The danger of white liberals is that those invested in maintaining power, those who see their whiteness as property will be in spaces that purport to move toward equity and will only take and use the constructs that benefit their project. This is dangerous because it sounds and looks like equity and inclusion but people of the global majority (see:people of color) are silenced—and only allowed to speak and be known in distorted ways (Dotson). They may even co-opt the very narratives, theories, constructs posed by the oppressed and use it for their benefit—while the livelihoods of those whose narratives were co-opted remain unchanged.

It’s 4 am and I’m still working on a PowerPoint I swore was going to take me a couple hours at most. It’s been 7 hours. *breaks fourth wall—stares into camera.

I realize I like gay men because the majority of gay men aren’t hypersexualizing women. Women are cited as going to gay clubs to “escape” being harassed or citing feeling “free to let their guards down”. Misogyny operates in complex, multifaceted ways, where a woman’s (cis or trans) or feminine individual’s personhood is understood ( in heterosexist spaces) in relationship to the male gaze. That is one’s being is read and understood through the POV of the men present. Where a man’s humanity is presupposed as superior— a sort of ontological truth. This is how misogyny and the gendered racialization thereof (transmysoginoir) is both enacted and upheld by men and women alike.

corporeal adjective cor·​po·​re·​al kȯr-ˈpȯr-ē-əl 1 : having, consisting of, or relating to a physical material body: such as a : not immaterial or intangible

Reading social psychology papers on how heterosexual, cisgender individuals feel about- and understand transgender individuals and the associations with homosexuality, lesbianism, and ambiguity. And it feels like I know too much…— I’ve also used what I know from the literature to keep me safe from violence over the years. What I’ve read has informed my choice of partners and my understanding of public and private space. It’s both libratory and painful.

somatic adjective so·​mat·​ic sō-ˈma-tik sə- 1 : of, relating to, or affecting the body especially as distinguished from the germplasm

I really am the girl from “Girl Interrupted” with my rotisserie chickens. IYKYK

“In political moments how we build the world with each other actually draws us into our collective struggle” -Kristie Dotson