Archive for January, 2012
Recommended Reading #83: Writing, Pt. III


I especially like the excerpts Michelle provides in this post as complementary to what she herself is saying. The combination of excerpt and her original offering strikes me as interesting and insightful.

I enjoy the variety of questions this interview includes, and I find Kristina’s responses about erotica, gender, and sexuality thoughtful and compelling.

I found this expose fascinating and appreciate Remittance Girl’s outlining in such detail the way she performed this research and the conclusions she drew.
Recommended Reading #82: Sex as Labor, Pt. II


I find this expose delightful and so appreciate Lynn’s exploring and writing it.

[Trigger warning for survivors of child and adult sexual abuse/assault.] This seems certainly not a light piece, and even hard to read. Its argument for the decriminalization of sex work seems resounding in a way I truly don’t understand how almost anyone could ignore.

While I find the phenomenon this post addresses troublesome and disheartening (for many of the reasons the post discusses), I find this post, in response to it, profoundly beautifully articulated.
Recommended Reading #81: Gender Socialization, Pt. II


While it amazes me that this still has to be said, I appreciate that Charlie says it and says it so well. Appreciating the individualism and complexity of sexuality and not appreciating reinforcement of simplistic gender assumptions are quite in alignment with my own perspective, and I feel Charlie speaks sensibly about them here.

I so wholly agree with Ms. Davis’s point at the end of this video that it energizes me to see it presented in a context with so many viewers. It has occurred to me since I can remember that the relative rarity of seeing certain positions or responsibilities fulfilled by female-bodied/-identified individuals seems to make it so when a woman does, she supposedly or is perceived as representing “women” in general—which strikes me as obviously ludicrous.

I have read this more than once now, and I have been brought to tears each time. This strikes me as one of the most beautiful, inspirational things I have seen about teaching, humanity, and gender in some time…perhaps ever.
You Can Take the Girl Out of the Country…

I had a lot of fun writing “City Girl” because it touches on a lot of my own historical background in the Midwest. I actually found myself experiencing some nostalgia as I worked on it—as well as being reminded of the picture of me, circa 1998, to the right. At that time, that was not an uncommon look for me. : ) Readers of the story will probably understand why I wanted to scan and include it in this post! (And is that a livestock trailer in the background…?)
I can hardly wait to get my copies!Seeing Stars – Alison Tyler
Chasing Fate: Exige – Kev Henley
City Girl – Emerald (Me!)
Subway Subterfuge – May Deva
Performance Art – Cynthia Hamilton
Let Sleeping Dogs Come – Chrissie Bentley
Hole in Your Pocket – Donna George Storey
Maid Service – Jan Darby
Chasing Jared – Heidi Champa
Breathing – Daniel Burnell
Whore – D. L. King
Just a Little Trim – Kristina Wright
Three Pink Earthquakes – Thomas S. Roche
Belle de Soir – Austin Stevens
The Spoiled Brat – Lily K. Cho
An Audience of One – N.T. Morley
Chocolate Cake – I.G. Frederick
Tournament – Abby Abbot
Rock Star Rewards – Rachel Kramer Bussel
Love,
Emerald
-from “City Girl”
Recommended Reading #80: Interaction and Relating


This resonated quite a bit with me, and it strikes me as not an easy piece. While I saw in it a little more perception of separation based on sex than I have probably historically appreciated, I related to much of it, and I agree with the author (as I interpret it) that this seems very sad somehow. Ultimately, I really like the point I interpret her making at the end that it is up to all of us to be aware of ways our privilege might go unnoticed by us and result in historically oppressed populations feeling more so or dismissed, and to work to empathize and appreciate that all the time, thus “be[ing] vigilant, [because we] must make [ourselves] trustworthy. Every day.”

For whatever reason, I feel like I’ve been encountering references to and expositions about the concept of privilege lately. Of all of it, it may be that this piece, framed as a personal narrative and containing a progression of perception in memoir form, has struck me as both the most fascinating as well as one of the most effective illustrations of what privilege may mean and how it may manifest in everyday interactions.

I deeply appreciate this piece from Charlie. Though I read the Gaslighting piece he mentions sometime back, it never fully resonated with me, and I think even at the time I felt vaguely aware that that was because it seemed a little too simplistic and generalizing to me. I completely agree with Charlie that people of all genders and sexual orientations have engaged in this behavior, and I also concur that it isn’t always conscious. I feel much more resonance with Charlie’s exploration here, which I interpret as including and addressing gender socialization as well as lack of self-awareness, both of which strike me as paramount to the discussion at hand (or, frankly, almost any discussion relating to sociology or psychology).