Literacy as Gatekeeper and Liberator

Literacy was the tool through which Sor Juana accessed knowledge and claimed authority. It was also a gatekeeper—denied to most people of her era, especially women and the poor. Literacy represents the paradox of educational privilege: it's both a system of exclusion and a tool for liberation. Understanding this concept means recognizing literacy not as neutral skill but as political. Access to written language, publishing platforms, and documented knowledge remains unequally distributed. Those with literacy privilege can make their voices permanent, shareable, authoritative. Those without must rely on oral tradition, ephemeral speech, or platforms controlled by others. For acknowledging privilege, this means examining who has access to literacy education, who controls platforms for written voice, and how to actively expand access. It means recognizing that demanding written documentation from all voices privileges those with writing access. It means creating multiple forms of validity—not dismissing oral knowledge or requiring it to be transcribed by privileged hands. It's about expanding who gets to author their own narrative.