Surviving Workplace Harassment and Bullying

Surviving Workplace Harassment and Bullying

Please note that this post contains references to harassment and violence. Marginalized people are particularly vulnerable to harassment and bullying at work. Sexism, homophobia, transphobia, racism, and ableism already prevent so many exceptional candidates from finding work in the first place. When they finally get there, they’re more likely to be seen as easy targets…

From Yellow Peril to Model Minority: Asians Resist!

From Yellow Peril to Model Minority: Asians Resist!

I’ve handed back my ‘model minority’ card. I once believed that keeping my head down and focusing on academic and professional achievements could secure me comfort and stability. While I pursued this single-minded goal, Black and Indigenous people were being murdered in the streets of my neighborhood. How could I stay quiet and play nice…

Recovering from Stress, Exhaustion, and Burnout

Recovering from Stress, Exhaustion, and Burnout

Under capitalism, our senses of self-worth are very often tied to our jobs — our salaries, titles, and the status symbols they afford us. Corporations exploit this and encourage a culture of individualism, competition, and overwork. In this environment, work-related stress can feel overwhelming. Over time, prolonged stress can lead to burnout. Burnout is a…

Why Corporate Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Don’t Work

Why Corporate Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Don’t Work

Diversity and inclusion initiatives are widely accepted and established means through which organizations profess to doing good. Yet despite their good intentions, few managers understand how diversity management emerged as a way to replace affirmative action policies that were designed to redress institutionalized and systemic racism. Unlike affirmative action, ‘diversity and inclusion’ is a warm…

Intersectional Writing Prompts (Anti-Racist, Feminist, Queer)

Intersectional Writing Prompts (Anti-Racist, Feminist, Queer)

Reflective writing is the process of articulating your experiences and perspective of particular topics and events. It allows you to explore your thoughts and feelings and critically examine deep-seated beliefs and assumptions. Reflective writing is an insightful and generative tool for intersectional feminist activism. It can enable us to identify the ideologies we’ve internalized in…

Dealing with Online Hate and Harassment

Dealing with Online Hate and Harassment

Please note that this post contains references to harassment and violence. Being an intersectional feminist on the Internet can feel like you have a target on your forehead. Speaking up for social justice threatens the comfort and privilege of people in power. Right-wing trolls scour the Internet, looking for anyone who represents or promotes social…

Postfeminism as Faux Feminism: The Problem with She-E-Os

Postfeminism as Faux Feminism: The Problem with She-E-Os

The rise of prominent female leaders in the business world is often celebrated as a sign that feminism has won. Celebrity executives like Sheryl Sandberg, whose business manual Lean In calls on women to “forge a path through the obstacles, and achieve their full potential”, suggests that gender equality is a choice for women to…

Edward Said and the Lingering Problem of Orientalism

Edward Said and the Lingering Problem of Orientalism

Orientalism is a system of thought and a way of seeing of ’the East’ from the colonial gaze of ‘the West’ as mysterious, intriguing, and exotic, while at the same time primitive, despotic, and savage. The ideologies and practices of Orientalism were originally theorized by Edward Said through his 1978 book, Orientalism. Said focused then…