Queering Safe Spaces

This is a complex and beautifully researched book, grounded in community, cultural, activist, and creative work. In the weaving of interviews, anecdotes, histories, and autoethnographic reflections, Vivienne investigates how ideas of ‘safe space’ play out in, with and through marginalized communities, often to negative effect. This vital and timely work asks what we might do, individually and collectively, to create ‘brave spaces.’ It argues that binary modes of thinking inhibit nuanced understandings of difference and offers a ‘how-to’ section that addresses the practicalities of sustaining a trauma-informed model of working with groups. Vivienne’s nonbinary and neurodiverse approaches to reading and writing the politics of ‘safety’ and cancel culture presents a model for moving from the utopic naivety of ‘space spaces’ to brave, trauma-informed and resilient spaces where we can turn our attention to what matters: action, activism, connection, and community. This book is a love letter, a dreamscape, and a call to each other’s arms. -- Quinn Eades, La Trobe University
This book is a lifeline to those who are bearing the brunt of progress in identity politics. It challenges all of us to unpack and accept the answers to the politically charged question: what is a safe space? -- Todd Fernando, Victorian Commissioner for LGBTIQ+ Communities