The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook Quotes

“Gender is like a Rubik’s Cube with one hundred squares per side, and every time you twist it to take a look at another angle, you make it that much harder a puzzle to solve.”
― Sam Killermann, The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook: A Guide to Gender

“Gender identity is our internal response to a social construction that attempts to make a connection between a person’s biological makeup and their eventual role in society.”
― Sam Killermann, The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook: A Guide to Gender

“Never ask for permission to smile.”
― Sam Killermann, The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook: A Guide to Gender

“Discrimination occurs when an individual has prejudice and power and uses that power to unfairly deny access to or limit someone’s ability to obtain resources because of that person’s identity.”
― Sam Killermann, A Guide to Gender: The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook

“Kirkegaard said, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
― Sam Killermann, A Guide to Gender: The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook

“Privilege is not something you choose to receive or dismiss. It is automatically granted to you based on your identity, and it informs the ways individuals and groups interact with and view you.”
― Sam Killermann, The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook: A Guide to Gender

“But what's worse is that we have been taught and retaught the Golden Rule so many times that we internally justify this method of behavior as invincible, despite the fact that it fails constantly. We believe that our intentions are more important than the outcomes of our actions, because 'it's the though that counts,' right?”
― Sam Killermann, The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook: A Guide to Gender

“When humans are born, we assign them to be either male or female based on their external genitalia. Based on that assignment, we raise them to be either men or women, which are essentially the polar opposite options of personality, occupations, dress, behavior, and demeanor. “As they grow up, we constantly curb their behavior if they don’t fit within the extremely limited options they are given based on their gender assignment and place an incredible amount of social pressure on them to embody every aspect of that identity. If they question their identity, we silence them. If they act in ways that conflict with their assigned identity, we ridicule them. If they don’t align with one of the two options available, we stigmatize them. And if they decide we assigned them the wrong identity, we question their mental health.”
― Sam Killermann, A Guide to Gender: The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook