After more than eight years of using the derby name Vivi Section, I have decided to skate under my own name. Though very few people ever actually got my derby name without an explanation, I no longer wish to be associated with or make light of a word for a violent act. Vivisection is a practice that causes suffering to living beings, including humans during times of war. In the early days of the roller derby revival there was something that felt radical about choosing a name and identity that evoked violence, toughness and the like. Even though that didn’t really feel like me, I bought into that idea. It seemed like turning societal expectations about women upside down and that spoke to my…
