Katherine Cross

Katherine Cross is a PhD Student in the CUNY Graduate Centre’s Sociology programme. Among other things, she is a writer, a weekly columnist at Feministing, a board member at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a transfeminist, an opera lover, and a lifelong video gamer. Her work has been published in Women’s Studies Quarterly, RH Reality Check, Bitch Magazine, AutoStraddle, and Kotaku, with a forthcoming article in Loading: The Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association.

My passion as an activist comes from...

The fact that I see the gift of our shared humanity revenged upon by injustice on a daily basis. We live in the 21st Century; ethical standards actually mean something. They cannot merely be kind words or checkboxes ticked politely on polls. They must take the form of action, of actually bending that arc of history towards justice. My passion comes from the fact that I take that obligation as a citizen of our world seriously; cynicism ought not rust the tremendous progress we have made as a society, grinding the pace of change to a halt. Combating that is why I am an activist.

I joined Third Wave Fund's board because...

Third Wave responds to a core truth about organizing against injustice: those who are most affected by injustice are best prepared to take the lead on combating it. They can speak to their own needs, their own ideas, praxis, and dreams. Rather than leaving them on the cold fringe of the non-profit/NGO world, leaving the more privileged to speak for them and determine their needs in absentia, Third Wave wants to channel resources to those grassroots organizers working directly in and for their communities. This is one way we can materially correct a standing inequity, and quite literally put our money where are mouths are.

Looking to the future, I'm most excited about...

The direction of trans women-led activism, on a personal level, and the ongoing development of an ever-more inclusive reproductive justice movement that gets at the root causes of reproductive oppression-- the banning of abortion, contraception, the use of forcible sterilization, et cetera. I'm excited about a movement that centres bodily autonomy and morphological freedom as the fundaments of gender equity and justice worthy of those lofty names.