A disabled, queer Becky

My students are amazing.

Inspired, in part, by yesterday's blog post, one of the students in my Disability, Power, and Privilege class left me a gift on my desk:

This is Becky, Barbie's friend who's a school photographer and uses a wheelchair.  RGT (the class's fannish nickname for feminist disability studies scholar Rosemarie Garland-Thomson) refers to her as "a disabled, queer Becky" because she bucks the norms of appropriate Barbie-land femininity.  RGT writes,

The disabled Becky, for example, wears comfortable clothes: pants with elastic waists, sensible shoes, and roomy shirts. Becky is also one of the few dolls with flat feet and legs that bend at the knee. The disabled Becky is dressed and poised for agency, action, and creative engagement with the world.

Becky is awesome.  There she is, hanging out on the Women's and Gender Studies front desk with her companion, Darth Tator, whose light saber proclaims "This is what a feminist looks like."  They're also friends with the rubber duck.  I'm not sure how the duck got there, but we're fairly certain she's an LGBT rights advocate.

Later in the day, shortly before class started, Becky had experienced enough of the WGS world that she recognized her passion for disability rights activism.  She also got a great haircut.

I know for a fact that Becky came from eBay, and while I understand that we significantly diminished her resale value, I think she is soooo cool and will be a meaningful addition to the iconography of WGS.

Thanks, Kate!