Dr. Erica Britt
Dr. Erica Britt and I met in, I believe, 2014. At that time I was an angry bitter Black student at the university trying to get a degree in Elementary Education We were introduced through a mutual friend, and I never imagined that we would transition into good friends
I say this because, at that time, I believed we were in two different worlds: she was a doctorate professor, and I was a student I felt there were hierarchy and rules Plus, I'd never seen students and professors become friends outside of class. Low and behold, that's exactly what happened.
Back in the day, I sat regularly among 6 Black Ph D holding professors - 1 man and 5 women. I absorbed every discussion they had, and, at times, they looked to me for counsel It blew my mind, gave me great inner confidence, and broke many barriers for all of us. But, enough about that.
Dr. Erica Britt, and I'm putting the Dr. because, in this space, we gon ' put some respect on her name! She is insanely intelligent, compassionate, ancestral, full of life, fucking funny as hell, and about that life. Don't let the Dr aspect fool you This woman did not lose sight of her African ancestral and African American culture
Honestly, her academic accolades aren't what this conversation is about: it's about her and her life Truth be told, I didn't even know she was queer until 2 months ago! Even then, this conversation isn't just about her queerness.
As you read, reflect, and feel the energy of usbecause you will - allow yourself to broaden your vision and scope of what it means to be spiritual beings having a human experience and to recognize it within ourselves and each other.
Without further ado I present Vol 11's guest: Dr Erica Britt
B Y X Z A V I E R V . S I M O N P H O T O S B Y D R . E R I C A B R I T T
U N V E I L I N G T H E W O M A N B E H I N D T H E D O C T O R
The legendary woman herself! I am so excited for this. My number one question is why? Why now to tell this story of yourself?
I don't know what happened I think social media is a big part of it I knew all my life I’d been attracted to women My first major crush in high school was on a girl in the band. I was in love but didn't act on it because there were not any people around me who were out in a positive way. Being out was like, ‘oh, you're stigmatized.’ It just wasn't an option At that time, I was also super religious I was carrying the bible! [laughs]
Are you serious? [laughs]
Super Christian! [laughs] It's always been an element of myself that has been there, but something I’ve never allowed myself to acknowledge Through the years I've been dating guys in a very traditional way It was following this routine and I was not really satisfied with at all. I broke up with my last boyfriend maybe two and a half, three years ago. I started to think about who I am.
I love those moments.
I kind of remember like six months into that relationship saying to myself, ‘this is not it. I don't really want to be with this guy,’ yet I stayed another six months.
Damn Erica! [laughs]
Cause like I got a family telling me, ‘you're getting older and so you can't be all picky,’ and blah, blah, blah.
The shade and the fear!
Right? I could feel my body being like this is not it. It took a while to just kind of be with myself and figure that out
The sad part is, we really don't take that time to sit down and dive into ourselves. You have to ask questions like, ‘what's going on with me? How am I handling these situations? What is it that I want?’
Part of it is like: do I really want to be comfortable in my own skin and honest about what is it that I really want? All that stuff was kind of going through my head at that time. I don't know what it was, but about two summers ago I was on Instagram and this masculine woman came across the screen and I was just like *gasps!* [laughs]
Awwww shit! [laughs]
[laughs] It was like whoa!
[laughs] You had that awakening moment all over again!
It hit me like wait what?! Then I started following this person and going through their timeline and liking pictures. It was a whole new wooooorld! [laughs]
Like [she was] out making music and doing all this cool stuff I could feel sensations that I hadn't felt since high school
Then another person came, and I started getting connected to other Black lesbian women profiles on Instagram. Some of them were bloggers and there's one who does YouTube named Foxy Hot Mess
That’s a cool name.
Yeah and she's much younger. What I'm seeing is the people who are out and living their life, there's this 10year gap between myself and them. Again, when I was coming up, I don't remember an outlet I don’t remember places where I could see people who had this sexual orientation, living their life, and living their life in a way that wasn't highly stigmatized.
Make no mistake, it’s the same for us. I graduated high school in 2007 and it was a terrible time to be anything other than straight. Only within the last 10 years or so have you really begun to see the de-stigmatization of the queer community, especially with the advent of social media. The experiences of today, growing up, were not a thing either. This is a new phenomenon for all of us.
I'm looking at these younger bloggers and they're telling their stories and it's just like wow I started following her YouTube channel cause she's cataloging her dating life, and I'm just like ‘oh my god this is so great!’ [laughs]
I do that with a few Black and Korean gay YouTuber's as well. [laughs]
"There are so many dimensions of the continuum of lesbian women
Am I butch? Am I fem? Am I attracted to butch women? Then also for me, being okay with being queer; being bisexual "
She does assessments of lesbian rappers, lesbian musicians, and talking about the community in a way that I had never seen anyone talk about the community before It was so refreshing This is a dimension of myself that in that online space, I could finally be able to like tap into but also learn
Right!?
I learned so much. There are so many dimensions of the continuum of lesbian women. Am I butch? Am I fem? Am I attracted to butch women? Then also for me, being okay with being queer; being bisexual Cause like, I don't know that I'm 100% not attracted to men anymore It would take the right guy. [laughs]
Girl that's me with women! [laughs] This woman got to be exceptional, which is funny cuss I just met an exceptional woman, but she’s married, and in South Korea [laughs]
I'm also living vicariously through the way that this younger generation is able to explore and play.
Oh yes. The array of different expressions is enlightening and freeing.
I think that's the thing that really hit me. When I saw the image come across Instagram of this very masculine woman and the way that she was playing with clothing and hair, it was like ‘oh my God, it’s possible!’ [laughs] It was like I tasted a new seasoning for the first time.
That’s called freedom and being given permission to just fucking be! [laughs]
After that I spent half a year just like, ‘okay Erica, let's go back to who you are.’ I started going on different dating apps looking for different women. Dating apps are always interesting cause it's not always easy to find someone
THE CONTINUUM OF LESBIAN IDENTITY
It’s definitely not. [laughs]
Dating is just the same no matter what. It just sucks man. [laughs] It's hard to find the people and then tap into the community. Trying to find the lesbian community in Flint, I haven't been able to find it. It probably is one and I just haven't found the right connections to get in it
Listen when you find it let me know! That’s something I'm noticing doing this magazine. Like where the hell is the Black/Latinx lesbian community?
I don't know. Detroit has an online Facebook group that I follow I was trying to find connections there I joined a meetup to see Then I ended up finding a Black outdoor group, and I was like, well shit lemme just do this. [laughs] I have been having the time of my life. This last year I have just been out there. I'm like, ‘you're doing beekeeping Let me go check y'all out Oh, you're doing foraging let me go check y'all out ’ It's just been me trying to figure out where’s the community I don't know what happened. The space between the devastation of getting tenure...like the tenure process was hard.
I can imagine. I heard that it is a strenuous process for Black folk.
It was devastating on my body and my mind. I've never seen a process where they so thoroughly strip your selfconfidence and all the things about you that make you feel like you're competent.
For black and brown people, we go through that process in a way that white people don’t, and white people already have a hard time. I came out of it just like coming out of my Ph.D. process: shattered and like I've gotta rebuild.
I was already questioning going into professorship, but this is making me question it harder.
All this stuff with my sexual orientation and who I am is happening coming out of this tenure process. It's just like, what do I really wanna do? My identity was tied as a tenured faculty, but I'm at a point where I’m gonna have to let that identity go cause that shit is toxic [laughs] I mean, I'm appreciative of the work I've done and what it meant to be a Black person to get to that place in that university, but I'm also not tying my identity to it either.
That was going to be one of my questions. With you specifically, you are a tenured professor and now you're revealing this aspect of your life. How do you feel about that? I'm pretty sure some of your students and faculty members will read this and be like, ‘Erica, Dr. Britt, what’s going on?’ [laughs]
I feel good about it because part of what I am encouraging my students to do is be okay with and being present in their whole self. Sometimes, it's hard to do if you don't see people who are. So, what am I doing about these elements of who I am and [how am I] being bold enough to be who I am no matter what?
That’s a challenging thing to suddenly step into.
At the university it means imma tell them off and tell them what I think in spaces where they say I'm not supposed to. I'm showing up and you're going to get who I am in this space. For me it just feels like a natural progression of saying: it's all right to be who you are, where you are With Black Student Union (BSU) it came out.
I heard it about. What happened there?
I mentioned it at a couple of different [campus] events We were talking about religion at one event, and it was like, ‘well, I can't talk about religion without talking about how I had to leave religion in order to, in some way, be okay with my queerness.’ Then, rediscovering ancestral traditions as a way of protecting my queerness.
Fuck! Yes! *claps* I'm gonna let you finish, but yes! [laughs]
[laughs] Right! I even had to shake up that element of my identity in order to open space for things that I would've thought are unthinkable. This year BSU discussed relationships and marriage We were just having these conversations and it was very clear that our students were in this very binary understanding of men and women doing this and this. I'm like, ‘yeah, but my girlfriend, how do we engage?’ Like those are not the only two options.
"I can't talk about religion without talking about how I had to leave religion in order to, in some way, be okay with my queerness. ’ Then, rediscovering ancestral traditions as a way of protecting my queerness. "
"You never fucking listen to Black women! God, listen to Black women! We can tell you the truth and get you right but you don't listen."
Damn, I wish I could’ve been there. We could’ve tag-teamed that! [laughs]
[laughs] I'm just like, y'all really up in here acting like you have never seen a gay person Like there's not a way for us to talk about our gender identities. We were talking about gender and it's natural that women are this way because blah blah blah. I'm like I dated masculine women!
And I’ve certainly dated some feminine men and have swapped supposed gender roles in relationships.
Right? So that means that as women, we're exploring gender in a way that is not even close to what y'all are talking about right now.
Not even.
Not even close There's incredible freedom in it I think for me, one of the things that has happened this last year is like, oh shit! I can be whatever I want to be.
Yes! Whenever. However, and from moment to moment.
What!? I was like oh shit yes! It feels so good! [laughs] When I heard them talking, I'm like, you don't even understand what you are missing if you're stuck in this place where it's only going to be this very limited, narrow set of rules and regulations on how you can move.
Especially considering that we all can and do operate in multiple energies and gendered roles all the time. Like cooking was once solely a woman’s job, right? Now it’s acceptable and considered attractive for a man to do so. Does this mean he’s considered feminine or the “woman” in his relationship?
I taught Gender and Communication this past semester, and you know, it comes out because I'll talk about my partner. Having had experienced very traditional gender roles, that's something I can share with the students But yeah, I'm okay with it I think maybe one thing could be, there is protection with tenure too. Like I wish I was a motherfucka would. [laughs]
[laughs] The thought did cross my mind when asking those questions.
But even without tenure it's still the same, right? I know that different states have more or less protections for LGBTQ people and there’s a big fear, especially on our campus for transgender people. You know, [there was] a transgender member committed suicide.
Oh wow!
She was out and she was feminine presenting, and I know that that was a struggle. I know on our campus it's not many visible elements of queer identity.
Well, y’all about to be visible now! [laughs] I was like what in the hell is happening at UofM cuss I am meeting so many queer individuals left and right.
Maybe the fact that there's more visibility now maybe community can form, right? Because I don't know, I wonder where students feel at home on our campus and if they feel at home.
I mean, the LGBTQ Center was one of them. But it can’t just be the center.
Right. There must be more spaces that allow for the intersections of various identities. But, you mentioned having to let go of religion to re-discover sexuality. Then, through African ancestry, protecting said queerness. Whew, girl, I understand! [laughs] Black consciousness, in the form that I knew it, wasn’t very liberating to me. It denounced my sexuality as “the white man’s disease.”
It's the hoteppery! [laughs]
Okay! [laughs] Religion is over here like you sinning sin sin! If there’s a spectrum of racial and sexual identity, they’re both on my ass. It wasn't until my re-connection with African roots, heritage, spirit, and books did I get comfortable with multiple identities all at once. There was no hate, only love. That was powerful.
It's liberating. It's so interesting for me because spirituality is a whole another dimension because my family is crazy religious, right?
Mines too. Grandfather was a preacher who built his own church.
You know as Black folks, I think a lot of us have that experience with highly religious, highly Christian communities historically
And so, to even talk about I have an altar in my house, right? Like my altar is up there, but it's present for me. If you didn't know it was an altar, you wouldn't know. That's because I've had a lot of relatives in the house the last few months and it's like, I'm not gonna fight you on this But, they all know because I let them know like, that's an altar just in case you were wondering what that was. [laughs]
Right! So, chill. [laughs]
There are remedies for us as a people I can like conjure and I can connect That was important But it's so interesting cause the girlfriend I dated last year, that was the breaking point. She found out that I was not Christian, and I had an alter and it was like, ‘oh, you got some witchcraft. Oh no, I can't do that.’ I was like, wait, we just crossed the whole bridge of like being queer and then you find out that I have an altar and that's the thing!? [laughs]
That's the thing. So many people have come and gone from my life because they don’t understand that aspect of me. [laughs]
My mind was so blown because I was like, oh yeah even as queer people we're complicated.
Yes. Queer people struggle with family. We struggle with religion. We struggle with our race. We still struggle with everything that “regular people” struggle with. There’s just an extra layer, or two, of stuff.
"THE PRESENCE OF RACE AND WHITENESS WAS POWERFUL. I WAS LIKE, THIS IS NOT HOME."
That’s right. I wasn’t expecting it. I was like, oh we're free. Naw, we have layers of things to unpack.
I found years ago, which was hilarious to me but makes so much sense, that dominant cultural standards and norms trickle down into other communities. It confused me. How in the hell you gay but racist?
That's what I'm saying, and they don't say it right?
That’s when my eyes opened in a lot of ways. Whiteness has embedded itself into all our psyche’s. Those belief systems, unless continuously checked, mutate and take on whole new forms in sub-cultures.
That's the first thing I noticed hunting between Flint, Detroit and Ann Arbor trying to find community. There's a lot of white gay communities. I go up in there and I don't feel at home at all. Like, ‘this is so awkward. I gotta get outta here.’ Culturally, it was a shock to the system. I don't think there was any racist behavior towards me, but the presence of race and whiteness was powerful. I was like, this is not home.
That’s amazing how powerful race and whiteness can impact us. We know in our bones that this is not a comfortable space at all. [laughs]
This ain’t it. [laughs]
Okay, and yo ass will be on news. [laughs]
Like you say, we share an element of identity, but race and racism are still present no matter what Or, you know, the presence of religion and we were all taught very well these oppressive systems A lot of us don't see them as oppressive systems and don't know that we could get more liberation on the other side of it I don't ever want to say to a person you have to give up your religion, but can we see our religion and see our practices in a way that serves us?
That uplift us and empower us. So, you talked about gender dynamics. For gay men in particular, a stereotype is, because you are a bottom that makes you the “female” in the relationship, which is disrespectful. How does relationship dynamics play out for you and your current significant other?
One of the things I love about this relationship is that we are fully committed to be our authentic self in a way that does not need us to have boxes My partner, she's very masculine presenting in some ways When you see her hair, the way that she dresses, looks masculine But in other ways, I'm the masculine energy, so it just depends on the moment It depends on what we're doing It depends on what we're feeling I definitely take on masculine energy and sometimes even the way I wear my hair will look masculine if I get it cut in a certain way. But in other ways, I'm more femme. So, she'll open the door for me for the car like religiously and I hate it.
Awwww that’s so cute!!
[laughs] And it goes, ‘why you open the door for me? I can open it myself. I got two hands. I know how to open the door! Why don’t you let me open YOUR door!?’
I’m dying! Not ya'll two grown independent Black women who don’t need any woman opening doors for you. [laughs]
[laughs] We do that like every now and then. She comments on how I let her be feminine and allow her space for those elements of her feminine identity Then she allows me space for those elements of me that would seem more masculine I really love it It's something I have never experienced before With my last relationship with a man, it was so rigid to the point it was almost a man's work to let me know that I was beneath in a very subtle way
I can see that.
He could find a way to cast doubt on the opinion I had.
Because we as men are told and taught very young to see women as nothing but property. That extends itself into the queer community.
Oh my god!
You would think with two men you wouldn't get that dynamic. For example, if a male is more feminine, and that “masculine” guy operates under those same beliefs...it's the same thing.
"TO BE A BLACK WOMAN YOU HAVE TO BE BOUT THAT LIFE."
" W E A R E F U L L Y C O M M I T T E D T O B E O U R A U T H E N T I C S E L F I N A W A Y T H A T D O E S N O T N E E D U S T O H A V E B O X E S . "
We are products of our system, aren’t we? We are well educated in that. And the attack on femininity and the idea that it's less than is so clear. Why are we carrying that because having space where I can let that go has been really good I've never experienced this in my life to be able to be fluid in this way We don't have to play a role and it's all right. My heart space just opens up! I can be all these things so we haven't had much issue. In my last relationship, she was definitely more on the toxic masculinity side. She was masculine. She had a gun.
Damn! [laughs] I’m dying at how you said that.
She was not healthy too. I think there were ways that she moved that were [toxic]. And [she was] ready to [fight]...you know. [laughs] I’m like first of all, I'm Black woman, I’ll beat yo ass! She was Black too, but it was just like you know Black women We don’t take no shit
Oh my god, this is too much! The attitude jumped out quick. [laughs]
I’m all cute and femme but don’t get it twisted. [laughs] I can fight just like you
I didn’t get expect it to get this real! [laughs] You are bout that life!
Well, to be a Black woman you have to be bout that life. No matter how cute and sweet we are, we have some shit to deal with That's why I left the last relationship
I could have seen that going in a very traditional, toxic way, which is why this relationship has been so good.
I’m happy that you sent me a photo of you two. I'm happy because I think we need models of healthier Black relationships that allow freedom, space and unconditional love. We don't see that very often. That's what I liked about Vol. 04 with my friend who was married. It was like this is a thing for us. This is an option if you believe in this, and if you want to do it, it is available for you to do it.
That’s so true I mean, we were having to be very intentional about how we love each other and making sure that the way that we love each other is not toxic. Both of us have come from experiences and family situations where we've seen toxicity from queer and straight people. There's just some shit that goes on in relationships that just shouldn't be Like, that's love? Nah, I'll be single [laughs] I was at the point where I said, I will sit up in here with my cats for the rest of my life and be happy!
By my damn self!
I'm like unless you're taking me to this kind of space, I don't need that kind of love For her and I, we are very intentional about how we love on each other. Checking in on each other and checking in on each other's hearts. It's not easy cause we're different people figuring out, okay, what makes you tick
But those kind of check ins are so crucial and open the floor for conversation.
Or how do you need to be loved and how do I need to be loved? And how do we meet each other in the middle?
Leaving queer aside for a moment and continuing our conversation of race and gender: how have you maneuvered through that?
Oh my god! I don’t even know.
That's real.
I do marvel that I'm still standing given all this shit. Sometimes I'm not sure I've been successful because it's taken such a toll on me. Being a Black woman, we've lived our whole life on the other side of inequality. We can see it happening in front of us, and you know, it's not like I got to be convinced that some inequality shit is happening Like this is textbook I remember how it looks, and then they're going to do this and this.
You just sit back like, I told you!
And it’s always like that. They're always like, ‘damn, we should’ve listened to Erica like two years ago ’ You god damn right! I told you people but you never fucking listen to Black women! God, listen to Black women! We can tell you the truth and get you right, but you don't listen. It’s like, ‘oh, that can't be. She's just being too emotional ’
Oh my God!
For me as a Black woman, my colleagues who believe themselves to be my allies don’t understand how the shit rolls downhill, and that's me not even being queer, right? Cause like, we know that people who are transgender women of color are getting all this shit. If we could just listen to their experiences, we can revolutionize the world
If we could just make the world safe for them, we can be on a whole other level. The biggest struggle for me is having to endure. Being able to see inequality and seeing how inequality operates in my daily life. The place where I work is fundamentally racist and fundamentally sexist
It was established to do such. That’s exactly it. And no matter how many brown people you get in there, no matter how many women you promote, if you haven't dealt with the fundamental way that that place operates, they are going to be of the same stuff I don't know if I've been navigating it well I literally got sick in 2014-2015. That's the year I became diabetic.
Oh wow, this some deep shit. I had no idea.
I was on the Diversity Council The Women's Commission I was trying to get tenure I had just gotten a letter from the university saying that they wouldn't be able to give me tenure because I hadn't met their qualifications.
Ain't that a motherfucker.
I got published in the top journal of my field I ran all around this community trying to set up partnerships. I've done these classes in the way y'all said I was supposed to.
You put in the work!
2015 is when I got terribly sick and didn’t even know I was getting sick I was just so busy keeping my head down, just charging through I'm just going to do it, but I'm 20 pounds lighter in two months. Oh, maybe I'm eating better. I don’t know! [laughs] Like not even seeing this is my body shutting down on me.
That's my way of saying I was not navigating it well The things were hitting me and they were taking a toll on me and I didn't know how to protect myself from those things. All I knew was just to keep my head down and keep charging forward and not listened to my body talking to me.
That’s how we are trained to operate. That was modeled for me my whole life. I believe for a lot of us, millennials as we’re called, recognize the game being played and know there has to be a different way to live, be happy and be financially stable without driving ourselves into the ground.
After that happened, it was just like, whoa, what am I doing? Then for them to have like threatened that I wouldn't get tenure, I had to also go through this process of divorcing my worth from their system.
Because we are told to work twice as hard as the white man!
I did work twice as hard and they're still telling me I'm not enough. [laughs] Then I started to get mad.
[laughs] You were like fuck all this bullshit?
My navigating was like a crisis point of I can't buy their shit I can't buy their narrative. I can't let them tell me what my worth is based on their metrics. Their metrics are bogus because I already surpassed their metrics. I've already done that and you still telling me I'm not enough so it must be something wrong with your metrics
That's the gag! Like we really gotta stop utilizing Eurocentric metrics to validate ourselves. If this shit is meant to keep us enslaved and out of the race, why are we using their shit to call ourselves smart?
That was so profound for me because what it means is now when I move through the system, if I don't get a win in the way the system told me I'm supposed to get, I'm cool. I got my house. I'm gonna get a job at Meijer. I'm going to write my book. I'm going to be up in here.
Bout to knock it out.
Listen I don't need you to tell me what my worth is. That was like an internal shift that had to happen in order for me to survive the rest of that process.
"As women, we're exploring gender in a way that is not even close to what y 'all are talking about right now. "
I got tenure, but I'm ready to go. Maybe it had to be that way for me to be able to disconnect myself from it versus other people who might say, well, 'put your head down and move yourself up through the system.' I feel like that’s a slow death for me.
Like, if I keep going, am I really living a fulfilling life? I know I'm here and I know this is set up this way, but that's not what I came here to do. I came here to live and explore and learn and collect data.
That’s right. Another thing that happened this year was a colleague of mine died. A dear colleague of mine and she was fighting the whole system and university She suddenly died and they moved right on They just kept on business as usual. I was like well shit, I’m grinding myself to dust for a system that's going to move on without me. Now my mindset is, how can I build?
Yes! Let's create some new shit.
If I want to grind, let me grind for my people. [laughs] Let me grind for something that's going to help transform how we experience the world. That's where my mind is shifting and my partner, she's amazing She does community organizing in Chicago She comes with this energy, like how to connect to people, connect to like their spirit. Who are you, and what do you need and how do we come together to make that to meet those needs? I'm looking at that thinking like universe! [laughs]
This is the crying and appreciative segment! [laughs]
Universe you brought me my person!! [laughs] Because now we’re in visionary mode. Just before you walked in the door we were like, ‘so when we do this thing, when we build this thing, we can take care of our people ' For me, I need that Like the day to day at work, I go, I do my best I can, but I'm realizing that my life is not that My worth is not that There's something bigger for us to be doing. We’re here for more.
Well, given all your experience what sort of wisdom, advice, upliftment can you share?
[Young people have] a lot to teach me I look and see them living their life in a way that I could never imagine. They're stepping out there. They're being themselves. They’re making demands of the workplace in ways that I was like, 'you can do that?' I ain’t know you can do that You rollin’ up on your boss like that, oh shit!
I’m dying. [laughs]
[laughs] They are doing it. My advice is to keep teaching us cause they’re on to something. They don't have to stay in a box and they're showing us they don't have to stay in the box the way that my generation and older were told to stay in the box. I'm looking at people who are older than me and I'm like, you're not happy. I feel like the younger generation is discovering their happiness
They’re discovering their authentic self and what they need My advice is just to keep doing that, cause I like the way that we're going right now All the systems that we've created, I feel like they need to fall away. The young people need to be able to be ready for that. And like, don't let anyone sell you a lie.
Oh my god, this was delicious!
I’m so honored to be part of this Like you don't know, you’re doing some amazing work.
Thank you. I’m nonchalant about it, but this is very fulfilling work to be doing. I’m thankful to Spirit.
I was like oh my god can I be a part of that too! [laughs]
[laughs] And you are! Thank you so very much.
STAND TALL
"My advice is to keep teaching us cause they’re on to something. They don't have to stay in a box and they're showing us they don't have to stay in the box the way that my generation and older were told to stay in the box."
D R . E R I C A B R I T T T H E M O D E R N Q U E E R V O L . 1 1 | M A R C H 2 0 2 0 P U B L I S H E D I N F L I N T , M I C H I G A N
