Guide to Pleasure Activism: Queer & Trans Visions (Spring 2022, Vol 2.) by qtpoczine

Before we begin, we would like to acknowledge that this work was created on the traditional territories and ancestral homes of the Cheyenne, Arapahoe, Ute, Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, Lakota, Pueblo, and Shoshone Nations. We recognize that the lands of Indigenous people across Turtle Island – especially what we call the “United States” – have historically been, and continue to be, colonized. Further, we would like to acknowledge that a land acknowledgment in itself does not do much in terms of returning these lands to their original peoples. As a class dedicated to radical decolonization – which is rooted in land back practices – it is important for us to recognize that action, as well as words, are needed to enact radical change. As such, our visions for a decolonized world extend far beyond this written acknowledgment of this land’s continual colonization, toward a world in which Indigenous sovereignty over the land is restored. We would also like to acknowledge that this country – built on colonized land – would not exist today without the forced enslavement of Black and African peoples. Our work here is informed by our resistance to anti-Black racism, abolition of all carceral logics, as well as our resistance to Indigenous erasure and land dispossession. Finally, we would like to thank Charlie Amaya Scott and Violet Stoudt for sharing their knowledge, time, and passions with our class during their guest presentations. Moreover, this Zine would not have been possible without the lives, scholarship, and art of queer, trans, and feminist Indigenous and Black activists. It is their voices that underline the work in this Zine, and it is their lives and scholarship that we center in our own interrogations with decolonization and abolition. We honor them here.

Art featured on this page created by Román Esaí Anaya, sourced from https://www.colorado.edu/artandarthistory/roman-esai-anaya-mfa

We would like to dedicate this Zine to our fellow student, artist, and scholar, Román Esaí Anaya, who died tragically and prematurely last year while attending CU Boulder. Román’s life and death are indicative of the great struggles that accompany being queer, ﬁrst generation, disabled, and of color on university campuses across the country, but particularly on predominantly white campuses like CU Boulder. But further than that, Román’s life – his art – reminds us that to live as ourselves, even in the midst of systemic oppression, is to feel joy and love and kinship deeply. Román: We honor your life with this scholarship. As we contemplate the speciﬁcities of Pleasure Activism, we hold your life in our hands and remind ourselves to feel the love and joy that your life and art radiate. We do this for you, and the countless other lives that are lived and lost here and everywhere, past and present and future, at the hands of oppression. We see you. We feel you. We love you. This, Román, is for you.

Our Zine

Our zine is a collaboration of students coming together to share what we have learned about pleasure and how it relates to our, and your, activism. Nishant Upadhyay’s Queer and Trans of Color Visions (Spring 2022) course at CU Boulder has allowed the exploration and development of the ideas discussed in our Zine. We explore pleasure as a means to abolish systems that uphold and beneﬁt from the violence against, oppression and exploitation of all marginalized communities. Pleasure as a means of disability justice. We explore pleasure as a means to decolonize and support our Indigiqueer fellows. Pleasure that is catered to queer and trans people. Pleasure through anti-capitalism and community care. We hope you take something from our zine and carry it with you in your own activism and in the ﬁght for abolition and decolonization.

Pleasure Activism 101 By Lila and Ellory 6

Gorman, RC. (1993). Indian Woman with Flowers and Butterfly [print].

To Begin…

We invite you to take a moment and let go of any tension in your body you are able to release, drop your jaw, and let your body fall into its most natural position.

On this journey to learn about pleasure activism, we invite you to begin with an open mind and open body, ready to receive and breathe in the lessons of our foremothers and ancestors.

Roizen, Sara. (2010). Woman in Yellow [print].

An Introduction to Pleasure Activism Maybe you’ve heard the term, maybe it’s your first time learning about it. So let’s begin with some definitions. Pleasure Activism was coined by adrienne maree brown. They define Pleasure Activism as “making justice and liberation the most pleasurable experiences we can have. Learning that pleasure gets lost under the weight of oppression, and it is liberatory work to reclaim it,” in an interview with Emma Bracy of Repeller. Pleasure Activism is a theory and praxis built from Black feminist thought that combines political mobilization in many forms, both personal and communal, and the world of pleasure. This can be expansive physical and sexual pleasure, but also spiritual and mental. This zine will guide you through different aspects of pleasure activism and why pleasure activism is necessary. “adrienne maree brown.” Allied Media Projects, 5 Aug. 2021, https://alliedmedia.org/speakers/adrienne-maree-brown.

Bracy, Emma, et al. “What Is Pleasure Activism and How Can I Participate?” Repeller, 5 Sept. 2020, https://repeller.com/what-is-pleasure-activism/.

Joan Morgan

Octavia Butler

Toni Cade Bambara

Ursula Le Guin “I hope to make a contribution to black feminist thought that encourages recognition of black women’s pleasure (sexual and otherwise) as not only an integral part of fully realized humanity, but one that understands that a politics of pleasure is capable of intersecting, challenging, and redefining dominant narratives about race, beauty, health and sex in ways that are generative and necessary”

“The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.”

Grace Lee Boggs

"The destiny of earthseed is to take root amongst the stars.”

Lineage - Our Foremothers & Ancestors Like any movement, Pleasure Activism has a long lineage, many foremothers and ancestors that created the concepts and the praxis that we now define as Pleasure Activism

"We live in capitalism; its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. "

Ingrid La Fluer

Audre Lorde "To make a revolution, people must not only struggle against existing institutions. They must make a philosophical/spiritual leap and become more human human beings. In order to change/transform the world, they must change/transform themselves."

"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare."

“Ultimately, love for the self is the deepest pleasure we deny ourselves. I work daily to be courageous enough to indulge in the purest pleasure of self-love”

Brown, Adrienne Maree. Pleasure Activism. AK Press, 2019.

“Joy allows us to create experiences that transcend individual and collective hardship. When you make space for Indigiqueer joy, you’re engaging in a radical resistance and making a liberated Indigiqueer future.” Through the “people’s mic”, Shades of Honey pulls on the long tradition of the Beat Scene and other Black artistic movements to foster an environment of healing, expression, resistance, and radical joy. We utilize different artistic mediums to materially support the struggles of all people that are being oppressed.

Examples & Applications Black Rest “My rest as a Black woman in America suffering from generational exhaustion and racial trauma always was a political refusal and social justice uprising within my body. This is about more than naps. It is about a deep unraveling from white supremacy and capitalism.” - Tricia Hersey, founder

Survivor Healing Collective It’s clear to us that those who are most marginalized face the greatest struggles when it comes to getting help following sexual violence. We hope our workbook can serve as an alternative route to healing, where BIPOC, disabled, working class, women and genderqueers can take control of their healing journey without having to navigate institutional and interpersonal hurdles that often prevent their access to, or desire for, formal services.

We could list all the reasons why we need pleasure activism… but most of us know them all too well. These reasons are the -isms that plague our everyday lives. The “horrible, ordinary things” as Octavia Butler put it. The things that coalesce to deny those with marginalized identities access to pleasure, rest and joy. We want our journey with pleasure activism to start with hope and healing, so we hope you’ll join us as we reflect on the radical resistance of feeling good. How has pleasure been denied to you based on a vulnerable/marginalized axis of your identities?

@Kent Monkman

-2022

-By Naomi

@hechoconganas

@hechoconganas @Kalakari

DEFINITIONS & SIGNIFICANCE

SETTLER COLONIALISM IS: • Intersected with structures of white supremacy, cis-heteropatriarchy, capitalism & imperialism • Intertwined with processes of enslavement, other forms of racialized labor exploitation & xenophobic border making • Attack on Indigenous knowledges, cultures & ways of being

Decolonization is about cultural, psychological, and economic freedom for Indigenous people with the goal of achieving Indigenous sovereignty and the right and ability of Indigenous people to practice self-determination over their land, cultures, and political and economic systems. Colonialism is a historical and ongoing global project where settlers continue to occupy land, dictate social, political, and economic systems, and exploit Indigenous people and their resources. It is a global endeavor.

http://globalsolidaritylocalaction.sites.haverford.edu/ what-is-decolonization-why-is-it-important/

The Panther Mural Project includes artists Huriana Kopeke-Te Aho, Numa McKenzie, Toa Sieke Taihia in collaboration with Emory Douglas, Tigilau Ness and Chris McBride. The Mural Project was inspired by Ness and McBride’s travel to the Black Panther Party 50th Anniversary celebrations in Oakland Ca. in 2016.

@Kalkari

@Kalakari

-2022

@Professor Nishant Upadhyay, CU Boulder ETHN 3101

The history of the United States is a history of settler colonialism—the founding of a state based on the ideology of white supremacy, the widespread practice of African slavery, and a policy of genocide and land theft. ~ Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

We exist in a world that systemically denies us the opportunity to feel good about who we are and what we do. And often, by centring our pain, anger and frustration in activism, we end up depriving ourselves of simple pleasures too. To decolonize and reform our systems would allow BIPOC and Queer Communities to center their pleasure. Marginalized people often experience an “uneven surveillance” of pleasure, such as the police being called on BIPOC for doing everyday things, like laughing, dancing or listening to music. There are countless incidents where moments of leisure turned into police run-ins —barbecuing in a park, sitting in a Starbucks and playing golf. The ability for everyone to freely express pleasure and live their lives is part of social liberation, and it’s something that needs to be collectively valued.

Activism : The Politics of Feeling Good

@emilyvpcreates

-2022

DEFINITIONS & SIGNIFICANCE

PLEASURE ACTIVISM & DECOLONIZATION: “Our radical imagination is a tool for decolonization, for reclaiming our right to shape our lived reality.” -Adrienne Maree Brown, Pleasure

Native feminist theories reveal that a key aspect of the relentlessness of settler colonialism is the consistency and thus naturalization of heteropatriarchy and heteropaternalism ... the management of Indigenous peoples’ gender roles and sexuality was also key in remaking Indigenous peoples into settler state citizens. ~ Maile Arvin, Eve Tuck & Angie Morrill (2013)

The formal exit of colonizers does not necessarily mean an abandonment of their institutional and intellectual legacies. Political and economic systems and institutions have been shaped according to the model of former oppressors; and their ideas continue to inﬂuence social and cultural realities. The process of a genuine decolonization needs to start with “decolonizing the mind” from colonial thinking modalities (Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, 1986).

Representation simply is not enough—especially when it is one-dimensional, superficial, or not actually representative. Representation should never be the final goal; instead, it should merely be one step toward equity.Instead, representation should be intentional. People in power should aim for their content to reflect their audiences—especially if they know that doing so could assist in increasing people's self-esteem and wellness. People who have the opportunity to represent their identity groups in any sector may make conscious efforts to use their influence to teach (or remind) others that their communities exist.

Compulsory heterosexuality is the theory that heterosexuality is assumed and enforced upon people by a patriarchal and heteronormative society. (Rich, Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence) Compulsory heterosexuality is viewed as an institution that acts upon individuals from birth, and thus individuals are assumed to be heterosexual until proven otherwise. Due to this, sexual minorities have a greater "global identity development" from individuals investigating their experiences and senses of self in contrast to society. (Bem, "Dismantling gender

-2022

Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the deﬁnitive story of that person. - Chimanada N’gozi Adiche

QUEER NORMATIVITY & MEDIA REPRESENTATION

polarization and compulsory heterosexuality: Should we turn the volume down or up?")

“It’s led me to consider what straightness looks like in societies where queerness is normalized, where difference isn’t difference but normal. Queerness provides for and celebrates variance, including straightness, whereas heteropatriarchy sets out to destroy, control, and manipulate difference into hierarchies that position white, straight, cigendered males as normal, and everyone else as less.” -Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, As We Have Always Done

DISMANTLING THE COLONIAL MENTALITY

@Kalakari

@hechoconganas

A ‘colonial mentality’, or ‘the colonized mind’, shows a preference or desirability for whiteness and cultural values, behaviors, physical appearances and objects from or derivative of the ‘West’ (i.e. Western Europe or the USA), with disdain or undesirability for anything coming from the non- ‘West’ [1]. It is present in white people, [Queer], and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color), manifesting itself in a variety of ways. These sentiments can be traced back to the colonial era when Europeans wrote about indigenous people in the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, using the terms “savage,” “wild” and “uncivilized” to describe their encounters [2]. This was further based on Europeans’ sense of cultural and biological superiority, leading to the so-called “civilizing mission” to save the uncivilized races from themselves, so prominently used to uphold imperialism and colonialism [2]. - Paris, Roland. “International

-2022

Decolonizing the mind means deconstructing the thoughts, preferences and values that derive from a colonial way of thinking. This is a process that inevitably leads to more fundamental questions. What is a colonial way of thinking? Who thinks in this way? How did people’s minds get “colonized” in the ﬁrst place?

@Kalakari

Peacebuilding and the ‘Mission Civilisatrice.’”

PRISON ABOLITION

By Susan

https://lefteast.org/interview-with-the-global-prison-abolitionist-coalition/

What Is Prison Abolition?

Prison Industrial Complex

Prison Abolition is a movement to abolish all Prison Industrial Complexes as well as Police Industrial Complexes and replace them with rehabilitation centers that do not focus on punishment. With abolishing or defunding the Police Industrial Complex, funding places like mental health resources, healthcare, education, housing, etc. will benefit BIPOC. These conditions make safe and accessible environments that will prevent crimes from ever happening in the first place. Mariame Kaba defines PIC abolition as “Prison industrial complex (PIC) abolition is a political vision, a structural analysis of oppression, and a practical organizing strategy… PIC abolition is a vision of a restructured society in a world where we have everything we need: food, shelter, education, health, art, beauty, clean water, and more. Things that are foundational to our personal and community safety.” (Kaba, So You’re Thinking About Becoming A Prison Abolitionist)

Origins

The Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) is a term that is defined as a system that polices people of color, specifically Black and Brown people by oppressing them and continuing to profit off of their trauma. It is defined by the United States as “a way in which the government and US industry address national problems” to erase the https://scalawag systemic injustice BIPOC has faced for magazine.org/2 016/09/where-d o-police-comecenturies. https://jewis hcurrents.or g/the-collect ive-work-ofabolition

The PIC was built during slavery as “capital punishment” and was labeled as “runaway slave patrols”. After slavery had ended, the runaway slave patrols were named sheriffs or police. Slavery may have “ended” but with this, there is a new system that still enslaves Black queer, trans, non-binary, disabled Americans. Whether that is the PIC, ICE, universities, sex trafficking, forced labor, etc. Because of this, Black people as well as Brown people are the face of prison and crime. The Abolition movement was also built during slavery but Prison Abolition was not solidiﬁed until the 1980s after the War on Drugs when leaders started to believe it was unfair that there were too many non-violent offenders sent to prison. We must not forget that the PIC is not damaged or broken; it is intentionally built this way to continue to abuse BIPOC, queer, trans, non-binary, and disabled people.

from/

https://www.lawc ha.org/2014/12/29/ stop-kidding-poli ce-created-contro l-working-class-p oor-people/

Rehabilitation/Defunding the police

https://hellyeahanar chistposters.tumblr. com/post/1869344398 09/dismantle-prison s-abolish-ice-poster -designed

Rehabilitation is a concept where these facilities are built on rehabilitating the person instead of punishing them. By defunding the police, we can make rehabilitation centers that will encourage people to better themselves instead of being stuck in the loop of abuse from the system. There will be programs like the GED and learning how to adjust back to daily life after this situation. Defunding the police will allow rehabilitation centers to thrive in this capitalistic world; the billions of dollars that are invested in the police will go to rehabilitation. Housing could be provided in these institutions as well as mental health resources, food supply, jobs, education, etc. Kaba discusses in “So You’re Thinking About Becoming an Abolitionist” that rehabilitation does not only look like facilities that revolve around beneﬁts but it is also our world continuously changing, “...as scholar and activist Ruth Wilson Gilmore notes, building a different world requires that we not only change how we address harm, but that we change everything. The PIC is linked in its logics and operation with all other systems — from how students are pushed out of schools when they don’t perform as expected to how people with disabilities are excluded from our communities to the ways in which workers are treated as expendable in our capitalist system.” (Kaba). With this in mind, people must want to change and imagine themselves in a society that does not oppress certain minorities.

@ Colin Kaepernick, “Abolition For The People”

Reform vs. Abolition

https://www.hamptont hink.org/read/prisonsare-for-burning-on-ab olition-and-dystopia

Reforming the PIC is temporary as it is supposed to revolve around our current world but Abolition is completely dismantling these systems that continue to oppress BIPOC. Reforming a system that was purposely built to exploit and abuse BIPOC will continue for as long as Abolition is not in place. Angela Davis on Upfront says “defunding the police is a shortcut”, she explains that while we can push for defunding the police, we must also remember that defunding the police is not the bigger picture of PIC Abolition. She says on Upfront,“...The police lynching of George Floyd certainly made it clear that we need different forms of guaranteed safety and security, the call to defund the police was really a call to imagine new ways of safety and security of our communities.” (Angela Davis, Upfront). Defunding the police is not enough. The call to reform suggests that the system is broken and needs to be ﬁxed but we cannot ﬁx the system when it was purposely built this way. Abolition is the only solution that guarantees safety for young, old, queer, trans, non-binary, disabled BIPOC.

https://sfpos tersyndicate. com/project s/abolish-th e-police/

Police Brutality and Pleasure Denied Police Brutality is so common in our modern world that it is almost desensitized by the media; there is always a news article with a headline that is quite insensitive and Black people are expected to see their family, friends, and communities be brutalized so normally. Police brutality happens so often in and outside of prisons; in ICE detention centers, trans and cis women are frequently abused by the ICE detainees because of the power dynamics that are held in prisons, “Trans women in detention are routinely subjected to sexual assault and other forms of abuse and harassment by ice officers, facility guards, and other detainees in the men’s detention facilities where they are most often confined. They are also targeted for solitary confinement for indefinite periods of time.” (Conclusion Trans Voice in the House). Violence is so normalized in trans and queer spaces, especially when the trans or queer person is a BIPOC. In Pleasure Activism, The Politics of Feeling Good by Adrienne Maree Brown explains one’s experience with sexual liberation; Brown explains in a section of their book about the expectations of sex and how it is considered violence, “So much of sex culture is still set by straight cis men and the pornography of pounding into cis and trans women’s mouths and pussies, often in whatever is the most degrading way possible.” (Pleasure Activism, Adrienna Maree Brown). Trans people often experience their pleasure being denied in terms of violence or just rejection of one’s sexuality. Being denied their medication in prisons, put into prisons that are not their preferred gender, or sexual violence in prisons, it all connects to the power dynamics prisons have against BIPOC, “Power gives an assumed total access of older people to younger people’s bodies, white people to people of color’s bodies, men to women’s bodies, cis to trans bodies, those with resources to those with less, those with more physical strength to those with less. It’s the way systems of hierarchy, domination, patriarchy, misogyny, and capitalism converge in the realm of flesh.” (Pleasure Activism, Adrienne Maree Brown). Prisons need to be abolished for the safety of trans and queer people.

https://shado-m ag.com/all/centr ing-pleasure-in -your-activismlessons-from-a drienne-mareebrown/

https://www.aclu.org/blog/l gbtq-rights/transgender-ri ghts/black-trans-women-a re-being-murdered-streets -now-trump https://www.nytimes.com/2 020/06/27/us/politics/black -trans-lives-matter.html

https://www.oah.org/ta h/issues/2020/history-f or-black-lives/anti-blac k-violence-african-ame rican-memory-and-the -trayvon-generation/

https://forthewild. world/listen/adrie nne-maree-brown -on-pleasure-asbirthright115

Free CeCe

https://www.work ers.org/2013/06/95 64/

The documentary “Free CeCe” shows the story of a Black Trans woman named CeCe McDonald, who was wrongfully imprisoned for 3 years, trying to defend herself and her friends against a violent transphobic white man. After a night out with friends and her boyfriend, CeCe was met face to face with an extremely violent transphobic white man who was spitting offensive derogatory slurs at the group and then decided to attack CeCe with a broken glass bottle. A fight had broken out and CeCe was near to a death experience if she hadn’t pulled out scissors from her purse and defended herself against the man. The man had died from the impact and CeCe was charged with second-degree murder. The media had painted CeCe as a violent man, constantly misgendering her in the news and changing the narrative of her story. It was clear that the police and investigators did not care for CeCe’d safety as a Black Trans woman, and that they were trying to paint her as a violent Black person who deserved to go to prison. CeCe is just one of the thousands of Trans women who are repeatedly faced with violence against the system. She was put in an all men’s prison facility; in this facility, CeCe was put into solitary confinement for “her own protection”, it is a common practice in prisons to do this with Trans women that are placed in men’s prisons. Fortunately, CeCe was able to be released from prison after serving nineteen months with the help of her friends, supporters, and protesters. The documentary reported in 2012, 58.8% of homicides were transgendered women and that 46 or 87% were trans POC, 39 Black, and 6 Latino. In our media, we have shows like “Orange Is The New Black” and “Pose” that feature trans, queer BIPOC; specifically in OITNB, there is a Black Trans woman named Sophia Burset, played by Laverne Cox, who is in a women’s prison where she experiences transphobia from her own gender. Sophia was denied her hormone pills and was put into solitary confinement for her “own safety” once she had started facing blatant transphobia from her fellow inmates, both of these subjects are unfortunately common in prisons. In Pose, the entire show features Black and Brown trans women and queer people that navigate life during the AIDS epidemic. The Trans woman in the show Blanca, Angel, Elektra, Candy, and Lulu all face violence in pleasure and believe that they have to accept this kind of treatment because of the belief that Trans women do not deserve soft continuing love.

https://www.hrw.org/ne ws/2018/10/22/us-congre ss-should-protect-trans gender-rights Art by Micah Bazant

https://www2.minne apolismn.gov/media/ content-assets/www 2-documents/depart ments/7th-Annual-T rans-Equity-Summit -Program-(PDF).pdf

DISABILITY JUSTICE AND PLEASURE

By Lainey, Lindsay, and Trinity Photo courtesy of PBS

Visual disabilities

Cognitive disabilities

Color blindness, low vision, blindness ADHD, autism, memory impairment, mental health & perceptual disabilities, seizure disorders, migraines

Auditory disabilities

Hard of hearing, deafness

Physical disabilities

Tremors, amputation, arthritis, paralysis

Speech disabilities

Muteness, Dysarthria, Stuttering

What is Ableism and Sansim? and oppression that “Structure of power dies & neurotypical privileges abled- bo es” people with disabiliti peoples and oppress

“Emphasis on ‘visible’ disabilities & erasure of ‘invisible’ disabilities”

Social constructs of what is supposed to be “normal”

Cognitive disabilities often overlooked “Erasure of neurodiverse people and their experiences” 23

Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, https://dredf.org/504-sit-in-20th-anniversary/short-history-of-the-504-sit-in/

Screen Rant https://screenrant.com/crip-camp-disability-revolution-camp-jened-cl osed-reason/

Crip Camp, 2020

Statera Arts, https://stateraarts.org/disability-justice#:~:text=The%20term%20disabi lity%20justice%20was,to%20more%20fully%20address%20ableism.

Intersections of Disability Justice Care and Pleasure “People think disability means inherit deficit rather than difference, that disability is automatically bad, painful, a worse life. People assume disabled people don’t have lives, espically not sex lives.” (Brown, page 101) But that’s not true… P

ro Th

t ou

s m r no

Care should be seen as pleasure, not a chore

Vulnerable strength everyone deserves

Work w quest ith your pa ions rtner; as

leasu re is flexibl e

Rest, chill, care for yourself and others

care Diversity in

tactics

Communication is key 25

Brown, Adrienne R. Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good. AK Press, 2019.

Intersections of Disability Justice Care and Pleasure “Sex and pleasure are not merely about penetrative, goal-oriented sex.” It’s about including other forms like “sexualizing caretaking, sex in hospitals or rehabilitative spaces, sex without orgasms, sex with/around medical equipment” (Brown, page 173) “We aren’t trying to cram ourselves into an able-bodied vision of what sexy or a relationship is; it’s totally okay for us to rest, chill, care for ourselves and each other” (Brown, page 13)

RESOURCES

Rao-Middleton, Ananya. Disability History Month 2020 Illustration for Schuh. 2020, Ananya Paints. https://www.ananyapaints.com/portfolio/schuh-disability-history-month-2020

Gallant, Chanelle. Protest and Pleasure. 2021, Xtra Magazine. https://xtramagazine.com/power/sex-disability-justice-201022

Why aren’t we exposed to the difference that make up humanity?

What does “normal” mean to you? (Think in terms of bodies, pleasure, pain, etc.)

How do you feel pleasure similarly/differently from those around you? Can you conceptualize new ways of feeling good outside of yourself?

What kind of disability accommodations do you see in your public institutions, and what about them could be improved upon? (If applicable, focus speciﬁcally on CU Boulder.)

Trans Pleasure

Photos courtesy of CBC and NY Times

Indigenous Identities

Indigenous identities can have to do with physical traits and skills within the community, a societal role, and can create links between traditions, homelands, and history.

Two-spirit Traditional, ceremonial third gender in North American native’s culture(s)

Diné (Navajo)

“Ftm, mtf, bayot, crossdressers, sadhin, hijra, transvestites, bantut, drag queens, drag kings, mahu, transsexuals, bakla, travesti, genderqueers, kathoey, two spirit, intersex, and those with other labels from themselves and no labels for themselves…”(binaohan 77).

4 genders: masculine/masculine, masculine/feminine, feminine/masculine, feminine/feminine

Binaohan, B. Decolonizing Trans/Gender 101. Biyuti Publishing, 2014. “Why Non-Natives Appropriating ‘Two-Spirit’ Hurts.” BGD, 30 July 2016, https://www.bgdblog.org/2016/07/appropriating-two-spirit/.

Clifton, Derrick. “Negative Trans Media Depictions Harm the Community's Mental Health.” Them., Them., 25 Nov. 2020, https://www.them.us/story/negative-media-depiction s-trans-people-harms-communitys-mental-health.

The way transgender people and their counterparts experience media and the effects from it are different in many ways from binary conforming people. Not only are the ways in which transgender people are represented nearly zero, but when they are, the depiction is often negative. The trans experience is taken from, normally, a heteronormative point of view and reﬂected back onto the screen in the same way. Through various studies, it has been shown that because of this relationship with media, transgender people experience higher rates of PTSD, depression, and numerous other mental illnesses. In many ways, trans people are delegitimized or made fun of. Celebrities being vulnerable about their transitions leads to outrageous backlash, or even unwarranted outings. For example, the all too popular Caitlyn Jenner transition. When (dead-name) Bruce Jenner decided it was their time to step into their truest self, having one of the most publicly watched families in media today made her coming out to be seen as a mockery and leaving people feeling “lied to.” When, really, how does that affect the way that their lives are lived? For many young and old people identifying outside of the gender binary, this backlash to such a famous ﬁgure was frightening. What would happen when they came out, if they ever felt comfortable enough? Would they be treated the same as Caitlyn Jenner for doing nothing but being themselves? This publicity being blown up on the news in such a negative light led to so many questions about what the future would look like for the trans population. Photo courtesy of Vanity Fair

However much backlash is seen in the media directed towards transgender people, the internet can be a great place to ﬁnd a community, often under creators from various platforms. Charlie Amáyá Scott, also known by their tag on most social medias @dineaesthetics, is a great example of someone who others look up to for experience within the community. They teach the importance of decolonizing trans in the minds embedded in colonialism, ways in which others can be allies, and so many more important topics within the non-conforming community. Their content is a gateway into the various cultures, identities, and experiences that can be had under the umbrella term of “transgender.”

Hughto, Jaclyn M W, et al. “Negative Transgender-Related Media Messages Are Associated with Adverse Mental Health Outcomes in a Multistate Study of Transgender Adults.” LGBT Health, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., Publishers, Jan. 2021, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P MC7826438/. TodayShow. “Laverne Cox on Black Transgender Lives: 'We Cannot Leave Anyone behind'.” TODAY.com, TODAY, 25 June 2020, https://www.today.com/popculture/laverne-co x-black-trans-lives-t185180.

Laverne Cox, another wildly inﬂuential woman, starred in popular Netﬂix show Orange is the New Black while doing work within the trans right movement as an outspoken leader. Her heavy presence in media and the movement are an excellent example of combining pleasure of her craft and creating a space for all individuals. Not only are Cox and Scott great examples of the joy that can come from representation, but both are able to share their experiences as BIPOC. In a Today Show interview, Cox states, "I think it's really important that in all of our movements for social justice we cannot leave anyone behind." This intersectionality in the media provides a beautiful grounding for people to see the representation they deserve yet more likely than not are denied of.

Photo courtesy of Allure

Swipe Left? The Trouble with Dating Apps Only some dating apps have gender options besides “male” and “female,” but even on those that do, not all users are accepting. Trans people must dodge bigoted individuals and chasers (people who seek out trans individuals for their transness) left and right. Others are told they must only “date another transgender person” or that they “shouldn’t be able to date cis[people].” No wonder so many trans people opt out of dating apps entirely!

Danger during Intimacy Trans people face obstacles in casual sex and dating that cis people don’t even think of. When meeting up with someone new, you can never be sure if that person will be okay with you being trans, or if they will respond with violence. Often, trans individuals feel they can’t trust people they meet online. Trans women of color experience disproportionately high murder rates. When the standards of sex and intimacy don’t include trans people, disclosing information becomes a life-or-death situation.

Gerantonis, J. "The Struggle of Dating Apps for Trans People." The Gazette [London], 23 Feb. 2021, westerngazette.ca/features/special_editions/pride_isssue/the-struggle-of-dating-apps-for-trans-people/article_4b507aac-67ca-11 Grundmeier, Chloe. "For Transgender People, Hookups Are Often Fraught with Obstacles." The Daily Evergreen [Pullman], 3 Mar. 2017, dailyevergreen.com/5737/roots/for-transgender-people-hookups-are-often-fraught-with-obstacles/.

Trans Sex Ed

WHAT I WISH I LEARNED ABOUT IN SEX ED: notes from trans individuals

Gender Dysphoria “I found myself having to explain over and over about my body and why I do not like certain things.”

Sexual education in the United States is already incredibly varied from school to school, and rarely offers consistent information. However, this is only worse for trans students, as no states currently mandate discussion of gender identity in sex education.

Genitalia ≠ Gender The easiest way to make sex ed more inclusive is to teach all students about all bodies - and drop the gender labels connected to genitalia

Safe Queer Sex “Most of my knowledge… came from listening to friends’ personal experiences.”

Medically Accurate Information HIV prevalence rates are more than four times the national average among transgender people, especially affecting trans women of color. Additionally, trans and gnc youth, especially those of color, experience high rates of sexual violence.

Does abstinence help anyone? Really?

Consent + Healthy Relationships “Knowing how healthy relationship dynamics work could have saved me… from some awful and just awkward situations.”

More inclusive sex ed forces students to learn about themselves, as well as those different from them. Normalization paves the way for acceptance. 35 Stephenson, Syd. "Transgender People on What They Wish They Had Learned in Sex Ed." Teen Vogue, 2 Jan. 2020, www.teenvogue.com/story/transgender-people-what-they-wish-they-learned-in-sex-ed. Slater, Hannah. "LGBT-Inclusive Sex Education Means Healthier Youth and Safer Schools." Center for American Progress, 21 June 2013, www.americanprogress.org/article/lgbt-inclusive-sex-education-means-healthier-youth-and-safer-schools/.

Anti-Capitalist Guide to Pleasure and

Demystifying Resources By Emma, Adriana, and Margeaux

Journey Through Anti-Capitalist Pleasure and Resources

Capitalism Explained

Spirituality and Pleasure

What is it? How does it harm us in the lens of pleasure and mental health?

Pleasure and Health -

Pleasure Under Capitalism Without Guilt Using Non-Systemic Healing Unlearning the System’s Manipulation

Where can you begin? What does it currently look like?

What is Capitalism and how is it Harming Us? ★

Capitalism: An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for proﬁt, rather than by the state.

★

Why and how is it harming us? Capitalism is exploiting marginalized groups of people which leads to whites continuing to be hostile to those individuals and essentially depicts how racism exists outside of a formal setting. Promotes stigmatization of mental health that society than profits off of.

Leads to large inequality which equals social division. Causes conformation within marginalized groups.

Anti-Capitalist Pleasure and Health Emma Jones

Pleasure Under Capitalism Without Guilt Clothes can be an important part of self love and appreciation, Pleasure Activism’s chapter “On The Pleasures of Wardrobe” gives us tools for navigating a loving and healthy relationship with clothes. “Do you love this? Do you need this? How does it ﬁt? How does it feel?” (Brown 203-204) These can help us avoid binge shopping and focus on serving ourselves. Of course, trying to ﬁnd clothing that is ethnically sources is preferred, but remember that you are one person in an entire system built against you. Blame the institution, not the individual.

Using Non-Systemic Healing Systemic attempts at healing in any way have shown to be failures. Mental Hospitals, Prisons, and other “reform” institution victims become more likely to return to said institutions after one experience in them. Getting involved in mutual aid and community based organizations will not only be beneﬁcial for those in need of help, but can also strengthen us as individuals.

Unlearning the System’s Manipulation Much of what we’ve been taught about how we should love ourselves and why we should love ourselves is based in racist and oppressive ideals. In order to truly ﬁnd pleasure under Capitalism, we must target and unlearn the ways of living that have been engraved in us. Questioning your own thoughts and motivations will lead to the path of capitalism-free existence. Pleasure Activism urges us to remember who we exist for in its chapter “It’s Time to Reclaim Our Skin” in which Brown reminds the reader to center themselves and their comfort in experiences with their bodies.

"The deepest pleasure comes from riding the line between commitment and detachment. Commit yourself fully to the process, the journey, to bringing the best you can bring. Detach yourself from ego and Outcomes." (Brown)

Spirituality and Pleasure

By: Adriana Iturbe

In the process of exploring the pleasures that may fulﬁll your emotional and psyche, it is important that you take your own steps necessary. In accepting cross cultures and one's inner self, it is important to remember that capitalism and individualism has destroyed the spiritual experience of pleasure, therefore you must identify where it is present in your life.

Spirituality practice can begin with: Self love Sex Praying to ancestors Exploring new body parts Breaking your routine and maybe creating a new one

Sources: Brown, Adrienne Maree. Pleasure Activism. AK Press, 2019.

In a world where there is less patience, more hunger for power and social status, many individuals often disconnect from having connections within themselves and their own spirit. These colonial eﬀects on spirituality are dangerous, as it's often the tool for many to heal from their trauma and reclaim their spiritual pleasure by connecting with ancestors.

An Anti-Capitalist Reﬂection: Journal Reﬂection: Write about your opinion on capitalism and state two examples of how it is a main feature in your life.

Exercise: State how you currently find pleasure and how you believe it affects your life. Then, write on how pleasure would be better for you without the guilt capitalism engenders, and how you can find ways to not free yourself from that guilt. If you already live in a world where your pleasure is not controlled by capitalism, then write about how you wish to break the system in areas that are strongly dominated by capitalism.

We cannot do pleasure activism alone. Self-care is all too often rooted in capitalist norms of consumerism and individualism. But community care is the work we can do to make us better relatives to ourselves, our communities and the world. “Community care is people committed to leveraging their privilege to be there for one another in various ways." Nakita Valerio, Toronto-based community organizer and researcher

Take a moment to care create your own e of map, using the Tre ctices Contemplative Pra as starting point…

Art by @thebrooklynbruja

Our Class

Editorial Team: Jasmine, McKenna, Lilly

Illustration Team: Megan, Simon, Katie