10 Defensive Reactions to White Privilege That Make No Damn Sense – But Are Super Common August 10, 2019 by Maisha Z. Johnson Leave a Comment This article originally appeared in EverydayFeminism and is reprinted by permission. I know it probably makes me a weirdo to want to talk about white privilege so much, but I actually enjoy conversations on this topic – even with people who disagree with me. Sure, these conversations can get heated, uncomfortable, and downright aggravating. But they’re also necessary in order … [Read more...]
3 Reasons We Need To Be Critical of Compulsory Sex Positivity in Queer Spaces August 2, 2019 by Caleb Luna 1 Comment Sex positivity often acts as an implicit — or sometimes explicit — foundation of leftist, feminist, and LGBTQ+ spaces for completely valid reasons. As women and queers, sex has been the driving force behind both our oppression and the spaces we create to separate, heal, and liberate us from our oppression. Sexualized spaces for socializing predate our modern understanding of … [Read more...]
Summer Is Not for Street Harassment — Regardless of Gender, Race, or Size August 1, 2019 by Shannon Weber Leave a Comment 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 walk down … [Read more...]
Fellow White Women: We Learned To Be Complicit With Oppression — Now We Must Become Brave July 29, 2019 by Louisa Leontiades 2 Comments This article was originally published on louisaleontiades.com as "The Cowardice of White Women: Learning to Resist" and is republished with permission. Some questions you don’t expect to have to ask in your lifetime, let alone answer. But with the rise of Trumpian fascism, a question has consistently rattled around my white woman’s brain: At what point would I put my own life … [Read more...]
5 Ways Outdoor Recreation Is Inaccessible to Marginalized Folks July 22, 2019 by Emily Zak Leave a Comment This article first appeared on Everyday Feminism under the title "Outdoor Reaction Isn't Free -- Why We Need to Stop Pretending It Is" and is reprinted by permission. When I spent a summer as a river guide, I met three people who’d abandoned their homes to live on the Rio Grande. One lived out of a bus, another in a tent, and the last in his station wagon. They spent their … [Read more...]
Quienes son tus amigos importa: por qué soy precavido de ser tu amigo cuando ninguno de tus amigos son marginados July 21, 2019 by Emanuel Urrea and Caleb Luna Leave a Comment Un día mientras trataba de resolver con vergüenza y acomplejado por mi tendencia a evaluar las clases de personas con las que se rodean las personas que son nuevas en mi vida. Estaba pensando en relación a los cuerpos, particularmente razas y gordura. Hasta ese momento tenia internalizado que era un comportamiento innecesario, prejuicioso e incluso superficial. Pero tuve una … [Read more...]
Mixed Doesn’t Always Mean Part White: Uplifting Non-White Mixed Race Identities July 8, 2019 by Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda Leave a Comment Growing up queer, mixed race, and Asian in the American South, my identity often felt like an absence of any identity at all. For a long time I existed in a kind of limbo state, not having a language to describe myself. Until my early twenties, I was unaware the word “mixed race” existed, much less as a term I had the option to identify with. Because I neither knew nor saw any … [Read more...]
4 Ways Mainstream Animal Rights Movements Are Oppressive June 27, 2019 by Mahealani Joy Leave a Comment This article originally appeared in EverydayFeminism.com and is reprinted by permission. Growing up Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian), there was always a part of me that understood that my relatives did not just include people. The honu (green sea turtle), mano (shark), and pu’eo (owl) were my relatives too, and they were deserving of respect and care just like their human … [Read more...]
Black in Maine: 4 Ways Black Folks Take Care of Each Other in Majority-White Communities June 15, 2019 by Samaa Abdurraqib Leave a Comment NOTE: This is an article about Black bodies in white spaces, but this is really a love letter to all of the beautiful, dope ass Black women – femmes and non-femmes – speaking the truth and holding it down in one of the whitest states in the country. They’re my homegirls. After the 2017 white terrorist attack in Charlottesville, VA, an article about a man flying a Confederate … [Read more...]
4 Ways To Fight the Whitewashing of Pride June 10, 2019 by Katie Tastrom Leave a Comment It’s Pride season! For us queer folks it can be a fun time to be extra gay and loud about it and go to parades. However, we can’t forget that the first Pride was a riot and this holiday would not have happened without Marsha P. Johnson, a Black bisexual disabled trans sex worker. Even with the history being well known at this point, many communities’ Prides are incredibly … [Read more...]
9 Reasons Why Acting in Solidarity for Racial Justice Is Preferable to “Allyship” May 30, 2019 by Jaime Grant Leave a Comment There is almost nothing more dangerous in the lives and livelihoods of Black men and women than a well-intentioned white woman with no political framework for her interactions across race. White women’s well-being, our ‘safety,’ is constantly deployed to justify white supremacist violence, especially police violence. Our casual conversations with Black and brown people on the … [Read more...]
How Gentrification Shrank My Self-Confidence May 29, 2019 by Taylor Steele Leave a Comment Gentrification happened to me in steps. At first I was confused. Were the non-POC in this predominantly Black/Brown neighborhood lost? Did they miss their stop on this Queens-bound train? Are they simply taking a tour of the best Caribbean spots in Brooklyn? When I let it sink in that they were here to stay, noticeable transplants to a previously self-contained community, I … [Read more...]
4 Ways White People Can Process Their Emotions Without Hijacking the Conversation on Racial Justice May 11, 2019 by Jennifer Loubriel, Guest Writer 3 Comments This article originally appeared in EverydayFeminism.com under the title "4 Ways White People Can Process Their Emotions Without Bringing the White Tears" and is reprinted by permission. If you’re a white person who has been in many activist spaces, then you’ve probably experienced a specific, often unspoken ground rule: There’s no room for white tears in this … [Read more...]
How Do I Understand Being Jewish While Also Holding White Privilege? April 12, 2019 by Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg Leave a Comment [Image description: The photograph shows the author, a light-skinned woman with graying brown shoulder-length hair and glasses. She is wearing a navy-blue hooded sweatshirt, and her right hand is resting against the side of her face. She is looking into the camera and smiling. Behind her is a curtain in a mandala design.] I recently decided to purchase a genetics test from … [Read more...]
3 Things You Should Know About Racial Justice 101 April 10, 2019 by Cortez Wright Leave a Comment In the wake of continuous acquittals of police officers killing unarmed Black civilians, racial justice activists across the U.S. continue to fight to hold the police and law enforcement agencies accountable for the increased controlling and surveillance of communities of color and the routine murder of Black people during police interactions and while in police custody. Race … [Read more...]
I Don’t Owe You Beauty: On Rooting Out Internalized Oppression and Celebrating Our Radically Non-Conforming Selves October 22, 2018 by Mihran Nersesyan Leave a Comment “It’s not my responsibility to be beautiful. I’m not alive for that purpose. My existence is not about how desirable you find me.” ~Warsan Shire As an aspiring poet, the words of Warsan Shire hold a special sway over me. It’s not only her eloquence that draws me to her writing, but also the depth of her wisdom. I’ve always felt that it’s not enough … [Read more...]
