In Response to Sean Grant: Online Bullying, Misogynoir, and the Concept of being an “Ugly Black Woman” December 14, 2018 by Vanessa Lewis Leave a Comment 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 November 3, 2018 by Samaa Abdurraqib Leave a Comment 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 October 19, 2018 by Louisa Leontiades Leave a Comment 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 September 5, 2018 by Shannon Weber Leave a Comment 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 July 25, 2018 by Alexandra "Aly" Thomas Leave a Comment 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 July 3, 2018 by Shannon Weber Leave a Comment 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 June 3, 2018 by Anonymous 2 Comments 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 May 23, 2018 by Samaa Abdurraqib Leave a Comment 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...]
3 Ways to Create Safer Space for Black Women in a Misogynoir World April 28, 2018 by Gillian Giles Leave a Comment The phrase “Safe Space” was by far one of conservative media's favorite phrases of the past year. Post election, particularly in the context of colleges creating them, safe spaces have been accused of aiding the creation of intolerant students, censoring opinions of others and most of all absurdly coddling those who are over-sensitive to the world. On the other end of the … [Read more...]
5 Ways ‘Asian Woman Fetishes’ Put Asian Women in Serious Danger April 16, 2018 by Rachel Kuo Leave a Comment Republished from Everyday Feminism Recently, a friend and I were talking about growing up Asian American in predominantly white neighborhoods and schools, and she told me that when she was in fifth grade, boys teased her on the playground by saying that she had a “sideways vagina.” This has happened to me, too – and I’m sure to so many other Asian girls. From … [Read more...]
