Gendered Boundaries and Transgressive Learning

Sor Juana lived within strict gendered constraints on women's education and public voice, yet she pursued knowledge across disciplines—theology, science, philosophy, mathematics—acts of quiet transgression. Gendered boundaries and transgressive learning names the reality that some civil disobedience must target epistemic injustice itself: the denial of certain people's right to know, teach, and be heard. Her life reveals how access to knowledge is fundamentally a justice issue. Civil disobedience across traditions often involves refusing assigned ignorance—continuing education when forbidden, speaking expertise when silenced, claiming intellectual authority when denied. This framework acknowledges that not all disobedience is dramatic; some happens in convents and libraries. Understanding the gendered (and racialized, classicized) nature of knowledge restrictions helps practitioners recognize when learning itself becomes a political act.