My Biggest Takeaways from Unit 3 and From the Class as a Whole
I think one of my biggest takeaways from the Trans Activism & Mutual Aid Unit of how powerful it is when people help their own communities. Mutual Aid doesn’t excuse the inaction of the government or society but it can create meaningful change. This unit also showed the residency of the trans community as a whole. Despite the hardship and adversity that they have faced and in many ways still face, they are still a strong and proud community. The trans community even goes out of it’s way to help LGB people even though the favor is not always returned. I think it is important for LGB people to know about figures such as Sylvia Rivera and the work she did to help the Gay Liberation Movement.
I think this class as a whole really challenged me in a lot of ways. When we discussed how the idea that sex is binary is a concept that was forced onto society by colonist ideals, it really blew my mind. Although I knew that gender existed outside the binary before this class, I hadn’t thought that it could apply to sex. The Malatino reading that this idea comes from was also quite a challenging academic read. It might be one of the hardest texts I have ever read during my time in undergrad. I appreciate that Dr. G was able to share the reading with us and help us dissect it. I believe that I will take the things that I have learned in this class with me into the rest of my life.
















