Course

WGSS-130 - Intro to Gender

Document Type

Creative Writing

Publication Date

Spring 4-2025

Disciplines

Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Description, Abstract, or Artist's Statement

I Will Make No Defense is a combination of a short essay and a free-form poetry chapbook with a glossary of anattractional terms*. The essay discusses the erasure of complex queer identities within journalism, especially those that violate homonormativity. The poetry chapbook itself is written about the author's personal experiences regarding their identities as an aromantic, asexual, and transgender person, and was intended to help reduce this informational gap. It is prefaced by a glossary of necessary terms to aid its accessibility to the general population, and many of the poems address language that erases identities, how a-spec identities and gender are conceptualized in the modern United States, as well as legal and structural concerns. Together, the essay and chapbook emphasize the importance of queer visibility.

*A spectrum of orientations that are characterized by not experiencing a form or form(s) of attraction or experiencing these form(s) of attraction at a low level, conditionally, unreliably, or otherwise atypically to societal expectations. Some people on the anattractional spectrum may consider themselves as LGBTQ+, while others may not.

Comments

Honorable Mention winner, Audre Lorde Creative Expression, 2025