BY JAIME WEIDA

I have a confession to make: along with being an English professor, I am a huge science fiction nerd.

While I spend my time online reading articles and news from the websites for the MLA, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the American Federation of Teachers, and—of course—the AAUP, I also spend an embarrassing of time reading pop culture and “fan” websites. Every day I check https://birthmoviesdeath.com/ and the website for Tor, a science fiction (SF) publisher. I am following the reads of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld on Mark Oshiro’s website http://markreads.net/reviews/ and Ana Mardoll’s deconstruction of the Narnia series. I also follow Will Wheaton and George Takai, both of Star Trek fame, on twitter. And that is just the tip of my nerdy iceberg . . . I regularly search for fan theories about Steven Universe, Castle Rock, and Doctor Who, just to name a few. I know Wolverine from Sabretooth, saw Wonder Woman on opening night, and cannot wait for the next installment of the Star Wars series.

In theory, nerd culture is about safely defying the dominant narrative and establishing a “safe space” where nerds aren’t harassed and bullied by the “jocks” and the “popular kids,” which is what initially attracted me to it. I remember playing Dungeons and Dragons at a time when that felt like a revolutionary act because of some of the bad press about D&D. I also remember going online (in the era of dial-up internet) to “talk” about H. P. Lovecraft and J. R. R. Tolkien and politely arguing theories about the texts. To me, nerd culture was empowering and a safe space where I wasn’t bullied or belittled. Even now, I incorporate my nerdiness into the classes I teach. I regularly teach a course on science fiction and in my other classes often strongly recommend SF shows like Castle Rock and Stanger Things to my students and may assign stories by Stephen King and/or graphic novels like Sandman. I am currently part of a wonderful initiative to include Black Panther (both the incredible film and the graphic novel) in my pedagogy.

Despite all this, I can no longer think of SF as liberating and as a “safe space.” The SF community has become distinctly unsafe. I am upset by what I’ve seen and read on several internet sites; for example, Anita Sarkeesian has been doxxed and has received death threats because she deconstructed video games from a feminist perspective. Ana Mardoll has tweeted about how they have been dismissed and harassed as a differently-abled queer person. I myself have gotten death and rape threats on my Twitter account because I have tweeted about feminist issues. For many people like me (I am a queer woman), “safe spaces” are more important now than ever. Even in the current #metoo era, I still feel unsafe.

These thoughts were the seeds that germinated into my Journal of Academic Freedom article “Free Speech, Safe Spaces, and Teaching in the Current US Political Climate.” I teach at BMCC-CUNY, a school that enrolls many students of color, undocumented students, and students that may not feel safe for various reasons. I also helped create and teach the first permanent queer literature class at any 2-year college in the Tri-State area. I am also a trained BMCC SafeZone ally; my office and my classrooms are officially a “safe space” for students.

I find myself thinking more about the idea of “safe spaces,” especially in the “Trump era,” in which many people, including many of my students, are in more danger than ever. Just a few days ago a student of mine who identifies as queer told me how, during a protest, she and her fellow activists surrounded a Trans* person to protect them, because the onlookers were screaming pejorative and hurtful words and trying to attack them. Hate speech is NOT free speech and hate speech and the ideology it represents can literally kill people.

I am a die-hard supporter of free speech, but bigots and abusers should not be allowed to hide behind the false curtain of “free speech.” I have personally been verbally abused, both online and in person, by people who said some variation of, “I’m just ‘telling it like it is’ and we all have the right to free speech!” Many of my students have suffered far, far worse attacks than I have, both verbally and physically. We need safe spaces and to collectively denounce hate speech. I address the academic freedom dimension of these ideas in my article.

Guest blogger Jaime Weida is an assistant professor of English at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. She is the author of articles on feminist/queer readings of popular culture, young adult literature, and pedagogy.

The AAUP Journal of Academic Freedom publishes scholarship on academic freedom and on its relation to shared governance, tenure, and collective bargaining. The Journal is published online annually, and is supported by funding from the AAUP Foundation.