Glitch Feminism, A Manifesto, Or How To Become A Problem For Bigots

Legacy Russell's first book "Glitch Feminism, A Manifesto", offers a dive into what it takes to be yourself when there's so many physical, but also digital spaces in which one can exist, evolve, express themselves. Accepting the Glitch in one's life as more of an opportunity than something to be resentful about, this books leads the way for one to (almost) fully understand the complexity of the multiplicity of the Self.

Glitch Art refers to a form of digital or visual art that involves purposefully or accidentally introducing errors, bugs, or malfunctions into digital media, such as images, videos, or sounds. Most of the time, these Glitches create unexpected and surreal results, challenging conventional aesthetics and embracing imperfections.

Revolving around the same logic, Legacy Russell’s Glitch Feminist Manifesto uses the term Glitch as a way to reclaim the right to not fit into a pre-defined box, but rather to embrace spilling over its edges, be more than the content one was supposed to be in the other’s eyes, to never remain still, and to exist in both physical and digital spaces. To be multiples becomes a mantra.

Now as the limits between the digital and physical world become blurrier everyday, how can we, as individuals, reduce ourself to only one personality, one version of us, when there’re virtually as many of us as there are people we interacted with ? As such, where are we our truer self? And where are we safe to explore the infinite amount of possibilities? Refusing the use of Glitch as a pejorative word, Russell aims to describe how LGBTQIA+ individuals, and marginalized communities use Glitches as a metaphor for resistance, empowerment, subversion of dominant cultural narratives, but maybe more importantly, to question every accepted truth regarding gender expression.

With an intersectional approach of queerness and feminism, Legacy Russel draws parallels between the glitches in digital media and the disruptions needed to challenge traditional patriarchal norms and structures in society. Exploring the concepts of the multiplicity of the Self, Russell retells the story of LGBTQIA+ individuals through a contemporary prism, taking into account the influence of our digital era, with social medias, series, music and video games in mind.

Through 12 impactful chapters and with the use of vivid imagery and precise exemples, Legacy Russell’s Manifesto becomes a guide for navigating the rage of marginalized communities and the necessary actions one must take to reclaim the right to exist on every levels of society, whether it’s in the physical world or the digital one.

Legacy Russell’s discourse is clear, engaged, angry, but nonetheless empathetic towards people who still haven’t figure out who they are. Without infantilizing the reader, her words come across as sharp, and leave us with questions we didn’t even know we were asking ourselves.

Photos by Mina Alyeshmerni, image courtesy of Verso Books