coolestfword:So tonight I got to hear Laverne Cox speak and she was AMAZING. Some of my favorite thi
coolestfword:So tonight I got to hear Laverne Cox speak and she was AMAZING. Some of my favorite things she said were:Her words were like oxygen to me, I came to critical consciousness (talking about bell hooks). She talked about how when she was bullied as a child in elementary school the names they called her like sissy or the f-word were, as bullying like this usually is, not really about sexual orientation per say but really about gender identity- it’s about policing that gender expression to try and make you act more like what your assumed gender “should” act like. She also talked about the many ways she was policed growing up because of her gender expression, from teachers and kids at school to her mother to the church, and how that’s a constant thing, how we constantly are policing each other on a lot of different aspects of life and identity and she basically said we need to stop. Which OF COURSE we need to stop but the way she said that made me also think about the fact that just the fact that so much constant policing is necessary to maintain the system should seem like such an obvious argument, such obvious proof that the way things are, the status quo as it stands, is not natural. Which again is obvious but I had never quite thought of it in those terms and it was kind of a hopeful thought because maybe if we can stop the policing and the shame the rest will fall apart (simplistic, wishful thinking on my part but there you go).She also talked a lot about intersectionality and about coming at people from a place of love. Orange is the New Black is back June 6th.There was a moment when the lights went out and she said she felt like Beyonce at the Superbowl.She talked about a lot of really amazing things and was basically fabulous and intelligent and witty and funny and if she is ever close enough to you for you to go hear her speak, GO. -- source link