Exploratory Writing W3B

Russell, Legacy. Glitch Feminism #1

I am the current vice president of Panhellenic affairs for the Gamma Phi Beta sorority here at the University of Denver. Essentially, my job is to represent my chapter on behalf of the entire Greek life community. With this being said, I am in charge of sparking important conversations and change we hope to see as a collective group rather than just in our individual chapters. Recently, our conversations have been about intersectionality . While I was reading these commentaries on glitch feminism , I noticed that intersectionality is actually a huge part of these people’s stories. Legacy Russell does not feel rejected from society only because she is black, or because she is female, or because she is queer, it’s because she is all of these things. These different identities combined make up who she is and how she is able to express the most authentic version of herself to others. Our world is still struggling to disassociate with being biased towards white heteronormative people. Those who do not fit this mold struggle to find peace and comfort in society. As a member of the Greek life community, we have been brainstorming ways to make gender nonconforming individuals feel welcomed into our chapters. Often people associate the word “sorority” with female, and “fraternity” with male, so if one does not fit with either of these identifications, they may be easily discouraged to join Greek life. We have been attempting to change the diction of marketing around getting people to rush, but it was not until this reading where I realized the power of online platforms giving people more freedom to be who they desire. I wonder how I can utilize some of the components of this digital world to make members of our own community at DU feel more welcomed to join Greek life.

I thought it was interesting how the author chose to use the term to represent her philosophy of working to establish gender as something that isn’t stationary . Glitch usually has a negative connotation : something is broken, something went wrong, something failed to preform expectedly. Russell redefines this connotation through the lens of feminism. She uses the term “glitch” to represent a refusal of the gendered body and allows people to dis-identify with whatever they choose to. This is such a unique approach at discovering freedom, and I would like to comment on how brave the participants are. It is not easy to explore personal identifies that may bring you burden, but the glitch feminists have done an excellent job of thinking and preforming outside of the box to set themselves free in a society that is so restricting . Although this community shares similar values, all of the art is unique and special to their own stories. I would love to see this community gain more attention because I know people all over our country are struggling to find spaces where they can explore their own confines.

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