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. 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 am currently doing an Advanced Diploma in Personal Training at YMCA Fit so I can be a Personal Trainer as well as an Official Brainiac, because sitting down all day is for the birds. Live in Hackney or the surrounding areas (Haringey, Islington, etc.)? Let me help you be stronger, more flexible, and happier in your heart and mind. Trust me, moving works: it fixes way more things than your body.
I’m deeply concerned by the rise of 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’ve become convinced the slow shifts of power away from the State and into the hands of (primarily Big Data) private industries means we’ll witness the collapse of the State as we know it in my life time (yippees – I hope). I talk a bit more about this here and here.
I am also a member of London Renters Union and would encourage every private renter in London to join. We need to shift the debate so that housing is seen as homes, not investments or income. And by homes, I mean: safety, psychological and emotional security, and shelter. It is not possible to flourish as a human being when you are paying 50% of your wages in rent for often substandard and insecure housing; or, when you know any complaint or attempt to assert your rights as a tenant could leave you homeless. We deserve better: let’s come together and demand it.
More than anything I enjoy: learning, moving, making clothes, writing, challenging, dreaming of a revolution, and listening to the purring of cats.