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k n i th n e r e f f i d What Is Intersectionality?

It makes sense in many ways that those of us with identity privilege would have a harder time including in our feminism those who are oppressed. Privilege conceals itself from those who have it, and it’s a lot easier to focus on the ways that we are marginalized or oppressed.

But without an intersectional lens, our movements cannot be truly anti-oppressive because it is not, in fact, possible to tease apart the oppressions that people are experiencing. Racism for women of color cannot be separated from their gendered oppression. A Trans person with a disability cannot choose which part of their identity is most in need of liberation.

Yet there is regularly confusion about what intersectionality really is.

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Renowned law scholar and critical race theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw introduced the term in 1989 in her paper “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of

ntly

Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics.”

She noted that “problems of exclusion” of Black women from both mainstream antiracist politics and feminist theory “cannot be solved simply by including Black women in an already established analytical structure.

Because the intersectional experience is

greater than the sum of racism and sexism, any analysis that does not take intersectionality into account cannot sufficiently address the particular manner in which Black women are subordinated.”

While her immediate focus was on the intersections of race and gender, Crenshaw highlights in “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color” that her “focus on the intersections of race and gender only highlight the need to account for multiple grounds of identity when considering how the social world is constructed.”

In short, intersectionality is a framework that must be applied to all social justice work, a frame that recognizes the multiple aspects of identity that enrich our lives and experiences and that compound and complicate oppressions and marginalizations.

We cannot separate multiple oppressions, for they are experienced and enacted intersectionally. Thus, in the words of Flavia

Dzodan, “My feminism will be intersectional or it will be bullshit.”

Understanding Intersectionality in Context To better understand the concept of intersectionality, let’s look at one of the most cited pieces of evidence for the oppression of women: violence targeting women and girls.

Using conservative estimates, between 25% and 50% of women experience gender-based violence (sexual violence, intimate partner violence, street harassment, or stalking) in their lifetime. But to cite that number without disaggregating the data hides the ways that multiple oppressions compound this violence.

For instance, women (and men) of color are more likely to experience these forms of violence than White women or men and that wealth privilege can help to insulate some women from some forms of violence.

We also find that bisexual women are far more likely to experience sexual violence than other women.

And of those murdered in LGBTQ-based hate incidents, 78% were people of color, and Transgender people are 27% more likely to experience hate violence than cisgender people.

In short, all women are at risk for gendered violence in the United States, but some women are far more at risk.

And if we just talk generally about violence against women (or other issues like the wage gap), we fail to address the actual issues at

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stake, and as a result, we cannot envision

feminist movement. By including race, class,

solutions that dismantle the intersectional

sexuality, and other identity markers in feminist

oppressions at play.

analysis, some say, intersectional feminists are

At a more personal level, though, feminism

spreading the movement thin and undermining

without intersectionality keeps us from

its unity.

fully expressing who we are! A lack of

The trouble with this line of thinking is that

intersectionality leads to an erasure of people

a one-size-fits-all feminist movement that

and their identities.

In preparing for writing this article, both of us, as the authors, recognized ways that heteronormative expectations restrict us from

focuses only on the

“We have to be willing to take up the critical thinking and self-work necessary to push back against our privileges and to create an intersectional ethic and lens through which our feminism is crafted.”

living outside of a

common ground between women is erasing rather than inclusive. Even if all women deal with sexism, not all women deal with racialized sexism, or transmisogyny, or

binary of attraction and love. We’ve both found

cissexism.

that if we are not actively dating people who

Glossing over the issues faced by specific

share our gender, we are expected to live and

groups of women for the sake of unity centers

act as if we are straight even though that may

the feminist movement on those who have the

not be how we fully identify.

most privilege and visibility. It allows those

Even in feminist and anti-oppressive spaces,

who already take up a disproportionate amount

strict gender roles define so many aspects of

of space in the movement to look as if they’re

relationship that parts of our own identities are

making room for others without giving up any

erased.

themselves.

Intersectionality is not only about confronting

One-size-fits-all feminism is to intersectional

more obvious problems like violence and

feminism what #AllLivesMatter is to

economic inequality. It’s also about allowing

#BlackLivesMatter. The former’s attempt at

people to live more fully in their being and to

inclusiveness can actually erase the latter’s

have a voice in our movements!

acknowledgment of a unique issue that

One misconception about intersectionality is

disproportionately affects a specific group of

that it encourages division and exclusion in the

people.

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CONTENTS

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Intersectionality Literature

THINK DIFFERENTLY An intruduction to Intersectionality and how it can shape your day to day thinking.

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Fashion & Beauty

NATIVE AMERICAN FASHION Inside Bethany Yellowtail’s new collection and how she is taking the fashion world by storm.

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Fashion & Beauty

BUTCHBABY & CO. Vanessa Newman and Michelle Janayea talk to us about their line of genderqueer maternity clothes.

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Art & Culture

BEYOND THE BINARY We talk to writer, performer, and solidarity activist Alok Vaid-Menon about their self love journey.

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Art & Culture

CULTURAL APPROPRIATION 101 The ultimate guide to cultural appropriation; where it came from and why you should never do it.

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Art & Culture

#BLACKLIVESMATTER The women behind the hashtag talk about their intentions, visions, and inspirations.

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Cover Story

I’TS NICKI MINAJ. A critical discussion about Nicki Minaj’s unapologetic sexuality, her general bad bitchness, and how she is slaying the rap game.

Native American Fashion Without Cultural Apropriation It’s bigger than fashion.

That’s the first thing to know about Bethany Yellowtail’s work, a vibrant, elegant melding of classic style and the staples of her Native upbringing. Elk teeth line the sleeves of one gown, drawn with intricate floral beadwork, that drapes, glistening black, on the body of Jade Willoughby, an Ojibwe model from the Whitesands First Nation in Northern Ontario, Canada. All of Yellowtail’s collaborators are indigenous: Thosh Collins, the photographer, is Onk Akimel O’Odham, Wah-ZahZi and Haudenosaunee. Martin Sensmeier, another model, is Tlingit, Koyukon and Athabascan.

Promotional video director and poet Tazbah Rose Chavez, is Nüümü and Diné.

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And all have converged behind Yellowtail’s

That personal element is what makes Yellowtail’s

vision, a fashion collection that bears the

work so rich. Raised on the Crow Nation and

unmistakable mark of Native American

Northern Cheyenne Indian reservations in

influence and history, but with a twist — it’s

southeastern Montana, Yellowtail developed

actually made by a Native American.

an interest in fashion in high school, where an

This is rarer than one might assume. Indigenous

art teacher saw the designer’s potential from

designers are scarce in this space, and for

an early age. “She said, ‘You could be a fashion

most of its existence, the mainstream fashion

designer,’” Yellowtail explains. “And at the

industry’s relationship with Native peoples has

time there were no Native fashion designers.

been one of appropriation and — put bluntly —

We don’t see Natives like that in media, or in

theft.

typical mainstream roles. My family is mostly

Today, this trend is apparent every time Pharrell

ranchers. My dad runs a cattle ranch. With the

Williams graces the cover of Elle magazine in

kinds of challenges and poverty we face on the

a warbonnet or Heidi Klum arranges a Project

reservation, I never thought of this as an option.”

Runway fashion shoot starring white models

After graduating from art school in Los

in face paint, feathers, headdresses and animal

Angeles, Yellowtail worked for various labels

pelts.

“My brother is a chief, and those warbonnets are how we honor him,” Yellowtail told Mic in an interview. “You don’t just run around and parade in it.” Perhaps the most vivid example of appropriation from Yellowtail’s own experience occurred at this year’s Fashion Week in New

“It’s beautiful to see the continuity of our people from then to now. I wanted to convey that with my collection — we’re still here, we’re still a reflection of our ancestors.”

York City. In a widely documented incident, London-based design label KTZ sent a model

and designers before embarking on this latest

onto the runway wearing a dress that bore

project, her first clothing line under her own

striking similarities to one Yellowtail herself

brand. She’s named it the “Mighty Few,” the

had designed — including a multi-colored print

name of the reservation district she’s from.

bearing the distinctive hourglass pattern native

Her inspiration, she says, is encapsulated in the

to her Apsáalooke people.

vision board she created before designing the

“That design I did comes from a bag that my

pieces — old black-and-white photographs of her

great-grandmother made,” she told Mic. “I can’t

grandfather, Hawk with the Yellowtail Feather,

even describe that feeling — here I am, trying to

and of her aunt performing a rare women’s

reclaim our voice and represent myself, and this

warbonnet dance in the 1940s juxtaposed with

designer acts as if [Native women] are not alive,

her sister participating in the same ceremony a

like we can’t do this ourselves.

few years back.

“It felt personal. It really lit a fire under me.”

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“ALTERN When Vanessa Newman was a sophomore in

“At one event, I said, ‘Oh, I’m working on

college, she would attend career networking

an androgynous maternity line,’ and people

events where she didn’t like saying she was

loved it. They were giving me their cards and

a student. Instead, she’d pretend she was

stuff, and I was like, ‘Hm, this is a really good

actively working on various business ideas

idea.’” Last July, Newman was invited to an

that existed only in her head to see what the

LGBT summit at the White House with a call

reaction was.

for 30-second pitches, where she decided to test the idea on a more prominent, targeted crowd. “It was the only pitch after about 30 pitches that got an applause,” she says.

Now, at age 20, the Washington, D.C.-area native is getting ready to launch Butchbaby & Co., the first line of what she calls “alternity” wear for pregnant masculine, transgender, and queer individuals. The company’s motto is “Don’t change just because your body does,” and its philosophy is that pregnancy and motherhood should and do have a wide variety of definitions and identities.

Newman’s design partner is Michelle Janayea, currently a senior at Columbia College in Chicago in fashion design and fashion business, whom she met through a mutual friend. “I asked if she knew any black queer fashion designers who would be interested in this,” says Newman. “We really just hit it off from the beginning, and so we’ve been working together pretty much since day one of that introduction.”

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NITY” The pair started by hosting surveys and

interviewing moms and moms-to-be to find out their pain points in maternity shopping, along with what they wore most often

when not pregnant. The focus has been on

“designing the perfect fit for women between maternity wear and menswear and women’s wear,” says Newman, noting that there’s a sector of the fashion industry growing around tailoring masculine clothes for all gender identities and body types, but not yet in the maternity space. Other companies that have inspired Newman include Saint Harridan, Tomboy Tailors, and Androgyny.

Butchbaby’s designs aren’t public just yet, but the first line includes “work,” “play,” and

“We would always joke about, ‘Oh, I can’t wait until we’re old and we’re going to have babies at the same time so they can be friends, too,’ and the thing was always like, ‘Oh, but what are we going to wear?’

We joked about it, but in the back of my head, I’m like, ‘What am I really going to wear?’”

important because I know a lot of women or people who identify on a more masculine scale usually have issues with women’s jeans already,” says Newman. “They like very deep pocket space because we don’t really carry

“rest” categories with everyday pieces like

purses. Stuff like that, or having a straighter

jeans, a button-down, a pullover, a nursing tee,

leg, they don’t have to worry about taking

a sports bra, and boxer briefs. “Jeans were

away from their aesthetics.

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With the sports bra, and then the boxer briefs, it’s something that a number of people in our community are more comfortable in, but also things that aren’t necessarily out there [for pregnant people].”

Butchbaby will be raising money for a sample line next month, and expects to go into production over the summer, with a crowdfunding campaign launching in August. Clothes will hopefully be available on the company’s website by October. The price point is to be determined after some decisions are made about material, but Newman knows she doesn’t want the line to be too high-priced or exclusive.

As for the branding, Newman says it’s important to her that the name Butchbaby so perfectly reflects the

“Being a person of color, I know that people of color disproportionately make less money, and they get pregnant, too,” says Newman. “I want people to know that we can make quality clothes at an affordable price.”

mission of the business. But not everyone has been comfortable with it. “Where I’m at, or where I was raised and how I was raised, I consider myself butch,” she says. “I feel like this term is being reclaimed by younger queer people, but I know that it has very negative associations for older queer people. When we first started getting attention on our website, I would get a number of letters that are like, ‘Uh, you should think about changing the name because my perception of the word is negative and I remember so-and-so.’ But I think there are a lot more of us now that are saying, like, ‘No, it doesn’t have to be a bad word.’ Hopefully something like this will contribute to changing those connotations.”

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A HOODIE FROM THE PLAY CATEGORY “It has the side panels and the tucks, but the hoodie also has some hidden compartments and additional pockets. You can wear it when you’re pregnant, pre-pregnancy, post-pregnancy, and you always have that extra space for holding all of your belongings.”

NURSING BRAS FROM THE REST CATEGORY “The nursing bra has a few adjustable components to it. On the shoulders you can adjust it, so that way it’s not pressing too close to your chest, which is important for when pregnant people start to lactate [so] their chest isn’t confined. We have the adjustable side straps as well as the adjustable hook in the back.”

BOXER BRIEFS FROM THE REST CATEGORY “We incorporated is a basic underwear lining inside. One of the things [with] pregnancy is there is bleeding. Having that underwear lining allows for people wearing the boxer briefs to attach pads when they need to, so you’re not spotting through your clothing, and you’re comfortable wearing the underclothes that you want to wear.”

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byellowtail.com

NICKI MINAJ: on ‘Anaconda’ and Respectability Politics

The hype over Nicki Minaj‘s

When

“Anaconda”

a

credentials came under fire by

long process. It started when

feminists in the past year, there

the

was hell to pay. It was fire-

a

cover,

has

been

which

controversial

featured

image

Beyoncé‘s

feminist

of

and-brimstone kinds of hell,

Minaj’s behind, leaked on the

too. People who expressed

Internet to much dismay; it

distaste for the “Mrs. Carter”

continued to play out after

tour title or Beyoncé’s subtle

the track’s audio release as

sexuality

the lyrics were heralded as

question as fellow feminists

feminist gold, and it all came

lifted her up to prominence

to a much-needed climax in

as the epitome of Goddess.

the form of the music video

Look, I’m all for Beyoncé and

featuring Minaj, some backup

I used to listen to “Why Don’t

dancers, and Minaj’s ass. Oh,

You Love Me” on repeat, but

and Drake was there. Folks are

her feminism is not everyone’s

now, as usual, scrambling to

feminism. Beyoncé is married

decide: empowering, or not

with a child — married to the

empowering? If anyone had

man she’s been assumedly

actually been paying attention

exclusively sleeping with and

to Nicki all these years, they’d

dating for pretty much my

already know the answer.

entire life.

were

called

into

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“Whenever black women own their sense of sexuality and it appears to not be controlled by the hetero-male gaze, the whole world gets into a tizzy”

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In terms of the image Beyoncé

Minaj has been showing her

conjures up in the minds of men

teeth in her climb to the top of

and women across the nation,

a male-dominated genre. Both,

it’s pretty clear that it’s one of

in the process, have expanded

moderate

and

our society’s idea of what an

responsibility. Beyoncé is not

empowered women looks like —

Nicki Minaj. Nicki Minaj is not a

but Minaj’s feminist credentials

woman who easily slides into the

still frequently come under fire.

roles assigned to women in her

To me, it seems like a clear-cut

industry or elsewhere. She’s not

case of respectability politics and

polished, she’s not concerned with

mainstreaming of the feminist

her reputation, and she’s certainly

movement: while feminist writers

not fighting for equality among mainstream

raved over Beyoncé’s latest album

second-wave feminists. She’s something

and the undertones of sexuality

else, and she’s something equally worth

and empowerment that came

giving credence to: a boundary-breaker, a

with it, many have questioned

nasty bitch, a self-proclaimed queen, a self-

Minaj’s decisions over the years

determined and self-made artist. She’s one

to subvert beauty norms using her

of the boys, and she does it with the intent

own body, graphically talk dirty in

to subvert what it means. She sings about

her work, and occasionally declare

sexy women, about fucking around with

herself dominant in discourse

different men. She raps about racing ahead

about other women. (All of these

in the game, imagines up her own strings

areas of concern, however, didn’t

of accolades, and rolls with a rap family

seem to come into play when

notorious for dirty rhymes, foul mouths,

Queen Bey did the same.) Minaj’s

and disregard for authority and hegemony.

perspective

While Beyoncé has expanded feminist

multi-dimensional;

discourse by reveling in her role as a mother

forward as an immigrant, as a

and wife while also fighting for women’s

black woman, as a female rapper,

rights, Minaj has been showing

as a sexual being, as an artist, as

respectability

has

always she

been comes

every inch of skin. Black women especially, are

often

criticized

for

expressing

themselves sexually despite the repression a storyteller, as a survivor, as a bad bitch.

those expressions fight with every inch of

She comes forward in order to tell her

skin. To say Nicki Minaj is modest would be

own story, be it one of domination or

a damndable lie; Minaj has been scantily

declaration. Minaj has even come forward

clad and sexual since the beginning. The

as a feminist. She’s actually done it over

integral spirit of defiance that exists within

and over again. And yet, instead of simply

Minaj’s self-imagery is undeniable. The

embracing her own discourse on the topic,

perfect example of this defiance is the

Feminists often can’t wrap their heads

video for “Lookin’ Ass,” in which Minaj

around it. it frustrates me that feminists

poses in a revealing outfit while literally

can so obliviously overlook a perspective

destroying the male gaze. She owns and

rooted in self-determination, and it grates

defines her own sexuality, time and time

on me because the reason is rooted

again — be it in conjunction with or in

in

“Anaconda”

opposition to the desires of men, desires

was praised for being a track that both

which she repeatedly calls into question.

reclaimed the gaze-inspired “Baby Got

And when feminists make the mistake of

Back” and also for reversing the narrative

questioning Minaj’s depiction of her own

of human sexuality in which women’s

sexuality, they fall into oppressive and

bodies are worthy of appreciation only

problematic matrixes which situate sexual

when they please men. And when the

pleasure as antithetical to self-respect or

“Anaconda” album artwork premiered

empowerment. This is what brings me to

online, feminists were quick to claim the

the latest feminist point of contention in

Minaj ass-shot heard ’round the world’

Minaj’s career: her lap-dance with Drake in

album artwork premiered online, feminists

“Anaconda.” Throughout that lap dance,

were quick to claim the Minaj ass-shot

Minaj is the one in control, and she’s acting

heard ’round the world as revolutionary,

on her own sexual desires. She’s simply

despite much debate over how the image

expressing her sexual desire. Her lap dance

of her behind played into the male gaze. “If

is an act of seduction, not of submission. It

black women aren’t allowed to own their

isn’t the male gaze, dominant narratives of

sexuality, then who does it belong to?”

sexuality, or hegemonic femininity which

respectability

politics.

Black women especially, are often criticized for expressing themselves sexually despite the repression those expressions fight with

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reigns true throughout Minaj’s work. It’s her

puts pressure on her career every day, be

own sexual state of being. And when Nicki

it in music or in interviews. Early on, Minaj

Minaj struts out in a string bikini or exudes

declared herself apart from the other, more

her own sexuality in the middle of something

submissive girls of the world. She declared

otherwise empowering, it isn’t an inherent

her intent to “Go Hard.” She was open in her

contradiction or a cause for debate. It’s simply

own self-doubt on “Can Anyone Hear Me?,”

a reflection of how many women feel comfortable and in

with

empowered their

choices

and are living their sexual lives. That’s what the

central

to

revolutionary

aspect of Minaj’s work: She’s never been shy about her

articulating

She’s never been shy about her own sexuality, nor has she been subtle or polite about it. Her lyricism has been consistently vulgar, shocking, and delightful — and often, has embraced a more realistic narrative about sex than songs which describe it using only metaphor.

own sexuality, nor

her

desire to stay true to herself as she progressed as an artist. She spoke out about her intent to make room for other

women

in

rap in “Still I Rise.”

In “Here I Am,” she an

describes abusive

relationship

and

has she been subtle or polite about it. Her

articulates her own self-worth as she breaks

lyricism has been consistently vulgar, shocking,

free from it. She spoke frankly about her

and delightful — and often, has embraced

power to represent unseen and unheard

a more realistic narrative about sex than

voices in popular music in “I’m the Best.” In

songs which describe it using only metaphor.

“Fly,” she spoke about breaking out of the

Whereas Beyoncé might say “it’s sweetest in

constraints placed on her in her industry.

the middle,” Minaj is more likely to say, “I let

The proof is in the pudding, respectability

him play with my pussy then lick it off of his

politics be damned. Nicki Minaj is a feminist.

fingers.” Same sentiment, but with a much

In the long run, what Minaj has contributed

different place in the matrix of respectability

to the existing and ongoing dialogue of

politics, gender politics, and mainstream

women’s oppression is the perspective of

music. Despite the debates over “Anaconda,”

someone who refuses to be defined by any

Minaj remains one of the few artist willing

categories she doesn’t claim for herself or

to explicitly confront the gender parsing that

constrained by the desires of other people.

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20

I

often walk around the city wearing a beard

trans television series even won an Emmy. But

and a skirt. This is when I’m most myself,

prominent trans figures still tend to fall squarely

but it’s also when I’m most afraid of people’s

on one side of the gender binary – that is, they

reactions. As a South Asian nonbinary person

transitioned from one side of it to the other.

– someone who does not identify as a man or

Think Caitlyn Jenner’s pinup look in Vanity

a woman – I have grown accustomed to people

Fair or Ian Harvie’s lumberjack aesthetic on

being disgusted by me, to strangers calling out

Transparent.

on the street, “What the hell is that?”

But not all transgender people medically

Media outlets – like Time magazine on its 2014

transition into an opposite gender, contrary to

cover featuring Laverne Cox –proclaim that

how the mainstream media is telling this story,

we’re at a “transgender tipping point,” a time

nor do we want to. Many of us do not change

of unprecedented visibility for trans people.

our names or documents, do not undergo

Yet at moments when I’m facing aggression or

hormone therapy and do not seek to pass as

contempt from strangers, I recognize that putting

cisgender (when someone’s biology and self-

trans celebrities on pedestals doesn’t translate

identification align).

into safety for those of us who are visibly gender

For me, the “trans tipping point” tends to be yet

nonconforming.

another form of exclusion because it recognizes

Our culture still holds an ingrained suspicion of

only those trans people who make claims to

gender nonconformity, as if people like me exist

“real” womanhood or manhood. Transgender

solely to deceive and harm others. I remember

people who present a fixed male or female

all the times I have been called a freak, an “it”

identity are regarded as representative of all of

and ugly. To refuse to participate in the gender

us. And I wonder if their acceptance by society

binary –the idea that there are only “masculinity”

is less a reflection of progress than a question

and “femininity” which exist in opposition – is to

of palatability. Indeed, while celebrities like

be considered a monster.

Jenner challenge the idea that gender is innate,

I do recognize that there have been some

ultimately they don’t challenge society’s mandate

promising changes. The number of Americans

that we all must exist as either male or female.

who report knowing a trans person has doubled

The rest of us – whose identities are more fluid,

in the past seven years. Obama has hired his

more difficult for strangers to comprehend and

first trans staffer; major Democratic leaders have

relate to – may not be visible in media but are

voiced their support for transgender rights; a

more noticeable on the streets.

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BEYOND THE BINARY It’s a moment of unprecedented visibility for some transgender celebrities, but individuals who are gender-nonconforming still face harassment, hostility, and fear.

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Alok Vaid-Menon is a trans/national South Asian writer, performer, and solidarity activist.

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s it stands, according to a nationwide

restrooms. A trans-activist photo campaign called

survey by the National Center for

#WeJustNeedToPee responded to the proposed

Transgender Equality, nonbinary

laws with photos of trans people looking out of

people, especially those of us who

place in restrooms of the genders to which they

are people of color, are more likely than binary

were assigned at birth: a trans woman with long

trans people to attempt suicide, be harassed by

ringlets and red lipstick in front of urinals, a trans

the police, live in abject poverty and be sexually

man in a cowboy hat and beard looking stoic next

and physically assaulted. What has become

to a woman at a bathroom sink, with the caption

evident is that so many of us who do not pass as

“Do I look like I belong in women’s facilities?”

male or female are still regarded as disposable

The campaign successfully highlighted the

by both cis and trans communities. Too often,

ridiculousness of the “bathroom bills”, but it did

efforts to gain acceptance and rights for trans

so by leaning on old-fashioned gender rules:

men and trans women has meant ignoring

shock that someone who looked like a “woman”

those of us who are not as easily categorized.

could be in a “men’s” restroom and vice versa.

Take, for example, the issue of trans-inclusive

People like me were erased from this framing,

public restrooms. Recently politicians in Florida,

even though we often experience the brunt of

Texas and other states have attempted to pass

gender policing, because society continually

laws criminalizing trans people for using public

misgenders us. Rather than challenging the idea

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that you can tell someone’s gender from what

You see, we grow up in a country where we’re

they look like (or the notion that bathrooms

taught that there are only two genders. We are

should be gendered to begin with!), many trans

told that femininity is for “girls” and masculinity

activists and allies accepted the idea that certain

is for “boys,” but there is no space for people

people who look certain ways belong in certain

like me: We who fall outside of these binaries,

bathrooms. Nobody should have to look a particular way to pee safely. I wonder if we can understand this “tipping point” less as a moment of triumph and more as a call for reflection.

Society’s message to trans people feels like: “Congratulations! As

Society’s message to trans people feels like: “Congratulations!

As long as you look like a conventionally attractive, respectable, thin cisgender model.”

long as you look like

we who grow up not having the language to describe ourselves, we who are often erased from our cultures and histories and told that we are not supposed to exist. Even in many LGBT spaces, we gender nonconforming people are told that we’re not “trans” enough, that we’re not

a conventionally attractive, respectable, thin

“visible,” enough, that we should just choose

cisgender model. Otherwise expect to continue

one gender or the other, that our genders are

experiencing discrimination, hostility and

only valid if others say so. Sometimes it feels

violence – and to be blamed for it.” This is not the

just as frustrating and as violent as it did growing

fault of individual binary trans people; it is part of

up — to not have control of my body, to have

a larger system of gender binarism that requires

it always shaped by others’ assumptions. I am

us to assimilate into discrete categories of “man”

fighting for a world where everyone, no matter

or “woman” to be worthy of recognition and

what they look like, can self-determine their

safety. Instead of requiring trans people to modify

gender. I believe in a future where we don’t have

how we look, our society can work to redefine its

anyone telling us how to express ourselves — be

limited ideas of what masculinity and femininity

that the bullies at school, the police, or even our

are. Let’s push beyond the “tipping point” and

own friends and families. I want every person

ensure justice for the full range of our identities.

questioning their gender out there to know that

The thing about gender-policing is that often you

you are enough. That there is no one way to be

learn how to do it better than the people who

a boy, a girl, or even transgender — that there

started to do it to you in the first place. Over time,

are as many genders as there are people on this

I learned to apologize for my body. Every time

planet. Gender-policing isn’t just about individual

I would hear a recording of my voice I would

slurs, policies, or bullies; it’s about a culture of

wince, embarrassed at the tinge of effeminacy,

assumptions. The only way we’re going to end

disappointed in my failure to be normal. This is

it is if we stop just saying we shouldn’t make

what gender meant to me: learning to deepen my

assumptions (that’s easy!), but actually also

voice, learning to hide myself in a button-up shirt

commit ourselves to the slow and deliberate work

that felt like a straitjacket.

of doing it.

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101

CULTURAL APPROPRIATION Cultural appropriation is when somebody adopts aspects of a culture that’s not their own.

But that’s only the most basic definition. A deeper understanding of cultural appropriation also refers to a particular power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture take elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group.

have the power to decide if they’d prefer to stick with their customs or try on the dominant culture’s traditions just for fun. When the last living survivors of massacred Indigenous tribes are fighting to save their language before it dies when they do, and Native students are suspended for speaking in their own Indigenous languages, mirroring the abusive US boarding schools that tried to wipe out Native American

That’s why cultural appropriation is not the

cultures up until the 1980s, it’s clear that not

same as cultural exchange, when people share

every person who speaks English does so by

mutually with each other – because cultural

choice. In other words, context matters.

exchange lacks that systemic power dynamic.

Which means it’s not about saying that you, as

It’s also not the same as assimilation, when

an individual, are a bad person if you appropriate

marginalized people adopt elements of the

someone else’s culture. It’s a complicated issue

dominant culture in order to survive conditions

that includes our histories, our current state of

that make life more of a struggle if they don’t.

affairs, and our future, as we act to eliminate

Some say, for instance, that non-Western

oppression, instead of perpetuating it. So if

people who wear jeans and Indigenous people

you’re still baffled about why people would get

who speak English are taking from dominant

upset about this issue, consider the following

cultures, too. But marginalized groups don’t

contexts.

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1

It Trivializes Violent Historical Oppression

The fans and the NFL are emotionally and financially invested in the name and don’t want to take extra time and money to change it. And that makes sense.

But consider this: When violence systematically targets a group of people through genocide, slavery, or colonization, the resulting trauma lasts through generations.

So here’s what’s at stake for the Native people: The term “redsk*n” comes from the time when the colonial and state governments and companies paid white people to kill Native Americans and used their scalps or even genitalia (to prove their sex), aka “red skins,” as proof of their “Indian kill.”

Given that history, is it a surprise that so many Native people are angry about football fans who think they’re “honoring” Native people with this mascot and their excuses?

2

It Lets People Show Love for the Culture, But Remain Prejudiced Against Its People

Here, recent transplants to the area write Yelp reviews in search of “authentic Mexican food” without the “sketchy neighborhoods” – which usually happen to be what they call neighborhoods with higher numbers of people of color.

The Yelpers are getting what they want, at least in terms of the neighborhood, as gentrification rapidly pushes people of color out of their homes, and white-owned, foodie-friendly versions of their favorite “ethnic” restaurants open up.

That’s how it goes with cultural appropriation: not sharing so there’s more for everyone, but taking advantage of the power imbalance between groups to have more for well-off white people, and less and less for poor people of color.

And this can happen because we live in a world in which racist white people can essentially say “We want your stuff, but we don’t like you” by taking people’s traditions while being biased against who they are as a person.

Cultural appropriation shows that you don’t have to like a person or respect their identity to feel entitled to take from them.

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3

It Makes Things ‘Cool’ for White People – But ‘Too Ethnic’ for People of Color

The US is a white-dominated society, and for proof of that, search no further than the way immigrants, Indigenous people, and people of color are criticized for the things that distinguish us from white Americans.

For example, standards of professionalism hold back all kinds of people who aren’t white men. As a Black woman, there are many jobs that would bar me if I wore cornrows, dreadlocks, or an afro – some of the most natural ways to keep up my hair.

So for me, wearing my hair naturally is a meaningful declaration that I believe in my natural beauty. It’s risky to make this declaration in a society that says I must aspire to whiteness have value.

Compare that to fashion magazines’ reception of white teenager Kylie Jenner’s “epic” cornrows or “edgy” dreadlocks.

When Black women have to fight for acceptance with the same styles a young white woman can be admired for, what message does that send to Black women and girls?

It says that our natural beauty isn’t beautiful at all – and that our features are only appealing when they’re adopted by white women.

4

It Prioritizes the Feelings of Privileged People Over Justice for Marginalized People

You should have the right to express yourself however you want to – and you do. Nobody can force you to stop taking things from other cultures. The marginalized people whose cultures are appropriated don’t have the institutional power to force you to stop, even if they wanted to.

But claiming that the dominant culture has a right to take freely from disempowered groups sounds a lot like the lie of the “white man’s burden” from the past. Colonizers used this concept to claim they had a “duty” to take land, resources, and identity from Indigenous people – trying to justify everything from slavery to genocide.

If the choice is between your freedom to wear a costume because it could be fun, or an ethnic group’s ability to maintain the sacredness of a tradition that helps them resist harm, it’s clear that skipping the costume puts you on the side of anti-oppression.

And, hint: That’s the side you want to be on.

27

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black THE WOMEN BEHIND THE HASHTAG Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi

Cullors, 31, director of Dignity and Power Now,

co-founded the Black Lives Matter Movement

an organization focused on helping incarcerated

when George Zimmerman was acquitted in 2013

people and their families “went off” when she

for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin. They created

found out about Zimmerman’s acquittal.

the hashtag, which spread like wildfire.

“I was hopeful — and probably naïve — that “This isn’t the beginning of a movement, this

Zimmerman was going to be convicted and when

is the continuation of a struggle that’s been

he wasn’t convicted I sort of went ballistic,” said

happening for at least 400 years,” said Garza, 34,

Cullors. “And this generation goes ballistic in

who works as the special projects director of the

public, on social media.” Garza wrote the words

National Domestic Workers Alliance.

Black Lives Matter on

30

social media, and Cullors fol-

the movement’s social media

ing for a guilty verdict. “At the

lowed with the hashtag #Black-

presence, helping to engage

same time knowing that a guilty

LivesMatter. Later that day, they

and connect people.

verdict wasn’t going to mean

decided to start a movement, on

Tometi was at a screening of

justice. It wasn’t going to bring

the streets and online.

Fruitvale Station in 2013, a film

Trayvon Martin back.” Garza

Tometi, 30, executive director of

based on the events leading up

said she, Patrisse, and Opal

the Black Alliance for Just Immi-

to the shooting of Oscar Grant,

wanted to connect Black people

gration, an organization focused

when she found out that Zim-

because their lives depended on

on Black and Latino immigrant

merman was acquitted. Tometi

it. They wanted to reach Black

rights, joined them. She built

said her community was hop-

people in a society that doesn’t

Patrisse Cullors Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi

31

try to do that. “We each deeply believe that

Tia Oso, 33, national coordinator of the Black

Twitter is not going to save us,” Garza said.

Immigration Network and organizer of BAJI

“Twitter can be a vehicle that connects us and

Arizona, copyedited content for Tometi and

helps bring us together to strategize around

Black Lives Matter’s social platforms in 2013.

how we’re going to build the kind of power that

She said prominent figures and media would

we need to transform the world that we live in.”

talk about the movement, but not the people behind it. She and others used social media to

Mark-Anthony Johnson, 31, director of health

remind people of Garza, Cullors, and Tometi’s

and wellness at Dignity and Power Now, worked

work.

closely with Cullors for more than 15 years and has known Garza for about a decade. Johnson

“Twitter and other social media outlets are

has organized for the movement since it started

where we purposefully lifted the three of them

as “Justice for Trayvon Martin, Los Angeles.”

up,” said Oso. “It was like, ‘Hey, if you’re going

He became the California coordinator for the

to have a conversation about Black Lives Matter

freedom ride to Ferguson after Darren Wilson

and what it means as an idea, as a rally and

shot unarmed Black teenager, Michael Brown.

cry… at least acknowledge who the creators

According to Johnson, protesters from 16

are.’”

different states and Canada witnessed how Garza, Cullors, and Tometi brought 600 different

“Our people and our movement largely

people together in Ferguson.

are ready for the type of leadership

“I think they’re central,” he said. “The character of the folks that we were bringing out I think was really important in terms of having a group

that we embody, and we are who we are as the two of them being queer Black women unapologetically, and me being Nigerian,”

that was significantly women, significantly queer, having Black transgender people in the space. And that’s possible because of them and the national team that they built up

According to Cullors, Black women have always

around them.” Cullors said that organizing

led Black movements. Ella Baker, Diane Nash,

the movement hasn’t been easy, as women in

and Fannie Lou Hamer are Black women leaders

leadership are still looked at skeptically. Garza

who were critical in developing movements,

said women aren’t often seen as leaders and

and their names aren’t heard often. Cullors

dealing with patriarchy is a challenge.

said women are on the front lines, strategizing, organizing and developing policy in Ferguson

“I believe if Black Lives Matter was created

and around the country. “We’re leading

by three Black men, Opal, Alicia and myself

the movement; we’re the architects of the

wouldn’t have to fight so hard to remind people

movement.”

we are the co-founders,” Cullors said.

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