Refusal as a Right and Practice

Sor Juana's refusal to accept the restrictions imposed on her intellectual and spiritual life—even when that refusal meant withdrawal and silence—embodied a radical dignity. She refused the demand that she choose between intellect and obedience, between autonomy and belonging. In intersectional contexts, refusal is a practice often unavailable to those with power: marginalized people are taught that refusal is selfish, ungrateful, or hostile. Yet refusal—to perform emotional labor, to assimilate, to accept degradation, to participate in systems that harm—is a boundary that protects and transforms. The concept frames refusal not as absence but as active choice: refusing an opportunity that comes with degrading conditions, refusing to explain oppression to the hostile, refusing to split oneself to accommodate others' comfort. Refusal can be private (internal resistance) or public (withdrawal, striking, departing). Both are legitimate exercises of agency and self-determination in contexts where these are otherwise constrained.