M is for masculine-of-center, Mia McKenzie, Chelsea Manning, Mala Mala (2015), Mosquita y Mari (2012), Mita Radhakrishnan ‘91, and MTF!

“Masculine-of-center (MoC) is a term, coined by B. Cole of the Brown Boi Project, that recognizes the breadth and depth of identity for lesbian/queer/ womyn who tilt toward the masculine side of the gender scale and includes a wide range of identities such as butch, stud, aggressive/AG, dom, macha, tomboi, trans-masculine etc.” –butchvoices.com

Mia McKenzie is the creator of Black Girl Dangerous, a literary and activist blog. “She is a black feminist and a freaking queer, facts that are often reflected in her stories, which are literary and lyrical and hella quirky, and which have won her some awards and grants.” –miamckenzie.net

Chelsea Manning – a U.S. military whistleblower and democracy advocate who was sentenced to 35 years of prison for exposing unjust in Guantanamo Bay and war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan through WikiLeaks. –chelseamanning.org  

“Mala Mala (2015) is a feature length documentary about the power of transformation told through the eyes of 9 trans-identifying individuals in Puerto Rico.” –Facebook.com

Mala Mala is currently on Netflix!

Mosquita y Mari (2012) – “In a fast-paced immigrant community where dreams are often lost to economic survival, two young Chicanas contemplate life when they stir unexpected desires in each other.” –mosquitaymari.com

Mosquita y Mari is also on Netflix!

Mita Radhakrishnan ‘91 was very involved in Mount Holyoke’s Lesbian Alliance/Lesbian Bisexual Alliance in the late 80s and early 90s. Many excerpts from her organizing and activism can be found in the MHC Archives & Special Collections*!

*Some of her files are online! You can view them right from your computer screen! Some of these works include: Record It And Fight Back! a notebook detailing incidents of homophobia at Mount Holyoke, maintained from 1988-2005; a letter demanding safe sex supplies for lesbians from the health center, and her submission to Libertad: (“Self-Love or I Love Myself When I am Laughing and When I am Eating Pussy” part 1, part 2).

MTF– “A person who transitions from ‘male-to-female,’ meaning a person who was assigned male at birth, but identifies and lives as a female. Also known as a ‘transgender woman’” –transequality.org