Badass Feminist Politics

Exploring Radical Edges of Feminist Theory, Communication, and Activism

Edited by Sarah Jane Blithe and Janell C. Bauer

Rutgers University Press

In the late 2010s, the United States experienced a period of widespread silencing. Protests of unsafe drinking water have been met with tear gas; national park employees, environmentalists, and scientists have been ordered to stop communicating publicly. Advocates for gun control are silenced even as mass shootings continue. Expressed dissent to political power is labeled as “fake news.” DREAMers, Muslims, Trans military members, women, black bodies, the LGBTQI+ community, Latina/o/x communities, rape survivors, sex workers, and immigrants have all been systematically silenced. During this difficult time and despite such restrictions, advocates and allies persist and resist, forming dialogues that call to repel inequality in its many forms. Addressing the oppression of women of color, white women, women with (dis)abilities, and LBTQI+ individuals across cultures and contexts remains a central posit of feminist struggle and requires “a distinctly feminist politics of recognition.” However, as second wave debates about feminism have revealed, there is no single way to express a feminist politic. Rather, living feminist politics requires individual interpretation and struggle, collective discussion and disagreement, and recognizing difference among women as well as points of convergence in feminist struggle.

Badass Feminist Politics includes a diverse range of engaging feminist political projects to not only analyze the work being done on the ground but provide an overview for action that can be taken on by those seeking to engage in feminist activism in their own communities. Contributors included here are working for equality and equity and resisting violent, racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, and sexist language and action during this tension-filled political moment. Collectively, the book explores what it means to live and communicate feminist politics in everyday choices and actions, and how we can facilitate learning by analyzing these examples. Taking up current issues and new theoretical perspectives, the authors offer novel perspectives into what it means to live feminist politics. This book is a testament to resilience, resistance, communication, and forward thinking about what these themes all mean for new feminist agendas. Learning how to resist oppressive structures through words and actions is particularly important for students. Badass Feminist Politics features scholars from non-dominant groups taking up issues of marginalization and oppression, which can help people accomplish their social justice goals of inclusivity on the ground and in the classroom.

If ever there was a time for a badass feminist communication declaration, that time is now! Blithe and Bauer have carefully crafted a collection where perspectives, passions, voices, and views not only fill a gap in research, but carve a new path. The brilliance of the contributors is reflected in an affirmation of social identities across contexts representing 'what feminism looks like' for the next generation of badass feminist scholars aiming to right wrongs, ignite change, and sustain transformative practices in everyday lived experiences. Karla D. Scott, author of The Language of Strong Black Womanhood: Myths, Models, Messages and a New Mandate for Self-Care

Sarah Jane Blithe and Janell C. Bauer have curated a must read edited collection for anyone interested in feminisms, communication, and identity justice. This is an important and timely resource for feminist scholar-teachers that engages critical questions about gender, race, and intersectionality in communication research and pedagogy by centering black feminist voices throughout. Stephanie Norander, Executive Director of Communication Across the Curriculum, UNC Charlotte

If ever there was a time for a badass feminist communication declaration, that time is now! Blithe and Bauer have carefully crafted a collection where perspectives, passions, voices, and views not only fill a gap in research, but carve a new path. The brilliance of the contributors is reflected in an affirmation of social identities across contexts representing 'what feminism looks like' for the next generation of badass feminist scholars aiming to right wrongs, ignite change, and sustain transformative practices in everyday lived experiences. Karla D. Scott, author of The Language of Strong Black Womanhood: Myths, Models, Messages and a New Mandate for Self

Sarah Jane Blithe and Janell C. Bauer have curated a must read edited collection for anyone interested in feminisms, communication, and identity justice. This is an important and timely resource for feminist scholar-teachers that engages critical questions about gender, race, and intersectionality in communication research and pedagogy by centering black feminist voices throughout. Stephanie Norander, Executive Director of Communication Across the Curriculum, UNC Charlotte

SARAH JANE BLITHE is an associate professor of communication studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. She is the author of Stories of Sex and Stigma: Work and Life in Nevada’s Legal Brothels and Gender Equality and Work-Life Balance: Glass Handcuffs and Working Men in the U.S.

JANELL C. BAUER is an associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Public Relations at California State University, Chico. Her work focuses on critical studies of organizational communication, work-life policy, social media and activism, feminist theory and pedagogy.

1 Introduction
SARAH JANE BLITHE AND JANELL C. BAUER
2 Badass Activities for Threading Together Theory, Pedagogy, and Activism
JANELL C. BAUER AND SARAH JANE BLITHE

Part I Black Lives Matter: Research and Reflections
3 Being Black in the Ivory: Telling Our Truth and Taking Up Space
ANGELA N. GIST-MACKEY, ASHLEY R. HALL, AND SHARDÉ M. DAVIS
4 #BlackIndigenousStoriesMatter
ANITA MIXON
5 Your Black Friends Are Tired
ANDREA EWING
6 Inciting Change with My Keyboard: Leveraging Hashtag Activism to Fight Anti-Black Racism during COVID-19
SHARDÉ M. DAVIS
7 The Reality of Our Dreams: Black Lives’ Fears
PRISCA S. NGONDO
8 Black Women in Black Lives Matter: Navigating Being Both Engaged and Dismissed
CERISE L. GLENN
9 Antiracist Holistic Change in “STEM” Higher Education
MELANIE DUCKWORTH AND KELLY J. CROSS
10 Fighting for Black Studies: An Essay about Educational Empowerment
IDRISSA N. SNIDER
11 When You Can’t Call the Cops: Intimate Partner Violence and #BlackLivesMatter
REBECCA MERCADO JONES AND JAYNA MARIE JONES
12 Discovering Your Social Justice Gift amid the Distraction of Systemic Racism
SIOBHAN E. SMITH-JONES AND JOHNNY JONES
13 Sexuality in My Reality: An Autoethnography of a Black Woman’s Resistance of Sexual Stereotypes
SAVAUGHN WILLIAMS
14 The Forgotten Ones (for Those Who Survive Black Death)
ROBIN M. BOYLORN
15 Performative Activism: Inauthentic Allyship in the Midst of a Racial Pandemic
TINA M. HARRIS

Part II Narrating the Material Body
16 Nevertheless, She Feels Pretty: A Critical Co-constructed Autoethnography on Fat Persistence and Resistance
CASSIDY D. ELLIS AND SARAH GONZALEZ NOVEIRI
17 Visual Activism, Persistence, and Identity: Ostomy Selfies as a Form of Resistance to Dominant Body Ideologies
RUTH J. BEERMAN AND MICHAEL S. MARTIN
18 The Silence of Laughter
LYDIA HUERTA MORENO

Part III Living Feminist Politics in Mediated Environments
19 Mónica Robles: (De?)colonizing Mexican Womanhood through the Power of Memes
ANA GOMEZ PARGA
20 Smart Talk: Feminist Communication Questions for Artificial Intelligence
MAUREEN EBBEN AND CHERIS KRAMARAE
21 The Silencing of Elizabeth Warren: A Case of Digital Persistence
KATHLEEN RUSHFORTH

Part IV New Feminist Theorizing
22 Social Justice Organizing through the Closet Metaphor
JAMES McDONALD AND SARA DeTURK
23 Disrupting the Ratchet-Respectable Binary: Explorations of Ratchet Feminism and Ratchet Respectability in Daily and Popular Life
DANETTE M. PUGH- PATTON AND ANTONIO L. SPIKES
24 Afrofuturist Lessons in Persistence
JENNA N. HANCHEY
Acknowledgments
Notes on Contributors
Index

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