Questioning Gender

This article is for allies and trans people and most important people who are or are willing to question their gender.  Questioning gender is something everyone should do critically, with an awareness of how we are affected by the systems around us.

The devaluation of femininity, toxic masculinity, and restrictive gender roles hurt everyone.  Some of us find we can challenge these categories from within, and some of us find that the categories just don’t fit.

I think it’s so important to recognize that assigning people cis by default, and placing the onus on those of us who are not, makes it more difficult for us to exist as ourselves.

Ah! Acronyms! Problems with talking about endless acronyms

Content: discussion of terminology for consensual practices, identities, and orientations regarding gender and sexuality.  Specifically looking at criticisms of common terms and suggesting some solutions.

Do you ever look at variants of LGBT and think that’s not enough?  And then get really overwhelmed with how many options there are?

Some people just resort to QUILTBAG and I’ve even been part of an organization that just called itself the Endless Acronym.  When it comes to organizations, we may want to include allies too, but how do we define a group without excluding anyone who belongs, and without including people who may care about the cause, but who aren’t part of the identity group and don’t experience the related discrimination?

Teaching Empathy and the Danger of Simulations

content: the limitations of simulating a marginalized experience, how this negatively affects marginalized people, and some suggestions about how to teach and learn without perpetuating these problems.

I know some people are pretty excited about various ways to simulate disabilities (and sometimes other marginalized experiences). I’m not.

Any simulation of any disability is incredibly limited and problematic because it is experienced by someone who does not have that condition.

I edited a workshop for a group that I worked for to replace a simulation for these reasons. The original workshop asked participants to put on oven mitts and attempt to tie their shoes. This simulation is incredibly problematic for reasons that can be generalized to others.

Starting Points

content: reflecting on valuing people in social justice spaces and how this informs my guidelines for participation.

Everyone wants to feel like “the good guy”, but to genuinely commit yourself to working towards social justice, you can’t try to be the hero.

There are people who devote their entire lives, their career and personal time to improving the world. They can make great contributions, and still be oppressive. They might have a certain area that they don’t understand as well, and make misguided comments. They might be strong advocates for one group with a great prejudice against another. They may not have been exposed to a particular idea, or been born before a particular movement.

What does it mean to give someone celebrity status in social justice spaces?  It means that they get support and benefits that they are trying to reap for their entire community.  I want to benefit my communities, and recognition and access would be amazing, but I never want to do it at the cost of others like me.  I am very fortunate to be able to have and (I hope) maintain this platform.