Book List.
Every now and then I want to post the books I'm reading, as well as my impressions of them, for my own edification - and for anyone else who might be interested. If you've got recommendations of your own, I'd love to hear them. <3
1. Manifesta (Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards): This is, supposedly, one of the seminal texts of third-wave feminism. It has a lot of interesting points and informational bits (Girlie feminism, Grrrls, etc.) as well as some good comments about what feminism is and is not, but sometimes the narrative is a bit sprawling and incoherent and, altogether, the book seems more a middle finger to the Second Wave than a rebel yell for the current generation.
2. Hermaphrodeities (Raven Kaldera): I'm guilty of adoring Kaldera's stuff almost all the time, especially the humor with which so many of the texts are written, as well as the way they confront head-on a lot of the issues of transgenderism. This book is one of those, finding that place between gender issues and spiritual ones, and I found it thoroughly enriching to read. A sample quote from Kaldera's chapter that tackles the apparent sexual 'nonexistence' of FtMs to the heteronormative world at large: When the average person says "hermaphrodite", they are usually picturing MTFs. Although being pictured in tacky she-male mafia porn is hardly a fate to be avidly desired, the fact that we don't even exist sexually for nearly all of our society can be pretty hard on one's sexual confidence.
3. Fifty Years in the Feri Tradition (Cora Anderson): The seminal text on Feri witchcraft, that gives an overview of the metaphysical underpinnings of the faith, deities, rituals... Essentially, Feri 101.
4. The Ethical Slut (Dossie Easton and Catherine A Liszt): An interesting book, this, dealing with people who choose (or perhaps people's right to choose) "consensual non-monogamy" as a lifestyle, as well as how that choice pops up in different sexual subcultures. Kind of a nice primer for the idea of consensual non-monogamy in general, discussed without any of the traditional biases (religious or otherwise) that might normally appear in such a discussion. I have several friends who live con non-mon and recommended it to me so I might have a better understanding of what their choices are and why.
5. Angel Sanctuary (Kaori Yuki): Obviously my pleasure-reading choice off the list. The art is lushly gorgeous and sooooo beautiful. The topics are dark, quite complex, and very heavy: incest, rape, violence, etc. That said, the treatment of sexuality and gender is refreshing - there're androgynes and cross-dressers and transgenders and everything else all over the place, and they aren't particularly "fetishized" as such. The character that speaks most closely to my heart, of course, is the mad seraphim Rosiel (see my user icon!) who, thanks to some cruelty on the part of God, finds himself the most favored angel with the ugliest body. When grafts from his sister's body are given to him as a child to make him "beautiful" and reconcile him with himself, he finds he still lacks the acceptance he always desired and, after being sealed away at the center of the earth for however-the-fuck-long by the sister he adores, slowly goes insane. The heartbreaking chorus of the manga is Rosiel's constant question: "Am I beautiful?" as he battles with a body he has always hated, that has always seemed alien, and that he will never fully understand, and as he strives desperately for acceptance from the people he has been pitted against. Something about the theme of alienation, Rosiel's obsessive desire to reconcile his body with his identity, to see himself as beautiful and worthy, resonates deeply with me as an androgyne who often finds myself struggling with the same things.
1. Manifesta (Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards): This is, supposedly, one of the seminal texts of third-wave feminism. It has a lot of interesting points and informational bits (Girlie feminism, Grrrls, etc.) as well as some good comments about what feminism is and is not, but sometimes the narrative is a bit sprawling and incoherent and, altogether, the book seems more a middle finger to the Second Wave than a rebel yell for the current generation.
2. Hermaphrodeities (Raven Kaldera): I'm guilty of adoring Kaldera's stuff almost all the time, especially the humor with which so many of the texts are written, as well as the way they confront head-on a lot of the issues of transgenderism. This book is one of those, finding that place between gender issues and spiritual ones, and I found it thoroughly enriching to read. A sample quote from Kaldera's chapter that tackles the apparent sexual 'nonexistence' of FtMs to the heteronormative world at large: When the average person says "hermaphrodite", they are usually picturing MTFs. Although being pictured in tacky she-male mafia porn is hardly a fate to be avidly desired, the fact that we don't even exist sexually for nearly all of our society can be pretty hard on one's sexual confidence.
3. Fifty Years in the Feri Tradition (Cora Anderson): The seminal text on Feri witchcraft, that gives an overview of the metaphysical underpinnings of the faith, deities, rituals... Essentially, Feri 101.
4. The Ethical Slut (Dossie Easton and Catherine A Liszt): An interesting book, this, dealing with people who choose (or perhaps people's right to choose) "consensual non-monogamy" as a lifestyle, as well as how that choice pops up in different sexual subcultures. Kind of a nice primer for the idea of consensual non-monogamy in general, discussed without any of the traditional biases (religious or otherwise) that might normally appear in such a discussion. I have several friends who live con non-mon and recommended it to me so I might have a better understanding of what their choices are and why.
5. Angel Sanctuary (Kaori Yuki): Obviously my pleasure-reading choice off the list. The art is lushly gorgeous and sooooo beautiful. The topics are dark, quite complex, and very heavy: incest, rape, violence, etc. That said, the treatment of sexuality and gender is refreshing - there're androgynes and cross-dressers and transgenders and everything else all over the place, and they aren't particularly "fetishized" as such. The character that speaks most closely to my heart, of course, is the mad seraphim Rosiel (see my user icon!) who, thanks to some cruelty on the part of God, finds himself the most favored angel with the ugliest body. When grafts from his sister's body are given to him as a child to make him "beautiful" and reconcile him with himself, he finds he still lacks the acceptance he always desired and, after being sealed away at the center of the earth for however-the-fuck-long by the sister he adores, slowly goes insane. The heartbreaking chorus of the manga is Rosiel's constant question: "Am I beautiful?" as he battles with a body he has always hated, that has always seemed alien, and that he will never fully understand, and as he strives desperately for acceptance from the people he has been pitted against. Something about the theme of alienation, Rosiel's obsessive desire to reconcile his body with his identity, to see himself as beautiful and worthy, resonates deeply with me as an androgyne who often finds myself struggling with the same things.