#wgss student

[mightyflamethrower]

Arizona State Professor Defends Sex Trafficking

The objective isn’t homosexual depravity in particular, but degeneracy in general. Why else would a college professor defend sex trafficking?

Arizona State University Professor Crystal Jackson condemned the “anti-trafficking movement” and “deviant framing” of “sex workers” during an event on campus last week.

That which liberals want to normalize, they euphemize. Just as “MAP” is their euphemism for pedophile, “sex worker” is Liberalese for prostitute.

During the “Queer X Faculty Flashtalks” event, Jackson told the students and staff in attendance that “Sex workers have been and are at the heart of queer liberation.”

She isn’t the first to notice a connection between LGBTism and other sexual manifestations of moral decay.

“We wouldn’t have the modern-day LGBTQ plus movement in the U.S. … without sex-working trans people,” she said.

Of all the lame arguments for normalizing prostitution, doing it to promote transsexual psychosis may be the least compelling.

The professor also condemned the anti-trafficking movement.

The nutty professor screeches that “moral panic” about sex trafficking — i.e., sex slavery, which often involves children — constitutes thoughtcrime:

“It’s anti-immigrant, it’s racist, it’s transphobic forms of policing, particularly around women of color.”

ASU is a state school, meaning that an extra large percentage of its funding is provided on an involuntary basis. Here’s how our money is being spent:

She told attendees her previous research includes “the tenuous feminisms of self-proclaimed queer porn mafia performers and producers who then honor the grandfather of queer porn, trans male porn performer Buck Angel.”

Her bio on ASU’s website does not shy away from her defense of sex trafficking:

Crystal A. Jackson (they/she) is a Women, Gender, & Sexualities Studies (WGSS) professor in [the School of Social Transform]. They are a sociological feminist scholar whose research underscores feminist and queer understandings of sexual labors and gender politics in the United States. … Their current research explores how the racial justice concept of ‘abolitionism’ is deployed in mainstream, institutionalized U.S. anti-sex trafficking policies and advocacies to demand actions that are in direct opposition to racial justice abolitionist aims.

Presenting Professor Crystal Jackson, accredited member of the intelligentsia:

Is she or isn't he.....who the hell knows anymore.

[mueritos]

Hi! I’m asking this because I remember an answer to an ask you had a while back about taking a Women’s and Gender Studies class and being able to be in the class and contribute without taking up the most space. I think I’m having trouble with that in my own class. I noticed that the class doesn’t focus on trans people at all, and often unless prompted the lecturer will not bring up perspectives of women of color, let alone trans women of color. So I’ve been brining these topics up. But I’ve also noticed that I, a white trans man, is one of the only people routinely contributing to the class (which is all cis white woman, except one cis white man and one woman of color). Do you have any advice on how to keep discussions intersectional without taking up a bunch of space?

Hi! Its funny because since that ask, I am now the president of my school's Women's Gender Studies Honor Society (LMFAOOOOO). Here's what I have to say. The full title of this field of study is Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies. You are still entitled to take up space in this field just because you are not a woman. You still embody gender and sexuality (and even womanhood if we talk about transmens' transgressions/distance from womanhood) to various degrees! You should feel safe to speak up and talk about what you're talking about, and to me it sounds like you're adding more to the conversation that your own lecturer! I was in your shoes years ago. During my WGSS 101, I was one of two trans people (the other person was nonbinary), and 1 of 3 queer people in the class. We were consistently called "girls" "women" "ladies", our issues regarding sexuality and gender were not brought up, and the only reason why we ever read Angela Davis, Bel Hooks, or the Combahee River Collective, was because my Black professor had given our professor for the class those readings as recommendation. The entire class was full of virtue signaling ignorant white women who barely had any idea about their own place as women in society, and had much less to say about the field of women's studies. I remember TEACHING (i literally reached out to the professor to do this) the class terminology because these white women would not stop saying "Blacks" "queers/a queer" "Mexicans", etc because this class never even started with the literal basics!

I say keep doing what you're doing. There can be various reasons why the cis man and the woc in your class are silent, or even why all the white women aren't contributing as much as you. I'd rather the white ally be continually spitting truth and make other students feel safe and seen than a marginalized person who has got it all wrong (because believe me, I've been in classes with marginalized people who genuinelly have it all wrong). Not to mention, you're allowed to take up space in a class youre paying for.

Keep it up, because WGSS has a long way to grow, and it will only continue growing with people who intend to not conform to white women's version of WGSS.

[flockofdoves]

classes next semester are gonna be sooooo weird like i still have requirements to do but almost none of them are available in the fall so thats a scary amount of stuff to pile into my last semester next spring

but in the fall its like. oh fuck i have to choose like multiple electives to be a full time student. theoretically cool theres a lot of cool classes in the world! (even if soooo weird now that i dropped my stpec major i cant just like go into any econ/wgss/afroam/history class whenever i want to) but kinda overwhelming. and somehow so many of the ones i wanted to take are at the same time as my two required classes

and then the two electives i most want to take in the world i technically can't get into but i know if i email professors bc of my Very Specific Situations its likely i could get in. but also somehow both those classes are at the exact same time???? so im hedging my bets and emailing both professors but also theres almost part of me that wants one of them to say no lol so i wont have to choose myself and then say 'oh wait nvm' to one of them after they went through effort for me

[bxffysxmmers]

not to like be that guy but it's so interesting to me that, as a wgss student, there's something to be said about why "queer elders" is anyone older than 23... and i think it speaks a lot about the fact that we lost a whole generation to the epidemic (here meaning aids). there's this weird cultural divide where millennials, despite being 40 year old obvious grown ups, were infantilized until their own 30s, and then the world has changed so much that queer culture itself for millennials vs zillennials alone is an entirely different thing because of the 2010s fight for rights vs the devolving 2020s fight for rights and just... yeah, no, it makes sense in my brain that they would think this. because we lost our queer elders. and then we, as the next queer elders, have been navigating firsts that were then retracted and yeah the people 20 - 40 are sort of the elders. not because 40+ queer elders don't exist, but because so many of them were wiped out before their time, or had to learn to mask and hide in a way that you didn't see them quite as loudly and like i'm sure this rant makes no sense but just... if that doesn't make you want to sob profusely, idk what to tell you. anyway, gay rights.

just read a display of writing by undergrads on their relationship to queer elders and one says they consider a transmasc elder to be anyone older than 23 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 not this........

[queer-academic]

ADHD Studying Hack

If you’re assigned a film to watch, and you’re one of those folks (like me!) who struggle to stay focused on long videos, see if you can find a transcript of the video, and read it instead! 

Depending on how fast of a reader you are, it will also reduce the time it takes you to complete the assignment, which is always handy.

[fairiepunk]

hello i remade my tumblr account

if u are queer

are neurodivergent

love and support trans people

are a radical leftist

like poetry

are a social sciences student

lets be friends. this blog will be a catch all for writing, studyblr stuff, and just general shit that I enjoy. 

[sailor-spaghetti]

I should make one of these probably. This is NOT a DNI - anyone can follow, but this is a summary for you to decide for yourself if you'd like it here.

Hi, my name is Sailor, I'm 25, and I'm an undergrad student who is double majoring in Social Thought and Political Economy (STPEC) and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) with a minor in African-American Studies and a certificate in Civic Engagement and Public Service. I am a radical leftist and a Marxist who has recently been flirting with anarchocommunism. I hope to go to grad school one day to continue studying and learning, because I want to be a teacher someday (and I really want to help bring the pop university to the US).

I am transmasculine and use they/them pronouns primarily, but will also accept he/him if you're struggling with they/them for any reason. I gay and autistic, but I am also white and do carry that privilege. With this in mind, please ask before tagging me to contribute to a conversation. Not every political discussion is within my wheelhouse, and while leftist and liberatory politics fall firmly into special interest territory for me, I have no desire to speak above people who have more stakes in an issue than I do.

I am a crochet/fiber artist and I'm definitely going to be putting some of my art here. I also intend to open a BigCartel shop (fuck Etsy) for small items I've crocheted, but it's not live yet. I will update this post when it is.

This blog is kind of a mixture of everything. My art, politics, a place where I'll be putting some recommended reading/viewing/book/media reviews (at the time of writing this, I am currently reading Warped: Gay Normativity and Queer Anticapitalism by Peter Drucker and so far I highly recommend it), some miscellaneous fandom stuff, a lot of shitposting, just things I think are pretty or fun (there will be a lot of faerycore and liminalcore here), etc. I don't plan on reblogging porn or anything, but there's definitely some 18+ and 21+ humor here, so if you're a minor it might be best if you just look through my art tag instead of following me. I'm tagging all of my fiber art with #spaghettistitchery, so there's even a convenient tag to work with.

I will gladly engage in good-faith conversations about politics, history, etc., but the key word there is "good-faith". Things I do not consider to be good faith include:

Bootlicking

Playing devil's advocate

Hypotheticals

Tone policing

Peace policing

Liberal and neoliberal ideology in general

Moving the goalposts

Slice-of-the-pie discourse

Anything that discourages solidarity with people who are more oppressed or people living under different conditions from my/your own. Solidarity is a necessary tool of resistance.

Respectability politics

Purity politics - being a comrade does not require knowing exactly the right thing to say, it requires class consciousness and a willingness to learn from those whose experiences you do not share

Etc. This list may be expanded as time goes on.

Unless a post is immediately relevant (current news, mutual aid request, active/ongoing conversation, etc.), I only reblog to the queue so that hopefully this place can be active even if I'm too busy to post. I am a very busy person between school and real-life activism/organizing, and so I might not always get back to you right away if you message or tag me.

If any of my academic writing ever gets published, you also have my permission to DM me to ask for a free copy. If you need help accessing a book or a paper, feel free to DM me and I will use my student privileges to see if I can access a PDF to send you. I hate the inaccessibility of knowledge under capitalism and want to do everything in my power to combat it, and I encourage any other students or teachers on this site to do the same.

Some free resources that are available:

The Marxist Internet Archive - you can access a lot of Marxist texts here, for free, in multiple language.

Libcom.org - Another site where you can access leftist writings, this one focusing more specifically on anarchocommunist texts.

Kanopy - You can watch documentaries for free here with your library card. I definitely recommend using this site and I especially recommend watching Concerning Violence: Nine Scenes from the Anti-Imperialist Self-Defense.

Open Library - If you can't access an in-person library for whatever reason, you can also borrow PDFs for free from here.

Anarcho-Communist Playlist - I didn't make this but I shit you not there's so much here that every time I put it on shuffle I feel like I'm learning a history lesson.

[xyzcekaden]

🍔 chains on the swings of the set 🍔

by airauralintensity (aka me, xyzcekaden!)

His name is Norman Midable. “But you can call me Nor.” A subversion of the guy-at-college-vies-for-Kim’s-attentions plot.

fandom: kim possible (cartoon) characters: kim possible, ron stoppable, OC (technically), wade monique and rufus in supporting roles ship: kim/ron, kim/oc genre: romance, angst, friendship themes: college au, major original character, cheating, one-sided romance, canon endgame, working through relationship problems, kim has a type word count: 6.9k chapter: 2/2 rating: T

read it below, on ffnet, or on ao3!

A/N (11.11.2021): Final part, folks! Many thanks to Molly, Joyce, and Dez for their feedback. I didn't end up incorporating most of it due to my own laziness 😅 BUT if I do, I'll just upload it in a part 3. It will involve some mild retconning, but that never hurt nobody. There are also some deleted scenes I could include as well; I'll think about it.

Also, do we feel like the story needs time stamps? Nothing major, just a more obvious indication of time passing and what month each scene takes place in. Joyce thought it might be helpful, but I'll let y'all decide.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

~~~

Kim walks into WGSS on Monday morning with a forced calmness.

She and Nor haven't spoken since CNC on Saturday night, and why would they? They didn't have a project meeting scheduled, so why would they? Nothing of note happened on Saturday, right? So why would they?

That's been the monologue running through her brain the past two days, and it unfortunately becomes less and less convincing the more she thinks about it. (She thinks about it a lot.)

That is why when Nor comes down to sit next to her, as he always does, she is surprised.

She feels like she should say something, but why would she? Class is about to start.

Except it isn't. The professor comes in and announces today's lecture is cancelled; instead they want the students to use the class time to discuss their final projects or ask the professor any questions.

Kim and Nor, however, sit in silence. She doesn't even boot up her digitised notebook out of unwillingness for what her movement will spark next. Knowing when and where to keep still has saved her life more times than she can count.

"We're pretty far along on the project, don't you think so?"

"What?" Kim snaps her head to look at Nor, but he resolutely stares forward.

"Yeah. Thanks to you constantly on the case, I think we have a lot of research already done. Some of these guys don't even sound like they've picked a topic yet, much more got together outside of class to discuss or do work."

Kim nods, but she couldn't say. She honestly has not been paying attention to a single conversation happening around her.

Nor nods, too, but more to himself. "Right, well. Do you mind talking to the prof about it? I'm gonna head back to the dorms. I, uh, I think I need some more sleep."

He grabs his backpack and makes to leave, and Kim almost does something stupid like reaching out for him to stay. She transforms the aborted hand movement into turning on Wade's notebook.

"No big," she forces herself to say.

"Text you later," Nor bids with a wave, and Kim's eyes follow him up the stairs and out the door.

She stares at the door for a long time.

~~~

There's only one person she can talk to about this.

"Well, well, well. Look who finally made time to call her B.F.F.L."

"Monique." Kim's throat is thick with the need to cry. She rushed back to her dorm so she could have this conversation, and she is grateful for the privacy.

Monique drops her faux-affronted attitude immediately. "Oh my god, Kim? What's wrong?" Kim wishes she could see her. She should ask Wade to make a Moniq-ommunicatior.

"Monique, I messed up."

She unleashes onto her friend about Nor, about how they met and how he's weird and even how he met Igor. Mixed in there is some stuff about how she's doing fine at college but still deeply misses home. She carefully avoids mentioning Ron's name, and then she mentions last Saturday.

"Girl, you did what?!" Monique seethes into the phone.

She deserves this, she does, but she still maintains, "It was an accident! I didn't mean to do it! It doesn't mean anything! I don't even know how it happened; it was such a blur. I got out of there as soon as possible. We haven't even talked about it. Today in class, Nor, just…"

"Kim?" Monique asked when Kim was silent for too long.

She knows Monique isn't going to be happy to hear this, but she needs to talk about it anyway. "He was so different. No jokes, no nonsense. We had a one-minute conversation about the final project, and that's it. He didn't even look at me."

"Did you want him to look at you?"

"I don't know!" Kim flops backfirst onto her bed. "All I know is I don't know what to do."

"Did you tell Ron yet?"

She sits up abruptly. "No! No, I can't. Why should I? There isn't even anything between Nor and me; it'll never happen again; I—"

"Kim." The tone of Monique's voice is the exact thing Kim was dreading. "Kim, you know I would do anything for you. Heck, I've even followed you on your missions because I will always got your back. You're my girl… But Ron is my boy. I gotta do right by him, too. If there really wasn't anything between you and this Nor guy, then you wouldn't have kissed him. Your friendship wouldn't be so off right now because you'd both know how little it mattered."

Kim hates how much sense Monique is making, and she says as much.

"You have to tell Ron," Monique says, firm yet sympathetic.

Kim scrunches her eyes shut. She has to tell Ron.

~~~

"Last Saturday?! As in four days ago? Why did you wait so long to tell me!?" Ron exclaims into the Ronnunicator.

He's pacing back and forth in his bedroom, yet even then it is oddly too silent. There should be a mission command set up here with red lights and klaxons blaring. Some military man should be shouting frantically at his subordinates, demanding things like How could you have let this happen?! The pure panic in his heart demands nothing less than chaos.

On screen, Kim shrinks in the way people do when they're chastised for something that was absolutely their fault. "I was thinking! Yeah, you're my best friend/boyfriend, but why would I tell you something that will hurt you if I know that it'll never happen again?"

Ron rolls his eyes. "You think you know," he mutters to himself.

"What was that?" Kim leans forward on screen as if to hear him better, and he waves his hand in the air to dispel the thought."

"You know what tanks the most?" he says instead. "I totally knew this was gonna happen, too."

"But Ron, I'm not leaving you," Kim tries to argue, her tone begging him to understand.

"Yeah, but KP, you did cheat on me. You kissed another guy even after I told you this is something I was worried about."

"It was an accident! Seriously, Nor is just a friend; I don't even think about him like that, and—well, it doesn't matter. The point is: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Ron. I made a mistake, I broke your trust, and I want to do whatever it takes to make this right again."

Ron carries his head in the hand that isn't holding his Ronnunicator. He's very tired. He's heartbroken. He's inclined to say something he can't take back.

He forces himself to count to ten before responding. "Listen, KP," he says resignedly. "I would never tell you who you can and can't be friends with—I respect you too much for that—but this isn't like my nightmares after prom about you becoming a synthodrone. Nor has become a real, actual threat to our relationship."

He sighs, struggling to get the next words out. "I love you, Kim, and I want you to be happy. Preferably with me, but I don't get to make that decision. You let me know what you want, and I'll respect it."

Ron watches her struggle to understand something in silence. Then, in the quietest voice he's ever heard from her, she says, "Are you breaking up with me?"

He tilts his head back for a second, trying to keep the tears her question caused at bay. He looks back down after a moment and can find no comfort in the heartbreak on Kim's face.

For her benefit, and maybe a little for his own too, he gives a wan half-smile. "That's up to you."

~~~

He says they aren't broken up, but it sure feels like it to Kim. She was up all night, lachrymose and inconsolable and self-condemning. It felt a lot like being tied to a gigantic cactus in Bueno Nachos headquarters after your prom date who just dumped you turned out to be the son of your biggest nemesis and also a synthodrone—but much, much worse.

She skips WGSS the next day.

She doesn't attend any of her classes that morning, in fact. She wouldn't have left her room at all if it weren't for her growling stomach demanding to be satiated.

She should have ignored her stomach.

"Kimothy," Nor greets with a scandalised tone as he slides into the chair in front of her at the student union cafe. "Since when were you an academic deviant?"

The single statement causes a rush of emotion through her. Relief and guilt are prominent, but most of all it makes her angry. Why is he acting like nothing has changed now? Why couldn't he have done that Monday morning when she needed him most to do it? In more ways than one, she wouldn't be in this situation at all if it weren't for the stupid boy in front of her.

"Not in the mood, Nor," Kim brushes off with a frown as she hastily packs up her things. She hasn't finished her meal yet, but that's what to-go containers are for.

"Woah, woah, woah. What's going on? Where are you going?" Nor hastily follows her lead, clearly intending on following her, and she picks up the pace. She turns on her heel and accelerates from zero to fifteen in one step, and Nor abandons his food and his stuff in order to catch up to her before she escapes the student union entirely.

"Kimothy, is everything okay?" he demands as he grabs her shoulder, but she shrugs off the touch immediately.

"That's not my name!"

He holds his hands up, very reminiscent of their first meeting, and the anger in Kim's heart switches to guilty affection. The need to cry that has waxed and waned throughout the night surfaces with a vengeance, and she steadfastly looks away so Nor can't see.

"Kim." He emphasises the single syllable. "Is everything okay?"

Kim shakes her head adamantly. "I just… I made a mistake, is all."

Nor looks at her uncertainly. "Is that what this is about? Geez, you really had me worried there. Don't worry, I actually paid attention in class for once. I don't have a fancy digital notebook made by genius preteens; but if you give me a day, I can make you a copy of my notes. They're probably no good, but it's gotta be better than nothing."

Without her wanting them to, incredulous laughter spills out of Kim, as do her tears.

"Kim?!" Nor exclaims. He frantically looks around, trying to remember where the nearest bathroom is so he can get her some tissues, but he quickly abandons that idea in favour of moving them both to a nearby bench and gathering the desolate girl in his arms.

Kim wants to resist, she really does. Even as she tries in vain to stem the flow of tears, she wriggles in his hold; but Nor doesn't budge. She hates how much she's grateful for it.

This is why Ron can't trust me anymore. I can find comfort when another guy hugs me, she tries to chastise herself, but it doesn't work. She needs this right now.

After a few minutes like that, she almost feels like she could say something, but Nor beats her to it. "Was this about us?" he asks softly, but not hesitantly. It's a question, but he sounds like he already knows the answer.

With that, the arms around her transform from a blanket to a cage, and the tears dry up. Kim firmly pushes him away, and it's only her weakened emotional state that stops the action from completely compacting Nor's chest.

"There is no 'us,' Nor!" she yells. "I have a boyfriend. At least, I'm lucky if I still do! I love him, and he loves me, and he's waiting for me to pick him already!"

Nor's sympathetic face glosses over into something cold and impassive, and his voice follows suit. "Reality check, Kim. If you haven't picked him yet, that probably means there is an 'us.'"

He stalks off, leaving her on a bench and with the sudden realisation that several other students around her bore witness to their argument. She flushes with latent anger and embarrassment, and she finally escapes from the student union.

~~~

It's been a week since she's spoken to Nor. He's taken to sitting in the back of the lecture hall on the other side of the room now, and she hates how much she misses sitting next to him during class.

It's been even longer since she's heard from Ron. She leaves for Thanksgiving Break tomorrow, and she doesn't even know if Ron would want to see her at all when she goes back. As she haphazardly packs for the long weekend, she feels miserable.

A beep on her Kimmunicator is exactly what she needs right now, but she's thrown off by the knock on her door at the same time.

She answers the Kimmunicator as she gets up to answer the door, ready to ask the person outside to wait a sec, it could be a save-the-world thing. She is surprised when it's Ron on the line and Nor outside, a Bueno Nacho bag in hand.

Because Kim answered the door second, Ron gets to hear her surprised "Nor!"

"Nor is there?!" Ron exclaims exasperatedly. "That's it. I'm coming up!" He hangs up before Kim can really register what he said. She tries to redial, but he doesn't pick up.

Refusing to dwell on why something isn't working has saved her life more times than she can count; so with her first course of action summarily thwarted, Kim smoothly switches gears to deal with the secondary emergent situation. "What are you doing here?" she asks Nor, both of them still standing on their respective sides of the open door frame.

"I came bearing a peace offering," he says as he holds up the Bueno Nacho bag, "but I'm getting the sense that this branch doesn't have nearly enough olives on it for what's about to go down."

"Where did you even get that? The nearest Bueno Nacho is two towns over," Kim says in awe.

"Oh yeah, but can Bueno Nacho from the middle of nowhere compare to Bueno Nacho from your hometown kept warm in a lunchbox specially invented by our genius friend Wade so that the food is just as toasty as when Ned took it out of the fryolator, hand delivered by your boyfriend?" Ron's voice calls out with an edge, waving said lunchbox invention in the air.

Kim steps out into the hallway then, needing to verify the rapid change of events. "Ron?!"

He doesn't respond at first, instead taking the opportunity to size Nor up; and Nor does the same. Kim barely restrains an eye-roll at the typical display of machismo. "Ron, how did you get here?" she tries again.

Ron's derision melts into something tender when he faces her again, and she can't believe he's really here. "We hadn't talked in like a week, KP," he says as he reaches for her hand. "Fight or no fight, I can't spend that long without you. I called in a Favour, and I thought I'd surprise you, but it seems like you don't really need the company," he sneered, more in Nor's direction than hers.

Nor raises his hands in defeat. "Hey, I'm on your team here."

"The only people on Team Possible are Kim, Rufus, Wade, and me!" Ron interrupts jealously. "Uh-huh, uh-huh! Yeah!" Rufus pipes up from Ron's pants pocket.

Nor stares at Ron blankly. "I came by to tell Kim that I'm not tryna make her life harder than it already is. She already fights freaks every two weeks; she doesn't need to fight with her friend and boyfriend on top of that. So… here." He hands Kim the BN to-go bag and asks. "I'll see you in class?" At Ron's steely look still directed at him, he adds, "And only in class."

Without waiting for Kim's response, Nor brushes past Ron to escape the awkward atmosphere as quickly as he can.

Once he leaves the building, he stuffs his hands into his pockets. He decides to take the long route back to his dorm.

He doesn't get why Ron is so threatened. What does a nobody have on the guy who's won American Starmaker, created the Naco™, and—according to the forums—is apparently the master of some sort of monkey-based superpower which he used to save the world?

Kim wouldn't pick some scrub who is obsessed with conspiracy theories and got into college on a technicality over a guy like that. He was lucky he managed to become her friend and kiss her even once. She didn't even turn him down, not really. That's another win.

No net losses here, Midable. Quit while you're ahead.

Nor smiles self-deprecatingly to himself. Yeah, it's better this way.

~~~

They stare after Nor's retreating back in an awkward silence, and only Rufus' stomach growling brings their attention back to the situation at hand.

"Come in," Kim offers shyly.

She shuts the door behind him, and Ron can't help but compare the room he sees to the room he helped set up way back at the end of August. Aside from the open suitcase and haphazardly strewn clothes, her desk looks well-used and her walls are decorated with more school pride memorabilia that she's collected.

Kim motions to her bed, the room having a lack of suitable seating otherwise, and he hesitates. If it were two weeks ago, he'd just plop on like it were his own bed and let Kim force him to give her as much space as she needs; but it's now.

Luckily, Kim takes the lead, like she always does. It's a habit that's saved his life more times than he can count.

"We should eat before the food gets cold," she says as she sits at the edge of her bed somewhere near the middle. Ron follows her lead, like he always does.

Before she can get too far in unpacking the BN to-go bag that Nor brought, Ron deftly snatches it out of her grasp and places Wade's lunchbox invention in her newly freed hands. "Nuh-uh, Kim," he explains at her questioning look. "You get the special fryolator Middleton Bueno Nacho. I'll take one for the team and eat this imitation stuff delivered by guys that go around kissing taken girls."

Kim's face is stricken with guilt. "I'm the one who kissed him, Ron; not the other way around," she clarifies gently in defense of Nor.

As if he could ever forget.

He presses his mouth into an impassive line and looks back down at the paper bag. "Eat your nachos, Kim. We'll talk about that later."

Ron watches her unlatch the lunchbox, and she gasps. "My favourite," she comments with gratitude. She was never one for a full-on Naco, and he knows it.

He opens up the bag Nor bought and furrows his brows at what he finds inside. Anyone else would simply find chimichanga-stuffed burritos and several handfuls of free, plain nacho chips, but not Ron. He can recognise them for what they are: enough ingredients for two Nacos.

He frowns at the thought of what would have transpired if he had arrived tomorrow, had arrived just in time to bring Kim back home to Middleton like her parents originally planned. It would be Nor sitting here right now with Kim, sharing her favourite comfort food and on the brink of a heart-to-heart. The thought sits heavy in his stomach, so he passes the bag's contents to an eager Rufus, his appetite lost.

Kim notices, of course. She sets her food onto her desk and turns to face Ron, one foot tucked under her and the other dangling off the edge of the bed. "What are you thinking right now?" she asks him. She sets her hands in the space between them, close enough to his thigh to mean something but purposefully not touching just in case.

He snatches her hands into his and holds on tightly, and he's rewarded with a barely perceptible ease of her shoulders.

He doesn't know where to begin with his emotions, so instead he starts with a fact. "I'm scared of answering the phone."

Kim raises an eyebrow at the left-field response. "That's a new one," she remarks drily, intimately acquainted with the long and sundried list of Ron Stoppable's fears and phobias.

He just shakes his head, though. "I don't want to hear you on the other end. If I pick up the phone and you tell me that you've given up saving the world so that you have more time for college, or that you're leaving Middleton for good… or that you're breaking up with me—" He cuts himself off and swallows.

Kim squeezes his hand when the silence stretches just a little too long, and he raises his head to meet her green, earnest gaze. He squeezes back and forces out, "I'd have to live with the memory of your voice breaking my heart over and over again forever."

"Ron…" Kim doesn't know what to say, but Ron isn't done yet. "Kim, you cheated on me."

"Ron, I'm sorry."

"I've spent my entire life knowing you'd never let anything or anyone else hurt me, but it was you. You hurt me."

"It doesn't mean anything now, but you have to know: If I could take it back, I would. If I could go back and stop myself, I would!"

"How far back would you go?"

Kim is stunned. "What?"

He looks her in the eyes, trying to find some sort of admittance or even understanding. "Do you think the kiss is the only reason I'm upset?"

Ron's challenging tone offends her. "What else did I do?"

"Not you, but…" He leaves the implication hanging in the air, and Kim is quick on the uptake. "What's wrong with Nor?" she asks defensively.

Ron rolls his eyes. "What isn't wrong with Nor? What's he doing coming all the way here just to eat dinner with you?"

"Ron, he came here to apologise. You were there; he apologised to you, too!"

"I didn't hear the words 'I'm sorry,'" Ron harrumphs.

Kim picks up the empty Bueno Nacho bag, forcing Rufus to find a new hiding spot while his parents fight, and waves it in the air. "That's what this is!" she exclaims before frustratedly throwing it in the general direction of her trash bin.

Ron is unfazed by her dramatics. "I could tell there's been something going on since the two of you first met," he accuses.

"Why are you making it sound like I've been cheating on you behind your back for a whole semester? Nor has nothing to do with this! I am the one who messed up here."

"If you never met him, you wouldn't have kissed him! Unless—" Ron looks positively heartbroken at the thought that just struck him. "—Do you like-like him?"

Kim rolls her eyes. "Are we in middle school? No, I do not 'like-like' Nor."

"Then why are you always defending him, huh? What's so great about him that makes him worth arguing about with me?"

"He's here, Ron!"

Ron looks as surprised at her outburst as she feels for having said it, but she knows it to be true.

She takes Ron's hands again, trying to make him understand. "You and Monique are just a phone call away, and I know that, but you're a phone call away. When I hang up with you, I'm still here. Alone. Alone if not for Nor."

The inconsolable loneliness from the past week crashes back into her. She even feels out of breath, but she forces herself to continue. "After our phone call last week, I got into an argument with Nor, too. I wasn't talking to either of you, which meant I wasn't talking to anybody. I don't have other close friends here. Between saving the world and catching up on coursework, I don't have the chance to make other close friends. It's not like in high school where it's the same people I've been going to school with for my whole life, who knew me even before I became Kim Possible. It's harder here… and Nor felt easy."

She sniffs away the tears that threaten her composure. "In fact, it felt like being with you. Maybe that's why…"

She doesn't finish her sentence, but she doesn't have to. Ron gets it now. He gets all of it.

He barely has to tug for Kim to fall into his open arms. She may have found comfort in Nor's hug, but Ron's embrace means forgiveness. The familiarity and understanding and acceptance it conveys, those are far greater salves to her battered constitution. Its extended absence has caused her to forget how much she needs those.

With her head in Ron's shoulder and his warm hands clutching her body like a promise, she finally lets herself cry. The huge, heaving sobs have been begging for release ever since the stupid kiss; and from what she can feel and hear from Ron, he's in much the same state.

They lose themselves in their catharsis, and they only hold on to each other tighter as they come back into awareness and as their emotions abate.

Kim breaks the silence with a mumble into his shoulder. "I pick you, Ron."

"What?"

She lets herself out of their hold far enough to look into his eyes. They're the same shade of brown they've been since kindergarten, but the face around them has changed in ways for which puberty alone can't account. Everything about him—splotchy skin and drying tear tracks and dribble of snot from his left nostril included—is hers.

"You told me to let you know what I want, and I want you. I'm sorry it took me so long to tell you."

"For a while there, KP, I didn't think you would," Ron admits.

It's the first time he's called her that since they started talking, and she knows for sure they're in a good place again. Relief crosses her face even as she confesses, "I'm sorry for making you think that, too."

Ron gives her a gentle smile, a look that takes her back to prom night. Just like then, it makes her feel like she can stop waiting. He must feel it, too, because they meet in the middle for a kiss with far more assuredness than they did that first time.

The night turns into a different kind of first time.

~~~

Ron stays over for the night (with the RA none-the-wiser), and Kim drives them back to Middleton the next day. Throughout the excitement of spending time with her family again, preparing for Thanksgiving Day, and experiencing her hometown with the fresh eyes of someone who misses it, Ron never leaves her side. They make up for lost time with talking and kissing (and other stuff) and crying and hanging out. It's almost like they're back in high school.

By the time she leaves for school again on Sunday night, they feel a lot better and more committed to each other than they did the first time they separated four months ago; and on Monday morning, Nor even sits next to her in WGSS again. It's like everything is falling back into place.

Unfortunately, that feeling doesn't last past that first class.

Even with his reinstated place to her side, there's a noticeable change between them. It's not awkward, necessarily. Just unsure, hesitant, uncertain. Her opportunity to do something about it arrives in the professor's reminder about the final project right before they dismiss class.

"How do you feel about wrapping this up well before finals week? We can just submit it as soon as we can, be done with it, and focus the rest of our time on studying for actual exams," Kim asks as she faux-leisurely packs up her bag.

"Yep, sounds good," Nor agrees easily, and Kim is so relieved she wonders whether she was making up the weird air between them earlier.

"Great! Wanna grab a study room at the library tomorrow? We could even go to that cafe down the block for dinner afterwards."

Nor shifts in his seat, and Kim realises she spoke too soon. "Listen, Kim. I made a promise to you, and I made a promise to your boyfriend. I'm not tryna break up a good thing."

"It's just dinner," Kim can't help but defend.

Nor sighs. "It's not gonna be just dinner, though. Not for me, not anymore." He gets up and ready to leave. "But yeah, tomorrow in the lib. The usual time is good." He walks away.

Like that, Nor routinely dodges all of her attempts at conversation or extracurricular engagement unrelated to their final project, regardless of the relative innocuity of the prompt, and Kim is frustrated to say the least. With a mutual understanding both of the circumstances that lead to Kim's infidelity and that Kim can never do something like that again, she has Ron's permission to continue her friendship with Nor—a friendship he seems no longer willing to be a part of.

To add injury to insult, some of the loneliness that afflicted her before Thanksgiving break returns without the option of hanging out with Nor anymore. She's friendly with a few other people, but she didn't really invest in their friendships the way she did with Nor's. She regrets listening to her advisor about postponing participation in extracurriculars until next semester, but at least she remembers she's not completely alone.

"Ron, don't get jealous, but I really need a best friend right now, not a boyfriend," she says into the phone later that week. He listens patiently as she explains Nor's behaviour and how hurt she is that Nor doesn't think he can be friends with her anymore because his stupid feelings are in the way, and she has the presence of mind to be grateful he can let himself be here for her through this.

"We're meeting again tomorrow to work on the project, and just… It sucks that the one person on this campus that I'm close to, I can't even grab dinner with him after work without feeling like crap! I'm mad at him for putting this distance between us, I'm mad at myself for putting us in this situation to begin with, I'm—ugh!" Kim ends frustratedly.

There is silence on the other end, and she knows for sure it's because Ron is waiting to make sure she is completely done. "Ron, I miss you" slips out of her mouth without any conscious effort.

"I miss you, too, KP. I wish there were some way I could help." His earnestly regretful tone is a soothing balm to her grievances, and she feels better already.

"Trust me, the fact that you're not jealin' right now way helps. Being in a fight with both of you at the same time was so the drama," she says with levity, purposefully trying to change the mood.

Ron easily picks up what she was putting down. "I thought you were the girl that can do anything?" he teases.

"Ron, haven't you heard? I can only do it all when I have you by my side," she reminds in the same tone.

"Ah-booyah." Kim can easily imagine the self-satisfied shrug of his shoulders, and she smiles.

"Hey, tell me about anything fun that happened in Smarty Mart today," she prompts. A story about a customer getting caught using a deodorant stick and putting it back on the shelf is exactly the kind of distraction she needs right now.

~~~

Their paper is honestly basically done, but Kim is still dragging her feet on it. She's sitting in front of the computer, trying to find any paragraph that could use an extra citation, or a better way to organize the flow of their argument, or literally anything.

It's not that she wants to work necessarily; but after this she's just going to go back to her dorm alone, and she doesn't want that either. (She refuses to feel pathetic about this.)

Finally, Nor breaks the silence. "Is it just me, or are we… done?" he asks with hesitant excitement.

"It definitely looks like it," Kim gripes.

"Don't be like that, Kimothy. We did some good work today! You should be proud."

His nickname for her? All of a sudden? What's going on? "I'm proud," she refutes. "Are you?"

"For sure," he says, pronouncing the words so that they rhyme. "I know I joined this class for the wrong reasons, but I'm not mad about it. Actually, this stuff would be kinda cool if we weren't being graded on it."

This is unmistakably non-work related small talk. She hops on it immediately. "Yeah! Isn't it so flawed how much the school setting pressure sucks the fun out of learning new points of view? The world is full of so many interesting people and things, but a classroom is often the only way people get to experience them—but since it's a classroom, they wouldn't want to."

"Big Academia, Kimothy. I'm telling ya." And he has, more than once. Kim giggles a little, both at the reminder and at the distinct feeling of their stalled friendship reigniting.

Nor continues, "I'm actually kinda famished… I could really go for a potager right about now."

She wishes she could join him, but she's not going to push her luck. "You should get one!" Not all of the cheer in her voice is fabricated; between that and the progress she made today, they are more than enough for her.

Nor rolls his eyes. "Kim, do you want to come with me?" he drones with a smile.

.

(That morning, Nor got a call from an unknown number.)

.

Kim's smile is slow and disbelieving. "Seriously?" she asks with hesitant excitement. Nor nods, and she shouts an eager "Yes!" before he could change his mind.

The page on duty sends a shhh in their direction. They smirk at each other, both immediately reminded of that one incident with Professor Barkin, and pack up their stuff eagerly.

.

(To his surprise, it's a familiar face. To his double surprise, he could only say that because said face was taking up the small screen of his phone.

"Stoppable?" Nor questioned while bringing the device closer, double-checking what he was seeing. "How did you get into my phone?")

.

"Anyway, like I was saying: yes, I will totally join you," Kim repeats as they head out of the library.

"Neat-o," he replies with a grin.

.

("WWW: World Wired Wade, but nevermind that," Ron hastily explained. "We need to talk about Kim."

Nor groaned. "Nothing else happened between us, and nothing else is gonna happen between us. Like I told you guys, I'm not tryna get in between nothing.")

.

They push open the doors and are greeted by the barren field that is the quad. On a normal day, there would still be a lively level of activity from gathered students, but the winter chill is discouraging. Though the sun is still out, they can tell not for long.

"I, um, I didn't think I'd have plans after our work session. I need to run back to my dorm to drop some stuff off. It'll only be a minute. Can I just meet you there?" she proposes.

.

(Ron rolled his eyes, and Nor still can't get over the fact he can see the guy roll his eyes.

''Trust me, dude. If that were the problem, we'd be having this convo face to face. But that's not the point here. You need to stop ignoring Kim," Ron demands.)

.

Nor looks up at the orange sky. "Will you be okay getting to CNC by yourself?"

Kim smirks. "Check my name."

.

("Uh, status check: I'm not ignoring her. We still have that project for WGSS. In fact, we're working on it later today."

"Stop playing dumb with me because you think I'm gonna hurt you or something. I only hurt you if you hurt Kim. With the way you're treating her, you're already halfway there, so stop it.")

.

He chuckles. "How could I forget?" he asks with a sarcastic smile. "Yeah, go ahead. I'll save us a seat."

They make their way down the front steps.

"Great! Get us a booth this time. Those window seats are way too close together."

.

("Listen, man—"

"—No you listen, 'man.' I know you're in love with her. Don't even bother trying to deny it," Ron cuts off as Nor prepares to object. "Don't you want to see her happy?")

.

Kim freezes where she stands, and he looks over to see a complicated flutter of emotions cross her face. She said it without thinking, and now both of them are so obviously remembering the same thing.

Nor fights to keep his face impassive. If it weren't for the way the setting sun is casting unpredictable shadows and a wistful orange hue onto the world, he's sure a blush would be visible as well.

.

(He considered lying, but he's had enough of that lately: lying to himself that he didn't want to hang out with Kim Possible anyway, that this was for the better. The truth can't hurt any worse.

"Yeah, I do," he eventually conceded with a sigh. On the surface he's replying to Ron's question, but underneath he's affirming Ron's assessment. He figured the other could tell.)

.

Regardless of what it did to them, he can't fully regret what happened that night. He doesn't think he ever will, but that isn't the case for Kim. If he has to recognise remorse on her face one more time, it might be enough to break the truce he set with himself just to give them the chance at friendship again.

He forces a smirk onto his face. "A booth it is," he eventually concedes. "Any other requests?"

.

("First rule to loving Kim Possible, dude: we don't get to decide what makes her happy. If I did, she would have cut your friendship off long before all this, but I don't. You make her happy, and I'm man enough to admit it. But I promise you, the second you hurt her, I'll be the last thing you ever see."

Nor peered curiously at the screen. "What's with you? You know I love her, you probably hate me, and yet you threaten me to hang out with her anyway?")

.

There is a brief moment when she is stunned, processing that her blunder didn't completely undo their minimal progress. Then, relief melts the stress from her shoulders and a smile stretches her face. It's not the brightest he's seen from her, but it's genuine and directed at him. "Just get me a soda."

He sucks in through closed teeth. "Actually, I was just kidding. The girl who can do anything can surely order her own food. No soda for you."

.

(Ron shook his head with a condescending yet self-deprecating smile. "Rule two to loving Kim Possible: Know she deserves anything she wants and that she usually gets it. What she can't get for herself, you give.

"You give her your heart, you give her your life, and you give her everything left after that, too. Me? I give her someone she can count on in college since I'm not there, even at the cost of my jealousness and insecurities, because Kim works best knowing someone's in her corner.")

.

She punches him in the shoulder, and he's sure it'll bruise. "And to think I was considering buying your meal."

"Wait, there was free food on the table?" he gawks.

"Not anymore," she quips. "See you in a bit!" She turns to walk down the path towards residential campus with a noticeable pep in her step.

Cheerleaders.

.

("And you? You give her up without a fight. You give up on your personal feelings and give her the peace of mind of never feeling like she has to choose.")

.

He hears the tell-tale doot doot do-doot. He watches her lift her wrist Kimmunicator up to her face and her shadow trail long behind her. He can't tell what she's saying; but based on the crinkle in her eyes and the excited hand movements as she talks, he can guess who's on the other end.

"Yeah, see you."

.

(Nor doesn't understand why Ron is telling him all this, but the injustice of the situation wins over his confusion. "So that's it, then? I get a taste of what it's like to be in love with the most amazing girl on Planet Earth, then watch her be with another guy? That isn't such a raw deal," Nor remarked sarcastically.

Ron's steely look carried well over the screen. "Choose your own adventure, Cow 'n' Chow. Keep her as your friend, or take the gamble on Kim's love.")

.

As Nor stands there, the last of Ron's impromptu phone call that morning running through his head, he knows exactly what he chooses.

Kim finally walks out of his field of vision, and the scarlet sky starts turning blue.

[ariesisms]

i remember when i did my wgss th*sis i was reading all this stuff about the medicalization of adhd and also the ways that academia and higher education are formatted to push neurodivergent students to a breaking point that either runs them out or trains them to abandon their coping skills and my professors were like amber this is great stuff. what is your angle though. and i was like literally did you not read my unintelligible 7 pages of rambing??? i have adhd and thats just how it is??? and they were like you know what we actually cant argue with that and gave me As 😇

[mxmorganmorph]

Email

From: mmorgan@redwoodcollege.edu

To: Students of WGSS-120: Queer Theory: Transformative Works (Summer Semester)

Subject: In Person Classes Cancelled Indefinitely

Hello all,

First of all, I’d like to apologize that I didn’t show up for class today. There has been a family emergency that I have to take care of, which will be preventing me from attending in person classes likely for the rest of the semester. I will be on the lookout for a substitute professor but if one can’t be found, then we’ll be switching to online classes. This will consist of Zoom calls where our usual lessons and discussions will continue.

Classes, online or otherwise, are cancelled for the next week while I organize the transition. Please continue to do the readings as they were assigned and be on the lookout for an updated syllabus.

As for your essays, the grades have been posted online, but I will not be able to return the physical copies. If you’d like to know my feedback, please send an email with the essay attached and I will get back to you when I can.

In the meantime, enjoy your time off, take the time to recharge, and be kind to one another.

Best,

Professor Morgan

[loveisbraveandwild]

my one professor is the type of prof who like when he asks u a critical question and u dont tell him the answer he already has then he’ll just be like wrong! instead of like listening to students justifications for things and its so fucked and makes me so mad and such a polisci prof thing to do because none of my wgss professors do that but rather they like encourage analytical and critical thinking and make their classes a safe space to think outside the box and get questions wrong and stuff AND THEN THIS PROF JUST SAID “i want u to get comfortable being uncomfortable w me” and im like...... u want ur students to be uncomfortable around u........ like thats not the point of teaching but ok...... be an ass!!!

[mueritos]

Matteo, what are you studying to teach? Bc I'm interested in it as well, but Idk what I should focus on to make the biggest change, Ig that could be make through teaching. You know what I mean? I figured your thing can help me decide

I’m studying Spanish and I’ll working toward getting a certificate in Latin American and Indigenous studies. Unfortunately I don't think getting a WGSS minor is gonna work out for me, but those two certificates I can work on. Whether I teach middle school, high school, or even college (I've been thinking about that last one).

Here’s the thing about making a change, being a good teacher that hopes to humanize their students in a capitalist education system is how you make change. It doesn’t matter what subject you teach, whether that's math or literature or science, etc and etc! As long as you work toward decolonizing the space that you and your students are in and you treat your students as people first. Just focus on being a good human, and you’ll be just fine!

[philosims]

hello!! my name’s lydia, and i’m an undergrad student who’s double majoring in philosophy n wgss! i’ve been playing sims for a minute and i’ve finally decided to immerse myself into the sims community on here & maybe start telling stories of my own!!

if you’re a simblr, please feel free to like or reblog this!! i’d love to meet some new people on here!!

[lgbtqueeries]

Intersectionality: A Necessary Tool

TL;DR Intersectionality plays a role in our everyday life as we deal with the weaving of our identities in various institutions and situations. Intersectionality is also a pivotal tool in creating frameworks that analyze and attempt to fight against system oppression, in which intersectionality has multiplicative effects on individuals. While focused on Black women feminists in this post based on the articles I was provided this concept extends so much further. 

NOTE: Written with help from a fellow student Brennan Ventura taking Intro to WGSS Studies via our College. Feel free to reach out and chat with us about your feelings, understandings, comments, and questions!

Another day, another project in the name of awareness and activism. While this blog may seem to center on only queer rights I want to make it very clear that that is not the case. This blog speaks about and stands up for the many types of injustices present in our current systems and institutions. They do not have to intersect with Queer rights and advocacy but it’s time we focus on the fact that many actually do. Oppression doesn’t seem to go one at a time. You don’t generally deal with the racism inherent in all systems from simply being followed by shop owners in stores to a higher likelihood of police brutality one day and the next day dealing with inaccessible public places and buildings. This doesn’t take into account the discrimination you face from inside your own “safe” communities. 

Because of this, I want to want to bring to people’s awareness a couple of concepts that have been pivotal in sharing such eye-opening perspectives on the mix of oppressions. Intersectionality and system oppression are very important terms that can help in analyzing the lives and situations different people or groups of people across the world may be experiencing.  First off is intersectionality, intersectionality is a fairly new idea and a lot of different authors and people across multiple areas of interest such as activism, politics or science the answer to, “what is intersectionality”, would vary greatly. Most simply put, intersectionality is basically the differences and intricacies that humans in the world face in their daily lives. According to Sirma Bilge, and Patricia Hill Collins, sociology professors at Université de Montréal and the University of Maryland, say that intersectionality is “a way of understanding and analyzing the complexity in the world, in people, and in human experiences”(Collins and Bilge 2020, 1). But more so, intersectionality is a lens that helps to analyze the different situations and dilemmas that people across the world go through and how many times, issues such as gender violence, racism, sexuality, discrimination are connected through underlying strings and the issues that involve these systemic problems typically overlap as well. Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American lawyer, and civil rights activist, uses intersectionality to unveil the hidden binds in cases that deal with race and gender discrimination. Crenshaw views intersectionality as a way of showing that issues such as race and gender that may only seem as racial discrimination or gender prejudice are often overlapped in their issues. In a 2016 TEDWomen speech by Crenshaw she stated “in the same way that intersectionality raised our awareness to the way that black women live their lives, it also exposes the tragic circumstances under which African-American women die ”(Crenshaw 2016). And this leads us to system oppression or systematic oppression through the lens of intersectionality. 

System oppression is the unwritten societal standards and traditions that are discriminatory towards certain races, ethnicities, genders or groups of people in general. For instance, in the United States African-Americans have undergone systematic oppression for generations and still continue to be oppressed today due to the societal standards grandfathered in by millions of people across the United States. Although explicit discrimination against African-Americans or explicit discrimination of any kind towards a specific group was made illegal by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, system oppression and the unwritten discrimination of certain groups throughout the United States are still as prominent as ever. And through the lens of intersectionality, it is evident that more often than not, an issue that may seem only racially charged or motivated is often intersectional and involves problems and perspectives from many other areas of oppression such as gender discrimination, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, etc. and just looking at the issue as one caused by racism will not solve the issue and lead towards more problems later on down the line. Looking at system oppression through intersectionality it is evident a vast majority of issues do not merely involve one aspect of oppression and discrimination but multiple aspects like race, gender, homophobia and many more. According to a case by Kimberlé Crenshaw a young girl was in a lawsuit against a  company that did not hire her due to what she thought was racial discrimination, however, the judge overseeing the case did not agree with the girl’s pleas. When analyzing the lawsuit, Crenshaw noticed that the judge was not looking at the case through the right lens, and because of this, the young girl lost the lawsuit. Crenshaw described this case through a lens of intersectionality and how the young African-American girl could not get helped because she was suffering through both racial and gender charged systematic oppression. As we can see, system oppression and intersectionality play a big role in the world today, and intersectionality, seeing an issue through multiple perspectives, can help to solve so many of the issues brought about by system oppression and discrimination in the United States and other nations across the world that face similar issues and problems. 

These concepts are far-reaching but I think it important to first analyze them in the concepts that they were emphasized in. The frameworks for viewing interlocking systems of power, in this case, focus on weaving feminism and anti-racism together. In the introduction of the book But Some of Us Are Brave we see this eloquently spoken by Gloria T. Hull and Barbara Smith, “Because of white women’s racism and Black men’s sexism, there was no room in either area for a serious consideration of the lives of Black women. And even when they have considered Black women, white women usually have not had the capacity to analyze racial politics and Black culture, and Black men have remained blind or resistant to the implications of sexual politics in Black women’s lives” (Cooper, Hull, Bell-Scott, and Smith 2015, xxi). It is out of absence for this framework that these movements are born. Because of the interlocking identity, instead of being embraced by both communities, they are cast aside and their needs are not spoken for nor are their experiences being shared. Kimberly Crenshaw on her TedTalk about “The Urgency for Intersectionality” spoke about how pivotal that these voices are heard. Her example also focuses on the lived experiences of Black women, mentioning that with the trickle-down sense of social justice that we have currently, people are slipping through the cracks and being left at crossroads of communities, alone and vulnerable (Crenshaw 2016). Social justice movements, despite their call for equality only tend to mention the story of those with other privileges, for instance, feminism speaking mostly for the equality of white women. In this manner, those with intersecting identities have multiplicative effects of oppression and discrimination. As Crenshaw states, Black women brought down by police violence are not covered in the media as breaking news like that of their fallen brothers because of their status as women that are Black and the media simply doesn’t have a frame for how to portray that. 

Of course, Black women are not the only intersectionality groups to have created such frameworks, demanding they be heard for their experiences. Similar movements have happened with queer people of color, disabled queer people, and indigenous people of nonbinary gender identities. Each of these groups speaks out against injustices of racism, homophobia, transphobia, colonialism, and ableism at the crossroads of where they interact, the very spot they were abandoned at. This is a commonality of all of those groups. They have formed communities based on this separation from not only the dominant, privileged culture but also the groups that are supposed to help them as well. This is by far not a new concept. These groups have been standing up for themselves for decades, creating liberation groups like the Salsa-Soul Sisters, a group made for and by Queer women of color. Just because their history has been erased, covered up, and ignored doesn’t mean that they haven’t been there fighting back. These groups are taking a stand for their stories and would love for allies to help spread their cause. Stay safe and stay educated and don’t forget to stand up for what you believe in!

Work Cited

Collins, Patricia Hill, and Sirma Bilge. Intersectionality. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2020.

Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “TEDWomen 2016.” TEDWomen 2016.

Cooper, Brittney C., Akasha Hull, Patricia Bell-Scott, and Barbara Smith. But Some of Us Are Brave Black Womens Studies. New York: The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2015.

[queer-academic]

Aaand it is Monday, again.

Happy Monday fellow queerios, neurodiverse folks, and students (I figured if you follow me, you probably are at least one of three.). 

Today, I really need to focus on Energy Accounting so I can be productive AND comfortable. I might throw in another study session this evening, but this morning/afternoon study session looks like this so far. Let’s hope I can hold myself accountable!

5 min mindfulness activity

20 min WGSS reading

10 min break - Look at studyspo

20 min WGSS reading (If it’s not finished yet.)

10 min break - Stretch leggies, mindfulness

20 min SOC reading

10 min break - Mindless scrolling time

20 min SOC reading

This leaves me a couple hours before class which I will probably use for a nap.

Lets do this, friends!

[asterlark]

i’m sorry it took me so long to answer these but hi!! i always love talking about the swv!!

primer for those who don’t know: canonically there are 3 known members of the samwell women’s volleyball team: caitlin farmer ‘18 aka farmer aka chowder’s girlfriend, march ‘16 (who dated ransom for a bit) and april ‘16 who appeared in parse part 2 and who me & amber headcanon as co-captains in their junior & senior years. the rest were made up by me & @abermb​!! they’re very gay and chaotic and i love them to death

kelsey sherman ‘17

psych major, wgss minor

from hawaii

like if shitty and holster were one person and that person was a loud, party-loving lesbian

that is, chaotic. lovable. often inebriated. 

dating fellow team member bailey thompson

used to be a dancer

owns a ridiculous amount of snapbacks

probably has a tiktok. probably also has adhd

would get along with parse

is captain after march & april graduate

bailey thompson ‘16

bio major with a focus in forensic science, criminology minor

loves true crime shows & podcasts

fat & black & fucking stunning

anxious pansexual

similar in personality to lardo (she’s quieter, observant, but genuinely v chill & funny) - her & lardo def get along

collects sunglasses

responsible & a good student but doesn’t always take care of herself when stressed/busy/anxious- kelsey & the team help :)

loves dogs so... fucking... much

sara ‘18

double major in theatre & english

tragically heterosexual, if she wasn’t she’d be dating amanda

wants to write scripts or maybe books or maybe just be on broadway. she has a lot of dreams

shortest/smallest on the team yet fightiest & so loud

yes she’s a soprano. and an only child

loves photography & is proud of having 3000 followers on her hipster photography instagram

used to do ballet

always filming things- her snapchat & insta stories are always full of her teammates being dumb

used to be a 1d blogger, still has a tumblr but it’s just memes and her friends’ selfies 

amanda ‘17

theatre major, art minor

the alto to sara’s soprano, yes they harmonize showtunes on roadies constantly, they are stereotypical annoying theatre majors dsghsjgf

very artistic, loves to draw & paint

is constantly drawing her teammates & sticking doodles in their lockers to improve morale at morning practice

human embodiment of a puppy, like at that stage where they’re tall but clumsy and excitable

trans straight girl

if she wasn’t straight she’d be dating sara

loves platonic kisses & cuddles

molly & mallory class of ????

like if ollie & wicky were also johnson

where did they come from.... when will they go......

both blonde & seemingly omniscient 

no one can tell them apart unless they’re standing right next to each other (molly is a little shorter)

are they dating & just look really similar?? or are they like?? twins???? it’s unclear

mallory’s number is #53 and molly’s is #35 and sometimes they switch jerseys just to be terrible and confuse everyone

jessie ‘19

undeclared major at first bc everything is very exciting to her & she takes all the classes (excitability levels = chowder-esque)

by the time she’s a sophomore she figures out she wants to be a zoology major and be either a vet or a zookeeper

from texas, has a strong accent

weird texas shit: is very proficient at riding a horse, knows how to shoot a gun, had her first drink at 14 and owns 3 pairs of cowboy boots in varying colors (also a cowboy hat but everyone on the team shamed her out of wearing it in public)

thought she was straight until she went to samwell, figures out she’s bi by the end of freshman year

the second shortest/smallest on the team after sara but and similarly loud, altho shier when she’s not around her friends 

when she talks fast she’s indecipherable

has bright red curly hair, freckles, huge brown cow eyes, is just generally adorable

as for how they’re doing now- i don’t think we made hc’s for the class of ‘20 or ‘21 so all these girls have graduated by now! i’ve already written a drabble about kelsey & bailey getting married lol so that’s definitely a thing (they probably had the wedding in 2019). jessie’s in vet school, sara and amanda live together in new york trying to make their broadway dreams happen, and molly & mallory? who fucking knows lmao

i always love talking about them so feel free to send me swv asks anytime!! if you’re thirsting for more here’s my tag and here’s the beautiful fanart! thank u for these asks, writing this up was a lot of fun!! 💖💖💖