Hello, and welcome to the newly formatted Intersectional Feminism and Social Justice Class for Teens. This is a subscription based class that meets once a week to learn and discuss topics from intersectional feminism, social justice, environmentalism, queer theory, and more. This class is designed for students who have some basic understanding of introductory feminist concepts such as intersectionality, social justice, misogyny, homophobia, racism, etc. Due to the nature of these conversations, this content is best suited for students ages 15 and above. If you have a younger child who you think would be interested in learning about these things in a way that is better suited for their age, please check out my other classes or send me a message! 

Classroom Environment: 

Although some of our members in this group know each other from previous courses they have taken together, this newly formatted class allows for students new and old to connect with likeminded peers and make new friends. New members are always welcome to join our group at any point in the year. The students that are drawn to these courses are unequivocally welcoming, friendly, and respectful to all who join, and are always excited to meet new friends and welcome new perspectives. You would be a great for this class if you:

- Love learning about all things social justice! (e.g., environmentalism, anti-racism, Indigenous Sovereignty, 2SLGBTQ+ rights, feminism, and other areas of social justice)
- Want to meet new friends also interested in these things
- Enjoy discussion based learning (sharing ideas, questions, brainstorming together, etc.)
- Are curious about 2SLGBTQ+ rights, gendered and racial equality, disability justice, climate change, etc. or even questioning aspects of their own identity (like gender identity for example). Many of our students join us from cities or areas that are not always safe for queer people, girls/women, or People of Colour, and so our virtual space provides support and encouragement to members who may be feeling isolated or alone where they live.

We are a group of kind, respectful, and who seek to ensure the comfort and safety of all of our group members. Due to the heavy focus on intersectional feminism, conversations will often revolve around race, class, disability, and 2SLGBTQ+ rights. For this reason, both myself and the students work together to provide content warnings before delving into any topics that may be upsetting to any of our members (**see below for examples of topics that require content warnings in the classroom). If any member of our group does not wish to discuss that material, we simply move on to another topic as a group. My priority as a teacher is to provide a safe educational space to explore challenging content that is presented and explored in a way that is accessible, comfortable, and safe for students of all backgrounds and identities. 

Teaching Style:

Each week I prepare powerpoint slides that include lots of visuals that help breakdown concepts. I also use slides to lead question-based conversations where I write down the ideas of students as they brainstorm ideas and build off of each other. Occasionally, we’ll watch a short video (open source) in class to inspire our conversations or highlight voices of BIPOC feminists and activists. We will often do an activity together. For example, we recently reviewed two podcasts’ websites to explore whether they were accessible for folks with disabilities to navigate. A couple of times a year, students share 5 minute presentations to teach their peers about a topic they are knowledgable about or would like to research further. 

At the beginning of each class, students are provided with the time to share about the things they are thinking about or have questions on. This is also a time for students to recommend resources to each other like great books they’ve been reading or movies they’ve watched. 

After class, students I put together a list of additional resources that students may be interested in if they are interested in expanding their area of knowledge on the topic of the week further. Examples of resources I post in the classroom include: 
- Book, film, podcast, music, comics, graphic novels, websites, plays, blogs, art, or artist recommendations
- Open Source media such as YouTube videos, TedTalks, or educational videos posted by universities, museums, activists, etc.
- Social justice movements, hashtags, and activists to follow online

Accessibility: 

The A.I. automated closed captioning tool offered by Zoom is turned on during class to foster an accessible learning environment for students with physical, mental, cognitive, and/or learning disabilities, including those who are deaf or hearing impaired, neurodivergent, or who may require other accommodations. If there are any ways I can make my classroom more accessible to you or your child, please contact me via the message function on OutSchool. 

Please note that I myself am a disabled / chronically ill person. This means that sometimes I will need to cancel class due to illness or medical appointments that arise. I always try to give my students lots of advance notice and process refunds promptly when necessary. Thank you in advance for your understanding and for supporting me and my classes!

Course Content and Themes: 

The course content will be tailored to the interests of the group and collective areas of interest related to feminism and social justice and are flexible (if we run out of time for our conversation, we can continue our conversation the following week). Students are encouraged to share areas of focus that they would enjoy learning about and exploring together. 

Below is an outline for the upcoming learning topics for our class: 

Week One: Tuesday, Sept 21
Topic: Feminism and Guilty Pleasures (Reality T.V., Music, Fashion, and Hobbies) 
Themes: Is it okay for us as feminists to enjoy content that we may recognize as problematic? Is it morally wrong for us to watch movies or shows (like the Bachelor) that objectify women and promote toxic heteronormativity? In order to unpack this complex topic, we’ll explore the work of Roxane Gay’s work titled “Bad Feminist” to unpack how there is no single correct way of participating in feminism and the ways in which we can relief in entertainment that isn’t always perfect or ideal.

Week Two: Tuesday, Sept 28
Topic: Queerness and Family
Themes: Why is family such a common topic in contemporary feminist and queer theories? How have feminist and queer writers/activists written about family ties in their work? How do they define family? We’ll explore the idea of chosen family as it relates to 2SLGBTQ+ community members to explore how the 2SLGBTQ+ community has worked hard to create community in a queer-phobic world. This week we’ll watch a short video (available open-source) by a trans activist who discusses how we can find our chosen family. 

Week Three: Tuesday, Oct. 5th
Topic: Queer Kinship and Communities 
Themes: During this week we'll explore how we can build communities to support ourselves, and the generations that will come after us. This class asks us to use our imagination to consider: what our world could look like if our culture valued non-biological family ties as strongly as we tend to value biological ones? What forms of family might exist for queer people?  We will also learn about the idea of “Kinship” as it relates to feminism and queer theory and look at how these thinkers imagine what our world has the potential to look like and where we should look to for sources of hope.

Week Four: Tuesday, Oct. 12th
Topic: Feminism and Animal Rights
Themes: How do feminism and animal rights relate to one another? How can we use feminism to think not just about human rights, but as a tool to protect our environment, plants, waters, and animals? How does this all connect to Indigenous Feminism and who are the people leading these movements today? This topic will introduce students to Indigenous Feminism and post-modern feminism, taught in an accessible and easy-to-understand way that students can apply to environmentalism, climate change, and Indigenous Sovereignty. 

Week Five: Tuesday, Oct. 19th
Topic: Feminism and Crafts
Themes: Bring some paper, markers, pencils, scissors, glue and some old magazines. This week we are going to make our own zines. We'll learn about the history of zines and look at how they date back to early social justice movements. Students will be guided through the process of making their very own zine!

Below are some examples of previous topics we have covered (and if there is interest, we can always get deeper into any of these topics!):

- Intersectional Feminism 
- The Black Lives Matter Movement 
- Indigenous Sovereignty 
- Food Sovereignty 
- Eco Feminism 
- The Male Gaze (related to feminist film theory)
- Gender and the family
- Feminist burnout 
- Gender and Education
- Music
- The Gay Liberation Movement 
- The history of Pride flags
- Decolonization
- Many topics related to popular culture (e.g. music, print media, film, advertisements, comics, etc.)
- Different kinds of feminism (Black Feminism, Ecofeminism, Indigenous Feminism, etc.)
- Crafts / Craftivism

If these are the sorts of ideas you want to have a space to learn about and explore then you’re in the right place! Don’t worry if you don’t know all of these words, we’ll use our class to unpack this language and understand the applications of these ideas to real world scenarios. In doing so, we’ll add tools to our social justice tool kits, learn how to critically analyze mainstream cultural attitudes and values, and have thought provoking and inspiring conversations with other young people who share your passions, values, ideas, questions, and perspectives. 

Applications of Course Content and Skills:

Our in-class conversations often spark ideas for projects outside of the classroom; for example, one of our members started a feminism club at her high school! Another one of our members created a blog for teens with tips on how they can become involved with feminism and social justice in their own lives! 

Parents also find that our class discussions end up sparking valuable conversations in their homes about difficult conversations related to queerness, sexism, racism, and other social issues. This class can help open up conversations at home related to topics that may otherwise feel overwhelming and/or uncomfortable. This class also provides a space for kids to explore these topics with a teacher and peers who respect, support, and accept them for who they are. 

About Me:

As a Ph.D. student in Gender, Feminism, and Women, I am very passionate about social justice and intersectional feminism. This course is something I wish I had access to as a young person interested in the areas of gender, race, disability, and 2SLGBTQ+ rights and equity. My goal is to create a fun learning environment where students feel comfortable expressing their ideas and questions. I have 9+ years of teaching experience, over six of which has been virtual teaching! I also hold a Master’s Degree in Cultural Analysis and Social Theory and teach younger level university students about gender in the social sciences and humanities. My Ph.D. research is related to film and cultural representations of infertility. 

I can’t wait to hear all of your brilliant ideas in the classroom! Please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have about joining our group. We can’t wait to welcome you! 

**examples of topics that require content warnings / permission from group to discuss in class include but are not limited to: physical, emotional, or sexual violence of any kind; disordered eating or eating disorders; stories about harassment, racism, assault, etc.; mentions of self harm or suic*de, death or dying (e.g. discussions about war), etc. If you don’t know if you should ask the group if the content is something we want to discuss or not discuss together, send me a private message through the Zoom chat function and I am more than happy to help guide the warning for our group.