“Free ‘Em all”(In Sparkling Silver Letters): Femme Abolitionist Aesthetics and Fashioning on Social Media

• In Event: Sparkling Dreams and Visions of Transcendent Art Practices

Abstract

As prison abolition scholar Angela Davis reminds us, “resistance can be fun” this paper argues for a “femme abolitionist” framework that challenges the way that abolitionist academic discourse is viewed by adding femme aesthetics (such as glimmer, sparkle, shine, ‘feminine’). Femme aesthetics and fashioning challenge masculinized perceptions of anti-prison activism, in other words, this presentation seeks to make an intervention by closely examining the aesthetics and fashion choices by femmes and gender non-conforming folks to create communities that center prison abolition.

Presenter

• Gloria Negrete-Lopez, The University of Arizona