Transcripts
Transcript for Figure 1.7, Global Majority – This Video is So Beautiful
[Music.]
The global majority.
[Music.]
If you are Black, African, Arab, Asian, Brown, of Mixed heritage, Indigenous to the global south, or are routinely racialized, together you make up 85% of the entire world’s population. You are not the minority – you are the Global Majority. In fact, any racialized or ethnic group that has been routinely labeled “minority” is likely to belong to the Global Majority.
The language used to describe your identity holds great power. It can make you feel taller or smaller, empowered or marginalized, invisible or over-exposed. It can deny your individualism or bring instant awareness that you are the greater part of the whole. As Global Majority people, the decolonization of your hearts and minds has begun. You lead the way in revealing a new world of interconnected communities, globally connected for the majority need, not the minority greed. I and I now becomes we. There is space for I to be because we are existing within a spirit of oneness and really in this way all of us have the potential to become the people of the Global Majority.
[Music.]
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 1.7, Global Majority – This Video is So Beautiful
Transcript for “GLOBAL MAJORITY – THIS VIDEO IS SO BEAUTIFUL” by Rosemary Campbell-Stephens is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 1.8, Harriet Martineau and Sociology
[Narrator]: Harriet Martineau was an English writer known as the first female sociologist and one of the early members of the field. She wrote 35 books and a long list of essays on sociological topics from the feminine perspective. Martineau pushed for people to understand the status of women and to conduct research to demonstrate their condition within society. Her topics also included marriage, children, race, domestic duties, and how religion impacted them and their families.
She is also known for translating the works of Comte into English, which helped broaden the understanding of sociology as a science. Martineau was born in England in 1802 and was a descendant of the French Protestants that had fled France. The family believed in the importance of education for all children; however, Harriet’s mother pushed for girls to learn domestic work and not go to college. This is evident in her first published book on female education, where Martineau wrote about her experience when her education formally ended upon reaching adulthood.
Despite not leaving the realm of academia, Martineau worked for a monthly publication explaining economic philosophies to readers. She sought out truths based on reason and logic, feeling that Comte’s positivism could help society progress, leading her to jump into sociology. In 1837, Martineau published “Society in America,” demonstrating her approach to using sociological methods. The text was based on her travels to America, where she met abolitionists and people working to educate girls. Although male peers widely criticized her observations and findings, she stood by her claims, especially regarding the lack of women’s educational opportunities in the United States.
Her next book, “How to Observe Morals and Manners,” continued to fuel the fire. She wrote about the significance of population dynamics, the emergence of science as the most significant human endeavor, and made claims about the principles of progress. Martineau stressed that to write about society, one must first observe locals on their own terms. She wanted sociologists to study all aspects of society, bringing in politics, economics, religion, and social institutions to reveal existing inequalities.
Martineau’s writings covered a wide range of topics but brought in a feminist perspective to the study. She developed three standards to measure society’s progress: examining who held the least power, understanding the main views on authority and autonomy, and analyzing access to resources for self-government and moral followings. Martineau would be followed by other great sociologists like Weber and Durkheim. Although her work was somewhat set aside, she was widely received and popular during her lifetime. It would take more time until her works were widely read again, solidifying Martineau as one of the very first women sociologists who left a lasting mark on the entire study.
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Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 1.8, Harriet Martineau and Sociology
Transcript for “Harriet Martineau and Sociology” by Learning the Social Sciences is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 1.9, What is Photovoice?
[Music]
[Laura Lorenz, Co-founder of Photovoice and Educator]: Photovoice puts cameras in the hands of people with valuable lived experience so they can explore and share their perspectives on health, family, community, and their futures.
[Narrator]: The goal of Photovoice is to give a voice to those who, because of their age, status, or condition, do not have a strong say in the policies and decisions that impact their health, safety, and quality of life. Photovoice participants around the globe include a wide variety of people. Some have chronic health conditions or are living with a disability. Some are immigrants or belong to a particular minority group. Others are living with mental illness or have suffered from a brain injury.
Photovoice participants can be young or old, homeless or housed, veterans or civilians, employed or out of work. No two are alike – each one is a unique individual with a unique set of life circumstances. What they all share in common is a need to be heard.
[Lorenz]: In the Photovoice method, participants use pictures and words to document their challenges and strengths, successes and failures, hopes and fears from their perspective.
Their photos prompt respectful conversations among equals whether researchers, participants, community members, or decision makers. The photos and conversations become valuable data for advocacy, policy making, and decisions on a path forward.
[Narrator]: Using Photovoice, you can encourage discussion among people with valuable lived experience, investigate and share experiences from a first person perspective, highlight social justice issues that might be hidden from public view, identify needs that otherwise might go unnoticed, get the attention of policy makers, and collaborate for change. Photovoice projects have been facilitated by a range of stakeholders; in other words, people who have a special interest in certain groups. These stakeholders can be anyone, but often include clinicians, researchers, educators, community members, and non-profits. Together with their Photovoice participants, they undertake a process that can best be described as a Photovoice path. The steps of this path may guide the participants as they learn about Photovoice and decide on a topic, take photographs that show their thoughts and experiences, discuss and reflect on their photos and experiences, write or dictate captions to share the stories behind their photos, identify common themes, and inform others through exhibits and other outreach.
[Music.]
[Narrator]: Unlike traditional research, where researchers hold all the power, Photovoice flips this script by empowering participants to transform valuable lived experience into data for change. The Photovoice participatory approach generates authentic real-life data that opens people’s eyes to new possibilities, creates awareness, and becomes a catalyst for change. This visual research method has limitless applications and can be adapted to almost any group of people.
Talking with Pictures: Community Integration of Older Adults with Brain Injury
Lexington, MA, USA, 2015
[Lorenz]: In 2015, a Talking with Pictures project in Lexington, Massachusetts, looked with fresh eyes at community integration of older adults with brain injury. The project exhibit fostered community dialogue about the integration of people with disabilities into community life and informed town decision making regarding sidewalk improvements. It also gave the participants a deep and rewarding sense of pride and accomplishment.
Pictures that Speak: Involving Youth in Community Health
Mdantsane Township, Eastern Cape, South Africa, 2001
[Carson Peters, Former Intern, Student of Public Health]: In 2001 in Mdantsane Township, South Africa, four members of the youth-led non-profit Youth Academy were chained to be co-leaders on a Photovoice project. Participants took photographs of community resources and problems from their point of view, wrote captions, and prepared an exhibit organized under six themes: Health and Welfare; Education and Training; Community Vision; Economic Opportunity; Security; and Township Life. Exhibits at public libraries, the local hospital, and the regional capital captured policymaker attention and helped the young people feel heard.
Photovoice: A Community Activism Project
Girls Inc. of Greater Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA, 2001
[Stephanie Lloyd, Evaluator and Educator]: In 2001 a group of girls in Lowell, Massachusetts, participated in a Photovoice community activism project as an after-school activity of Girls Incorporated of Greater Lowell. Project goals were to identify resources and challenges in Lowell as seen from the perspectives of adolescent girls. Girls Inc. members portrayed community resources and needs using photographs and captions and reached policy makers and decision makers through an exhibit at City Hall.
Challenges to Getting Food to the Table: Experiences of Low-Income Veterans Raising Children
Houston, TX, USA, 2019
[Matt Dezan, U.S. Army Veteran and staff member of The Veterans’ Place, Inc., in Northfield, Vermont]: In a study of veterans’ experiences feeding their families, Photovoice asked low-income veterans with children to reflect on their experiences trying to provide adequate nutritious food for themselves and their families. Researchers learned about the barriers veterans face in getting food on the table, the strategies they employ, and the impact on their families. Their photos and captions prompted the creation of a new model to describe and understand what influences the veterans’ home food environment and to improve their access to nutritious foods for their children.
[Maria Paiewonsky, Institute for Community Inclusion in Boston]: Hi, I work with young people with intellectual disabilities and I can’t tell you how important it is for these young people to have multiple ways of telling people what they want and what’s important to them for their young adult lives. And it also helps those individuals who are providing services to them to be more clear on how they can help these young people. So I can’t say enough about Photovoice.
[Mala Matacin, Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychology, University of Hartford]: Using Photovoice to capture the lives of college students amidst the global Covid-19 pandemic was challenging and meaningful. The response from our university policymakers has been so supportive and we will continue to work on our two most prominent findings: Mental health issues and remote learning.
I don’t think people understand the impact of having your voice heard and in that way Photovoice is – it’s just a tremendous methodology.
[Narrator]: After participating in Photovoice, many participants feel a new confidence and sense of self-esteem from having an opportunity to be heard, to be seen, and to help others.
[Lorenz]: Whether you’re an educator, researcher, patient, clinician, community member, or work for a non-profit, Photovoice may be just the tool you need to show stories, share power, and change lives.
[Narrator]: Photovoice Worldwide’s mission is to help individuals and organizations worldwide use Photovoice safely, ethically, and successfully, and to create a global community for Photovoice peer-to-peer support and continuing education. For more information, visit our website at www.photovoiceworldwide.com.
[Music.]
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 1.9, What is Photovoice?
Transcript for “PhotoVoice” by SecGovGroup is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 2.17, All Purpose Household Pink Tool Kit Review
[Jenny]: This is a fun little tool box that I keep in the house. It has 39 different pieces in it and I like that it’s pink because my husband won’t grab them and take the tools away, cuz you
know, and it’s just nice to have all my tools in one place.
I don’t even know what some of these things do but it’s just nice to have tools that are just mine and can keep them organized. This would make a great gift for the kid going off to college, for Grandma who just needs to have some tools handy and, like I said, just to have my own inside tools.
They’re heavy duty, they work pretty good, you know. They’re not as hefty as my husband’s tools but they’re definitely what I need just around the house to hang pictures, just to do whatever I’m doing around the house, and need to have a screwdriver or pair of pliers, but they are pretty good, solid built, and I like that the carrying case has cutouts for each piece so you know what’s missing and it keeps it organized.
I love it!
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 2.17, All Purpose Household Pink Tool Kit Review
Transcript for “All Purpose Household Pink Tool Kit Review” by JennyKnits Reviews is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 2.18, Why ‘Passing Privilege’ Is A Problem In The Trans Community | Queer 2.0 | NBC News
Some trans people are luckier than others. Some trans women are able to go to the grocery store and pick up their dry cleaning without anyone knowing that they’re trans. Some trans men are able to get a haircut, go to the movies, and go shopping at the mall without anyone knowing that they’re trans either.
In the trans community, we call that *passing*. When trans people pass, we are able to exist in the world without people necessarily knowing that we’re trans. Passing comes with all sorts of privileges. When you pass—when you don’t look trans—it can be easier to:
– Find a job
– Find a partner
– Be accepted by the world around you
Passing also helps trans people avoid violence and harassment. The messed up reality is that when people can’t tell that you’re trans from looking at you, you’re often safer.
**Passing is a problem.**
As trans people, we shouldn’t be forced to conform to gender norms and bodily standards in order to be treated with dignity. Trans folks should be able to *look* trans, whatever that means, and still have stable employment and a sense of community. Rather than asking trans people to pass, we need to redefine the way we understand women, men, and people in general.
– There’s no right way to look like a woman.
– There’s no right way to look like a man.
– And for us non-binary trans folks, you shouldn’t have to look like a man *or* a woman in order to be treated well by your community.
Instead of making trans people pass as our gender in order to be treated with respect, let’s take a pass at the *real* problems facing trans folks:
– Having your gender identity scrutinized in public? **Pass.**
– Higher rates of violence and poverty? **Pass.**
– Living in a transphobic world? **Oh, hard pass.**
Now that’s some passing I can get behind.
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 2.18, Why ‘Passing Privilege’ Is A Problem In The Trans Community | Queer 2.0 | NBC News
Transcript for “Why ‘Passing Privilege’ Is A Problem In The Trans Community | Queer 2.0 | NBC News” by NBC News is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 2.19, America Ferrera’s Iconic Barbie Speech | Barbie | Max
It is literally impossible to be a woman.
You are so beautiful and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like,
we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong.
You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say
you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin.
You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass. You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman, but also always be looking out for other people.
You have to answer for men’s bad behavior, which is insane. But if you point that out, you’re accused of complaining. You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood, but always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that, but also always be grateful.
You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line.
It’s too hard, it’s too contradictory, and nobody give you a medal or says thank you. And it turns out, in fact, that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.
I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing a woman, then I don’t even know.
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 2.19, America Ferrera’s Iconic Barbie Speech | Barbie | Max
Transcript for “America Ferrera’s Iconic Barbie Speech | Barbie | Max” by Max is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 3.10, Teen Coming Out Stories
[Joon Park]: Cole Sprouse if you are watching this, I love you.
[Gianna Collier-Pitts]: Coming out was more of just like a long-form process since I knew around middle school that I was into, you know, more than just guys.
[C Mandler]: I realized I was queer in high school.
[Leah Juliett]: I was 14 years old when I was outed as being gay. Being outed was probably one of the worst experiences of my life.
[Joon Park]: So I was actually 17 when I first came out and it was a very organic process. My mom, after picking me up from school, took this weird drive that we never really take and then pulled over.
[Rowan Hepps Keeney]: I first came out as bi at the end of eighth grade, somewhere between 8th and 9th grade. I told my sister–she was the first person that I told.
[C Mandler]: And it was really funny because I’d gone to public school prior to that and all my friends teased me, oh you’re going to private school, it’s all girls, you’re gonna become a lesbian. Oh, you guys don’t know anything, I’m so straight. And I’m just so not straight.
[Gianna Collier-Pitts]: I went to Catholic school and section homosexuality wasn’t even a thing so I doubt bisexuality would have even been a topic we could say in class.
[C Mandler]: This girl got really drunk on Mike’s Hard Lemonade and I ended up taking her home in a cab and I looked up at her and made eye contact with her. And like just this weird feeling kind of rushed over my body and I realized I just fallen in love with this girl out of nowhere who I didn’t know.
[Joon Park]: And then, at that moment, I kind of knew the direction but she was heading towards and she asked me very bluntly if I was gay. And already I could see in her eyes that there was no kind of malicious intent in her asking me, and so with tears in my eyes I just kind of said, yeah, mom I am gay. And I just started breaking down crying because it was so cathartic and my mom was just kind of looking at me like, it’s not that serious.
[Rowan Hepps Keeney]:and so I would like come to school like a skirt or something I want someone be like, oh my god you’re wearing a skirt and I was like, look I do this, like that’s always been something that I’ve done, and just because I’m a lesbian like we’re gonna make a whole big to-do about the fact that I am wearing a skirt or makeup or something like that.
[Gianna Collier-Pitts]: I actually told my best friend that I was by the first day that I moved into college and by my sophomore year I had finally told everyone and I told them via Instagram. My dad was the only one who took it a little bit hard. He was more upset at the fact that I sent him a link to my Instagram post instead of calling him.
[C Mandler]: Coming out as trans was a lot harder because I didn’t have language to describe gender identity until I got to college and yet if you’re not entirely sure of who or what you are from the second you come out of the womb, people like to invalidate what you have to say about who you are.
[Gianna Collier-Pitts]: If you’re thinking of coming out to your parents and you’re pretty sure they’re accepting maybe just tell them in person don’t don’t put it on Instagram and give them a link, but other than that you know it was a pretty positive experience. I wouldn’t really regret it or change when I did it or how I did it.
[Leah Juliett]: But it also taught me that coming out and sharing who you are doesn’t necessarily need to be a grand gesture and a large experience. It can be very personal and it can be very intimate and it can just be you starting to live your life openly.
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 3.10, Teen Coming Out Stories
Transcript for “Teen Coming Out Stories” by Fusion Comedy is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 3.11 Coming Out Stories – Andy
**I’m Andy. I’m a gay man, and I came out last October.**
It wasn’t easy for me. For the first 45 years of my life, it was very, very hard. I struggled, and I knew I was gay, but I just couldn’t tell anyone. I held that secret for all these years.
The night I did come out to my two good friends, I went home and thought about it. I thought, *right, I made that first step—telling someone*. So, I decided I would let everyone know. I put it on Facebook, and the response I got from all the locals was amazing. It was fantastic.
**I hated being in that class.**
It was a horrible, horrible, horrible place. I was taunted by a few people—not everyone—but a few folks made my life a living hell with taunting names and homophobic remarks. I was young at the time. I knew I was gay, but I just didn’t know how to come out.
All through my life—I’m 60 next month, and as I said, I only came out last October—I hated myself. I couldn’t be me. It was hard. I lived a lie. It’s all been about accepting myself, and I couldn’t even say the word *gay*.
I would be filled with panic attacks. I was on medication. I had a nervous breakdown. I contemplated suicide several times. I just didn’t want to live because I couldn’t be me.
Until last year, I met two good friends who saw the struggle I was going through. With their help, I managed to come out.
**My advice to anyone struggling:**
I know there are people out there struggling, because I struggled. I hated myself, just trying to live. I know there are others going through the same thing I did. Don’t do what I did. Don’t live that lie. Don’t stay in that hideous place—the closet. It’s a horrible, horrible place to be. Be yourselves. Be true to yourselves, and you will find the support. I certainly did.
The support here has been great—great support to me. I can’t thank them enough. They are there if I need advice, and I just have to call them. Life can be good.
**If there’s anyone out there going through the same struggle I did, tell someone.**
You’ll find, as you start to tell, it gets easier. I don’t have any fear anymore. The few homophobes who made my life hell—they mean nothing to me now. They can’t hurt me. I’ve taken back control of my life, and I’m loving life. Life is good.
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 3.11 Coming Out Stories – Andy
Transcript for “Coming Out Stories – Andy” by Waverley Care is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 3.15, Tea and Consent
If you’re still struggling with consent, just imagine instead of initiating sex you’re making them a cup of tea.
You say, “Hey, would you like a cup of tea?” and they go, “Oh my God, I would love a cup of tea, thank you!” then you know they want a cup of tea. If you say, “Hey, would you like a cup of tea?” and they’re like, “Uh, you know, I’m not really sure,” then you can make them a
cup of tea or not, but be aware that they might not drink it, and if they don’t drink it then – and this is the important bit – don’t make them drink it. Just because you made it doesn’t mean you’re entitled to watch them drink it.
And if they say, “No, thank you,” then don’t make them tea. At all. Just don’t make them tea, don’t make them drink tea, don’t get annoyed at them for not wanting tea. They just don’t want tea, okay?
They might say, “Yes, please, that’s kind of you,” and then when the tea arrives they actually don’t want the tea at all. Sure, that’s kind of annoying as you’ve gone to all the effort of making the tea, but they remain under no obligation to drink the tea. They did want tea, now they don’t. Some people change their mind in the time it takes to boil the kettle, brew the tea, and add the milk, and it’s okay for people to change their mind and you are still not entitled to watch them drink it.
And if they’re unconscious, don’t make them tea. Unconscious people don’t want tea and they can’t answer the question, “Do you want tea?” because they’re unconscious, okay? Maybe they were conscious when you asked them if they wanted tea and they said yes but in the time it took you to boil the kettle, brew the tea, and add the milk they are now unconscious. You should just put the tea down. Make sure the unconscious person is safe and – this is the important part again – don’t make them drink the tea. They said yes then, sure, but unconscious people don’t want tea.
If someone said yes to tea, started drinking it, and then passed out before they’d finished it, don’t keep on pouring it down their throat. Take the tea away, make sure they are safe, because
unconscious people don’t want tea. Trust me on this.
If someone said yes to tea around your house last Saturday, that doesn’t mean they want you to make them tea all the time. They don’t want you to come around to their place unexpectedly and make them tea and force them to drink it, going, “But you wanted tea last week!” or to wake up to find you pouring tea down their throat, going, “But you wanted tea last night!”
If you can understand how completely ludicrous it is to force people to have tea when they don’t want tea, and you are able to understand when people don’t want tea, then how hard is it to understand when it comes to sex? Whether it’s tea or sex, consent is everything, and on that note… I’m going to make myself a cup of tea.
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 3.15, Tea and Consent
Transcript for “Tea and Consent” by Thames Valley Police is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 4.11, Our Story: Building Black & Hmoob Movement
Growing up poor,
we thought you weren’t really going to make it anywhere
or see what’s really out there.
We were all high school dropouts—homeless, jobless,
just hanging out in the parking lot.
We were doing pretty much nothing.
We were poor. We struggled with bills and rent at times.
Early on, I had been developing a strong race consciousness,
a strong awareness of injustice.
At a very young age, I knew that poverty was wrong.
I’ve always known I was going to be different.
I had the opportunity to go abroad for a year, to Thailand,
and I thought my life had changed so much.
But when I came back, I realized some things changed,
and some things didn’t.
What didn’t change was us still hanging out in the parking lot.
I thought to myself:
“If they could see beyond the doorsteps of our community,
if they could see beyond Madison,
what would it do for them?”
Kajo gave us the opportunity
to really step out of our personal boxes
and see that we are more than just some kids from the projects.
Freedom Inc began 15 years ago
as a group of Hmong girls who would come together in the parking lot.
They’d talk about everyday issues:
“I lost my driver’s license,”
“I got too many tickets,”
“I keep getting kicked out of school.”
We got together and talked about these issues,
but we also started learning how these personal struggles
were connected to broader issues of social justice.
It was about racial profiling, organizing, poverty,
addressing the system that was set up
so that you become a failure.
Freedom Inc is a grassroots organization
working to end violence within and against low-income communities of color.
We do this by building the power, leadership, and organizing capacity
of Hmong and Black women, youth, and LGBTQ+ people.
I was asked to help build a space for queer LGBTQ+ people
who didn’t necessarily identify as straight or cisgender.
When I was starting to accept my sexuality,
I don’t think I would have been okay with myself
if spaces like that didn’t exist.
When the Hmong girls met,
Black girls in the community started joining.
Some of the Black girls asked,
“What about us? Why just Hmong girls?”
That’s how Black Beauties became part of Freedom Inc.
Hmong and Black communities
were placed in some of the poorest areas of the U.S. 35 years ago.
Nobody thought that one day, we’d talk to each other,
figure out that we have a lot in common,
and stand up for each other.
Part of our vision is healing.
The truth is, many of us are survivors of different forms of trauma and assault.
I see it even within my own staff—so much pain.
We provide domestic violence and sexual assault services,
and we organize through healing.
Freedom Inc has saved many youth.
The thing about our staff, who are survivors too,
is that we don’t have to go through things alone.
We provide an ear, a shoulder.
We also learn how to listen, how to be there for others.
We empower them to be the change they want to see.
Patriarchy still exists. Sexism still exists.
We cannot wait—we’ve got to get up and do something.
I have way too much love and too much to offer
to just not do anything.
Our work is truly about creating the world we want to live in.
Freedom, to me, isn’t about destruction.
Freedom is about love.
As long as I’m alive, I’m going to create it.
And if it’s not created for me,
at least my child will get to experience some of it.
With that belief, I fight.
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 4.11, Our Story: Building Black & Hmoob Movement
Transcript for “Our Story: Building Black & Hmoob Movement” by Freedom, Inc. is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 4.15, Judith Butler: Your Behavior Creates Your Gender | Big Think
[Interviewer]: What does it mean that gender is performative?
[Judith Butler]: It’s one thing to say that gender is performed and that is a little different from saying gender is performative. When we say gender is performed we usually mean that we’ve taken on a role or we’re acting in some way and that our acting or our role playing is crucial to the gender that we are and the gender that we present to the world. To say that gender is performative is a little different because for something to be performative means that it produces a series of effects. We act and walk and speak and talk in ways that consolidate an impression of being a man or being a woman.
I was walking down the street in Berkeley when I first arrived several years ago and a young woman who was I think in high school leaned out of her window and she yelled, “Are you a lesbian?”, and she was looking to harass me or maybe she was just freaked out or she thought I looked like I probably was one or wanted to know and I thought to myself well I could feel harassed or stigmatized, but instead I just turned around and I said yes I am and that really shocked her.
We act as if that being of a man or that being of a women is actually an internal reality or something that is simply true about us, a fact about us, but actually it’s a phenomenon that is being produced all the time and reproduced all the time, so to say gender is performative is to say that nobody really is a gender from the start. I know it’s controversial, but that’s my claim.
[Interviewer]: How should this notion of gender performativity change the way we look at gender?
[Judith Butler]: Think about how difficult it is for sissy boys or how difficult it is for tomboys to function socially without being bullied or without being teased or without sometimes suffering threats of violence or without their parents intervening to say maybe you need a psychiatrist or why can’t you be normal. So there are institutional powers like psychiatric normalization and there are informal kinds of practices like bullying which try to keep us in our gendered place.
I think there is a real question for me about how such gender norms get established and policed and what the best way is to disrupt them and to overcome the police function. It’s my view that gender is culturally formed, but it’s also a domain of agency or freedom and that it is most important to resist the violence that is imposed by ideal gender norms, especially against those who are gender different, who are nonconforming in their gender presentation.
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 4.15, Judith Butler: Your Behavior Creates Your Gender | Big Think
Transcript for “Judith Butler: Your Behavior Creates Your Gender | Big Think” by Big Think is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 4.17, Crip Queer Pride with Daisy Wislar
[Daisy Wislar]: Hi! I’m Daisy, I use they/them pronouns, and I’m queer and I’m disabled.
[Daisy walking with a cane, wearing a rainbow-colored cap and t-shirt that says, “The Future is Accessible.”]
[Daisy Wislar]: I’ve been disabled since birth, and growing up I had a lot of surgeries and physical therapies in order to reach certain physical benchmarks that doctors told me I was “supposed” to have reached at my age.
[Daisy is joined by two friends who wear rainbow and trans flags.]
[Daisy Wislar]: I was told to stretch my hamstring this way, to turn my foot that way, walk straighter, stand taller, and basically make my body fit into other people’s standards that were never really within my reach to begin with. I had no access to disabled role models in the media or in my personal life. I had no way of thinking about my disability outside of a medical context, and as a result, I totally internalized the idea that my disability was a “bad thing” that needed medical intervention in order to be fixed.
At the same time as I was going through adolescence, I started realizing that I wasn’t straight. Luckily I had some out friends, supportive teachers, and an active Gay Straight Alliance, that really supported me and helped me process what that meant for me.
[Daisy and their friends arrive at Pride. Multi-colored flags in the background.]
[Daisy Wislar]: Even though I started to feel a real pride in my queer identity, there was this entire part of me, my disability, that I didn’t get to celebrate like I did my queerness. For example, I once had someone that I matched with on a lesbian dating app tell me, “Aww, it’s okay Babe, I still think you’re beautiful, I’ll take care of you,” after I told her I was disabled.
Yeah that was bad. [chuckles]
[Daisy cringes.]
[Daisy Wislar]: I just wanted to scream, “You don’t have to tell me it’s okay to be disabled! I know it’s okay! I don’t need you to take care of me, and I don’t need your apology just for existing as myself!”
In that moment, it hit me extra hard that the queer community isn’t always disability-inclusive. All I could think was, “Well I guess this community isn’t really mine after all.”
I started connecting with people who are unapologetic about being both queer and disabled. I met people who took rules about what men and women were “supposed to do,” or how bodies were “supposed to look,” and rewrote them, revised them, or threw them away entirely. And then I realized that I could apply the same thing to my own life, not only in terms of my queerness, but in terms of my disability as well. I slowly started to experiment with bow ties, button downs, backwards hats, and other markers of gender outside of the feminine norm. I also started using my cane when I actually needed it, rather than feeling ashamed of it. I realized that I could invite people to stare on my own terms, and find pride, confidence, and empowerment in that. Now, dressing like this is like a visual representation of all the ways my body is defiant of norms and expectations.
[Daisy showing off their outfit.]
[Daisy Wislar]: What I’ve learned from this is that disability is an identity in its own right, and being able to claim that identity may take some time. I mean, I was born disabled and it took me years and years.
[Photo of Daisy. Their t-shirt reads, “Queer & Disabled.”]
[Daisy Wislar]: I don’t have to be ashamed. My disability isn’t just a medical condition. My body doesn’t need to be fixed, and I am so, so proud of that. Pride and comfort aren’t inherent, but shame doesn’t have to be either.
[Daisy shares a milkshake with their partner. Their faces gently touch.]
[Daisy Wislar]: We’re all on our own journey to understanding what it means to be queer, disabled, trans, whatever it may be. Know that wherever you are in that process, your journey is valid and you are not alone in it.
Written and directed by Daisy Wislar. To learn more about Storytellers like me, visit RootedinRights.org/Storytellers.
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 4.17, Crip Queer Pride with Daisy Wislar
Transcript for “Crip Queer Pride with Daisy Wislar” by Rooted in Rights is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 5.7, LAVERNE COX on Issues facing the Transgender Community | Bent Lens | In Conversation
[Laverne Cox]: But I think there’s the all underlying the healthcare issues, the employment issues, the murder and violence issues is the presumption that we are always and only the gender that we were signed at birth and therefore we should be treated as some, oh God I’m getting – about to get – way too real here, some human being – I was about to say something –
wrote that I was, people have been writing, you know, that I’m mentally ill, that trans people are mentally ill, so that kind of stigmatizing, right, continues to perpetuate mythology that we are somehow deranged and mentally ill and there is a reason then to discriminate against us. Yes, even if somebody were mentally ill, it does not mean that they need to be beating to death on the street.
[Applause.]
So when we can begin to dismantle that misconception, then we can begin to extend healthcare, then we can begin to say, okay, we can employ trans folks. Then we can have housing and bathrooms and accommodations that are appropriate for trans people without
like freaking out and saying you know doing all this stuff that we often do, we need, there’s a basic assumption that we need to challenge around binary gender and then we need to look at the intersections of race and class with that right so that this move, this LGBT movement has to look at other issues. Because we just are looking at the transgender piece, we’re missing a lot,
because when folks are black and Latina mostly and are getting HIV at disproportionate rates or
being murdered at disproportionate rates or trafficking to sex work at disproportionate rates, there’s something about being black and Latina in our white supremacist culture that we have
to look at and and so we have to be we have to be fighting racism and classism and patriarchy along with transphobia, right, okay.
[Applause.]
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 5.7, LAVERNE COX on Issues facing the Transgender Community | Bent Lens | In Conversation
Transcript for “LAVERNE COX on Issues facing the Transgender Community | Bent Lens | In Conversation” by TIFF Originals is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 5.10 How Microaggressions are like Mosquito Bites
[Narrator]: For people who still don’t think microaggressions are a problem…
[Person 1]: Oh, you’re so well-spoken.
[Narrator]: Imagine, instead of a rude comment, a microaggression is like a mosquito bite. It’s irritating.
[Sound of mosquitoes buzzing]
[Narrator]: Mosquito bites are annoying, but if it happens rarely, it’s just a minor bother.
[Person 2]: Where are you *really* from?
[Person 3]: Cleveland.
[Narrator]: Sure, it’s annoying but not a huge deal. The real issue is that some people get bitten more than others.
[Person 4]: Whether on a date, shopping, or commuting, people experience microaggressions more frequently.
[Person 5]: Everything happens for a reason.
[Person 6]: I’m just buying apples.
[Narrator]: Even when just watching TV or walking down the street, you face microaggressions.
[Person 7]: We have to preserve our culture. I couldn’t even tell you were gay!
[Narrator]: Mosquitoes appear everywhere.
[Person 8]: I’m getting bit every day—multiple times a day!
[Narrator]: This constant irritation makes you want to react, which seems like an overreaction to those who don’t experience it regularly.
[Person 9]: It’s just a mosquito bite. Who cares? Another angry Black woman.
[Narrator]: But microaggressions can have deeper effects than just being annoying. Some can harm your well-being.
[Person 10]: Maybe astrophysics is too hard for you. Try something easier.
[Narrator]: And others are life-threatening.
[Person 11]: You looked suspicious. I felt threatened.
[Narrator]: So, before you dismiss someone’s reaction, remember—some people deal with microaggressions all the time.
[Person 12]: You’re so exotic.
[Narrator]: By microaggressions, we mean mosquito bites.
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 5.10 How Microaggressions are like Mosquito Bites
Transcript for “How Microaggressions are like Mosquito Bites” by Seventeen is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 5.13, Video captures neo-Nazis interrupting drag reading hour
[Yelling.]
[Reporter]: Drag queen Juicy Garland captured the moment a group of neo-Nazis tried to disrupt a drag story hour she was hosting at a cafe in New Hampshire.
[Juicy Garland]: All we were doing was promoting literacy and providing kids with cute, good stories.
[Yelling, knocking.]
[Reporter]: The event was happening at the Teatotaller Cafe in Concord, New Hampshire. The owner says this is not the first time a drag story hour has been targeted.
[Emmett Soldati, cafe owner]: This is not the first time, it’s not the second time, it’s not the third time. But the truth is that we have been doing this kind of programming basically since we have existed in the state of New Hampshire, which is over a decade.
[Reporter]: The state attorney general’s office, which is investigating the incident, said the group gathered outside were members of NSC131, a neo-Nazi organization with small chapters based in New England, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
[Juicy Garland]: I will be back, and we will continue to do these. If anything I’m only more encouraged to defy these people, to continue to do what we do.
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 5.13, Video captures neo-Nazis interrupting drag reading hour
Transcript for “Video captures neo-Nazis interrupting drag reading hour” by CNN is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 5.17, Clatsop-Nehalem tribes’ return of ancestral land
[Charlotte Celiaste Basch, Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes]: Growing up, I often was told that the Clatsop people are now extinct, they don’t exist anymore and I, obviously knowing I was a Clatsop – am a Clatsop – person, I knew that was wrong.
[Narrator]: Charlotte Basch is walking with her parents on the land where her ancestors used to live, along the Necanicum River Estuary in the present-day town of Seaside.
[Charlotte Basch]: The estuary is where the Neawanna, the Neacoxie, and the Necanicum Rivers all come together. It’s an incredibly beautiful spot.
[Narrator]: This is where the Clatsop of Native American people signed a treaty for the right to fish and hunt indefinitely, and were nevertheless, they were forced to leave.
[Charlotte Basch]: I’m named after my great-grandmother Charlotte, my great-great-grandmother Celiaste, both of which lived in this community and on this land.
[Narrator]: Charlotte and her father, Dick, are descendants of Clatsop Chief Coboway through his daughter Celiaste. Dick learned from his grandmother Charlotte how his ancestors used this village site before white settlement pushed them out. They didn’t have a reservation to go to so they scattered across the Northwest. Many lost track of their family lineage.
[Dick Basch, Vice-Chairman, Clatsop-Nehalem Tribal Council]: There were pieces that were able to be threaded through the generations. You know, of course a lot was lost, but I’m lucky enough that I know something about our family and our history.
[Narrator]: While this peaceful stretch of undeveloped land feels remote, it’s actually just a couple miles from the throngs of vacationing tourists in the bustling beach town of Seaside. On a busy street in the center of town, Dick worked with an artist to illustrate the history of his ancestors’ homeland and share their story with the community.
[Dick Basch]: The importance of this place was immense. The long houses here had family, neighbors right across the estuary where there was another village. This was such an important place that after our treaty was signed, that treaty included the right to fish forever here at the mouth of the Neacoxie.
[Narrator]: But that treaty was never honored by the U.S. government. So the Clatsop never got what they were promised for giving up their land, and they still have no federal recognition.
[Dick Basch]: They put up fences and no trespassing signs and our people weren’t able to go to the place they gathered and they were arrested for trespassing. Can you imagine that? The horror that they had to endure.
[Narrator]: Generations later, Roberta Basch found that problem persisted with the land trust that owned this property when she was denied access to gather traditional plants.
[Roberta Basch]: They said, ‘No, you can’t,” because they were preserving, conserving, some of those plants. Well, I know how to do that. My people have been doing that since time immemorial. It has been very difficult to be told you can’t be who you are because for us we are not separate from the land, we are not separate from the plants. The plants keep our bodies alive, the plants keep this whole area alive. We’re not separate, but we’ve been told by society that we have to learn how to separate ourselves from the land. That’s not possible, it’s just not possible to be able to do that.
[Narrator]: Katie Voelke is the executive director of the North Coast Land Conservancy. Her land trust protected the property from development and restored its tidal marsh ecosystem. She says years of hearing from tribal members like Roberta led her organization to make an historic
decision.
[Katie Voelke, North Coast Land Conservancy]: We realized that though we have a conservation mission, our connection to this land is not and could never be as deep and important and meaningful as the connection of the Clatsop people. We realized that what we owned was one of the most important places to other people, and why would we own that when we know that those other people will care for it even more greatly than we would?
[David Stowe, Clatsop-Nehalem Tribal Council Member]: They said it was never our land, and they deeded the land back to us. That’s remarkable and because of that we sit here today and the circle has come all the way around and we have – it’s going to really, literally allow us to be a tribe.
[Tribal member]: How long would take to dry something like this?
[Narrator]: Though they had no land to call home, the Clatsop-Nehalem people never forgot their culture. Now, they finally have a place to practice it.
[Dee Zimmerlee, Treasurer, Clatsop-Nehalem Tribal Council]: They’re typically dried out, it’s dried, and then you soak it and you work, work it that way.
One of the things that we want to do is keep that culture alive to teach our tribal members, to teach family, to teach those in the community.
[Narrator]: They’re making plans to build a longhouse and a museum at the site.
[David Stowe]: So here we are for the first time in a very, very long time actually owning land in our homeland. We’re like, okay, now what do we do? We’re thinking about our future and having a lot of discussions and like, how do you put Humpty Dumpty back together again? And so now we have this huge hope and we’re dreaming again.
[Narrator]: With the title transfer, the tribes reclaimed about 18 acres of their ancestral homeland and launched a whole new chapter of their history.
[Charlotte Basch]: To be able to look now and know that this is actually in tribal ownership again is truly indescribable. It gives you a sense of pride, I think, in resilience. Knowing that our people, our community have been here literally since time immemorial and despite everything that happened to us we’re still here in this place.
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 5.17, Clatsop-Nehalem tribes’ return of ancestral land
Transcript for “Clatsop-Nehalem tribes’ return of ancestral land” by Oregon Public Broadcasting is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 5.18, Comunidad muxe de Oaxaca
verdaderos abc
[Applause.]
[Music.]
Después
[Music.]
hong kong
me voy
[Music.]
Pero
[Music.]
no
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 5.18, Comunidad muxe de Oaxaca
Transcript for “Comunidad muxe de Oaxaca” by NotiMex is included under fair use.
Transcript for Figure 5.21, Cultural Shift: Women’s Roles in the 1950s
[Music.]
[Male Narrator]: If the image of a woman during World War Two was Rosie the Riveter, the 1950s female idea became Susie Homemaker. The same women who were often encouraged to work in the factories to support the war effort were now urged to demonstrate their patriotism by staying home.
[Female Speaker]: If you look at the difference between the way the magazines portrayed women in the 40s and magazines portrayed women in the 50s, you can see a huge propaganda effort took place to convince women that their place was in the home, that they didn’t want to wear overalls, that really you were much more fulfilled if you could cook a good dinner than if you could make a wing on an airplane.
[First speaker in 1950s commercial]: You have no idea how much I’ve got to do! Remember I haven’t got your dream kitchen to make things easier.
[Second speaker in 1950s commercial]: This whole kitchen was designed for efficiency and convenience.
[Male Narrator]: Experts like noted pediatrician and author Dr. Benjamin Spock and popular advice columnist Ann Landers encouraged this homemaker image, advising women to put their children and husbands first even at the expense of their own needs. Yet even as many mothers prided themselves and their families, the number of women working outside the home rose steadily as they took jobs to help maintain their families’ standard of living. Soon both married and unmarried women were a significant part of the labor pool.
[Female Speaker]: In the 1950s, 33 percent of the workforce was female.
[Male Narrator]: Women who did not work outside the home often volunteered in their places of worship and in their charitable organizations. There they learned the political and organizational skills that would become critical as they joined with working women to mastermind the women’s movements of the 60s and 70s.
[Music.]
Licenses and Attributions for Transcript for Figure 5.21, Cultural Shift: Women’s Roles in the 1950s
Transcript for “Cultural Shift: Women’s Roles in the 1950s” by NBC News Learn is included under fair use.
