Yup, when I hear the "does this count as activism" conversation, it send me directly to the parallel conversation of if we are enough to count as our various identities. Am I queer enough, am I [insert culture or ethnicity or race or locality] enough, am I qualified/educated enough to call myself...., etc. It just doesn't seem to help move us forward. Instead of asking if my work "counts as activism," I look at the change I'm actually making and consider it worthwhile when I hear from others how my work is impacting them. People who don't know what they are talking about can tell us we aren't "real" activists, but people who do know us and our work are not saying that. They are saying, "Thank you, I thought it was just me, I finally don't feel alone, I'm so glad to have learned this, This inspired me to do XYZ, and This is so helpful."
Yup, when I hear the "does this count as activism" conversation, it send me directly to the parallel conversation of if we are enough to count as our various identities. Am I queer enough, am I [insert culture or ethnicity or race or locality] enough, am I qualified/educated enough to call myself...., etc. It just doesn't seem to help move us forward. Instead of asking if my work "counts as activism," I look at the change I'm actually making and consider it worthwhile when I hear from others how my work is impacting them. People who don't know what they are talking about can tell us we aren't "real" activists, but people who do know us and our work are not saying that. They are saying, "Thank you, I thought it was just me, I finally don't feel alone, I'm so glad to have learned this, This inspired me to do XYZ, and This is so helpful."
This was worth a resubscription!