On Tuesday, November 27th, Facebook alerted me that a man named Sean Grant posted a picture of me. I didn’t and don’t know Sean. But, I recently performed at book release for the phenomenal Bay area poet, James Cagney, and thought that perhaps he was someone who attended the reading and snapped a shot. I was excited to see what was there because I knew that I was styling and … [Read more...]
Are You Hot in That? And 3 Other Hijab Questions People Can Stop Asking
There’s something about difference – almost any kind of difference – that makes people in dominant cultures/identity categories feel like they can disregard and disrespect boundaries by asking deeply personal questions or physically crossing the boundaries of people who embody that difference. And isn’t this the foundation for cultural appropriation? White people, cis … [Read more...]
Dear White Women: Why We Need to Stop Crying When POC Call Us Out
I was once in an abusive relationship. Few people agree that it was abusive, because I left him after he'd hit me a couple of times. But they weren't there everyday for a period of years when he cajoled me into having sex by saying, 'your body wants me.' I'd often reply, 'but my mind doesn't...' I felt that this was somehow important even if I wasn't 100% convinced. Not that … [Read more...]
Anti-Trans “Feminists” Converted My Friend: Here’s Why We Can’t Stay Silent
I was scrolling through my Facebook feed one average day recently, when all of a sudden I was confronted with a post condemning the recent passage of a bill protecting the rights of transgender youth. The same bill all my other friends, primarily queer and trans, were celebrating. The post was by someone I went to graduate school with… for gender studies. I … [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...]
When the Gender Binary Puts A Damper on Date Night
I am a cis queer femme woman partnered with a non-binary queer person. While I enjoy so many things about our five-year relationship, including the fact that people recognize me as queer when we are out together, my babe is basically misgendered wherever they go. Even by other queer people. It’s rare for them to have a validating experience when it comes to gender, especially … [Read more...]
Here Are 5 Palestinian Wonder Women You Need To Know About
This article was originally published on EverydayFeminsim.com and is republished with permission. Co-written note from the editor and author: Since there has been a large number of Jewish folk who feel that this article is anti-Semitic, we wanted to clarify our position and intention. This article is critical of Zionism and the Israeli apartheid occupation of … [Read more...]
What Safer Space Looks Like For a Queer Black Muslim Woman
What does it mean to fully bring all of yourself into a space? As a person who occupies several different identities that are often marginalized in many spaces I walk into, this is a question that I consider on a regular basis. I am not someone who can easily compartmentalize all of my identities. When I was younger, I spent a lot of time compartmentalizing my queerness in … [Read more...]
