Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Q&A: Privilege And Allyship, Anonymous

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Question: I’ve always wondered about this: as a white, heterosexual male person who cares about the way minorities and marginalized populations are treated, what gives me the right to feel offended or call someone out on something they say that’s a definite gray area when I don’t belong to that group? I believe that as a privileged individual it is my responsibility to advocate as an ally but it would conversely be an exercise of my privilege if I were to be the one to decide what is and isn’t offensive to a whole group of people I don’t belong …

Fearless Friday: Kaiden Krueger, Christina L. Bassler

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In this week’s Fearless Friday, we would like to spotlight Kaiden Krueger ’16!

Gettysburg College has been Kaiden’s home for the last few years. Kaiden, now a senior, knew from the start that his time at college would be transformative. He decided he was officially going to come out as a man and live the life he knew was right for him. [excerpt]

The Scars Of Stigma, Andrew C. Nosti

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“I do”: two words that conclude the plot lines to hundreds of romantic movies. Two words that Hollywood has imprinted in our minds as the culmination of true love – words that children across the world dream about. [excerpt]

Fearless Friday: Erin Duran, Christina L. Bassler

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As we conclude PRIDE Week, we honor Erin Duran, the fearless director of LGBTQA Advocacy and Education. In Erin’s three years at Gettysburg, he has established institutional support for the LGBTQA community and has worked to make the campus more inclusive and accepting of all students. [excerpt]

But, Why Not?, Anonymous

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I am the lucky one.

That’s how I’ve felt growing up in backwater Pennsyltucky, yet somehow managing to be openly queer. I came out to my friends and family as bi/pan-sexual in the 8th grade. None of my coming-out experiences resulted in horror stories. At that point most people had already guessed and accepted the fact that I was most definitely a queer kid. Even the most conservatively religious members of my friend group seemed perfectly okay with the fact that my sexuality didn’t fit with their ideas of morality. I was who I was, and to all outward appearances …

The Cross In My Closet, Ann M. Sasala

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All this changed when I turned fourteen. Suddenly the quiet peace was shattered by my raucous, rebellious response to the “Adam and Eve Not Ann and Eve“ chanted by my neighbors, teachers, and family. The solace I once felt during prayer became a black hole of hate; instead of listening for words of kindness, instead of finding serenity, I spit in the faces of my family, friends, and religion. Hoping to purge my body of its new found, fiery anger, I turned to a priest who told me there could be no salvation: “man shall not lie with man…it is …

Judgy Eyes, Stephany W. Harrington

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I can feel them watching me, examining me. I try not to look directly at them for fear that they might see right through me.

For so long I’ve walked amongst them and have tried to somewhat assimilate into their culture. But even then, I’m certain they feel something off about me, something that just doesn’t fit. And they’d be right to assume that, because I am different from so many of them. [excerpt]

The Person I Am Becoming, Ann M. Sasala

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Death, among other things, forces us to confront our own mortality, to question how we view ourselves in relation to others, to relive memories be they fond or not so much.

Over the past month, I lost both a grandfather -a quiet, intense, intelligent man who fostered in me a love for ice-cream and old movies- and a grandmother -the first family member to tell me it was OK to be queer. Their deaths left me scattered. My life became a dorm room floor during finals: covered in a mixture of clean and dirty clothing, food remains, and long-forgotten notes. …

"A" Is Not For Ally, Ellen I. Henry

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Most people can recall their first crush. They think fondly back to age ten or eleven when they first “went boy-crazy” or couldn’t focus on sixth-grade English because that cute girl was in their class.

This did not happen for me. I do, however, vividly remember it happening for everyone around me. [excerpt]

Twice As Likely To..., Adrienne M. Ellis

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TRIGGER WARNING!

I am white. I am bisexual. I am female. I have been sexually assaulted. Three times. [excerpt]

Gay After Graduation, Laura J. Koenig

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I first went public with my sexual orientation over Surge last spring–my last semester at Gettysburg before graduation. I was scared, but ultimately lucky to be met with support from my friends and family. People generally accepted my sexuality and then moved on. Actually, life went on so quickly that it took me some time to catch up. [excerpt]

Bi The Way, I'M Queer, Chelsea E. Broe

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363 days ago, on October 11, 2012, I came out as bisexual.

Every year, the queer community observes October 11th as National Coming Out Day, a day when queers of all kinds can openly acknowledge and celebrate their sexual orientation and gender identity. [excerpt]

The Queer Truth, Chelsea E. Broe

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I remember learning about intersexuality (then called hermaphrodism) for the first time in my health class when I was twelve years old. In that lesson, my teacher mentioned that when a child is born intersex, the parents will likely choose a binary sex (male or female) for the child, have the child undergo sex reassignment surgery, and raise the child to fit the corresponding gender. My teacher went on to explain that sometimes the parents pick the “wrong” sex for their child, and the child grows up feeling like he or she should be the “opposite” gender. Implied in this …

Choosing Sides: The Gender Dilemma, Center For Public Service

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“You can’t check a box between male and female; you are either a boy or a girl.”

My professor makes this statement often. It is pretty easy to see why he would use gender in this example: he is trying to give us a simple, understandable explanation of a binary. When explaining the binary, he just wants to show that it is a two-option classification: from his experience, male and female fits. [excerpt]

Mobile Activism: What Your Profile Picture Says About You, Laura J. Koenig

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I know you’ve all been seeing this image all of your Facebook news feeds. All of the sudden a few weeks ago it became everyone’s profile picture. People were sharing it, along with other images, explaining why Prop. 8 and the Defense Of Marriage Act should be repealed, and were generally expressing their support of marriage equality. [excerpt]

How To Look Like A Lesbian Without Even Trying, Laura J. Koenig

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“Ugh. I hate those pictures. I look like such a lesbian in them,” my cousin explained to me while her family and I sat around their kitchen table. After she said this, her younger brother laughed into his chicken noodle soup and she hit him over the head. “Shut up. I’m telling you. They’re so bad,” she said. As the conversation went on, I learn that she was referring to pictures that had been taken at one of her lacrosse practices. The important part is that she was displeased with the photos. And it’s certainly not because someone had caught …