Non-Binary Student Shakes Up Women's Studies Majors
Academics battle college’s antiquated format each time a student evokes the magic word ‘elitist.’ Yet, the magic of criticism on elitism typically ends when the call-out is punctuated with a cisgender woman admitting her path to “tearing down these oppressive structures” starts with her Master’s in Education and her eventual assumption of the position of her current Women’s Studies professor. While the logic is more circular than the path to activism in these radical feminist spheres, students with different gender expressions are voicing their concerns of the system that seems to have been built to keep women stagnant in their “journeys to revolution.” Alex Arroyo came out as non-binary in their Foundations of Feminism class earlier this semester, and although the professor has since stopped acknowledging Arroyo’s attempts at earning mandatory participation, Deborah McDoogle has had a lot to say about “men in women’s clothing.”
Deborah McDoogle, a Women’s Studies Major and self-proclaimed super-fan of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” takes pride in her championing for women’s rights as her participation in her Foundations of Feminism class has spiked in the last few weeks. “I stand first and foremost for women. When I was called ‘cis’ for the first time this semester, I took it as a compliment. I’ve always been jealous of girls on Instagram calling each other ‘sis.’ It wasn’t until someone in class explained it meant ‘not trans’ that I was offended. Who are you to say I’m not trans? I wore lashes AND glitter to prom!”
Alex Arroyo, an English major who took a Women’s Studies Class to fill out their credits, shared their annoyance with McDoogle as an example of the femsclusion they face daily, particularly within the classroom. “Wouldn’t it be better to call it Gender Studies? There are more people than just cis women who take these classes. It’s just, each time I bring up an Indya Moore video or ‘Disclosure’ produced by Laverne Cox, straight Sally and bi Briana interrupt with ‘actual scholarly sources.’ These girls think they’re JK Rowling when in reality their skin is serving Dobby.” Arroyo finished the interview by lighting a candle and praying for the lost souls of the TERFs, that they may one day see the light of the genderless God.
If you’re reading this, and you’re a cis-woman in a Women’s Studies course, watch a Nikkie Tutorials video and see for yourself that trans people want to shine just like you. And if you watch closely, perhaps you’ll realize that you’ve been applying highlight wrong this whole time. Trust, the moment that glow looks like it ‘comes from within’, your spirit will be transformed, and you will be the light to illuminate the shady darkness of first-wave feminism.