Central Dissent : Fall 2020

Title: Central Dissent : Fall 2020
Publisher: New Plains Student Publishing
Date Issued: 2020
Relation: Central Dissent
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Is Part Of: Central Dissent: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality; Central Dissent: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality
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Date: 2024-01-18T21:35:16Z
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Abstract: The Central Dissent: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality is an interdisciplinary academic journal published by New Plains Student Publishing and sponsored by the UCO Women’s Research Center and BGLTQ+ Student Center. The journal contains research, poetry, and visual art from students at the University of Central Oklahoma. This particular edition contains research articles on topics such as gender in language classrooms, sex trafficking, and communication of queer men.
uri: https://hdl.handle.net/11244/340136
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extracted text: THE CENTRAL
DISSENT

The Central Dissent
A JOURNAL OF GENDER
AND SEXUALITY

New Plains Student Publishing
University of Central Oklahoma
2020

New Plains Student Publishing

THE CENTRAL DISSENT
©

2020 New Plains Student Publishing Group

The Central Dissent: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality is an interdisciplinary

academic journal based out of the University of Central Oklahoma's College of Liberal Arts, Department of English. The journal is produced by
New Plains Student Publishing and is sponsored by Women's Research
Center and BGLTQ+ Student Center.
Our mission is to gather and disseminate quality research, prose, poetry,
and artwork that explores gender theory, gender identity, and how race,
class, and ethnicity shape society's expectations of the individual in the
past and present.

The Central Dissent: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality is edited by students

and faculty of the English Department in the College of Liberal Arts at the
University of Central Oklahoma. The political, social, or artistic commentary represents the views of the writers and artists, and inclusion in the
journal does not indicate editorial endorsement or non-endorsement.
Central Dissent does not claim to represent the views of the University or

its officials.
All rights reserv.ed. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without
the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial
uses permitted by copyright law.

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA

The Center
Women's Research Center
BGLTQ+ Student Center

Visit our website at newplainsreview.com
Email inquiries to central.dissent@ gmail.com
English Department, Box 184
University of Central Oklahoma
100 North University Drive
Edmond, Oklahoma 73034

Published in the USA; printing & manufacturing information can be found on the final page.

Masthead

Faculty & Staff
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Shay Rahm
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Lindsey Churchill, PhD
PRODUCTION CHIEF
Lani Riana Jones

Editorial Board
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Jacob Jardell
MANAGING EDITOR
Abigail Griffin
SENIOR EDITORS
Madalyn Nix
Paul Rainwater
Zoe Wright

Cover Art & Artwork
Candace Telford: "Stolen Innocence"
vii

Contents

RESEARCH

1

A Phenomenological Investigation of Straight
Actingness in Two Queer Males' Daily
Communication: Discourse Benders

3

Addressing the Future of Gender in the
Language Classroom

21

My Body, My Choice: Issues and Advocacy

43

FEATURED ARTIST

60

Interview with Candace Telford

61

POETRY

69

Antigen/ Antibody

71

FEATURED CREATIVE WRITER

73

ix

x

Contents

Interview with Monica Hernandez

75

Body O' Mine

83

Evil Woman

85

Me and Michael

87

Thank God for Kate Chopin

89

BIOGRAPHIES

91

RESEARCH

1

A Phenomenological
Investigation of
Straight Actingness
in Two Queer Males'
Daily
Comm uni cation:
Discourse Benders
Tan Gedik

Abstract

This study exemplifies and inspects an 18-year-old Turkish and a
31-year-old gay men's diary entries in a phenomenological framework,
by analyzing the discourse embedded within the entries. The study
follows a three-stage questionnaire; (i) metaphors and drawings; (ii)
contextual questions regarding status, gender, and proximity of the interlocutors and the speaker and background information; (iii) stimulated-recall-interview with the participants. The participants were
recruited through social connections and instructed to keep a diary

for thirty-one consecutive days. The data were analyzed with two intercoders and confirmed when the acceptation rate was 2 out of 3.
The findings suggest that straight-actingness is a pragmatic competence to assert a straight identity, acquired and constantly practiced by
the speaker to circumvent unpleasant outcomes such as societal exclusion or breach of relations. The skill is executed by the speakers in three
patterns; topic bending, truth manipulation, and assertion of masculinity. Straight-acting as a pragmatic competence proves convenient since
it equips the speaker with the ability to transcend between two identities to avoid undesired consequences. The findings further suggest that
more research is required to liberate the LGBTQI members and demystify the pragmatic phenomena in their discourse.

For decades, English linguistics' scholars have been on the investigation of sexual-identity creation. Language is undoubtedly a key factor in understanding the complexity of sexual identity. Eckert mentions
the following statement on this issue:
[A]s linguists, our interest in sexuality is in its social life in how we use language to accomplish sexual ends, how we talk
about sexuality, how we index sexuality when we talk about
other things, how we use language in and around sexual activity, how we use language to organize ourselves socially around
sexuality, and how we use language to organize ourselves sexually around sociability. (Eckert, 2002, p. 100)
The inspection above in the field of language and sexuality has perused heterosexual and homosexual communication patterns to outline
tendencies of gender-related (for heterosexual discourse studies) variation and change. As for homosexual communication patterns, scholars (Gaudio, 1994; Linville, 1998) investigated these patterns from a
phonological standpoint. Some other scholars employed linguistics as a
device to decode gay male stereotyping (Kite & Deaux, 1987; Madon,
1997; Clausell & Fiske, 2005). On the other hand, some researchers
(Cherny, 1994; Herring, 1994; Clerc, 1996; Soukup, 1999) have opted

for chat-room discourse as a viable source to scrutinize socio-cultural
discourses, including gender and sexuality discourses. Until very recently researchers such as Harvey and Shalom (1997), Leap (1996), and
Livia and Hall (1997) focused on only language and sexual identity.
However, scholars are calling for more comprehensive studies that expand beyond and include a wide range of social situations and linguistic phenomena (Campbell-Kibler, Podesva, Roberts and Wong, 2002;
Cameron and Kulick, 2003). Analyzing how interlocutors construct desire and their sexual selves in interaction (Tainio, 2002) or how people talk about desire (Hall, 1995; Knowles, 1997; Langford, 1997; Hoey,
2002; Radway, 2009) can be pointed out as studies that cover more phenomena, more comprehensively.
Although there have been a number of studies in the field of language and sexuality, Queen (2002) argues that scholars have been reluctant to work in the aforementioned field, due to possible career
hindrances, and an apparent lack of enthusiasm of publishers to publish
publications on such a topic (2002, p. 79). However, Queen draws on
the salience of working in this field as the following: "The study oflanguage and sexual identity has great potential to dramatically enrich the
more general study of language, culture, and society and at this point,
realizing that potential remains within grasp" (2002, p. 84)
In light of these, it is essential to acknowledge that there is a conspicuous research gap in the field of language and sexual identity not
only in Turkish linguistics but also in English linguistics. This negligence of the field of language and homo-sexual-identity indicates that
hetero and homosexual are produced in contexts of unequal social
stigma and hierarchical positioning (New Perspectives on Language and

Sexual Identity, p. 2). Therefore, it is of great salience that sociolinguists
acknowledge this gap and misconduct, and attempt to unify by demolishing social stigma towards homo-sexual-identity that is still relevantly available even in academia or a hierarchical positioning.
To demolish rigidly, and dualistically rooted social stigma towards
sociolinguistic studies on homosexual-identity creation in language,
this study operates in a phenomenological framework. Phenomenolog-

ical research is an orderly trial to encapsulate and _report the lived experiences of a person, or a group to achieve a deeper comprehension
of the composition, significance, and fundamentality of the inspected
phenomena (van Manen, 1990; Moustakas, 1994; Giorgi, 1997).
As a res_ponse and to pioneer the phenomenological examination(s)
in the field of language and sexuality, the current study focuses on the
investigation of a 18 year-old and 31-year-old gay men's "straight-actingness" as a pragmatic skill through the description of their lived experiences for a period of 31 days to gain a deeper understanding of the
meaning, structure and essence of experiences of the phenomena under
investigation. In this case, the phenomena scrutinized here is the construction of sexual identity (straight-actingness) under certain contexts
and regarding power relations, in relation to pragmatic competences
of two gay participants; Berkay, an 18-year-old student in Kirikkale,
Turkey, and Fatih, a 31-year-old research assistant in Ankara, Turkey.

\
Literature Review
Sexual identity is such a term that it is constructed "in relation
to particular material conditions, and particular relations of between
those at the margins" (New Perspectives on Language and Sexual Identity,
p. 4) rather than already-existing as a possession. Discourse analysts
(Moonwomon, 1995; Coates, 1996; Bucholtz, 1999; MoonwomonBaird, 2000) have demonstrated that sexual identity is actively created
through spoken discourse. In other words, sexual identity is a term that
can be projected, manipulated, and subject to contingent remolding.
The field of language and sexual identity owes a great deal to Moonwomon and Leap for their sociolinguistic and anthropological publications. Leap's provided a new direction for language and sexuality
research with his two books Beyond the Lavender Lexicon (1995) and
Word's Out (1996). Alongside this, with the introduction and organi-

zation of the annual Lavender Languages and Linguistics since 1993, by
Leap has exhibited a possible way to scholars on the exploration of gay,

lesbian, bisexual and transgendered identities (formerly referred to as
LGBTQI +) and identifications, contexts, politics, and appropriations of
lesbian and gay discourse. Leap's analysis of "gay English" ( 1996) was
also one of the first penetrations into the severely neglected field of
scholarly inquiry, by an attempt to forage for the variation of gay male
identity that affected language use.
A hegemonic world that humans dwell socially and culturally surmise males and females to enlarge, construct, and execute alreadyexisting, stipulated gender guidelines during the performance of a
conversation with other interlocutors (Borisoff & Merrill, 1998; TingToomey, 1999, 2005; Wood, 2003). This is especially a main source of
contradiction when interlocutors fracture the "culturally and socially"
given dualistic norms (Borisoff & Victor, 1998). The term "Straightactingness" therefore is a salient interplayer between gay men and
non-gay men. The culture and society we inhabit endorse males to
perform communication in relation to symbolic, hegemonic masculinity (Borisoff & Merrill, 1998). Males, thus are expected to conduct a
"heterosexual" communication pattern in order to be discerned as masculine. Cheseboro (2001) remarks that males who have male sexual
partners are discerned as less masculine. Namely, gay males are not perceived "as" masculine since they shatter the long-established heteronormative paradigm.
Clarkson (2005, 2006, 2008) points this out by claiming that gay
males who act straight acquiesce in similar hegemonic stereotypes that
radiates masculinity. Clarkson (2006) also states that "a straight-acting
gay identity is positioned in opposition to cultural stereotypes of gay
men that conflate femininity with homosexuality" (p. 192). This dualistic understanding of gay males as effeminate/masculine has existed in
societies across the earth. The issue of effeminate/masculine also registers itself on other levels of sexual behavior. Males who engage in a
penetrative role during sexual intercourse with other men have been
historically considered to be masculine; consecutively, men who participate in a receptive role have not been considered masculine in some
Latin cultures (Potoczniak, 2007). This heteronormative and dualis-

admitting their sexual-identity would be outed upon participating in
the study. Some candidates first concurred to participate but then repudiated at the last minute. The respondents who were willing to join the
study were assured of the confidentiality and anonymity of their credentials. Therefore, the respondents were given a pseudonym.

Data Analysis
Metaphors and Drawings
The initial stage of the questionnaire collected participants'
metaphorical explanations of their sexual identity.
Like a curious cat. Cat -in the Turkish context- carries three

against him to apply normative expectations of males on him. During
the interview, Fatih also confirmed the interpretation.
Straight-Actingness Pragmatic Competence (SaPC). Berkay
added in Stage II that he is expected to be effeminate, likened to
women, and prone to gravitating towards hobbies that are more gentle
such as arts and music. Disruption of this predisposed framework requires "execution of more manly topics in conversations, such as; soccer
or talking about girls" adds Berkay. Straight-actingness in action illustrates the following table:

Upto what extent would you execute Stra!ght-Actlngness !n
these contexts?

salient characteristics; (i) curiosity, (ii) femininity, and (iii) agility.
Characteristic (i) is semantically boosted by including "curious," but the
other two characteristics reveal Berkay's perception of his identity in
society. Berkay, during the interview, revealed that he is regarded as
a curious cat because the context he is in dooms homosexuality as a
prohibited zone, within which he is situated. Moreover, he has to be
"agile enough to seamlessly transcend between both worlds [hetero-homosexual]." His commentary on agility further enlightens that "agility
gifts me with avoiding unlawful confrontations on my sexual identity."
Femininity, according to Berkay, was a feature attained by the society
in which he lives and to which he subconsciously conforms. His drawing (a seahorse) disclosed that Berkay regards his sexual identity as an
overlapping of both worlds, a disruption of the hegemonic expectations
of men in society. He comments as saying "males are expected only to
cater money and food. Nol I would love to nurture my kids and be
known for my nurturing nature".
A cornel stick. Fatih clarifies his perception of his identity as a cornel stick (both as a metaphor and a drawing). This stick has negative
connotations in the Turkish language. In the old times, many parents
would use this stick to beat some obedience into their kids. Thus,
Fatih's perception tells us that many of his interlocutors use his identity

FFigure 1

Both respondents' responses to Figure 1 reveal that status is a salient
aspect that influences the execution of the SaPC. The interview later
discovered that Berkay's perception of high-status interlocutors is "liberal, open-minded, accepting" thus explaining his preference of dismissing straight-actingness. Fatih, on the other hand, explains that his
dismissal of the SaPC with F 1 interlocutors is based on his belief that
women tend to be more emphathizing with gay men. Nevertheless,
in all situations (Ml through F2), their choices of employment leans
towards males more significantly. This was cast light on by the participant during the interview. His perception of females, regardless of
status, is persistently more open-minded, especially compared to males.
When proximity was concerned, thus including family ties, Figure 2
appeared.

Upto what extent would you execute Straight·
Actingness in these contexts?
_ _ _ _ __

_ _ _ _ _ _ __

Figure 2

Figure 2 illustrates the preference for the respondents' utilization
of straight-actingness. Ql scores 50 out of 50 which indicates that
close-relatives are of utmost salience for both participants' identity as a
"straight male." Both mother and father hold equal importance for the
speakers, suggesting the hierarchical acknowledgment of parents and
their power over the speaker: Zl and Wl showcase relatively lower
scores. For Wl, Berkay claims that "they are not going to be in [my]
social circle forever." However, Fatih reveals that his social network,
even within the academia, can depend on the first impression he makes
on the strangers he meets in academic settings, thus his preference of
SaPC is more appropriate for Wl. Zl is an open field, as the proximity
between the speaker and his interlocutors are already on a well-established connection.
Diary Entries. Berkay submitted five entries throughout the study
period. The entries ranged from formal to informal contexts. The following are the analyses of each discourse.
March 4, 2019. A female friend revealed Berkay's sexual identity to
a male friend with whom he is classmates. Although the proximity
between the speaker and his interlocutor [male friend] was relatively
close, the subject concludes that he did not want to confront him and
his ideologies of homosexuality, thus resulting in his denial and consecutively changing the topic to a more [masculine] one. It is noted in the
entry that inclusion of an imminent girlfriend and female parts mitigated the possible aggression of the male interlocutor.
March 24, 2019. This entry includes the subject's elder brother about
females and the interlocutor's curiosity on the subject's marital status. It

is added that the interlocutor is of a "homophobic" person and upon being questioned, the speaker manipulates the truth by proposing one of
his female friends as an imminent girlfriend to disguise his native sexual identity. Execution of the identity in this context avoids the disruption of the close-family relations.
March 30, 2019. The participant invites his boyfriend to dinner at his
parent's house. The first execution is asserted when Berkay disguises
his invitee as a friend only, followed by a change in his behavior. During the dinner, Berkay is posed a question about marriage. Although he
adds that he wished to come out to them, he says he would not risk it.
As an avoidance, Berkay silently smiles and dismisses the question by
postponing the possibility of such an event: "I am too young to marry!".
April 6, 2019. The subject indicates he was with strangers, enjoying
a casual conversation about school. He mentions that one of the interlocutors begins complimenting the subject which the others noticed.
Despite rejecting compliments with "No's" and "Thank you's" the rest of
the circle begins to question Berkay's sexual identity. The subject claims
that he had no fear of losing anyone due to his identity and came out
to them at once. He asserts his location in the community by adding "I
do not care what they think I am, I am who I am." He also mentions his
journey of self-acceptance has progressed and claims that he would not
have done such an action in the past. Thus, this entry possesses no utilization of straight-actingness.
April, 9, 2019. This entry commences with a group of friends playing
truth or dare. When the participant was the subject of "truth," the
commentary made by the other interlocutor covers; flamboyant, faggot, cute, like-a-girl. One of the interlocutors even claimed that these
characteristics were the sole reason why Berkay was "single." Following
this, the conversation topic takes a turn on LGBT and the interlocutors'
commentaries. The participant adds "some comments were supportive
while some were homophobic." Berkay executes straight-actingness,
and he makes homophobic commentaries to "insert [myself] into the
[discourse] because I did not want to be exposed or excluded."

Fatih submitted ten entries throughout the study period. However,
only three recurring categories were identified in his submissions and
thus the highlights of each respective category were analyzed. The following are the analyses of each discourse.
March 26, 2019. F atih found himself in an awkward encounter when
his niece was over at his place. When he was asked about his wedding
plans and if he had any possible wives, he had to disguise himself saying
"right things happen at the right times."
March 27, 2019. The subject found himself in a similarly awkward
situation with the dean and the vice head president -both are mentioned to be at the age of 50 and men. When they ran into each other,
both of the interlocutors asked Fatih about his wedding plans and Fatih
disguised his sexual identity by replying "[God] knows when the right
things will happen." Fatih adds his discomfort with people being nosey
with his private life.
April 5, 2019. Fatih invited his close female friend and her boyfriend
over for a sleepover. However, he mentions his discomfort as he felt
threatened to be found out "gay." Thus, he mentions that he had to
change the topics and explicit content he would talk about.
Most of Fatih's submissions revolved around a general sense of
"hide and seek" culture. He would, if he felt comfortable enough and detected close proximity with his close-friends, engage his sexual identity
in his utterances and naturally in the content. However, it is evident
that Fatih appears to be a little more in accordance with the societal expectations of him. This might be due to having been born almost three
decades earlier (when compared to Berkay) and having been brought
up with less external encouragement to be who he is. Apart from the
generational difference, Berkay might be more experimental and outspoken about his sexual identity (and thus dismisses performing SaPC)
due to his biological differences. Being young may lead to executing
activities/uttering phrases without thinking too much, or impulsive
behavior. Nevertheless, the interlocutors and the contexts with and
within which they would prefer to execute SaPC do not change. Moreover, the number one trigger of SaPC seems to be marriage as marriage

is one of the fastest ways anyone can find out about someone else's sexual identity.

Results and Discussion

The data provided by the participants discloses that homosexuality
is a vital issue concerning everyday life. The cat metaphor complies
with the diary entries, proving that the subject is as agile as cats when
pushed to implement straight-actingness. The interview also recorded
that conforming to the societal expectations of males -namely straightactingness- is a pragmatic competence that is acquired and practiced
in various contexts with various interlocutors consistently. The diary
entries reveal the purposes for executing such an identity; circumvention of a possible breach of relatedness in the immediate family of the
speaker. This circumvention is also interconnected to the macro-picture of avoiding being excluded from society for being a deviant. Avoiding confrontations and being beaten as a result of being a homosexual is
another vital reason why the participants practiced his pragmatic skill
of identity construction.
Based on the entries, the findings point that this pragmatic competence of "straight-actingness" has three crucial observed execution
patterns; (i) topic bending. The speaker evaluates the discourse, and
when the discourse reaches a critical state, which would be of threatening to the speaker's sexual identity, the topic is either changed or bent
by the speaker. The speaker attempts to divert the flow of the topic
from the current one to another that is regarded as more masculine,
or a topic that straight males prefer. (ii) is truth manipulation which
is implemented following a critical evaluation of the discourse done
by the speaker. To avoid the above-mentioned outcomes, the speaker
stabilizes his decentralized sexual identity and asserts his straightness
by misrepresentation (e.g., misrepresenting partner's gender). (iii) is
assertion of masculinity. This pattern embodies itself in homophobic
commentaries stated by the speaker himself. Through dehumanizing

other homosexuals, the speaker hierarchically locates himself above the
subordinate. Nevertheless, this raises concerns about the associations
designated between homosexual males and women in and by Turkish society. This pattern further praises and feeds the hegemonic masculinity which positions and produces itself by dehumanizing any other
group, gender, identity, race, ethnicity. This study does not hunt for
clues to disclose gay men, but aims to inspect the contexts and communication patterns in which gay interact with language(s) to protect
themselves. Therefore, these findings are not indicative of anyone's
sexual orientation.
The findings in the study conclude that straight-actingness is a
multi-layered and multi-purposed pragmatic competence that is developed to overcome social stigmatizations attributed to gay males by
the society, which is -very likely- acquired at a very early age by male
homosexuals in communities that are constructed around the societal
expectations of genders. This skill, when practiced well and executed
successfully, has the ultimate ability to bend, shape and re-assert the
speaker's perceived-self in the eyes of the other interlocutors' that are
present in the discourse.

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Leap, W. (Ed.). (1995). Beyond the lavender lexicon: Authenticity, imagination, and ap-

propriation in lesbian and gay languages. Taylor & Francis US.
Leap, W. (1996) Word's Out: Gay Men's English. Minneapolis and London: University
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Linville, S. E. (1998). Acoustic correlates of perceived versus actual sexual orientation in men's speech. Folia phoniatrica et logopaedica, 50(1), 35-48.
Livia, A. and Hall, K. (eds) (1997) Queerly Phrased: Language, Gender and Sexuality.
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Madon, S. (1997). What do people believe about gay males? A study of stereotype
content and strength. Sex Roles, 37(9-10), 663-685.
Mehren, E. (2004, April 11 ). The Times poll: Acceptance of gays rises among new
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Ting-Toomey, S., & Dorjee, T. (2018). Communicating across cultures. Guilford Publications.
Van Manen, M. (2016). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensi-

tive pedagogy. Routledge.
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(4'ed.). New York: Wadsworth.

Addressing the
Future of Gender
the Language
Classroom

•

Ill

Jessica Appleby

Abstract
As mainstream society evolves in its understanding of gender as a
fluid, socially-constructed identity that exists on a spectrum, teachers
have a responsibility to educate themselves on how to best support
their students. For many second language teachers, this issue is particularly problematic as many world languages (notably those of the
Romance family) are grammatically gendered and thus linguistically reinforce a rigid concept of a gender binary. Many teachers thus dismiss
the question as too complicated for language learners or irrelevant to
their subject; others, as in the public at large, are downright hostile to
acknowledging changing concepts of gender in the classroom. Though
many resources exist for establishing inclusive classrooms, this article
focuses on the author's experiences as a French teacher to provide concrete ideas for language teachers to incorporate evolving concepts of
gender into classes of every level. This article is intended primarily
for world language teachers, with or without any prior knowledge of
French. The arguments and strategies within are intended to assist

language teachers who are interested in incorporating more inclusive
grammar in their target language, those who are hesitant to do so, and
especially those are newly aware of the question and seek an introduction to the subject that is relevant to their classrooms. First, I establish
my argumenuhat inclusive grammar is essential, not periphery, to language learning by tackling many counter arguments to teaching alternative grammatical gender structures. Then, I detail how to create an
inclusive language classroom using examples from my own classes. Finally; I address the specifics of gender and ecriture inclusive 1 in French to
serve as a guide for teachers of any grammatically gendered language.

Inclusivity as Essential to Language Learning
It is essential to begin by challenging some of the myths that discourage language teachers from including discussions of gender in a
second language curriculum. In classes covering subjects such as sociology or history, it is often easier for teachers to see the importance
of intentionally inclusive teaching than in other subject areas, notably
STEM. While articles and studies exist to address such social issues in
STEM fields, 2 resources specific to language studies are severely lacking. A few blogs cover inclusivity in language classes from a variety
of perspectives, such as Rachel Cunning's blog post for Teaching Tolerance on gender inclusivity in the Latin classroom or Sarah Le Pichon's guest post for Open Up. The American Council on the Teaching
of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) has issued a formal position statement
supporting inclusivity in the classroom, yet provides no concrete resources for teachers to implement inclusive practices specific to language learning. No peer-reviewed articles on the subject could be
found. Articles on inclusivity in the language classroom nearly all focus
on disabilities, while a few highlight race. Second language teachers
who are interested in gender-inclusive teaching must educate themselves and then modify existing recourses to work specifically for language learners. With verbs to conjugate, state standards to meet, and

the already difficult task of memorizing if a tree is grammatically masculine or feminine, it is all too easy to see society's changing concepts of
gender as irrelevant to a language program's learning objectives. Even
for teachers who would like to enact such practices in their classroom,
doing so can seem like an insurmountable additional burden. In this
section, I will articulate why incorporating gender inclusivity in a language program is essential to learning objectives, not periphery.
In second language learning (most notably TESOL-Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages - and Spanish that includes heritage speakers), the prescriptivism versus descriptivism debate is still
rampant; prescriptivist perspectives on language maintain a clear lead
in everything from textbooks to pedagogical conferences, though pedagogy scholars are increasingly aware of this approach's problematic social and racial implications. Mark Karan has argued that prescriptivism
is actively detrimental to language development (164). Essentially, prescriptivists maintain that long-standing rules define what constitutes
"correct" usage, while descriptivists insist that language is determined
by how it is actually used. While descriptivists prefer to describe language as it changes, "Prescriptivists prescribe and sometimes proscribe,
emphasizing rules and guidelines based on the conservation of customs
(and sometimes a mythical ideal of correctness), and on judging what
is or isn't acceptable-which poses, among other questions: acceptable
to whom, when, and why?" (Cary). As the answer to Cary's question
is, historically speaking, "to affluent white men," descriptivists increasingly see prescriptivism's rules as inherently racist, classist, sexist, and
cis-heteronormative.
Prescriptivism finds a particularly strong base in the question of
French language learning; the (in)famous Academie Francaise founded
by Cardinal Richelieu in 1634 to regulate the language after the explosion oflinguistic creativity in the Renaissance, still decides what constitutes "proper" French. Though increasingly considered irrelevant as an
institutional relic of bygone eras, the Academie "undertakes the work
of defending and illustrating the language" and publishes the definitive French dictionary that "fashions the language as we know it today"

(Academie "Les Missions"-translations mine). 3 Indeed, the prescriptivist attitude of the Academie is clear in the above mission statement:
Academiciens faconnent (fashion or shape) the Frerich language, continually resisting new developments in its actual usage. That their prolific pronouncements resemble a dam of twigs holding back the flood
of neologisms is a continual source of amusement for most Francophones, especially of younger generations. 4 Indeed, the most active page on
the Academie's robust website is called "Dire, Ne Pas Dire" which describes what French speakers can and cannot say. At the time of writing this article, the most recent updates are eleven separate posts from
February 6, 2020 each tackling a different neologism the Academie
deems unacceptable ("Ne Pas Dire"), replacing these linguistic incursions with often clunky French-originating alternatives ("Dire"). For
example, one of these laments the current tendency to use the English
word green when connoting environmentalism instead of the French
word for green, vert (Academie "Non Bon Plans"). The post clearly ignores the fact that green is used to deliberately differentiate between the
actual color and the concept of environmentalism, focusing instead on
the affront to the French language due to this incursion of English.
The most famous recent pronouncement of the Academie followed
the publication of the first textbook to use ecriture inclusive in the fall
of 2017. Its members issued a unanimous proclamation on October
26 declaring that "so-called 'inclusive' writing" has put the French language itself into "mortal peril" (Academie "Declaration"-translations
mine). 5 The proclamation explains that inclusive writing will destroy
the future of French by making the language too complex for language
learners. Fittingly, this is a principle argument used by teachers to
avoid teaching inclusive writing. In a sociocultural moment when enrollment numbers are of paramount importance to dying second language programs, teachers are legitimately concerned that complications
oflanguage will discourage even more students from learning a second
language. I argue that this fear is unsubstantiated as it regards inclusive
writing, most notably because all textbooks already use these systems
for teaching new vocabulary, offering both masculine and feminine

variants of words: uni une etudiant( e), heureux(euse), etc. It is illogical to
suggest that students can learn the vocabulary with non-standardized
systems that textbooks currently use to offer alternate endings, but cannot then encounter more regulated formatting in contextualized assignments. In my experience, many students find the inclusive system
preferable and more logical, while others prefer the traditional system. I leave the choice open to students to learn the version of French
that resonates with them. They therefore take charge of their learning, choosing which system they prefer while also being aware of the
other. Additionally, I argue that teaching inclusive neologisms will actually draw more students into classes by creating an inclusive space
that more accurately reflects changing culture in both the native and
target languages.
While it is evident that traditional grammar must be taught to students learning a language, it is equally important to acknowledge language as a constantly evolving cultural artifact; changes in a language
can inform students as much about a culture as its traditions. Oft cited
in the arguments against prescriptivist views oflanguage, C.L. Wrenn
explains, "Language is an ever-changing and developing expression of
human personality, and does not grow well under rigorous direction"
(84). As gender is currently a particularly developing piece of this expression of human personality, the language we teach our students to
express themselves in should allow them to do so. The Academie's
brand of prescriptive French seems absurd to young adult students;
their faces read complete incomprehension when I explain that I (a cisgender woman professor) had to be referred to as a male 'un professeur'
until February 2019 when the Academie finally declared feminine versions of historically male professions (author, doctor, lawyer, professor, etc) to be linguistically acceptable, despite being used in common
parlance since the 1970s. Will we really attract and retain students by
teaching this stagnated version of a language that does not represent
the world students see around them? Though the Academie's resistance
is finally over for the feminization of professions, widespread vehement resistance still exists towards inclusive writing practices and neol-

ogistic pronouns. Undoubtedly, this resistance will eventually crumble
and the fact that inclusive writing was ever a source of controversy will
seem as outdated as the refusal to feminize professions does now.
In social media groups for language teachers, the frequency of discussions involving inclusive writing and new gender options show that
these questions preoccupy our students. In the French Teachers in the
US group on Facebook (a group that deletes repeat posts and insists
that its nearly 6,000 members search previous discussions before creating a new post on a topic), there are more than twenty-five new
discussions and resources on trans* representation and gender neutral
French posted in the last year alone. Multitudinous posts date all the
way back to 2015, with a distinct increase in frequency, engagement,
and informed replies. The earliest posts cite questions from students
to which teachers are seeking answers; for example, the first of these
was posted by Katrina Carey on August 19, 2015 asking, "I have a question for you all. Today I was teaching the pronouns '11' and 'Elle' when
a student raised her hand and asked if there was a different way to refer to someone who does not identify as either male or female. I was at
a loss ... any ideas??" (Carey). More recently, the discussion trends shift
to the sharing of new resources; the question is no longer a new one,
rather one that is of such frequent concern in the classroom that teachers routinely share good resources with the group. Clearly, the trend
is towards interest, acceptance, and encouragement of addressing these
issues in the classroom. Regardless of our personal priorities as teachers, it is evident that our students want to be informed about inclusive language in their target language, either for themselves, for friends
or family members, or simply out of curiosity. On the whole, today's
youth are not living in the historically-imposed binary. What a shame
it would be to regress into binary thinking during each language lesson when their world outside our classroom is experiencing continual
progress.
This observation naturally leads to the next argument, that implementing deliberately inclusive practices establishes the classroom as a
safe space. Learning cannot occur if a student feels unsafe in the class-

room. 6 As inspirational memes, classroom posters, and even t-shirts
glibly declare, students must Maslow before they can Bloom. 7 The
National School Climate Report of 2015 found that on school campuses, a staggering 85% of LGBT youth have experienced verbal harassment, 58% have felt unsafe due to their sexual orientation, and
43% have felt unsafe due to their gender identity (Kosciw et al.). The
same report found that only 20% of students report being taught an
LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum (Kosciw et al.). The National Transgender Discrimination Survey found that 50-54% of transgender and gender non-conforming students who experience discrimination or
harassment in all levels of schooling attempt suicide; comparatively,
the national rate of suicide attempts is 4.6% of all individuals, and
only 10-20% of LGB adults report a suicide attempt (Haas, Rogers,
Hermann). Supporting trans* students is thus the responsibility of all
teachers; ignoring or sidestepping the question of gender binary in language classes is thus unconscionable. In summer 2019, the Trevor Project published a pair of reports finding that for LGBTQ youth, having
just one supportive adult in their lives reduces their chance of suicide
by 40% (Trevor Project). Though a language teacher may not see the
value of teaching new grammatical systems, the importance of creating
a safe space for all students is indisputable.
A final argument for avoiding the question of evolving gendered
language comes from teachers who feel their own understanding of the
subject is inadequate for covering it in the classroom. To this, I argue
that expertise is not required! As teachers, we are life-long learners,
ever deepening our own understanding of our subject as we guide students through it. For the question of gender, plenty of resources exist
(see Works Cited for additional resources) to explain developments in
gendered nouns and pronouns to native speakers of any teacher's language of instruction. Additionally, social media has an abundance of
teachers' groups where other teachers share resources and expertise. Finally, it is unnecessary to be an expert before introducing concepts to
students; indeed, if we all awaited complete mastery of a topic before
discussing it with students, our classes would cover very little. In fact,

students react positively to seeing their teachers as fellow learners, so
exploring changes to the target language together can produce transformational learning opportunities. In this next section, I innumerate
several simple steps a language teacher can take in their classroom regardless of their expertise (or lack thereof) in evolving ideas of gender.

First Steps to Creating an Inclusive Language Classroom

The most basic changes any teacher can (and should, without exception) make, in a language classroom or any other, concern names and
pronouns. Asking for pronouns is not something that occurs to many
teachers, and this omission leaves students unsure if it is safe to be out
in those classrooms. Though more and more teachers now announce
to students that they should inform the teacher of alternate names or
pronouns, this well-intended act can make students uncomfortable that
they must take an extra step and approach the teacher, especially if the
student is concerned about outing themself. It is essential that teachers remove the onus from the student and normalize giving names and
pronouns. First, teachers should introduce themselves with their own
pronouns, including them on syllabi and email signatures. Secondly,
teachers should avoid calling roll aloud in front of a new class; many
students have been uncomfortably or dangerously outed in this way.
Teachers can build small group discussion time into the first day of class
so they can individually meet each student (a good practice for building classroom community regardless), and have each student fill out
a standard introductory questionnaire. In the language classroom, this
is particularly easy as we often give such a questionnaire to determine
prior knowledge of the language. Here is an example of mine (Figure
1). The image above is an example of an introductory questionnaire
that is adaptable to any level language class. For more advanced classes,
I give the form in French and use the opportunity to include neologistic French pronouns, often sparking a discussion on evolving language
on the first day.

A few notes concerning the wording on the above document: first,
I ask students to identify themselves based on how their name appears
on my roster for practical purposes. Since many universities now allow
students to choose how their name appears in the digital systems, it
no longer makes sense to ask for students' legal names. Additionally,
trans* students may not have legally changed their name as doing so has
restrictive financial or medical requirements in many states; whether
or not they have completed the legal change is also irrelevant in the
classroom. Second, I ask students by what name they want to be addressed in class. The wording here is deliberately chosen so that students with nicknames, alternate names, ch osen "F renc h" names, 8 or
names that reflect their gender identity are all covered. Third, I recognize that providing pronouns to circle offers limited options to students
because, for the sake of space, the form cannot cover all possibilities.
However, when I previously formatted the question like the first two,
leaving a space to write in pronouns, most of my cisgender students
would leave the question blank, say N/ A, or even leave a "joke" in the
space. Teaching in a conservative state, I find that many students do
not understand the question. I switched to the above format, providing
a list of (albeit limited) options, for three reasons: to make the question
clearer to those who have never been asked for their pronouns, to force
all students to respond to the question, and to demonstrate a few options of which students may not have prior knowledge. Regarding the
third question's wording, it is proper to ask for someone's pronouns,
not preferred pronouns, as they reflect the person's very identity, not a
conversational preference. This is a mistake frequently made by wellintentioned allies, so the distinction warrants specification here. Overall, this question signals the classroom is a safe space by demonstrating
that inclusivity is one of the teacher's priorities. Indeed, I regularly receive notes from cisgender students on my questionnaires that thank
me for asking for pronouns. For all students, it clearly establishes the
tone and priorities of the classroom.
Fourthly, a few follow-up questions are necessary to protect students. The sheet signals to trans* students that the teacher is a safe

person with whom they can discuss their gender identity; however,
sharing their pronouns here does not mean they are out to all their
teachers or their peers. Specifying with whom a teacher can use students' pronouns will ultimately protect the student and ensure they
remain in control of who is informed about their gender identity. Additionally, by asking if the student wants to discuss this further, the
burden of starting this conversation shifts to the teacher rather than
putting it on the student. The goal of all these questions is to ensure
a student can openly, comfortably, thoroughly, and easily discuss their
correct name and pronouns so they feel seen, respected, and safe in
the classroom. As previously stated, learning cannot occur for a student
who feels uncomfortable or unsafe in the classroom. Finally, I explicitly ask what students want me to know about them so that they can
be successful in my class. The last question is helpful for a variety of
students, especially those who have mental health issues, have disabilities, want to further discuss gender, or belong to other marginalized
groups. This is undoubtedly the most helpful question I ask that helps
the largest number of students, though only tangentially related to our
current discussion of supporting inclusive gender practices in the classroom.
The second step to take is one many teachers unconsciously do already: using inclusive language when giving instructions. Commonly,
French teachers ask for uni une volontaire or tell students to find un/
une partenaire, using both the masculine and feminine forms simulta-

neously to include all students and not use masculine as the default
dominant gender. In written instructions, it is simple to use inclusive
writing to account for all students: trouvez un.e partenaire or les etudiant.e.s. For instructions in English, it is preferable to avoid the clunky,

binary-enforcing his/her and simply use their. Such minor adjustments
make little overall change to the instructions themselves, which remain
just as comprehensible, but they signal to students that inclusive writing, rather than gendered, is now the norm. When students engage
with authentic sources on the internet, this type of writing is what they
will most encounter. Students already see their teachers as being hu-

morously out of touch with current trends and "real world" usage, so
it is important to demonstrate language in the classroom that students
will encounter outside the classroom as well. The more relevant class
material seems to their lives, the more students are likely to continue in
the subject.
The final simple step I will describe is simply to vary course materials so that images and names are significantly more diverse. Despite
the rich multicultural diversity of the Francophone world, I have yet to
find a French textbook that includes anything other than cishet, samerace couples when teaching family vocabulary. It is therefore essential
for the teacher to represent more accurately the world students live in.
It requires no more effort for teachers to find images of same-sex couples or gender non-conforming individuals for activities than it does to
use the harmful one-dimensional representation provided by the textbook. Even simply changing names in written activities to reflect other
sexualities and ethnic groups is an important step that can have a big
impact for students who see themselves represented, often for the first
time in the classroom. Once a student approached me with tears in his
eyes because I used a picture of two grooms when introducing wedding
vocabulary; at twenty, he had never before seen a picture that represented himself in the classroom. On my end, this took no more effort
than using a bride and groom in my slide, but to the student, this small
change was profoundly impactful. From a linguistic perspective, students can actually grasp the grammar better if an activity is well-structured so they cannot make heteronormative assumptions. For instance,
when teaching possession, I use same-sex parings to emphasize how
gender agrees with the object of the possession in French, not with the
subject as it does in English. In this case, using both Sophie and her wife
(sa femme) and Jean-Louis and his wife (also sa femme) helps students
see the distinction between how the grammar works in each language,
with the bonus benefit of being inclusive. These three small steps outlined above are easy for any teacher to implement and can have a significant impact within the classroom.

Specific Teaching Strategies Based on French

This inclusive adjectival ending is also used by many non-binary or
gender-fluid individuals in the singular; they can say je suis etudiant.e'

In this section, I will discuss specific strategies for discussing gender
and actively deconstructing the gender binary in a way that supports
the learning outcomes in a French language program. Though the examples are specific to my own experience as a French teacher, they are
organized in a way in which teachers of any language can make use of
the ideas simply by adjusting them to fit current developments in their
own language of instruction. In French, ecriture inclusive addresses two

to indicate they use neither the masculine or feminine form to describe
themself. However, others oppose this system as they feel it suggests
non-binary is some combination of masculine and feminine (which is
indeed precisely how the system developed), an implication that does
not accurately represent non-binary or gender non-confirming identities. Unlike in American Spanish which generally accepts the -x suffix
as a non-gendered option (Latinx instead of Latina or Latino), French
has yet to reach a consensus on an alternate option. One solution suggests removing the suffix entirely, so instead of heureux or heureuse, the

categories of concern: 1) the patriarchal precedence of the masculine
and 2) trans* and gender non-conforming individuals. By challenging
the prioritization of the masculine, addressing the first alleviates some
problems for the second. First, we must understand the feminist push
to end the dominance of masculine as default to grasp broader implications of this evolution and its impact to the trans* community.
In French, as in many world languages, all nouns have a gender, either masculine or feminine; unlike German or Latin, there is no third
neuter option. Some nouns have a seemingly random gender, like a
masculine pen (un stylo) or a feminine chair (une chaise), but others have
masculine and feminine versions, such as nationalities and professions.
For example, the word for student exists in both forms, as un etudiant
and une etudiante. When discussing mixed groups, masculine is always
the default; thus, a group of ninety-nine female students and one male
student is referred to in the masculine etudiants. In the new inclusive
writing systems, one argues that the majority in the group should determine the gender (etudiantes since there are more women); however,
this solution addresses the sexism but reinforces the gender binary. The
other system is slightly more welcoming to gender non-confirming individuals as it includes both masculine and feminine to specify that a
group is composed of a mix of genders; in this case, the group is described as etudiant.e.s. 9 As mentioned earlier, this is the simplest language to use in classroom instructions and it is reflected already in the
way vocabulary lists are given.

gender-neutral option would be heureu. Another suggests using a t to
replace a feminine e; in this case we would use heureut. While both are
distinct in the written French, orally they sound the same as the masculine form. Yet another solution recommends alternating masculine and
feminine endings; this would register orally in a way the other solutions do not, but it returns to the same problem of inclusive writing and
its implication that non-binary or gender non-conforming can be understood as some combination of masculine and feminine. Since these
systems are so in flux, the most important thing to keep in mind is respecting what each person feels is comfortable for them. For language
teachers, the complication arises in deciding how to assess a student's
correct grammar usage; I address this issue at the end of this section.
Next, let's look at the neologisms that are pushing French out of the
binary and into new grammatical territory. When it comes to subject
pronouns, even these rigidly enforce a gender binary. ll and elle function as he and she in English, but the corresponding ils and elles in the
plural mean that they is also gendered in French; thus the most common non-binary pronoun in English is not an option in French. The
most commonly used neutral pronoun in French is iel, which is now
widespread enough to be easily recognizable by most French-speakers.
However, as with the inclusive writing of gendered endings, this pronoun is a combination of il and elle and thus its implications cause dis-

comfort for some individuals. Variations include ille and el, but these
sound the same as the traditional gendered pronouns and are therefore
not widely used. Another option is ui, a variation of the non-gendered
indirect option pronoun lui; however, as lui also serves as a masculine
disjunctive pronoun, not everyone is comfortable using ui as their personal subject pronoun. Though relatively rare, im and em exist as variants of the il form. The options least attached to preexisting gendered
notions are ol, ul, and ael since neither o, u, or the ae combination have
gendered connotations in French. As with adjectival agreement, the decision of pronoun rests entirely with the student as only they can decide
which pronouns best fit them (Figure 2).
In English, the standard format for giving pronouns is they, them,

theirs, listing first the subject pronoun, then the object pronoun, then
the possessive pronoun. This format does not necessarily translate directly into other languages as gender functions differently in each. For
example, in French, possession is not gendered based on the person doing the owning, but rather based on the thing being owned. As shown
earlier, the words to express his wife, her wife, or even their wife are all

sa femme, as the possessive pronoun is based on the gender of wife, not
the gender identity of the person married to the wife. If a student wants
to discuss his/her/their non-binary roommate, the possessive pronoun
must then match the roommate's gender identity; the student would
then refer to the roommate as man colocataire or mo colocataire. 10 Object pronouns also function differently; only direct object pronouns and
prepositional object pronouns are gendered, where indirect object pronouns lui and leur reflect only plurality, not gender. For prepositional
or disjunctive pronouns, soi already exists in traditional French to mean

oneself, thus its usage has simply been expanded. Lui and elle serve the
same functions in the gendered version, and a neologistic combination ellui is now in use corresponding to the subject pronoun iel. Direct
object pronouns are traditionally gendered le and la; one new option
combines the two for lea and the other uses lo to mimic the gendered

spelling but with a non-gendered vowel. In these above grammatical
circumstances, fewer options exist than with a personal subject pronoun, so the choice is often simpler for students to make once they
have chosen a subject pronoun.
Having enumerated a variety of options, we can now explore some
practical ways of introducing these options to non-binary, genderfluid, or gender non-conforming students. Since it can be challenging
to offer options to a student when a teacher themself feels uncomfortable using alternate pronouns, I will explain my process with nonbinary, genderfluid, and gender non-conforming individuals in my
French classes. The introductory questionnaire allows students to easily identify their pronouns, so the next step is to privately approach the
students who use pronouns other than she and he to suggest discussing
their pronoun options in French. It is important to establish that the
student is empowered to make their decisions regarding pronouns and
adjectival agreement. I explain that we will work together to establish
rules for the individual student because, of course, they will be assessed
on their French grammar. So that their options are clear, I explain systems that students and I have agreed upon in the past. Some students
have decided to use the traditional elle or il for the duration of the class
while using they in English. Others have looked through available resources I send them and have decided on neologistic pronouns that feel
comfortable to them. Several gender-fluid students have decided upon
a more flexible solution, marking each assignment with the gender they
have chosen to use for that day.
As a teacher, the most important thing is to let students take the
lead in determining the target language's systems that best express their
own identity. Flexibility is essential, especially since students' ideas often change as their understanding of the language deepens. This is especially true at a beginning level, so students must feel free to make
changes mid semester when they learn more about how gender functions in their target language. I find more advanced students tend to
settle into a system they find works for them. Some students may also
be exploring their gender identity outside the classroom, so allowing

them to try out new grammatical options in the language classroom
is more respectful of their personal journey. In these cases, it is easy
to have the student indicate on each assignment which grammatical
rules they have chosen to follow so that assessment standards remain
clear. Though some teachers may fear that allowing a student to regularly change the grammatical rules by which they are assessed will give
them an unfair advantage over other students following consistent traditional rules, I have found the opposite to be true. Students exploring
their gender options in French develop a deeper understanding of the
grammatical rules because they remain focused on the nuances while
exploring their options. Additionally, allowing a student to follow alternative gender systems is in no way detrimental to a course's language
learning objectives; students using these new grammar rules for themselves must still follow traditional rules while communicating in the
second and third person. Indeed, it has been my experience that students who are allowed the freedom to explore new conceptions of gender in French develop a deeper appreciation oflanguage in general.

Conclusions
As language educators, we teach a living subject that is in constant
flux, varying through regions, cultures, and age groups. Though traditional language teaching follows prescriptivist patterns of 'correct' usage, the real-world language our students encounter does not. Gender
is an issue of global interest as we explore new ways to linguistically
represent the evolving concepts of identity. As such, incorporating
gender-inclusive practices in the language classroom reinforces learning objectives, rather than detracts from them. An inclusive classroom
is one in which all students feel safe enough to focus on their learning.
Teaching new and developing inclusive grammar systems allows students to see language as an ever-mutable cultural artifact. Teachers
can model standards for life-long learning by exploring new ideas and
structures alongside their students. Students gain a more nuanced un-

derstanding of their target language's grammar by exploring structures
beyond the traditional. Finally, and most importantly, the language
classroom is already a space in which students explore new ways to express themselves; it is only logical that gender be included in this exploration. In short, including changing concepts of gender in a language
classroom does more than promote diversity-it's just good pedagogy.

I

F.. -

l

..

.......

_

he/him

J

1.

O...N-

This term, which translates to inclusive writing, was coined to describe a

....

Figure 1

Subject pronouns

Object pronoun,

Possesive pronouns
(refersto object not
subject of posession

Gender neutral

Fcminme

icl, cl, illc, ul. o\, acl.

lea, lo (direct)

im. em

10i. cllui (JnpoKilional)

clle

la

manmo

tanlto. nn.'so

ma., ta. sa

specific set of new rules, pronouns, and gender conceptions in French. I use
the English term more broadly to refer to all systems that grammatically dismantle the gender binary, and the French term when I refer specifically to
French forms.
A wide variety of resources exists, from peer-reviewed journal articles to
2.
discussions on teaching community websites. Searches in both academic and
non-academic databases yield an abundance of results on the topic. Examples of resources for gender inclusivity in STEM can be found in the works
cited section at the end of this article.
"Aux XVIII• et XIX• siecles se poursuit, clans !'esprit des premiers
3.
academiciens, l'ceuvre de defense et d'illustration de la langue. Les editions
successives du Dictionnaire, par les modifications qu'elles apportent,
achevent de faconner la langue telle que nous la connaissons aujourd'hui."
4.
It must be noted, however, that young people can develop their own prescriptive tendencies, as Patrick Drackley's study of the Je suis circonflexe phe-

Muculinc

5.
6.

Figure 2

7.

8.

9.

nomenon articulates.
".. .une ecriture <lite 'inclusive"' / ".. .la langue francaise se trouve desormais en peril mortel"
The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational
Achievement has conducted an abundance of studies exploring and confirming the importance of student mental and physical safety to their ability
to learn. That safety is of paramount importance in learning is accepted as
undisputed fact in educational communities.
This sentiment refers to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Bloom's Tax- ·
onomy of Educational Objectives; students' essential physical and emotional
needs must be met before they can begin achieving educational objectives.
I am here referring to the practice common in secondary school language
classes where students are required or encouraged to choose a name that
is supposedly of cultural relevance to the target language. This practice is
racially and culturally problematic (especially for Spanish classes in the US)
for reasons outside the scope of this article. I thoroughly discourage the
practice, but many students with previous language experience from high
school have a name they are used to being called in class and like to inform
their new instructor about this chosen name.
The standard version of this uses an interpunct instead of a period.
It would then be written itudiant·e·s. Since French keyboards only began

adding a key for the interpunct at the end of 2018, the normal period is more
frequently used for now.
10.
The table above lists the possessive pronouns in order of first, second,
and third person singular.

Works Cited
Academie francaise. "Declaration de l'Academie francaise sur l'ecriture <lite 'inclusive'." Academie francaise, 26 Oct 2017, www.academie-francaise.fr/ actualites/ declaration-de-lacademie-francaise-sur-lecriture-dite-inclusive.
Academie francaise. "Dire, ne pas dire." Academie francaise, www.academie-francaise.fr/ dire-ne-pas-dire. Accessed 18 Feb 2020.
Academie franc;:aise. "Les missions." Academie francaise, www.academie-francaise.fr/
linstitution/les-missions. Accessed 22 Feb 2020.
Academie franc;:aise. "Non hons plans pour un monde plus green." Academie francaise:
Dire, Ne Pas Dire, 6 Feb 2020, www.academie-francaise.fr/non-bons-plans-pourun-monde-plus-green.
ACTFL Board of Directors. "Diversity and inclusion in world language teaching
and learning." American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 17 May 2019.
www.actfl.org/news/position-statements/diversity-and-inclusion-world-language-teaching-learning.
Agence Mots-Cles. Ecriture Inclusive. www.ecriture-inclusive.fr/. Accessed 29 Feb

der Discrimination Survey." The Williams Institute, University of California at
Los Angeles School of Law, 2014. williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/
uploads/ AFSP-Williams-Suicide-Report-Final.pdf.
Haut Conseil al'Egalite entre les Femmes et !es Hommes. "Pour une communication
publique sans stereotype de sexe: Guide pratique." La Documentation Francaise,
2016, www.haut-conseil-egalite.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/guide_pour_une_communication_publique_sans_stereotype_de_sexe_vL2016_ 11-02.compressed.pdf.
Johnson, Katheryn M. S., "Implementing inclusive practices in an active learning
STEM classroom." Advances in Physiology Education, vol. 23, no. 2, June 2019,
pp.207 -210.
Karan, Mark. "Detrimental aspects of prescriptivism." Multilingualism in Cyberspace:
Proceedings of the Ugra Global Expert Meeting, 4-9 Jul 2015, pp.162-167.
Kosciw, Joseph G. et al. "The 2015 National School Climate Survey: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth in our nation's
schools." GLSEN, 2015. www.glsen.org/ research/2015-national-school-climatesurvey.
Le Pichon, Sarah. "Inclusive pedagogy and the language-learning classroom." Open
Up: Conversations on Open Education for Language Learning, 4 Nov 2018, blog.co-

2020.
Ayers-Bennett, Wendy, and Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade. "Prescriptivism in a
comparative perspective: The case of France and England." Prescription and Tradi-

erll. utexas.edu/inclusive-pedagogy/.
Les Salopettes. "Petit guide pratique de l'ecriture inclusive." Les Salopettes: Association

tion in Language: Establishing Standards across Time and Space. Multilingual Matters,

feministe, 27 Sept 2017, lessalopettes.wordpress.com/2017 /09/27 /petit-guide-

2017. pp. 105-119.
Benjamin, Alix. "Le langage neutre en franc;:ais: pronoms et accords a l'ecrit et a
!'oral.» Genre! Site d'information et d'echange autour des identites trans. 29 Apr 2017,

pratique-de-lecriture-inclusive/.
Lochtman, Katja. "Prescriptivism and sociolinguistic competence in German as a
foreign language." Prescription and Tradition in Language: Establishing Standards

entousgenresblog.wordpress.com/2017 /04/19/ quels-pronoms-neutres-en-francais-et-comment-les-utiliser/?fbclid=IwAR0WtMipL63iD85Omrs8q3RJl_hkDXyxXL2uioNlqAhf8J9wmwZDUpPal4.
Bradley, Evan D., Maxwell Schmid, and Hannah Lombardo. "Personality, prescriptivism, and pronouns: Factors influencing grammaticality judgments of genderneutral language." English Today, vol. 35, no.4, Dec 2019, pp. 41-52.
Carey, Katrina. Query regarding alternate pronouns in French. Facebook. 19 Aug
2015, 9:55pm. www.facebook.com/groups/FTUSA.
Carey, Stan." Descriptivism vs. prescriptivism: War is over (if you want it)." Sentence
first: An Irishman's blog about the English language. 16 Feb 2010, stancarey.wordpress.com/2010/02/ 16/descriptivism-vs-prescriptivism-war-is-over-if-youwant-it/.
Cunning, Rachel. "Engendering inclusivity in a language class." Teaching Tolerance.
19 Sept 2018. www.tolerance.org/magazine/ engendering-inclusivity-in-a-language-class.
Drackley, Patrick. "'Je suis circonflexe': Grassroots prescriptivism and orthographic
reform." Language Policy, vol. 18, 21 Aug 2018, pp. 295-313.
Haas, Anne P., Philip L. Rodgers,Judy L. Herman. "Suicide attempts among transE>ender and gender non-conforming adults: indings of the National Transgen

across Time and Space. Multilingual Matters, 2017. pp. 88-102.
Lowenthal, Traci. "Teachers as LGBTQallies: Creating inclusive classrooms for students of all gender identities and sexual orientations." Community for Accredited
Online Schools, www.accreditedschoolsonline.org/ education-teaching-degree/
lgbtq-youth/. Accessed 17 Jul 2019.
Matei, Tamara. The challenges of prescriptivism in teaching English as a foreign
language. Studia Universitatis: Revistd $tiintifica a Universitatii de Stat din Moldova,
vol. 54, no. 4, 2012, pp.128-131, studiamsu.eu/wp-content/uploads/26.p.128-131.pdf.
Minero, Emelina. "Schools struggle to support LGBTQ students." Edutopia, 19 Apr
2018, www.edutopia.org/ article/ schools-struggle-support-lgbtq-students.
Nations Unis. "Le langage inclusif." www.un.org/fr/gender-inclusive-language/
toolbox.shtml.
Schmalz, Julia. "'Ask me': What LGBTQ students want their professors to know."
Chronicle of Higher Education, 3 Sept 2015, www.chronicle.com/article/ Ask-MeWhat-LGBTQ/232797.
SchoolLeadersNow. "5 Strategies for inspiring an inclusive STEM culture in your
classroom." We Are Teachers, 26 Feb 2018, www.weareteachers.com/inspiringincl usive-stem -curriculum/.

Shin, Naomi L. and Mary Hudgens Henderson. "A sociolinguistic approach to
teaching Spanish grammatical structures." Foreign Language Annals, 28 Mar 2017.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ doi/pdf/10.1111/flan.12249.
Southern Poverty Law Center: Teaching Tolerance Project: www.tolerance.org.
Steenhof, Boudewijn. A teacher's perspective: prescriptivism in second-language educa-

tion. Leiden University Repository, 2018.
Timsit, Annabelle. "The push to make French gender-neutral: Can changing the
structure of a language improve women's status in society?" The Atlantic, 24
Nov 2017, www.theatlantic.com/international/ archive/2017 / 11/inclusive-writing-france-feminism/ 545048/.
Trevor Project. "Research brief: Accepting adults reduce suicide attempts among
LGBTQ youth." The Trevor Project, 27 June 2019, www.thetrevorproject.org/
2019/06/27 /research-brief-accepting-adults-reduce-suicide-attempts-amonglgbtq-youth/.
Wrenn C.L. The English language. Cambridge: University Printing House, 1977.

My Body, My
Choice: Issues and
Advocacy
Jennifer Phillips

For centuries, people have conflated sex workers and sex trafficking
victims. Through using the derogatory term prostitution, we have criminalized the profession of sex work and anyone associated with it. By
becoming aware of our surroundings, communities can begin to notice
the red flags that hide under our noses. Human rights violations surround us. Society has decided to become blind to these misdeeds. As
such, ignoring the pain and suffering of others has become normal in
our society. Though an uncomfortable topic to address, it is still necessary. As Shelly Reed states,
As a society we love to profile the pedophile. It gives us
all a collective sigh of relief if we can say, without any doubt,
this is what a pedophile looks like. I have some unfortunate
news for society. I was raped by a banker, a Colonel in the
Air Force, a car salesperson, a housing contractor, and many
other people who purchased me with their middle-class, college-level incomes.... They are everywhere. They are talented
artists. They are successful business people. They are military
personnel. Stop putting your comfort level above the truth. The
truth is never comfortable. 1

When it comes to sex work (SW) and sex trafficking (ST) it is
necessary for people to understand the difference-particularly law enforcement. SW and ST have more commonalities than meets the eye.
Being able to distinguish one from the other is important for law enforcement. The lingering effects of childhood abuse and a lack of institution.al understanding are the most serious resemblances between
these two groups. "Results suggest that a young girl in northern Mexico
presenting with a pregnancy at age 14 years or having experienced sexual violence at age 11 years could have a 1 in 3 chance of subsequently
being sex trafficked." 2
Human trafficking (HT) is defined as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons, by means of the threat
or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of
deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, or
of the giving or receiving of payments of benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose
of exploitation."3 HT has become an economy by selling the goods of
human bodies. There are many facets to take into consideration within
trafficking such as sex, labor, marriage, child, and organ. "Human trafficking earns profits of roughly $150 billion a year for traffickers. .
. $99 billion for commercial sexual exploitation, $34 billion in construction, manufacturing, mining, and utilities, $9 billion in agriculture, including forestry and fishing, $8 billion dollars is saved annually
by private households that employ domestic workers under conditions
of forced labor."4 Shadow markets hide within plain sight unless one
knows where and how to look. Shadow markets frequently link themselves to the business of HT.
Coercion, force, and fraud are the main identifiers used by law enforcement and HT shelters to determine if someone is a victim of trafficking. The use of force includes physical beating, burning, torture, or
gang rape. This ensures the victim's fear, meaning they are too afraid
to leave their abuser due to fear of punishment. Fraud is a tool used by
traffickers to retain servitude. Fraud includes blackmail, false promises
of a better life, and the opportunity to make more money. Coercion is

also a means used by traffickers. Coercion is the combination of force
and fraud by using blackmail, threats of violence, and manipulating
one's insecurities. 'Jill Leighton, a teenage runaway forced into prostitution by a man who picked her up from the streets and held her
captive. A customer offered to help her leave; but the customer was
working for her trafficker, and she was beaten and gang-raped for trying to escape."5 Jill Leighton's story is an example of the range of deception traffickers employ.
Human trafficking was coined 'white slavery' in an attempt to dissociate it from the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, as well as "to invoke
the experience of antebellum female slaves."6 This terminology can be
problematic when it leads the mind to believe white people experience
danger while people of color do not. Not only are all people of color
being left out of this conversation, males are also largely ignored. Men
are inserted into the discussion as "sexual abuse is a problem for young
men as well" while "a US study showed that 16 per cent of men had
experienced incestuous or other sexual abuse."7 Statistics of men trafficked within the sex trade are lower than women. Regardless, they are
being pushed aside and ignored from the discourse. This market does
not discriminate based on your race, nationality, sex, or gender. If there
is a demand, traffickers will find the supply to get their profits one way
or another. Trafficking falls under the same definition; however, unbeknownst to many, global and domestic trafficking occurs right in our
backyards. Trafficking has evolved around us; however, we have done
little to combat it. Perhaps it is too painful to think about the inhumanity of this market.
The 13th Amendment was the first law that covered slavery, trafficking, and the exploitation of human bodies in the U.S., ratified on
December 6, 1865. "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except
as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their
jurisdiction."8 The amendment was passed in 1865 and is still violated
in the year 2019-154 years later. There are many differences to the
slavery of 1865 and the slavery we have in our current society. The vi-

olation of a constitutional right through force, fraud, or coercion remains a permanent fixture. "Forced prostitution is slavery for purpose
of the Thirteenth Amendment's prohibition against slavery and involuntary servitude; therefore, government officials who fail to enforce
laws against pimps are acting unconstitutionally." 9 A main issue commonly talked ·about is the lack of knowledge surrounding laws that
prosecutors can use to charge a perpetrator of trafficking. The government has become a part of this growing issue by not being aware of the
tools available to prosecute traffickers.
The Mann Act was the first law that outlined trafficking as we know
it today. "The Commission's work resulted in the passage of the Mann
Act of 1910, which prohibited the transportation of women across state
lines for immoral purposes.',io This trafficking law was ratified in 2000
and became the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). "The act
establishes human trafficking and related offenses as federal crimes and
attaches severe penalties to them. It also mandates restitution be paid to
victims of human trafficking. It further works to prevent trafficking by
establishing the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons,
which is required to publish a Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report each
year.'' 11 The TVPA was ratified several times in its short life. The more
society becomes aware of the HT issue, the more society must expand
to change this law to ensure it brings the victims the greatest amount
of justice.
Sex work differentiates from sex trafficking because SW's are not
being 'handled' or 'controlled' by a pimp. A sex worker also gets to keep
the money they make. Sex workers can work out of their home, hotel,
on the street, or have an online base where they find clients. "President
Donald Trump recently signed into law the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act and Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (POST A-SESTA), which
holds social media platforms liable for content that'... promote[s] of facilitate[s] the prostitution of another person.' Sex workers have widely
critiqued this bill, arguing that it does not differentiate between forced
trafficking and consensual sex work, and that it restricts their ability to
vet clients online.'' 12 While this was a step in the right direction, it be-

comes a safety issue for sex workers-considering female sex workers
are eighteen times more likely to be murdered by a serial killer. 13 The
ability to vet clients online is an important step to being safer in this
profession.
The most significant difference between ST and SW is the consent
that can be given by the person performing the sexual acts. Consent
is having the power to give a verbal agreement for an action to begin,
continue, or stop. A sex worker holds the power to say yes or no. Conversely, a victim of sex trafficking does not have the power to deny a
customer or pimp regardless of the task due to the fear of violent repercussions. The following story illustrates this issue:
So we went together where he lives, without him telling me he
lived there with many other men. I was to find out the hard way
as all six men then slept with me without putting on condoms. I
cried helplessly as I had nowhere to go and report. I was afraid to
go to the police for fear of being returned home as my papers are
not in order. In addition, sometimes going to the police when you
are a prostitute they do not listen to you and instead say "she who
goes looking for scars will get them, you got what you were looking
for.'' 14
This story may seem to be a random occurrence, but it is an everyday risk in the life of a sex worker.
December 17th became the International Day to End Violence
Against Sex Workers in a show of solidarity and to raise awareness of
the violence that this profession experiences. This was first acknowledged in 2003 as a vigil of remembrance for the victims of the 'Green
River Killer' Gary Ridgway. The Green River Killer began murdering
around 1982 and was not caught until 2001. "They were easy to pick
up without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing
right away and might never be reported missing. I picked prostitutes
because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught.'' 15
While he confessed to seventy-five to eighty murders only fortyeight were confirmed. "She who goes looking for scars will get them,

you got what you were looking for." 16 These are common views from
the public regarding violence against sex workers. The belief is that
SW's are in a dangerous profession; therefore they-deserve the mistreatment and violence that comes their way. "The majority of violence
against sex workers is not just violence against sex works-it's also violence against transwomen, against women of color, against drug users,
against immigrants. We cannot end the marginalization and victimization of all sex workers without also fighting trans-phobia, racism,
stigma and criminalization of drug use, and xenophobia." 17
Trauma affects every person differently. Abuse of children can
range from psychical, mental, sexual, and emotional. While some of
these are more easily seen, most of them are hidden and can stay hidden
unless someone looks deeper. "A US Justice Department study of reported rapes in 1992 in 13 states found that of girls under the age of
12 who were raped, one in five was raped by her own father, while 96
percent were committed by family members or acquaintances." 18 This
study may be out of date in 2019 but it still holds ground. The statistics
of childhood sexual assault are grossly underreported. Children do not
understand the abuse they receive or how to ask for help. As adults, it
is hard for us to understand why a child would not come forward with
this abuse in their lives. Yet, if abuse is all a child experiences it is perceived as normal behavior.
Children in sexually abusive homes are often exploited by the parents to get drugs, money, or obtain free rent. They use their child as a
ploy to get what they need. Dominique E. Roe-Sepowitz completed a
study of women who entered prostitution as an adolescent compared to
those who entered at eighteen years or older. Further, she researched
if they were abused sexually, mentally, physically, and emotionally as
a child. "Fifty-five percent ... of the participants reported experiencing
physical abuse in childhood, 45% ... reported experiencing childhood
emotional abuse, and 79% ... reported experiencing childhood sexual
abuse ... Two-thirds of the participants ... reported a history of running
away from home." 19

The sexual exploitation of children occurs when someone enters
into the sex work profession under the age of eighteen. Children this
young are known to sell themselves for means of survival, which is
called "survival sex." This can be used in exchange for food, shelter,
drugs, or money. "Women with a history of childhood sexual abuse
had higher rates of prostitution involvement and entered prostitution
slightly younger than those without a history of sexual abuse. A history
of running away, though, was associated with entering prostitution at
a younger age, but only affected entry into prostitution for those who
were commercially sexually exploited in their early adolescents." 20 Early
childhood abuse can leave people with mental attributes that traffickers look for in a potential victim. Some of the mental attributes become
dependency, drug addiction, depression, lack of self-confidence, feeling
unable to refuse unwanted advances, shame, guilt, and difficulty maintaining personal boundaries. Some of the behavioral impacts include
earlier sexual initiation, sex with multiple partners, unprotected sex,
the inability to negotiate and use of contraceptives. 21 People with possible PTSD are easily manipulated because they need stability in their
lives and the trafficker exploits their vulnerabilities.
While law enforcement tries their best, they cannot be blamed for
the lack of attention put on trafficking. Most people know of trafficking in some form or another but can rarely spot it. Law enforcement
personnel should be better trained to spot HT. Through more effective
training police will become more active in the efforts to eradicate HT.
"In recognizing these challenges, groups that promote more effective
policing such as the Office of Victims of Crime (OVC) and the IACP
(International Association of Chiefs of Police) have invested in training
agencies in victim-centered response ... provided training and technical assistance to more than 1,000 law enforcement agencies." 22 This is a
step in the right direction to ensure our police force is trained appropriately to spot these crimes. There are 18,000 federal, state, county, and
local agencies in the United States. 23 Suddenly, 1,000 agencies doesn't
seem as significant when there are 17,000 yet to be trained. The OVC
has a detailed outline for those who want to be involved in the train-

ing. This program has three main objectives. "To enhance the quality
of services available to assist victims of human trafficking. To develop
resources that commemorate the 20th anniversary ofthe passage of the
TVPA. To develop a key resource to improve the response to victims
of HT wherever they are identified."24 The most significant portion of
this training "is ensuring that a victims' safety is not jeopardizing their
physical or emotional healing. Victims are often told that if the police
find them they will be put in jail or deported. Law enforcement elicits
more panic than comfort. "In 2016, only 51% of victims of serious violent crime reported their victimization to the police."25
"A detective in the Northeast explained that it is more difficult for
the police to recognize victimization when people do not fit the stereotype of an iconic human trafficking victim, particularly when victims
do not express gratitude about being 'rescued' by the police or are not
young, White, and [a] U.S. citizen."26 Law enforcement have attempted
to profile something that cannot be profiled, a trafficking victim can
look like anyone and everyone. Police are known to arrest first and ask
questions later. This creates a community of distrust when it becomes
known that police are not looking to help or give a referral to those in
need. As a society we need to pull away from incarceration being the
go-to for problems we don't know how to appropriately deal with. This
only hurts those who were victimized and leaves them open to be victimized in the future.
What didn't happen at the hospital was almost as harmful as the
beating Mimi had suffered. No one questioned why such a younglooking girl was out late on an unusually cold night, underdressed
and wearing too much makeup. And no one thought to separate
Mimi from the man accompanying her in order to find out more
about what happened. If they had, they might have learned that
"Mimi" wasn't her real name; it was Elis ... She was an 18-year-old
girl from Brazil who'd been trafficked to Las Vegas. 27
Nurses are critical when spotting possible human trafficking cases.
Contrary to popular belief, traffickers will often take their victims to
the hospital for care. The image of traffickers is a ruthless, violent, fear-

invoking human being. However, in reality, traffickers who buy and
sell human bodies are going to ensure their investment is taken care of.
There are small indicators one can look for that are seemingly
unimportant but can lead to saving someone's life. "The person doesn't
speak English and someone else is speaking for them. The person
doesn't have any identification or travel documents, or someone else is
holding the documents. The person appears to be under the control and
supervision of someone who never leaves the person alone. The person appears depressed, frightened, anxious, or otherwise distressed." 28
If a health care worker has a possible HT case the most important thing
is to not directly intervene - one must proceed with caution. Clinicians can demand the possible trafficker leave the room so they can
talk with the patient. During this small but incredibly significant time
you must be as efficient as possible. Some of the questions clinicians
should ask are: "Where are you from? What brought you to the United
States? How did you get here? Are you paid for your work? How much
do you earn? Are you allowed to go out on your own? Have you been
threatened with violence or harm if you decide you want to leave your
job?" 29 Many victims do not self-identify, so blatantly asking if they are
a trafficking victim could prove useless. These questions seem to curve
around the issue of what they have gone through. Answering them
can provide the clinician a better understanding of the situation. These
have been tailored to get the information necessary while providing
someone with a safe and confident space. If someone was to dive into
such personal questions it would only serve to re-traumatize them.
Becoming aware of programs available is the best thing you can
do as an advocate for both trafficking victims and sex workers' rights.
There are several organizations dedicated to helping victims of trafficking. Many of them help all effected - men, women, and children. The
National Human Trafficking Hotline is available 24/7 to receive calls.
These workers will provide the information necessary for the victim to
safely seek further help and direct them to a safety shelter in their area.
Prajwala, an Indian company that began in 1996 in south India, has
since expanded to international operations. They have worked tire-

lessly throughout the years to develop rehabilitation centers and work
certification programs for survivors to take back control in their lives.
Most recently they have launched "Swaraksha" a community awakening caravan to counter trafficking in three states of Telangana, Odisha
& Andhra Pradesh." 30
Urban Light stands out amongst other shelters because they work
on helping young boys and men who are at risk for trafficking in
Thailand. They state, "A movement dedicated to restoring, rebuilding
and empowering the lives of young men who are so often forgotten
within the dialogue of abuse, exploitation and trafficking." 31 Urban
Light guides young men through eight pillars to help their community
lead a life free from exploitation. The pillars are health, employment,
housing, education, harm reduction, prevention, outreach, and legal
support. 32 There are several programs around the globe. Most of the
services are women-only services. Anyone can be a target of trafficking.
Focusing on one sex only illuminates half the issue.
Sex workers and advocates tirelessly work toward de-criminalizing
the profession of sex work for decades, as well as promoting safer
streets. The brutality that SW face in their line of work has become a
normality within our society. Customers and everyday people feel they
can be violent and threaten workers without legal repercussions. Many
projects partner with organizations that are dedicated to creating safer
streets. This could be beneficial not only for sex workers but our community as a whole. These partnerships can allow crime ridden cities to
flourish and benefit.
The Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) gained momentum in
2003 when they rallied and protested the crude treatment of Shannon
Williams. Shannon Williams was a high school teacher and sex worker
in the San Francisco Bay area. She had her life crash around her in
2003 when she was arrested under prostitution charges and her private life became public. Bay Area sex workers came to Ms. Williams defense and protested her arrest and mistreatment. 33 SWOP currently has
chapters in Tucson, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Orlando, Tampa, Atlanta, Hawaii (state-wide), Chicago, Kentucky (state-wide), Baltimore,

Minneapolis, and Portland. 34 A newer branch of this organization is
the POC-led chapter located in Seattle. The POC SWOP is currently
working on a partnership with the Green Light Project. The Green
Light Project is growing through Detroit creating safer streets for our
community. "Participants install high-definition cameras and upgrade
to high-speed network connections capable of allowing for consistent
video streaming to DPD (Detroit Police Department). Participants also
agree to provide adequate lighting on all parts of their properties and to making other improvements as needed to ensure that their businesses are customer-friendly, safe, and inviting." 35
The Red Umbrella Project (REDUP), based out of Brooklyn, New
York was created out of a need to give a voice back to the people in
sex trades. They also work to give their members the skills of political analysis so they can better navigate social and economic justice issues. 36 People in this organization are fighting the decades-old stigma
with "the blanket assumption that all people in the sex trades are victims does us a grave injustice. The victim narrative grays the line between consent and coercion, making it more difficult for people in the
sex trades who are victimized - by clients, pimps, police, and courts - to
seek justice."37 This project brings the injustice that sex workers face to
the forefront and say they deserve justice just as anyone else. For centuries, society has perceived sex workers as the bottom-of-the-barrel,
lowest in society, and criminals. This perception has been based solely
on their occupation. While it may be hard for some to understand why
a sex worker chose this career, it may be just as hard for others to comprehend why someone would want to be an engineer or historian. Sex
work has remained legal in a few counties in Nevada. However, activists argue the profession must be de-criminalized across the U.S.
Another organization working towards decriminalizing of prostitution is Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics (COYOTE). COYOTE was
founded in 1973 and has been working to repeal prostitution laws.
Their beliefs would enable sex workers to work their profession in a
safer manner. 38 The need for a pimp would become obsolete. Sex workers rarely come forward with their sexual assault because it is seen as

a non-issue in the justice system. No one believes a sex worker can
be raped when they are selling the service of sex. "COYOTE members have also testified at government hearings, served as expert witnesses in trials, helped police with investigations of crimes against
prostitutes, and provided sensitivity training to government and private non-profit agencies that provide services to prostitutes."39 COYOTE provides training to government officials. Society needs to accept
sex workers and learn from them rather than criminalizing them.
While the list of commonalities are perhaps longer than the differences of SW and HT victims, both hold equal importance. In the effort
to understanding these communities and the selling of human bodies,
one must look at the whole picture. Such as acknowledging the prevalence of childhood abuse as a strong similarity between SW and ST
victims. As a society we must collectively come together to erase this
cruel and violent trade of human bodies. The government needs to put
money towards appropriately training all branches oflaw enforcement.
Nurses should be required to take courses such as a sexual assault nurse
examiner (SANE) so they are equipped to handle sensitive situations.
People in power need to be aware of the tools at their disposal to handle a trafficking situation should it arise. As a society, we need to take
care of one another and stop letting others be forgotten. Noticing these
little things can save a life.

1.

Shelly Reed, 2015, "The Rhetorical Possibilities of Representation: How Sur-

vivor Narratives Frame Sex Trafficking' Thesis, Colorado State University,
2.

3.

101.
Sabrina C. Boyce, Kimberly C. Brouwer, Daniel Triplett, Argentina E.
Servin, Carlos Magis-Rodriguez, and Jay G. Silverman, "Childhood Experiences of Sexual Violence, Pregnancy, and Marriage Associated With Child
Sex Trafficking Among Female Sex Workers in Two US-Mexico Border
Cities," AJPH Research108, no. 8 (August 2018) 1052.
Frank Laczko and Marco A. Gramegna, "Developing Better Indicators of
Human Trafficking," The Brown Journal of World Affairs 10, no. 1 (summer/

fall 2003) 180.
"Human Trafficking by the Numbers," Human Rights First American
Ideals. Universal Values, last modified January 7, 2017, https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/ resource/human -trafficking-n um hers.
5.
Donna Sabella, "The Role of the Nurse in Combatting Human Trafficking," The American Journal of Nursing 111, no. 2 (February 2011) 34.

4.

6.

7.

Neal Kumar Katya!, "Men Who Own Women: A Thirteenth Amendment Critique of Forced Prostitution," The Yale Law Journal 103, no. 3 (December 1993) 805.
Lindsay Stewart, Angela Sebastiani, Gisella Delgado and German Lopez,
"Consequences of Sexual Abuse of Adolescents," Reproductive Health Matters

4, no. 7 (May 1996) 131.
"Abolition of Slavery," Interactive Constitution Made by National Constitution Center, accessed November 17, 2019, https:/ / constitutioncenter .org/ interactive-constitution/amendment/ amendment-xiii.
9.
Neal Kumar Katyal, "Men Who Own Women: A Thirteenth Amendment Critique of Forced Prostitution," The Yale Law Journal 103, no. 3 (De-

8.

10.

cember 1993) 792.
Roy Lubove, "The Progressive and the Prostitutes," The Historian 24, no.

3 (May 1962) 313.
Current Federal Laws," Polaris: Freedom happens now., accesses N ovember 17, 2019, https:/ /polarisproject.org/current-federal-laws.
12. Jooyoung Lee and Sasha Reid, " Serial Killers & Their Easy Prey," SAGE

11.

Journals 17, no. 2 (May 1, 2018) 50.

13.

Jooyoung Lee and Sasha Reid, " Serial Killers & Their Easy Prey," SAGE

Journals 17, no. 2 (May 1, 2018) 48.

14.

Felicia and Muchaneta, "Sex Workers' Stories," Agenda: Empowering

Women and Gender Equity. No. 82 (2009) 114.
15.

Jooyoung Lee and Sasha Reid," Serial Killers & Their Easy Prey," SAGE

Journals 17, no. 2 (May 1, 2018) 48.

16.

Felicia and Muchaneta "Sex Workers' Stories," Agenda: Empowering

Women for Gender Equity 82 (2009) 114.

17.

"Homepage," December 17'\ accessed November 17, 2019, https://decemberl 7.swopusa.org/.
18.
Lindsay Stewart, Angela Sebastiani, Gisella Delgado and German Lopez,
"Consequences of Sexual Abuse of Adolescents," Reproductive Health Matters

19.
20.
21.

36.

Dominique E. Roe-Sepowitz, ''.Juvenile Entry Into Prostitution: The Role
of Emotional Abuse," Violence Against Women 18. No. 5 (2012) 566.

37.

Lindsay Stewart, Angela Sebastiani, Gisella Delgado and German Lopez,
"Consequences of Sexual Abuse of Adolescents," Reproductive Health Matters

Duren Banks, Joshua Hendrix, Matthew Hickman, and Tracey Kyckelhahn, "National Sources of Law Enforcement Employment Data," Bureau of

Justice Statistics (April 2016) 1.
"OVC FY 2019 Specialized Human Trafficking Training and Technical
Assistance and Resource Development," Office for Victims of Crime,
Google, accessed November 25, 2019 https:/ /www.ovc.gov/grants/pdftxt/
FYl 9-Human-Trafficking-Specialized-TT A.pdf.
25.
Amy Farrell, Meredith Dank, Ieke de Vries, Matthew Kafafian, Andrea
Hughes, and Sarah Lockwood, "Failing victims? Challenges of the police response to human trafficking," Criminology & Public Policy 18 (2019) 651.

24.

26.

Amy Farrell, Meredith Dank, Ieke de Vries, Matthew Kafafian, Andrea
Hughes, and Sarah Lockwood, "Failing victims? Challenges of the police response to human trafficking," Criminology & Public Policy 18 (2019) 659.

27.

Donna Sabella, "The Role of the Nurse in Combatting Human Trafficking," The American Journal of Nursing 111, no. 2 (February 2011) 29.

28.

Donna Sabella, "The Role of the Nurse in Combatting Human Trafficking," The American Journal of Nursing 111, no. 2 (February 2011) 34.

29.

Donna Sabella, "The Role of the Nurse in Combatting Human Trafficking," The American Journal of Nursing 111, no. 2 (February 2011) 35.

30.

35.

4, no. 7 (May 1996) 131.
Dominique E. Roe-Sepowitz, ''.Juvenile Entry Into Prostitution: The Role
of Emotional Abuse," Violence Against Women 18. No. 5 (2012) 570.

4, no. 7 (May 1996) 131.
22.
Amy Farrell, Meredith Dank, Ieke de Vries, Matthew Kafafian, Andrea
Hughes, and Sarah Lockwood, "Failing victims? Challenges of the police response to human trafficking," Criminology & Public Policy 18 (2019) 650.

23.

34.

"Milestones," PRAJWALA, Google, accessed November 24, 2019,
http:/ /prajwalaindia.com/milestone.html.
31.
"Urban Light Ending the Exploitation of Boys in Thailand," Urban Light,
Google, accessed November 24, 2019, https:/ /www.urban-light.org/#home.
32.
"Be the Light," Urban Light, Google, accessed November 24, 2019,
https://www.urban-light.org/ our-work.
33.
"Mission Statement," SWOP USA, Google, accessed November 24, 2019,
https:/ / swopusa.org/ about-us/ mission-statement/.

38.
39.

"Chapters," SWOP USA, Google, accessed November 24, 2019,
https:/ / swopusa.org/ chapters/.
"Project Green Light Detroit," City of Detroit, Google, last modified January 1, 2016, https:/ / detroitmi.gov/ departments/police-department/project-green -light-detroit.
"Criminal, Victim, or Worker?" Red Umbrella Project, Google, last modified October 2014, https:/ /www.nswp.org/sites/nswp.org/files/RedUPNYHTIC-FINALweb.pdf.
"Criminal, Victim, or Worker?" Red Umbrella Project, Google, last modified October 2014, https:/ /www.nswp.org/sites/nswp.org/files/RedUPNYHTIC-FINALweb.pdf.
"What is COYOTE?," COYOTE LA, last modified 2004, http://coyotela.org/whaLis.html.
"What is COYOTE?," COYOTE LA, last modified 2004, http://coyotela.org/ whaLis.html.

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"Abolition of Slavery." Interactive Constitution Made by National Constitution
Center. Accessed November 17, 2019. https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/ amendment/ amendment-xiii.
Banks, Duren, Joshua Hendrix, Matthew Hickman, and Tracey Kyckelhahn. "National Sources of Law Enforcement Employment Data." Bureau ofJustice Statistics
(April 2016) 1-17.
"Be the Light." Urban Light. Google. Accessed November 24, 2019.
https://www.urban-light.org/ our-work.
Boyce, Sabrina C., Kimberly C. Brouwer, Daniel Triplett, Argentina E. Servin,
Carlos Magis-Rodriguez, and Jay G. Silverman. "Childhood Experiences of Sexual Violence, Pregnancy, and Marriage Associated With Child Sex Trafficking
Among Female Sex Workers in Two US-Mexico Border Cities." AJPH Research108, no. 8 (August 2018) 1049- 1054.
"Chapters." SWOP USA. Google. Accessed November 24, 2019. https://swopusa.org/ chapters/.
"Criminal, Victim, or Worker?" Red Umbrella Project. Google. Last modified October 2014. https://www.nswp.org/ s\tes/nswp.org/files/RedUP-NYHTIC-FINALweb.pdf.
Farrell, Amy, Meredith Dank, Ieke de Vries, Matthew Kafafian, Andrea Hughes,
and Sarah Lockwood. "Failing victims? Challenges of the police response to human trafficking." Criminology & Public Policy 18 (2019) 649-673.
Felicia and M uchaneta. "Sex Workers' Stories." Agenda: Empowering Women and
Gender Equity. No. 82 (2009) 113-114.
"Homepage." December 17 th . Accessed November 17, 2019. https:/ / decemberl 7.swopusa.org/.
"Human Trafficking by the Numbers." human rights first American ideals. Universal values. Last modified January 7, 2017. https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/ resource/human-trafficking-numbers.
Katyal, Neal Kumar. "Men Who Own Women: A Thirteenth Amendment Critique
of Forced Prostitution." The Yale Law Journal 103, no. 3 (December 1993)
791-826.
Laczko, Frank and Marco A. Gramegna. "Developing Better Indicators of Human
Trafficking." The Brown Journal of World Affairs 10, no. 1 (summer/fall 2003)
179-194.
Lee,Jooyoung and Sasha Reid." Serial Killers & Their Easy Prey." SAGE Journals 17,
no. 2 (May 1, 2018) 46-51.
Lerum, Kari. "Human Wrong vs. Human Rights." Contexts 13, no. 1 (Winter 2014)
22-24.
Lubove, Roy. "The Progressive and the Prostitutes." The Historian 24, no. 3 (May
1962) 308-330

"Milestones." PRAJWALA. Google. Accessed November 24, 2019. http:/ /prajwalaindia.com/ milestone.html.
"Mission Statement." SWOP USA. Google. Accessed November 24, 2019.
https:/ I swopusa.org/about-us/ mission-statement/.
"Project Green Light Detroit." City of Detroit. Google. Last modified January 1,
2016.
https:/ / detroitmi.gov/ departments/police-department/ project-greenlight-detroit.
Reed, Shelly. 2015. "The Rhetorical Possibilities of Representation: How Survivor Narratives Frame Sex Trafficking." Thesis. Colorado State University, 1-145.
Roe-Sepowitz, Dominique E. 'Juvenile Entry Into Prostitution: The Role of Emotional Abuse." Violence Against Women 18. No. 5 (2012) 562-579.
Sabella, Donna. "The Role of the Nurse in Combatting Human Trafficking." The
American Journal of Nursing 111, no. 2 (February 2011) 28-39.
Stewart, Lindsay, Angela Sebastiani, Gisella Delgado and German Lopez. "Consequences of Sexual Abuse of Adolescents." Reproductive Health Matters 4, no. 7 (May
1996) 129-134.
"Urban Light Ending the Exploitation of Boys in Thailand." Urban Light. Google.
Accessed November 24, 2019. https:/ /www.urban-light.org/#home.
"What is COYOTE?." COYOTE LA. Last modified 2004. http://coyotela.org/
whaLis.html.

FEATURED ARTIST

Interview with
Candace Telford

Preferred Name: Candace
Pronouns: She/her
Major: Psychology
Classification (freshman, sophomore, etc.):Junior
Hometown: Oklahoma City

Tell us a little about yourself in general-interests, short background, history with art, whatever you feel would help paint a picture
of who you are:
I am a 20-year-old young female who has many, many piercings and
very short hair. Growing up I was homeschooled most of my life. I have
seven biological siblings and I am one of the middle children. Much of
my free time is spent listening to music, dancing around in my room,
and drawing. Music is something that means the absolute world to me.
If I was not an artist in the sense of painting and drawing, I would hope
to be able to be a musician. I began to really invest in art when I was 14
years old. Since then I have pushed my boundaries and try to be able to
work with various mediums and become the best I can be. I have never
had any type of art education and I am all self-taught. While I have not
chosen art as a major, it will always be a passion of mine and I want
60

to keep it that way and not necessarily make it my means of income so
that I may continue enjoying it as a pleasure rather than work.

What would you say most of your art is about? What subject matters, styles, media, etc., drive the pieces you create?
Most of my pieces are female-related. This is because I am a female and
I draw many of the feelings that I have. I find women to be gorgeous
creatures, but not just women, all humans in general. As I have grown
and developed my style, I have gone from drawing, to canvas painting,
to digital art. I want to be as diverse as possible. However, my first love
will always be pencil on paper. The main drive that I have when creating my pieces is that I want people to be able to look at them and relate.
I want people to know that they are not the only ones experiencing certain thoughts. That they are not alone. If an artwork of mine speaks to
just one person then I know that it was worth creating.

What are some of your inspirations-in art or in general?
Much of my inspiration comes from personal experiences. All of my
artwork reflects a part of me. I like to call my pieces my babies because
in a way that's what they are to me, an offspring of my struggle to reach
actualization. I feel most inspired when I'm going through a difficult
time; I have realized this is when my best work comes out of me. Hardship spurs my passion to remind others that they are not alone on the
road of life.

What inspired the series of pieces you submitted for the journal?
And what do the pieces mean to you? You can talk about each piece individually or talk about them as a collective whole.
As a whole, I submitted these particular pieces for the journal because I
feel like they represent what the prompt was accurately.

#1.) Dual Realities- this drawing represents how reality can be more ac-

curate than we initially think. This may seem confusing because reality
is reality, but what I mean by this is, the fact that someone can make a
joke like, "I really want to kill myself' and laugh it off but in actuality,
they may pull the trigger tomorrow. Not everything is black and white,
and people forget this. Many of us hide our true feelings sometimes the
gray is the scariest place to be.
#2.) Bond Feelings- for this piece I was trying to work on my color
distribution and symmetry. When thinking about what inspired this
piece, I was feeling trapped at the time. The x-ray type feel was portrayed to show how many times feelings are overlooked instead of
taken into account.
#3.) Doubled Actuality- Self-harm is a hardship many people face in
life. Most of the time people's problems cannot be seen by the outside
world. We hide them behind the mask of"okayness". Bad and good, yin
and yang, a person's worth is not diminished due to the trauma they
have experienced. I tried to pose the two women, who are technically
one in the same, with their heads up strong because they have overcome even while choosing not the healthiest of outlets.

Do these works fit into your typical style and subject matter? If yes,
what about these pieces stand out to you? If no, how do they differ from
your norm-and why deviate?
These pieces fit into my typical style because they are of women. Almost all of my pieces are depictions of females. That being said, they
differ from my norm because they are of color. Most of the time I
choose black and gray. I wanted to push my boundaries and try to work
with color when I decided to do these pieces. I also felt as if the color
brought more meaning to them. You are able to clearly see the variation oflayers with the contrasting colors.

What made you decide to submit to Central Dissent? And why
these pieces specifically?

Our theme for this issue is "The Future of Love and Sexuality."
What does the theme mean to you, and what do you see that future
looking like? And how does/ do you want your work to reflect that?

I chose to submit to this journal because many of my loved ones have
pushed me to be more open with sharing my art. Only this last year
have I been comfortable with doing this. It has always been hard to
open up my drawings and paintings because of the critiques people
make. I've never felt confident in the skill that I possess. However, doing this has been one of the best experiences of my life. It has helped
me grow and evolve as a person positively becoming more confident in
myself and the influence I can have on the world. I chose these pieces
specifically because I feel as if they are some of my most relatable ones.
Hopefully, when people view these, the artwork will stir some kind of
self-reflection.
Many of the staff were fans of "Stolen Innocence," and ( as of now)
it's likely to be our cover piece. Can you tell us more about this piece in
particular?
This piece I drew when I was graduating out of high school and taking
concurrent classes at UCO. What inspired this piece was not wanting
to grow up being forced to. I have experienced, on different occasions,
instances that have forced me to mature much earlier than I should've.
My innocence was stolen from me at a young age. The preteen girl
ripped the head off the doll in an act to stay within the childhood she
longs for. Unfortunately, many individuals are forced to grow up much
earlier than they are supposed to. Children are not able to be kids anymore. They have what makes them children (innocence) taken before
they realize it's even gone. Forced maturity is the worst kind because it
is not natural.

When reading this prompt, I feel as if the future of love and sexuality
is being able to obtain it within yourself. The upcoming generation has
an extreme amount of difficulty finding love with themselves. Instead
they try to find it within other people, substances, and things that will
not bring them true fulfillment. If one truly wants to be able to unconditionally love another, they have to love themselves first. You cannot
give what you do not have.
What's next for you-with your art, with your studies, etc.?
Future holds me obtaining my psychology major and minor in criminal
justice. I hope to go straight into my master's degree to become a therapist. My overall dream is to become a prison psychologist and evaluate
the inmates to help them with rehabilitation into society. Many times,
people who are in prisons are there for menial offenses. But due to poor
programs and not receiving the help they need once they are released
their back in the system within a couple months. This goal of mine does
not have much to do with art: it is what I believe I am meant to do. Just
like my art, the reason I am alive today and the purpose I find within
my life is the fact that I want to be able to have as much as a positive
influence on as many people as possible. I hope to be able to do this
through my future drawings and paintings but also my overall growth
as a human being.
Your work is fantastic. If readers want to see more of it, where can
they find it/you online?
As of right now I only have an Instagram page to follow, it is cj_expression. This is where I post all of my artwork and progress videos.

Bond Feelings
Candace Telford

Doubled Actuality
Candace Telford

POETRY

I

I

Dual Realities
Candace Telford

69

Antigen/ Antibody
Jeffrey Alfier

I sit still for the needle's siphon
as if my skin were listening.
A technician holds three vials of me
against the powder-blue of her scrubs.
She asks me to affirm my name on each one
as I sign a form "in care of myself."
Blood will hold secrets for only so longa quitclaim deed already in the works.
Blood the last border, so easy to breach.
Later I'm informed that herpes lives
its dormant life at the base of my spine that part of me that lay curved in morning's

blankets as light escaped half-open blinds to cut across
a crystal vase of bright blossoms,
across someone slipping out the door,
hoping he'll be forgiven
for leaving me so soundly asleep.

FEATURED CREATIVE
WRITER

73

Interview with
Monica Hernandez

Pronouns: She/Her
Major: English Education/Creative Writing/Women and Gender
Classification (freshman, sophomore, etc.): Junior
Hometown: South OKC

Tell us a little about yourself in general-interests, short background, your writing history, whatever you feel would help paint a picture of who you are.
I am a Mexican-American 2nd Generation artist from southside Oklahoma City. I like to consider myself as someone who has become an
artist due to early onset self-awareness since a young age. That of which
has allowed me to think critically about the way in which history's institutions have created reason for my trials and tribulations. I believe
that one's experience to history demands to be documented, recorded,
and remembered. For me, to create a shared feeling through writing
is something that I feel can be extremely impactful. As someone who
mainly responds to private and public experiences through drawing,
painting, and film, to write is something that comes naturally to me, yet
I am still learning how to create something more than lines on a sheet

of paper. My goal with my art is to provide insight to the experiences
and effects of gender, poverty, capitalism, and dysfunction within families, in particular to those within my community as well as those who
are blind to the experiences not within their bubble of realization.

Inspiration comes to me through film, lyrics, collected images, historical writings, and most importantly, my feelings. As a high schooler I
consumed a lot of Sylvia Plath's poetry and felt such a deep sense of connection to this woman who shared similar outlooks on life, love and
fulfillment despite being so far away from me, periodically-speaking.

What would you say most of your creative writing is about? What
subject matters, styles, etc., drive the pieces you create?
As someone who closely observes how moments in history have created specific social behavior and systems, much of my work tends to
focus on the institutions that limit the full potential of a happy and
healthy quality of life. Gender, for example, is found in every facet of
behavior. That of which often limits liberty, love, and success. Therefore, I often the effects of gender such as misogyny, toxic masculinity,
the sexualization of women, etc. As someone who thinks a lot about the
ways in which gender is perceived and acted on, I think it's important
to bring awareness to the universal oppression that gender often creates.
On another note, I also focus on the effects of generational trauma,
with an emphasis on capitalism and the emotional and financial stress it
brings upon parents and their children, an issue I have first-hand experience with. It's something that I feel a lot of people in my community
struggle with but is rarely spoken about or researched upon and I believe it is necessary to bring attention to the issue of dysfunction within
families brought on by economic status.
Where there are so many who fail to realize the negative effects that
some institutions create, I hope to provide a sense of realization, understanding, and empathy to those who consume my work. I seek to create
enlightenment and security though my observations and personal experience that some may not have otherwise been exposed to.

Who are some of your inspirations-in writing and in general?

Likewise, I find myself continually inspired by artists such as Frida
Kahlo, Toni Morrison, Barry Jenkins, Kimya Dawson, Brad Bird, and
Kurt Cobain where their work often fills me with a strong need to organically create my own interpretation of big and small experiences.

What inspired the series of pieces you submitted for the journal?
And what do the pieces mean to you? You can talk about each piece individually or talk about them as a collective whole.
Taking the issue's topic into consideration, I wanted to submit pieces
that essentially demonstrates how gender has affected my perception of
love, identity, and growth.
Each piece, while different in setting and subject, tie together as a collective response to the effect that gender roles create. "Me and Michael"
delves into homophobia, generational trauma and dysfunction as
caused by preconceived ideas as to what toys are considered appropriate
for children to play with based on gender. As a kid, my brother and I
were often left alone to have fun with our dolls, up until my mother returned home from work. I wanted to go back to those memories with
the intention of highlighting my childhood's lack of emotional understanding by means of gendered notions, albeit with a touch oflove and
confidence from older sibling to younger sibling.
In turn "Thank God for Kate Chopin" was something I wrote in high
school, sometime after reading The Awakening. It was a moment of
feeling completely validated. So many times in literature we see often
more than not the only way for complete liberation from gendered

expectations is death. From Greek mythology to British literature,
women are placed in a cage with little means to escape. I wanted to express my frustrations with this caged-in feeling by channeling similar
feelings from Sylvia Plath and Kate Chopin.
"Body O Mine" stems from that caged-in feeling by means of discomfort from having to deal with being consumed as someone with a female body. I wanted to express that yearning one might have to change,
or similarly the constant struggle of not being able to. I was stuck on the
image of a wishbone and how that could represent the desire to change
one's form into something more desirable.
"Evil Woman" acts as an example as to how having a female form, especially within a Mexican culture, often forces one to conform to the cage
of domesticity, however in my case, because I am distanced from the
culture as 2nd generation (as well as being incredibly defiant) I wanted
to use this poem as a call for rebellion to those who struggle with standing up for themselves in a culture where gender is upheld strongly by
women and men.

Do these works fit into your typical style and subject matter? If yes,
what about these pieces stand out to you? If no, how do they differ from
your norm-and why deviate?
I would say that out of all the poems, "Michael and Me" deviates the
most from the way in which I usually construct my writings. I'm not
well instructed in the form of poetry, so the majority of my work is
a bit freestyled and aligned to my aesthetic of emotion. "Michael and
Me," however deviates from my usual form of keeping distance, as if I
am explaining a concept, to something much more intimate. This poem
instead places my experience very directly, where the reader can be
envisioned as a bystander in the room. I try to emit a vague sense of
vulnerability in my work but in this piece I wanted the effects of generational trauma, trauma, and dysfunction to come across very clear in

my experience as a child. It is certainly different than my usual aura
of mystery within my works but I feel like if anything that the intimacy and direct visuals of the experience provide a stronger impact
than it would without those aspects, something I hope to experiment
with again in the future.

What made you decide to submit to Central Dissent? And why
these pieces specifically?
I was introduced to Central Dissent during my first semester as a transfer
student at UCO through Golden Pony and was completely amazed that
something such as itself could exist in the state of Oklahoma! Dissent
is something I am completely made out of so it made sense to me that
my work would appeal to the journal's core subjects and themes. Each
piece that I submitted has to do with gender in one way or form and
because so much of my work often deals with the subject, I was a bit
at odds at what to submit. Ultimately, I chose the pieces that I did because I felt that they spoke to several facets of gender, something that I
believe at least one person could relate to. Whether it be because someone else has experienced a relative telling them "Boys don't play with
girl toys," or feeling utterly disjointed with the way your body moves in
the world, I wanted each poem to speak to feelings that one person or
the other has experienced, either first-hand or otherwise.

''Body O Mine" made many of our editors take notice. If you haven't
already said all there is to say about the piece earlier, could you tell us
more about it?
As mentioned, "Body O Mine" comes from a place of discomfort and
yearning to change. The visual of Venus is meant to represent the
beauty, fertility, and love that is associated with her, and in turn women
of the world. It goes back to these expectations women often have, as
per their sex to conceive, to marry, and to be motherly, all of which

I cannot adhere to. However, despite this discomfort, it isn't easy to
change, hence why a baby such as myself, a blank slate, is destined to
remain yearnful to change into something that does not carry the connotations of Venus.

''Evil Woman" paints a cultural picture many individuals may not

teach what I've learned to others. I seek to teach my loved ones how
to break beyond the borders of what is considered as love and what is
considered appropriate of sexuality. I seek a future where happiness is
constant. A future where my loved ones learn to heal. If my work provides even as much as a drop of influence to understanding how to do
so, I believe myself to be successful.

always see. Tell us more about how important (Mexican) culture is to
your pieces and why cultural insight is important in writing and art.
This poem was a concept I wanted to explore because so often when
it comes to women and young girls acting out of the set social codes
brought on by Mexican tradition (being feminine, obedient, and domestic), they are depicted as wicked, dishonorable, and hopeless, never
being directly told they are evil (an exaggeration at most) but certainly
treated as such when they go against the grain.
I think pieces like this are important because it is often, I see not many
people in my community considering that they can rise up and that
they can create an environment of accountability and growth. It is even
more important that subjects such as this are presented to people unaware of these issues so that they may widen their knowledge of oppression in cultures other than theirs in order to recognize and break
toxic behaviors either demonstrated or witnessed.

Our theme for this issue is "The Future of Love and Sexuality."
What does the theme mean to you, and what do you see that future
looking like? And how does/ do you want your work to reflect that?
The future oflove and sexuality, to me, holds the possibility for change.
When you come from a past that tells you to behave one way, and one
way only, the only way out is up. Therefore, by realizing and understanding how my past has molded myself and those around me, I can
learn how to grow forward from these negative experiences as well as

What's next for you-with your writing, with your studies, etc.?
I'm trekking forward into my twenties trying to finish up my Junior
year while simultaneously wanting to expand my artistic ventures.
While I very much appreciate the craft of writing, I'd love to create
something a bit more visual. Although because I truly do love so much
aspects of art, I want to combine something that appeals to each scope.
Whether it be through film, paintings, collages, zines, or creative writing, I definitely will be working hard to continue creating art for others
to consume and hopefully "feel" from.

Your work is fantastic. If readers want to read or see more of it,
where can they find it/you online?
I don't have anything particularly professional at the moment, but I did
recently discover Medium! You can find my work there through my
handle @monicaaraceli. I'm also a member of UCO's writer's community The Golden Pony. We host live readings throughout the semester
and I usually accompany other really great writers at those events. You
can keep up with our events through @goldenponyguild on Twitter.

Is there anything else you'd like to add? Or anything I didn't ask
that you'd want to answer or mention?

I just want to say thank you to Central Dissent for providing me the opportunity to display my writings to the community and I can't wait for
the next issue!

Body O' Mine
Monica Hernandez

In utero, she did
dote a kiss onto the soft mound of my red forehead;
Imitating God, birthing She.
Hips like wishbone, and breasts of teardrop,
That is what Venus did unto Me.
To take that wishbone and snap it into two,
I dream of a form, free of her curse, I dream of someone
entirely new.
In my mother's arms now, I am, head of black and heart of
gold.
She squeezes this baby, hopeful but unaware
that she will struggle and squirm
to love this body,
this body o' mine,
made to bear.

Evil Woman
Monica Hernandez

I am mujer malvada
For I do not grow my hair down to my spine's end
Nor cater to or pick up after the loud, leering men
Who size me up now and then
Taking in my yellow skin and disproportionate frame
Devising how I can take their last name
Implant a child in my womb and punish me for the boy's sake,
my inherent shame

"Note vas a casar actuando asi"
That may be then, this is now
I am mujer malvada
To be your wife and servant
I tie my Fallopian curse into a cherry kiss, I shave my head
down to the scalp, I love her more than you ever will and I
will always firmly disavow
For the women in Mexico who cry, conform, and enable,
Take this knife and cut God's cable.

Me and Michael
Monica Hernandez

\

hidden box of half-naked Bratz and missing miscellaneous heels
you, so small, so sensitive, searching for Yazmin
using my hairbrush to smooth out her frenzied ponytail; youth
hurrying to play, before mom gets home, peering from the
apartment window; happy
from time to time, treating Yazmin and Jade to tennis and tea
but not packing fast enough when the
key turned at 5:45
promptly killing our joy, coordinated with cussing
and swift snatching
sometimes scratching
us; blood
hiccups interrupting in-between your cries
our box found, and takentaken and hidden
hushing my voice and cradling your tears
knowing your grandma will gift you Yazmin next year
my hand in your hand; yellow and cream, four years in-between
little brother so sensitive, you are who you are
not what she wants, or believes to be true:
you are not contained by the color blue

Thank God for Kate
Chopin
Monica Hernandez

Just as Sylvia had turned on that stove
That Heat
Is Sweltering me Up
I find myself engulfed in the flames of the fifth circle of Hell
The blaze exposing all; bone and feeling
That of which leaves only molars behind and undecipherable last
goodbyes
My skin melts
At the sound of a baby's wail; hungry
Born to eat and suffer...
For What?
The smell of burnt flesh wafts up my nose
Rare steak for Friday, and a full stomach, for him
The inferno, both inside and out, scorches what's left of me
Like the pages of my diary
Before the blaze takes what is left of my sentience, I think about the
ocean's waves
Just as the harsh currents only know of the unknown, along with
the cosmos above the fire and brimstone
The enigma continues without me.

BIOGRAPHIES
Jeffrey Alfier's most recent book, The Shadow Field,
was published in 2020 by Louisiana Literature Press.
His publication credits include The Carolina Quar-

terly, Chiron Review, Copper Nickel, Midwest Quarterly,
Permafrost, and Southern Poetry Review. He is the
founder of Blue Horse Press and San Pedro River Re-

view.

Jessica J Appleby is an assistant professor of French
at the University of Central Oklahoma with a PhD
from the University of Colorado. Her research interests focus on medieval and Renaissance epic poetry, with secondary interests in the French graphic
novel, gender and sexuality studies, sci-fl/fantasy,
and pop-culture pedagogy. Her current project maps the violence of
epic poetry as enacted on the female body.

Falling
Tara Jean Murphy

91

92

I BIOGRAPHIES

BIOGRAPHIES

Tan Gedick is a graduate student at FAU Erlangen
Ntirnberg in English Studies. His research interests
include pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and corpus linguistics. He has engaged with posthumanist thought
and contributed to the convergence of a new field:
posthumanist applied linguistics. Within this field,
he is hoping to work on gender studies and linguistic phenomena from a posthumanist point of view.

Monica Hernandez is an aspiring 2nd generation
Mexican-American writer and artist in Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma. When approaching a creative piece
it is important that she is able to convey the complex
and overlapping issues regarding gender, sexuality,
poverty, and mortality in a manner that is intimate,
critical, and insightful. Always interested in understanding how certain feelings can be conveyed, Hernandez relies on written word, traditional art, and
film to best portray these issues.

I 93

Tara Jean Murphy is an artist and illustrator from
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her works tend to focus
on the way that people view themselves both physically and psychologically. More of her work is available through Instagram, via @rocketsox.

i

Jennifer Phillips is a history graduate student at the
University of Central Oklahoma. She is currently
working on her thesis regarding human trafficking
which will prepare her to study human rights in law
school. Ms. Phillips is also the manager of the
Women's Research and BGLTQ+ Student Center.

Candace Telford is a twenty-year-old and she just
started her senior year in college. She is currently a
Psychology major with a minor in Criminal Justice.
She hopes to continue creating art as a method to
positively influence the world around her.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION

The Central Dissent: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality accepts original work
in research, poetry, prose, and visual art. Submission information andeditorial guidelines are accessible through our New Plains Student Publishing website: newplainsreview.com.

ORDERING INFORMATION
Please contact us at central.dissent@gmail.com for pricing and ordering
information.

CPSIA information can be obtained
at www.ICGtesting.com
Printed in the USA
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A

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The Central Dissent: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality is an interdisciplinary

academic journal based out of the University of Central Oklahoma's College
of Liberal Arts, Department of English. The journal is produced by New
Plains Student Publishing and is sponsored by UCO's \Vomen's Research
Center and BGLTQ+ Student Center.

ISBN 2370000882585
90000

:-Jew Plains Student Publishing
University of Central Oklahoma
2 370000 882585

Item sets: Herland Archives Import; Central Dissent: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality; Feminism; Education; Literature

Media: CentralDissentFall2020.pdf

Hierarchies: Herland Archive
All Resources (Private)
Themes
LGBTQ+ (482 items)
Feminism (40 items)
Faith and Religion (51 items)
Activism and Advocacy (69 items)
HIV/AIDS (25 items)
Education (18 items)
Literature (20 items)
Art (16 items)

Central Dissent : Fall 2020

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