time for my mini rant: I get a lot of people in my dms asking, “are you worried about your colleagues or students finding your page?” And I don’t think that anyone means anything bad by it but it bothers me to no end. Here are 5 reasons why: 1. People are more than their jobs and their identity exists beyond their formal labor. Telling someone, who isn’t doing anything actually problematic, that they have to conduct their lives in view of their job means that they should center employment in their lives. So no, I’m not about that. 2. The question implies that somehow what I’m doing is unprofessional? — that is, posting my cute outfits and sometimes high waisted undies/swimwear. I don’t like ideas of professionalism at all, but I just don’t get in what world caring about fashion is more unprofessional than other hobbies. Which leads me to... 3. Professionalism is often just an idea to hold up the status quo, and that usually means that the behavior and interests of cis-straight white men are the definition of professional. This means that men with these identities don’t have to worry about their behavior being unprofessional; they live their private lives and are rewarded with relationships and promotions for having favored interests. 4. Conversations about professionalism are often weaponized against women + BIPOC + LGBTQ folks (those with intersectional identities experiencing the greatest harms) to bully them into conformity to hostile work environments. When someone doesn’t fit into a workplace because of racism + sexism + elitism, the burden is placed on those harmed to learn professional norms + fit in rather than on the privileged to change the work culture and overturn the professional norms from which they benefit. 5. My only fears about being seen as unprofessional stem from how it has been and still is weaponized. So no, I’m not afraid of being unprofessional because if someone thinks that, it has everything to do with their own misogyny and nothing to do with my actions. I like pretty clothes and I’ll be a good professor, so what??