“When social movements engage in legal reform, they often mobilize images of people from their constituent population who most match national norms about what "deserving citizens" are like, and use those people as spokespeople and as lead plaintiffs in legal cases. This strategy requires that people who are experiencing intersectional harm - who are vulnerable through multiple vectors of demonization and marginalization - be further marginalized and disappeared by the advocacy.” PeopleUseSocialCasesMovementCitizensStrategyPopulationHarmVulnerableReformMultipleNormDeservingConstituentsAdvocacyMarginalizedSocial MovementsMarginalizationVectorsSpokespeople Author:Dean Spade
“Legal reform organizations are usually trying to portray their constituents as "hard workers," as "not criminals," as citizens, as part of normative family arrangements, and as conforming to white norms as much as possible. When these strategies are used, the most dangerous conditions and the people who are most vulnerable cannot be discussed or addressed.” PeopleTryingHardUsedWhiteConditionsDangerousHard WorkCitizensOrganizationStrategyWorkersCriminalsVulnerableReformArrangementsConformNormConstituentsHard Worker Author:Dean Spade
“Over the past decade I have watched many friends go through graduate school and write dissertations. Through that process, I have seen how they are guided by mentors to understand particular norms within their disciplines and to learn about what they can and cannot, should and should not say, and which ideas can go together and which cannot. I never went through this process.” ShouldWritingIdeasSchoolTogetherPastProcessParticularDisciplineDecadesGraduatesMentorNormOver The PastMany FriendsGraduate SchoolDissertation Author:Dean Spade
“More conservative advocacy work often encourages portrayals of trans people as people who deserve rights. Deservingness, of course, corresponds to national racial, gender and ability norms.” PeopleCoursesAbilityRightsDeserveConservativeGenderNormTransAdvocacyPortrayal Author:Dean Spade
“Power is not a matter of one dominant individual or institutions, but instead manifests in interconnected, contradictory sites where regimes of knowledge and practice circulate and take hold. This way of understanding the dispersion of power helps us realize that power is not simply about certain individuals being targeted for death or exclusion by a ruler, but instead about the creation of norms that distribute vulnerability and security.” WayMatterHelpingCertainIndividualUnderstandingRealizingPracticeSecurityCreationInstitutionsVulnerabilityRegimesRulersSiteDominantNormContradictoryExclusionInterconnectedDispersion Author:Dean Spade
