‘Can You Really Be a Queer Muslim?’: Intersectionality and the Complexity of Identity
Pushing Past Homophobia and Islamophobia to Find Queer Muslim Joy
I grew up (and still present) visibly Muslim. I have worn a hijab for longer than I can remember, and over the years I found a style that I felt expressed me best. Regardless, I am still made to feel a little out of place when I’m the only hijabi who turned up to the queer meet-up (it’s quite funny to see some people perplexed). This also means a lot of people assume feminine pronouns for me, even if my bio clearly states something else…
Swapping High Heels for Football Boots: Barbie and the Game of Men’s 5-Aside that Redefined My Feminism
My one criticism of Barbie was the mechanics of its anti-sexism messaging. I felt that pitting a whole society of women against a whole society of men overlooked the way sexism is often systemic rather than individual: it can and does exist without men and women being in direct conflict with one another all the time. When I spoke to a fifteen-year-old family friend about the film, however, it was clear she was in love…
‘Consider What Decolonising Gender Can Look Like’: Non-Binary Ways of Being as Anti-Colonial and Abundant
I began questioning the gender roles so many of us abide by and so much of society is shaped around. Who is served vs. subdued by the gender binary? In a time when so many champions of intersectional justice and liberation are calling for decolonisation, I urge us to consider what decolonising gender can look like, not just in terms of how we dress or present, but in our interpersonal relationships, expectations and ways of being…
‘The World Needs to See More Trans Joy’: Using Kindness to Combat Anger and Embrace a Full Life
This is the first time I’ve written publicly in depth about how difficult my teenage years were. I don’t want to keep it hidden anymore because now I’m in a place where I can be that beacon of hope that my younger self so desperately needed but never got. I can stand up as a happy trans adult and show how joyous my life is…
Calling All My Lipstick Lovers: Janelle Monae’s Sexy New Song is a Black Queer Bop
I have listened to Lipstick Lover by Janelle Monae over 100 times. If you didn’t know, I am a massive lipstick lover (in all ways), so you can trust me when I say that Janelle Monae’s latest song is the sexy summer anthem for femme queers everywhere – especially Black femme queers. If you haven’t heard it yet and watched the music video, I suggest you change that…
‘According To Some Documents, I Don’t Exist’: Embracing a Queer Identity That Doesn’t Tick Boxes
Most of the time, I feel like our society is making progress: we learn more about ourselves every day and slowly become more comfortable with LGBTQIA+ identities. Then I’ll be handed a form to fill out, my eyes will scan the identifying terms from which I am to choose, and I am reminded that some still seem very uncomfortable with identities that fall outside of LGBT…
‘I’ve Always Loved Period Pieces, but Never Felt I Had a Place in Them’: How Queen Charlotte’s Bridgerton Spin-Off Has Broken Down Barriers for Black Viewers
Everything it offered and all of the unsaid promises meant a great deal to me, and I am glad to say that it did not disappoint. In fact, I have a flatmate who has already begun rewatching it! I am sure you will love the series; and after reading this, hopefully you will have a better understanding of the barriers that are being torn down, the narratives that are changing, and why the show means so much to black women globally…
‘Our Liberation Is Mutual’: Examining the Limitations of White Privilege in Protecting the Female Body and Why Our Feminism Must be Intersectional
So many exclusionary powers have been systemically fused together, so the fight for equality must address them all. It bears self-examining our own failures at inclusion and considering who benefits from that exclusion. Do the powers and privileges we trust actually have our best interest at heart? With whom does our solidarity lie, and will they reciprocate?
The Complexities of Pressed Purple Flowers: A Reflection on Alice Walker’s Anti-Semitism and Choosing Love Over Hate
I finished reading Living by the Word – I only had one essay left – but each sentence no longer carried the same inspiring vitality; the words fell subdued, dampened and flat in my mind that ran with a cacophonous array of thoughts. The purple tones of the pressed flowers seemed to be more faded than they once were. I could, and would, never look at Alice Walker the same, read her work in the same way or perhaps even read her work at all…
‘Change the World Instead of Changing Who We’re With’: Learning to Embrace Life and Love as a Woman Loving a Woman
There were many challenges to loving a woman as a woman. I couldn’t hold her hand everywhere. I couldn't introduce her to my family: I could lose certain people, or I could be rejected from some of the many communities I was in. With a man, my life would be like everyone else’s. Everything I had a chance to observe growing up – everything I am familiar with and not scared of – would be there…
‘Man, I Feel Like a Human!’: How Coming Out As Non-Binary Made Me a Better Feminist
I can now see more plainly the gatekeeping that can happen when trans folks want to dive into the personhood they know is theirs, and yet are sometimes told or made to feel as though they’re somehow lacking. Womanhood can be a wonderful, equalising thing – so why are we wasting time denying it to human beings who know who they are? Isn’t womanhood diverse and wonderful enough to allow its ranks to swell beyond the ideas of yesteryear?
Community, Cooperation and Connectivity: The Symbolic Importance of Queer Safe Spaces and Why We Must Protect Them
When I started taking notice of how viscerally different I feel depending on the room I am in, I realised how complex the relationship between queerness and space truly is. As queer people, we cannot yet guarantee our safety within spaces. This is particularly insidious for marginalised…
‘Weird, but Proud’: Why Netflix’s Wednesday is a Big Deal for Autistic Girls
A real-life Wednesday Addams, with unorthodox habits, dark interests, gothic fashion, monotone expression and poor understanding of others’ feelings, would most likely mask herself to resemble her peers. This is where Burton’s new character became so important for autistic people, especially women; she doesn’t…
Bi The Way, I’m Autistic: Learning to Navigate Sexuality as a Neurodivergent Individual
According to studies, autistic people are significantly more likely to identify as LGBTQ+. For people classified as rigid thinkers, it’s true that many of us are over sexual and gender norms. We question stuff; we don’t respect arbitrary norms for their own sake. Of course, I didn’t know I was autistic back then…
‘Everyone is Straight Unless They State Otherwise’: Why We Need to Be Careful with the Term Queerbaiting
As fabricated as we might think they are, the truth is that real people – no matter how famous – can’t plan out the way the discovery of their sexuality will go. They can’t exactly predict what kind of gender performance will make them feel alive and at their best. We are so used to consuming celebrities’ content like we would binge-watch a Netflix show that sometimes dehumanising these very real people with very real-life experiences is too easy…