, but I think the general public needs a better understanding of the ethics and power of Big Data and its implications for our privacy. I talk a bit more about this here and here. I was once convinced that the shifts of power away from the State and into the hands of big tech meant that we would witness the collapse of the State as we know it in my life time. I now think that the State and big tech are joining forces to create an uber-surveillance state.
I am also mortified by people’s response to the pandemic. The ease with which people have accepted narratives with nary a question unsettles me. The willingness to discriminate, the censorship, the irrationality and lack of critical thinking, and the curtailment of human rights such as our right to bodily integrity terrifies me. I feel as though humanity has collectively lost its mind. I write more about it here.
But what do I love? More than anything I enjoy: learning, reading, writing, moving, making clothes, hand weaving, drawing, challenging, dreaming of a revolution, swearing, and listening to the purring of cats. Oh, and moaning.