The fact that sexual violence is often experienced along racism for many people of color is almost always completely glossed over in discussions about sexual assault and rape. It’s something that is mentioned when discussing sexual violence — everyone nods their head in agreement. During these conversations, most white people contribute to this head-nodding circle while looking … [Read more...]
A Lot To Be Mad About: Unapologetic Black Anger Can Change the World for the Better
This article first appeared on AlterNet and is reprinted by permission. In it's republishing we hope to empower and discuss many valid emotions in the aftermath regarding the latest news on the "mistrial" of the police murder of Walter Scott. While Scott's specific case is not discussed, the anger, upset and processing is a place we find ourselves. At the Socialism 2015 … [Read more...]
Asian Eyes: Westernized Beauty Standards and Asian Identity
When I set forth to write something on Westernized beauty standards and Asian identity, my ideas kept circling back to the one topic I was the most hesitant to write about. For myriads of reasons, that topic is a complex issue. It has defined my life in deep-rooted ways. It has a multifaceted history in the world, as well as in my own life. It has always been my greatest source … [Read more...]
Perfection is Hazardous and Scars are Inevitable So I Might As Well Learn to Love Them
Even though I know no body is perfect — unblemished — it’s very difficult for me to come to terms with acquiring a new scar. The moment I start to feel the physical pain, I also begin berating myself for being careless — or wishing I could go back in time to not do the thing that will leave a permanent mark. In addition to being aesthetically unpalatable to me as a … [Read more...]
In Solidarity: How Non-Black Women of Color Stand Upon the Shoulders of Black Women
I am a woman of color, and I am an intersectional feminist. These terms of identity were both coined by black women. “Intersectionality theory” is a concept named by scholar and professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, first discussed in her 1989 treatise “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and … [Read more...]
Visibility and Vulnerability as a Trans Woman
On March 31, throughout the world and across the Internet, people observed the Transgender Day of Visibility (TDoV). I found myself, as I have in previous years, feeling ambivalent about this event. Because honestly? For many trans women, visibility is exactly the problem: It is involuntary, and it leaves us vulnerable to both physical and social violence. We get mocked, … [Read more...]
Desire & Belonging: On Blackness, Femininity, and Queerness
This article was originally published on Rest for Resistance and is republished with permission. This is for the queer fat Black femmes. As children, we learn that we never occupy just one, but all, of our identities. Not a fat girl or a black girl, but a fat black girl. In elementary school, when everyone began talking about crushes, relationships, and desirability, … [Read more...]
7 Things My Unruly, Curly Hair Taught Me About Being Unapologetically Latinx
Take up space, in all of the loud ways. Growing up, people would always asked me about my hair, about my skin, about my eyes, about my mother, about my grandmother. Anti-blackness would prompt these questions to become inquiries, attempting to trace back lineage beyond dialogue, and into imaginary stories that may have been true or may have not. In their eyes, my hair … [Read more...]
Being Biracial: Figuring Out Where is Home
My ancestry manifests in me as the aftermath of an ongoing battle. My body is the convergence of bloodlines that span continents, my heritage is layered and not cleanly, textured with palimpsest and patina. I am dual, simultaneous. I encompass the oppressor and oppressed, the privileged and the disenfranchised. I am mixed. Specifically, I am mixed POC and white. This … [Read more...]
When is it #TimesUp for White Women Who Don’t Recognize Black Women’s Boundaries?
This article was originally published on BlackYouthProject.com and is reposted with permission. I’m not a touchy-feely person. Like most humans, I appreciate having a say in whose fingers touch me, if I can help it. On New York City subways this seems almost impossible. But even when subways are crowded, it’s easy to notice people moving their bodies awkwardly to make sure … [Read more...]
Summer Is Not for Street Harassment — Regardless of Gender, Race, or Size
Ah, summer. Enduring six months of a freezing New England hellscape in order to re-enter the world of soft, swirling sand dunes and jeweled salty ocean waves. The perfume of sunscreen. Living in the city, battling the humidity as I take my dog to the park. Existing as a curvy, white, queer femme, cisgender woman. Feeling men’s eyes travel over my ass and my boobs as I … [Read more...]
Stop using mixed race people as symbols of interracial unity to ease your white guilt
This piece was first published in Danish magazine Friktion and is republished with permission. Dutch beer company Heineken has recently faced backlash for its “lighter is better” ad, where a bartender with light skinned Latino appearance slides a beer past three dark skinned Black people towards an Eurasian woman, with whom he shares a wink, before the slogan “sometimes … [Read more...]
Learning to Live with Wanting to Die
[Content warning: Discussion of suicidal thoughts] According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Depression is characterized by depressed or sad mood, diminished interest in activities which used to be pleasurable, weight gain or loss… fatigue, inappropriate guilt, difficulties concentrating, as well as recurrent thoughts of death.” My depression took a … [Read more...]
Your Stereotypes of Me are Not My Problem
[Image description: The photograph shows the author, a young Asian woman, standing on a city sidewalk. It is nighttime, raining, and there are cars and taxis rushing past in the background. The author is wearing a sundress in orange, pink, black, and white print. In one hand, she is holding a tote bag; in the other, she is holding an umbrella, which is open behind her.] When … [Read more...]
