This article (slightly edited) was first published in the magazine Scumgrrrls, #19, Summer 2012.
If I didn't define myself for myself, I
would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten
alive.
—Audre Lorde
What unites us is not a common sexuality or experiences or
identities or self-expression. It's that we're up against a common
enemy.
—Leslie Feinberg
Personal history
Growing up, I slowly gained an understanding of oppression. I
still remember when I first joined an anti-racist group, sitting in a
student restaurant and suddenly grasping the idea of a structure that
oppresses us, that it is not just “bad people” that are the
problem.
Later, sometimes slow and sometimes with sudden bolts of
understanding I gained some gender awareness. I became a member of a
gender action group. I was very happy to be a part of that group, I thought we were a
cool bunch of people and I learned a lot from them. Still, I wanted
to do more actions, more politics against the establishment, I had a
different view about a lot of things.
