Abigail Thorn is a lesbian & mtf transgender English YouTuber, actress, and playwright.
She is best known for her YouTube channel Philosophy Tube which she created in 2013 to provide free lessons in philosophy after the 2012 increase in university tuition fees in England. Abigail studied Philosophy and Theology at the University of St. Andrews and graduated with a Scottish Master of Arts in Philosophy in 2015.
In 2019, Abigail aimed to read the Complete Works of Shakespeare in order to raise money for the Samaritans, a UK charity that helps people in emotional distress. Thorn chose the charity because she said that its telephone hotline saved her life when she was considering suicide". She chose Shakespeare based on the idea that "Shakespeare features every human emotion". Thorn initially expected to raise between $2,000 and $5,000, but said on Twitter that the stream had raised £109,447.54 (roughly $130,000) for the charity after PayPal currency conversion fees.
Other places you might recognize Abigail from is her voice acting roles as Nocturne in Baldur Gate’s 3 and Nora in Harmony: The Fall of Reverie. She has also appeared in the British tv shows Ladhood and Django, and has a part as Ensign Eurus in the upcoming Starwars tv show The Acolyte which will be coming out on Disney+ in June.
On 30 January 2021, Thorn came out as a trans woman and then she came out as a lesbian in February 2022. Thorn told Insider that prior to her transition, when male fans would refer to her as a positive role model for masculinity, "it always felt like they were talking about someone else". She described: "I tried to do the man of the 21st century thing ... woke but also compassionate and fun and charming and sexy and all the rest of it ... and it all made me sort of miserable really. But I understand why some of my audience felt that way". She also said that when she came out, she felt external pressure to "perform a certain model of femininity", as a "white, stylish, eloquent, charming, non-threatening woman", saying that "that's kind of what British women are expected to be".
Since coming out, she has spoken at protests in favor of transgender health care and said that transgender liberation is a more important goal than transgender representation among fictional characters or celebrities (Me including her in a lgbtq+ celebrity series is a bit ironic then… In my defense, she’s worth sharing and learning about. Sorry.).
