Negotiating Differences: Discussions around social exclusion in (queer) feminist spaces Main Supervisor: Dr. Domitilla Olivieri Support Supervisor: Dr. Kathrin Thiele This Thesis was written in completion of the Master's Degree in Gender and Ethnicity Utrecht University Submitted to the Graduate Gender Programme Department of Media and Culture Studies, Utrecht University N. Fink (3946959) 8th of August 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project is dedicated to all the people who are stuck in poverty as a result of marginalization and to the activists who are struggling for their own and others survival and recognition. I thank my co-researchers for being so open to share their words with a wider public, for their inspiration and curiosity. I am indebted to (queer) feminist communities that made me experience alternative ways of relating and for the conversations and actions in which we encountered each other. Particularly I thank Julka, who taught me how to build and nourish a meaningful relationship despite differences. My grateful thanks are also extended to Jacky, for the marvellous support and the time invested in this project. I would like to especially thank Domitilla, my supervisor and mentor for her expert advice, her encouragement and for the critical questions she provided throughout the research and writing process. I want to thank the Gender and Ethnicity Master-program for being a family of critical thinkers that provided inspiration for my activism. This project and my studies in Utrecht would have been impossible without the support of the scholarship from the Hans-Böckler-Stiftung. I would like to acknowledge the support from all the people around me, in Utrecht and elsewhere. I want to thank my mother, for being the first and a very inspiring feminist in my life. I am grateful to my father, whose support and encouragement helped me achieve this point in life and to my sister Magdalena for sending me her happiness and guidance over distance. I am grateful to Sidney, for his love and for his caring, which let me forget that researching can be a stressful process. Samira for sharpening my mind regarding my own prejudices and borders of conception, Xorshid for sharing her powerful activism, Violetta for showing me the warmth of the sun after a day behind the desk and Arezo for being a friend and a guide that brought happiness and wisdom to my life. I thank my chosen family, Sasha, Lea, Vick, Debby, Vasso, Pablo, Annemijn, Idefix, Sophie, Whitney, Carlo, Jenny, Marie and Jojo for their inspiration, and also for the mental and practical support. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................... i Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................................................... ii Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Language, Key Concepts, Methodology .......................................................................................................... 8 1.1. Language of power – the power of language .................................................................................................. 8 1.2. Key Concepts .......................................................................................................................................................... 13 1.2.1. Discontinuities between gender, sex and sexuality ..................................................................................... 13 1.2.2. What to make of identity and experience?..................................................................................................... 16 1.2.3. The (queer) feminist community or who is ‗we‘? ....................................................................................... 21 1.3. Methodology ........................................................................................................................................................... 23 1.3.1. Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis .............................................................................................................. 24 1.3.1.1. Why Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis? ................................................................................................. 24 1.3.1.2. Re-working Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis ...................................................................................... 25 1.3.2. Material and Data .................................................................................................................................................. 27 1.3.2.1. Context and ways of access to the material ................................................................................................... 29 1.3.2.2. Research Ethics regarding the material .......................................................................................................... 30 1.3.2.3. Material and Community Based Research .................................................................................................... 32 1.3.3. Community Based Research .............................................................................................................................. 33 1.3.4. Is this space offline yet? – Researching online ............................................................................................ 35 1.4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................... 37 2. Activism against specific forms of discrimination in the german speaking context ........................ 39 2.1. Anti-Romaism and Roma activism .................................................................................................................. 40 2.1.1. Romnja Activism - a critical Analysis of the status Quo ........................................................................ 41 2.1.2. The politics of ‗naming‘ ...................................................................................................................................... 42 2.1.3. Situation of Romnja in the German speaking context ............................................................................... 44 ii 2.2. Trans* hate and trans* activism ........................................................................................................................ 46 2.2.1. Definitions of terms used .................................................................................................................................... 46 2.2.2. Discrimination on the basis of trans* hate ..................................................................................................... 50 2.2.3. Trans* activism and the strength of intersections ....................................................................................... 54 2.3. Bridging anti-Romaism and trans* hate ......................................................................................................... 56 3. ―Do you mean to include us as well?‖ ............................................................................................................ 57 3.1. Mailing list: A discussion about Anti-Romaism .......................................................................................... 59 3.1.1. What‘s in a word? .................................................................................................................................................. 60 3.1.2. Words- locations- and relations to different theirstories ......................................................................... 62 3.1.3. Encountering the structural level of racism ................................................................................................... 66 3.1.4. ‗unconcerned‘ located people calling for exclusion ................................................................................... 69 3.1.5. Final conclusion on the anti-Romaism discussion ...................................................................................... 71 3.2. BDSM forum: A discussion about excluding a trans* femininity ......................................................... 74 3.2.1. ‗Safer space‘ discussions in (queer) feminist scenes .................................................................................. 74 3.2.2. ―The women/lesbian scene is invited but, cis-men are excluded‖ ......................................................... 79 3.2.3. The politics of emotions ...................................................................................................................................... 83 How fear shapes the discussion around ‗safer spaces‘ .............................................................................. 83 How (not) to approach privileges? ................................................................................................................... 87 Excluding dichotomies? - Female experience vs. trans* experience ................................................... 89 3.3. Bridging two and more exclusions, ‗oppression translation‘ as a strategy.......................................... 93 4. Theoretical insights – Inspired by Bracha L. Ettinger ..............................................................................