Refusal as a Form of Property Protection

Sor Juana repeatedly refused demands made of her: to stop writing, to abandon intellectual work, to conform her thought to institutional requirements. Her refusals were costly but crucial expressions of sovereignty. In libertarian justice, the right to refuse is inseparable from property rights: ownership means the power to exclude, to withhold, to say no without penalty. Without the right to refuse, property rights become decorative—one nominally owns something while being coerced to use it as others demand. Sor Juana's tradition establishes that intellectual freedom requires the right to refuse commissions that violate conscience, to refuse publication of distorted versions of one's work, to refuse participation in enterprises one opposes. This extends to labor: no one can be compelled to work, to teach, or to create against their will. Modern applications include the right to refuse customer service on grounds of conscience, to withdraw one's platform or labor from exploitative arrangements, and to control where one's ideas appear. The power to refuse is the bedrock of freedom; without it, all other rights collapse into privileges granted contingent on obedience.