My research quality has been recognized by Mexico's National System of Researchers, and I've been a lecturer and PhD dissertation chair across five countries. By September 2024, I've published 51 peer-reviewed articles (h-index = 20), 12 book chapters, and five books—including a free eBook for non-specialist audiences reflecting on the difficulties and mistakes I made during my PhD, which had an impressive 242,128 downloads in just one month!
Before joining Tufts, I coordinated the Postgraduate Specialization Program in Comprehensive Sexuality Education at UPN in Mexico City and was part of the founding team for the Master's in Sexuality program. This program emphasizes basic and applied research, engaging students in addressing issues related to sexuality, gender, and violence. With a holistic approach, it integrates sociocultural perspectives on sexuality while considering health and rights, distinguishing it from other master's programs and making it a pioneer in Mexico. During this time, I participated in yearly admission and selection processes, ensuring that we accepted not only "traditionally competitive" candidates but also activists and community organizers. This experience cemented my belief in the power of education to enact social change, a principle that continues to guide my work today.
At Tufts, I serve on the WGSS Advisory Committee and have designed two gender-related courses: Families of the 21st Century and Gender Development: Deconstructing, Demystifying, and Reimagining the Gender Binary. The latter course deconstructs normative models of gender development, focusing on gender euphoria and the self-determination of gender identities.
According to the Census Bureau, my income exceeds that of the median U.S. household (when converted to pesos, I feel like a Kardashian!), yet literally half of it goes toward rent and I really don't think that I will ever own a house in this country. So yes, there are shades, nuances and contradictions within several positions of social marginality but it cannot be denied that I occupy more positions of social privilege. I am never finished, never done. I am becoming creole in practice (Guadeloupe, 2002).
I have felt that since I apparently shattered a glass ceiling, I am incentivized to pull up the ladder so that others cannot follow. Sometimes I wonder if I have been nominally integrated but rather in-"corporated" (Martin-Casler, 2024). I must remember that those who tokenize and secondarize folks who look like me are alienated too, which is possible through decolonial ethics of generosity. I refuse for my voice to be churned through a biopolitics of data collection nor to take part in a performance of self that entraps me in a vicious circle of proof-making. I am certain that I do not want the expectation and responsibility to be a spokesperson for [insert marginalized identity]. I am "just Fer" at the same time that I am human plurality. I am mastering the art of becoming the other and allowing the other to become me.