Glitch Feminism, A Manifesto by Legacy Russell. The world is set up with social constructs that seem to work for some but for others just don’t apply. Legacy posits the glitch as a way to make space, to assert visibility, and to break through to liberation. She does this with erudition, authority and a style that can erupt into poetry.
We all have experienced glitches with our tech gear. They are mistakes. But sometimes a mistake can be a beneficial opening, a break in the machinery that permits a new configuration. Here is how Legacy puts it, “Black people invent ways to create space through rupture. Here, in that disruption, with our collective congregation at that trippy and trip-wired crossroad of gender, race, and sexuality, one finds the power of the glitch.”
The ideas in this manifesto supersede the idea of inclusion, with its implication of letting the other through the door. The idea of the glitch is to lay claim to owned space rather than permitted space. This book teems with ideas. In her chapter Glitch Ghosts she challenges the readers to “ghost” the binary body. This verb – to ghost—is what you do when you don’t want to be in contact with someone. You ghost them by not answering any texts or messages –full on ignoring them. How would this work with the binary body? Well, I explain this to my self by looking at my female pit bull. It is an understatement to say that she has no feminine social constructs. She reminds me of how oppressive such constructs have been to human females throughout history –ordinary cisgender white females. The oppression increases exponentially when the person is not white and not cisgender.
Glitch Feminism offers change that takes courage. At first I thought this book was not for me, but as I got into it, I began to think that it was; its introduction to numerous artists and thinkers and the poignant substructure of the thought in lived experience may provide a way forward for everyone.
