Gendered Silence as a Justice Issue

Sor Juana was silenced by ecclesiastical authorities who felt threatened by her intellectual authority and gender transgression. This concept explores how cisgender individuals experience and perpetuate gendered silence as a justice issue. Cisgender women are often silenced through interruption, dismissal, or pressure toward passive listening. Cisgender men may be silenced about emotions or vulnerabilities seen as incompatible with masculinity. The framework asks: Where am I silenced by gender expectations? Where do I silence others? How do systems justify this silencing as natural, protective, or appropriate? Sor Juana's fight for her right to speak illuminates that voice and self-expression are justice issues. For cisgender people, examining gendered silence requires honesty about both victimization and complicity—most cisgender people benefit from some gender-based silencing while harmed by other aspects. The concept suggests that justice work includes reclaiming one's own voice, hearing voices of the multiply-marginalized, and dismantling systems that weaponize silence as a tool of control.