I just finished reading a book written in 1981. It was a murder mystery set in Harvard: the first tenured female professor had wound up dead. How quaint! At the university where I teach today, fifty years later, female professors outnumber their male counterparts in most disciplines. Still, the book had useful parallels: I kept thinking about Shawna Massey, the first nonbinary professor here, and how they’ve been shoved onto every committee imaginable. I made the joke that at least they don’t have to represent the Black or LGBTQ communities, but just got a tired look. I guess I’ll have to widen my search to see if there are any viable nonbinary candidates for that open position in multispecies futures. I heard there’s someone doing great work in Colorado…
Why I love reading feminist literature
Stories / Tuesday, January 26th, 2021