Oregon State University Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) PhD students Aman Agah, Emerson Barrett, and Libia Marqueza Castro; WGSS professor Patti Duncan; and Geography PhD students Val Chang and Adrianna Nicolay recently published their co-authored article, “What Do We Long For? Reflections on Feminist Movements for Social Justice”, in the Journal of Feminist Scholarship. This collective essay emerged from Dr. Duncan’s Winter 2022 graduate seminar “Social Justice: Theory and Practice”, in which the authors reflected on the shifting meanings of and movements for social justice, and discussed how the global tipping points we find ourselves in today can – and have, in a variety of ways and places – be used to radically critique, organize, and practice care in ways that “dismantle systems of oppression” and “imagine new futures, new worlds.”
“As we continue to weather the storms of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate crisis, and racialized, gendered militarized state violence, we reflected together on a statement by Grace Lee Boggs in her book, The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century: ‘Every crisis, actual or impending, needs to be viewed as an opportunity to bring about profound changes in our society’ (2011, xxi),” reads the essay. “We recognize that we are living in a time of urgency – a breaking point. But this is also a time to transform, to challenge the status quo.”
The essay is divided into three parts: Environmental Justice, Climate Crisis, and Settler Colonialism; Racialized/Gendered State Violence; and Disability Justice, Care, and Mutual aid. In a seminar writing prompt, the authors were asked to reflect on and envision what just futures would look like for them, one of whom wrote the following:
“I dream of a future beyond the here and now. A time when the institutions that cause us harm have been left to rot and in their place systems of care, community, and reciprocity have sprouted. This utopia is made by us and for us. We rely on one another and grow together. Shedding the learned habits of colonialism, capitalism, and heteropatriarchy, we reach towards being in right relationship with our communities, our more than human kin, the land, and water. We energize each other rather than feeling burnt out and bitter. We navigate conflict and harm without carceral and punitive systems. These are the lights that pull me forward.”
The authors note that creating a just future is dependent on people’s abilities to “come together and imagine new possibilities”, and identify such reflections on the futures that people long for as one route in this process.
“As we continue to try to understand and survive these tipping points and precarious temporalities – the fault lines that have been created by unprecedented historical events – we consider how major shifts have highlighted a critical need for change, for care, and for mutual aid,” they write. “We cannot deny the dire effects of the collective grief we are experiencing; we must continue to resist the complex overlapping systems of domination and exploitation that structure our world.”
The essay can be downloaded and read for free here.
Historic Black Women Leaders Against Sexual, Domestic Violence: The Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence (CARDV), a local organization with 41 years of experience providing free and confidential services, sheltering, and advocacy for survivors in both Linn and Benton Counties, has taken to honoring Black History Month on their social media by recognizing just a handful of Black women and femme leaders in the intergenerational movements to end sexual and domestic violence in the U.S. Below are the historic figures who have been highlighted by CARDV thus far:
- Harriet Jacobs (b. 1813 – d. 1897): Born into chattel slavery, Jacobs was raped by and forced to bear child laborers for her owner, eventually escaping his advances by running away and hiding undetected in an attic for seven years. She narrated her story in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, an autobiography which broadened the abolitionist movement to include the issues of sexual violence and the unique denial, control, and violation of bodily autonomy experienced by enslaved Black women and girls, who were forced not only into physical and economic labor, but sexual and reproductive labor.
- Ida B. Wells (b. 1862 – d. 1931): A fierce journalist and anti-lynching activist working to end sexual violence against Black women, Wells was outspoken in her writings and activism on the horrific epidemic of mob violence and lynchings of Black people in the U.S., the most common victims being Black men who were targeted based on false allegations of raping “innocent” white women. Radically, Wells identified this scapegoating of Black men as a projection of white men’s own history of sexual violence – often enacted against Black women and girls.
- Rosa Parks (b. 1913 – d. 2005): Most known for her leadership in sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott during the Civil Rights Movement, Parks was previously an NAACP activist who investigated the 1944 sexual assault of Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old Black mother and sharecropper who was abducted and gangraped by half a dozen white men when walking home from church one evening in Abbeville, Alabama. Alongside other activists, Parks launched the Committee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy Taylor to bring attention to the case, help provide legal aid to Taylor, and raise national awareness of the racial and sexual violences – and subsequent social and legal challenges – Black women in the U.S. experience. This was a case that was also close to Parks’ heart, as she herself was a survivor of an attempted rape by a white male neighbor in 1931.
- Kimberlé W. Crenshaw (b. 1959): A leading scholar, writer, and activist on critical race theory, Black feminism, etc., Crenshaw famously coined the term “intersectionality” in 1989 and introduced the concept to feminist theory, and has created decades of work that highlights the reality that Black women exist at the intersection of multiple forms of oppression, particularly the “dual violences” of racism and misogyny.
RRFM Benefit Show: The Corvallis Really Really Free Market (RRFM), a mutual aid and community outreach group distributing free basic needs and care items, educational resources for activists and organizers, etc., is hosting an all-ages, substance-free benefit show at the Whiteside Theatre this Saturday, Feb. 25. $10 donations are recommended, which the RRFM will put towards supporting other local organizations and mutual aid groups doing important work in the community, including Stop the Sweeps Corvallis and the Vina Moses Center, as well as providing direct financial relief to folks on the street and/or folks in need of immediate assistance with emergency expenses.
The line-up features Corvallis-based hyper-electric alt-rock band Ant Jello, local punk group Skeleton Boy, space rock and shoegaze band Glide Divine, Eugene-based emo band Nothing Ever Happens, and Quinn Gatsby, a trans folk/lo-fi emo solo artist who has been outspoken about his experiences as a trans musician in the Corvallis DIY scene, as well as the importance of cultivating safety, affirmation, and community for other trans and gender-nonconforming folks attending local shows.
In addition to these live performances, the RRFM will have free clothes, zines, and more items for attendees to take. There will also be a raffle; RRFM organizers will give you a raffle ticket when you check in with them at the front desk.
The show is a collaboration with Corvallis Experiments in Noise, a community of experimental artists, creators, and performers of all stripes that puts on free, all-ages noise shows, street performances, trash festivals, puppet shows, and other DIY events in town – including last year’s Corvallis Garbage Fest, Spontaneous Garbage Pop-Up Show, and Cirque Valise DIY Circus Show.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m.; music starts at 6 p.m. RRFM organizers will be pausing entry at around 125 capacity, so they encourage folks planning to attend to get there early if possible. Masks and COVID-19 vaccination cards are required for entry; if you don’t have a mask, you can pick one up at the front desk. Pre-sale tickets can be purchased on the Whiteside Theatre’s website.
Microgrant Funds for Local Gender Diverse Folks: The Mid-Willamette Trans Support Network is a community-based, volunteer-led grassroots organization committed to providing support, resources, basic needs assistance, advocacy, and safety for local trans, nonbinary, intersex, genderqueer, and gender-nonconforming community members. Founded by and for gender diverse people, one of the resources the network offers is direct financial assistance in the form of microgrants for folks living in Benton, Linn, and Lincoln counties who are in need of rent relief, gender-affirming surgeries or document changes, or financial help with groceries, gas, car payments or repairs, and other one-time emergency expenses.
Currently, the network is only able to fund up to $200 per request, though requests can be reviewed on an as-needed basis if more funds are needed, and the network can also help folks advocate for themselves to receive financial assistance from other organizations. Additionally, while the funds are only eligible for folks living in Benton, Linn, and Lincoln counties, the network provides links to other financial resources in its microgrant application form, including Trans Lifeline Name Change Microgrants, Funders for LGBTQ Issues, Trans Safety Emergency Fund, and more.
To fill out the microgrant needs survey/application form, click here. For assistance with self-advocacy, you can email the network’s Resource Dispatcher, Artemis Leona, at resources.mwtsn@gmail.com.
The Mid-Willamette Trans Support Network is also always looking for volunteers and accepting donations to ensure they can continue to run as an organization and support the regional gender diverse community at large. Volunteer staff positions that are currently open include QTIPOC (Queer, Transgender, and Intersex People of Color) Support Group Facilitator, Trans Group Facilitator, Financial Director, Trans Femme Support Group Facilitator, and more. You can fill out the volunteer application form here. One-time donations can be sent to the network’s Venmo, @MidWillamette-TSN, or you can become a monthly donor on their Patreon.
By Emilie Ratcliff
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