Molly Benitez, whose experience in the trades and grassroots organizing informs their research, joins Portland State as an assistant professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and University Studies.
Benitez started their career in welding, working in Seattle, New York, North Carolina, Argentina and Uruguay.
"I had some pretty bad experiences being the only non-cis male in all the shops I was in and that’s what motivated me to go to school," Benitez says. "I wanted to understand what was happening to me in these shops."
After finishing their undergrad, they returned to welding but it was becoming harder to justify the trauma they were experiencing at work with their love of welding. Ultimately, they applied for graduate school, which led them to research the experiences of LGBTQIA2S+ trades workers. In the last five years, Benitez has been actively organizing with QTBIPOC trades workers and co-founded two projects around this organizing work.
Benitez's research lies at the intersection of gender, sex, race, class and labor. Grounded in women of color feminsims, queer of color critique and affect theory, their research analyzes how work impacts our lives — physically, emotionally and socially.
"We spend so much time working, but we rarely think about how our work impacts and shapes us and in return, how we impact and shape it," Benitez says.
What makes this work meaningful to you?
My work is meaningful to me because of my experiences and community. When I was working in the trades, I had first-hand experience of what a toxic work environment can do to a person and all the ways in which traumatic work experiences follow you home. Over the last 20 years, I’ve built relationships and community with many LGBTQIA2S+ trades workers, most of whom have PTSD and depression due to their work environments. This isn’t just a phenomenon in the trades. This happens in all workplaces in different ways. In this current political and economic system, most of us must work to survive but we inevitably find ourselves in toxic work environments where we work too much for little pay, where we are mistreated, and all while our worker protections are rapidly disappearing, assuming we had them to start. This has detrimental impacts on us all and particularly Queer and BIPOC workers.
What drew you to PSU and in particular, the School of Gender, Race and Nations?
The call for this particular cluster hire really spoke to me. For years, I’ve struggled to balance my academic goals with my activism. The divide between academia and organizing is a common topic. They are often pitted as opposites. I’ve been told by many people to stop my focus on organizing and put my energy into academia completely. But that feels dishonest to who I am. And so, it was refreshing to read a call that respects and prioritizes both research and activism. The focus of the cluster hire resonated with my own work which focuses on transformative justice, community building, organizing/activism, resistance, and of course dreaming of our future. Why do we do this work if not for what we can see in our dreams?
What’s a course you’re particularly excited to teach?
The two classes I’m most excited to teach are "Queer of Color Theory" and "Queer Activism and Community Building." It’s imperative to me that we center Black, Indigenous, and People of Color theorists. ‘Queer of Color Theory’ allows me to focus on the importance of BIPOC theorizing and how it has shifted our modes of analyses and worldview. And really, ‘Queer of Color Theory’ goes hand-in-hand with ‘Queer Activism and Community Building.’ This world wants us to see ourselves as individuals, but honestly, we get nowhere by ourselves. It’s through relationship building and community organizing that we support each other and help each other grow, particularly as Queer and BIPOC people. I’m really excited about highlighting all the ways we can and do build community and take care of each other.
What’s one thing you hope students who take a class with you will come away with?
That organizing, activism, and academia can really work well together, and that we can’t bring about a just world without building relationships and community.
What are you most looking forward to doing in your first year at PSU?
I’m looking forward to teaching. Teaching is a collaborative effort and I’m excited not only for what I can teach students but also what they can teach me.