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Sexed Up: How Society Sexualizes Us, and How We Can Fight Back
The author of landmark manifesto Whipping Girl exposes the violent ways we are all sexualized-then offers a bold path for resistance
Feminists have long challenged the ways in which men tend to sexualize women. But pioneering activist, biologist, and trans woman Julia Serano argues that sexualization is a far more pervasive problem, as it's something that we all do to other people, often without being aware of it.
Why do we perceive men as sexual predators and women as sexual objects? Why are LGBTQ+ people stereotyped as being sexually indiscriminate and deceptive? Why are people of color still being hypersexualized? These stereotypes push minorities farther into the margins, and even the privileged are policed from transgressing, lest they also become targets. Many view sexualization as a mere component of sexism, racism, or queerphobia, but Serano argues that liberation from sexual violence comes through collectively confronting sexualization itself.
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The Palace of Forty Pillars
Wry, tender, and formally innovative, Armen Davoudian's debut poetry collection, The Palace of Forty Pillars, tells the story of a self estranged from the world around him as a gay adolescent, an Armenian in Iran, and an immigrant in America. It is a story darkened by the long shadow of global tragedies--the Armenian genocide, war in the Middle East, the specter of homophobia. With masterful attention to rhyme and meter, these poems also carefully witness the most intimate encounters: the awkward distance between mother and son getting ready in the morning, the delicate balance of power between lovers, a tense exchange with the morality police in Iran.
In Isfahan, Iran, the eponymous palace has only twenty pillars--but, reflected in its courtyard pool, they become forty. This is the gamble of Davoudian's magical, ruminative poems: to recreate, in art's reflection, a home for the speaker, who is unable to return to it in life.
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Guillotine: Poems
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR POETRY
The astonishing second collection by the author of Slow Lightning, winner of the Yale Younger Poets Prize Guillotine traverses desert landscapes cut through by migrants, the grief of loss, betrayal's lingering scars, the border itself--great distances in which violence and yearning find roots. Through the voices of undocumented immigrants, border patrol agents, and scorned lovers, award-winning poet Eduardo C. Corral writes dramatic portraits of contradiction, survival, and a deeply human, relentless interiority. With extraordinary lyric imagination, these poems wonder about being unwanted or renounced. What do we do with unrequited love? Is it with or without it that we would waste away? In the sequence "Testaments Scratched into Water Station Barrels," with Corral's seamless integration of Spanish and English, poems curve around the surfaces upon which they are written, overlapping like graffiti left by those who may or may not have survived crossing the border. A harrowing second collection, Guillotine solidifies Corral's place in the expanding ecosystem of American poetry. -
Trans Like Me: Conversations for All of Us
A personal and culture-driven exploration of the most pressing questions facing the transgender community today, from a leading activist, musician, and academic In Trans Like Me, CN Lester takes readers on a measured, thoughtful, intelligent yet approachable tour through the most important and high-profile narratives around the trans community, turning them inside out and examining where we really are in terms of progress. From the impact of the media's wording in covering trans people and issues, to the way parenting gender variant children is portrayed, Lester brings their charged personal narrative to every topic and expertly lays out the work left to be done. Trans Like Me explores the ways that we are all defined by ideas of gender -- whether we live as he, she, or they -- and how we can strive for authenticity in a world that forces limiting labels. -
Sold outYes, Roya: Color Edition
Wylie Kogan is an aspiring artist, stumping for work in 1963 California. When a fawning fan letter grants him access to his cartoonist hero, the wealthy and celebrated Joseph Ahlstrom, he's quick to take advantage of a proffered portfolio review . . . but winds up learning more than he ever wanted to about Joe when he stumbles across some of his idol's illicit fetish art. His hasty, ill-considered theft of a drawing triggers a series of events he never planned on . . . most of which involve Joseph's imposing and resolute partner, Roya.
This universally-lauded erotic classic, originally published in black and white, is now available in brilliant FULL COLOR.
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Sold outEl Rosa, El Azul Y Tú
Un valiente álbum ilustrado en el que la internacional Elise Gravel plantea preguntas acerca de la identidad de género adaptadas a los más pequeños. No sería fantástico que todos pudiéramos ser quienes somos sin que se tenga en cuenta nuestro género? Los monopatines son solo para chicos? Y los dinosaurios también? Solo las chicas pueden cuidar bebés? Las mujeres solo se pueden casar con hombres?Hay muchas cuestiones sobre la identidad de género que, a menudo, damos por hecho. Pero quién hizo estas normas? De verdad es necesario seguirlas? Este álbum ilustrado trata de enseñar a los más pequeños que otro mundo es posible: uno en el que todos estemos en igualdad de condiciones y seamos amados y respetados, sin importar quiénes seamos, cómo seamos o cómo nos sintamos.--------------Simple, accessible, and direct, this picture book is perfect for kids and parents or teachers to read together, opening the door to conversations about gender stereotypes and everyone's right to be their true selves.
Is it okay for boys to cry? Can girls be strong? Should girls and boys be given different toys to play with and different clothes to wear? Should we all feel free to love whoever we choose to love? In this incredibly kid-friendly and easy-to-grasp picture book, author-illustrator Elise Gravel raises these questions and others relating to gender roles, acceptance, and stereotyping.
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Boyfriends. Volume Two: A Webtoon Unscrolled Graphic Novel
Boy meets boy . . . meets boy . . . meets boy!
It's the start of senior year in college, and Jock, Goth, Nerd, and Prep are officially boyfriends! With the support of cute boyfriends, school should be a breeze . . . right? With their powers combined, the polycule might just be able to talk Nerd out of overloading his schedule and help Goth finally learn what a credit is. Through navigating the adventures of dating life, the boyfriends come to understand themselves and each other in new and profound ways. Their polyamorous relationship continues to blossom, and that means learning about everybody's quirks and finding new ways to show their love for one another. And...occasionally stealing one another's clothes. The boys support Jock at his football games and hold an intervention for Prep when he gets wayyyy into a cozy video game. Everyday tasks like laundry, groceries, and cooking take on a new charm when the boyfriends are together. Silly bets, adventures in fan fiction, and a sweet visit home make for a very memorable semester. Plus, the guys make some new friends and realize they're not the only queer polycule on campus...meet the Girlfriends! With the help of some Sapphic wisdom, maybe the boyfriends will be able to figure out how to four-way kiss. Laugh-out-loud funny and always heartwarming, Boyfriends is filled to the brim with moments of pride big and small. Collects episodes 56-100 of the delightful WEBTOON comic Boyfriends. -
Snowflake Kisses
After an eventful fall term, Skylar and Jacob are finally together and getting ready to spend their first holiday together.
It′s an extra special holiday for Skylar though. It′s his first Christmas with the Grays as part of a real family, and he′s both nervous and excited. Could this be the Christmas he finally feels like he truly belongs?
Jacob is looking forward to spending the weekend with his boyfriend, but right before the trip his anxiety kicks in. He hasn′t found Sky a gift yet, and he′s freaking out! There are so many things he could get but only the most amazing will do for his Skylar. Will Jacob be able to find the perfect gift in time?
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The Only Way Through Is Out
Suzette Mullen had been raised to play it safe-and she hated causing others pain. With college and law degrees, a kind and successful husband, two thriving adult sons, and an ocean-view vacation home, she lived a life many people would envy. But beneath the happy facade was a woman who watched her friends walk boldly through their lives and wondered what was holding her back from doing the same. Digging into her past, Suzette uncovered a deeply buried truth: she'd been in love with her best friend-a woman-for nearly two decades-and still was. Leaning into these "unspeakable" feelings would put Suzette's identity, relationships, and life of privilege at risk-but taking this leap might be her only chance to feel fully alive. As Suzette opened herself up to new possibilities, an unexpected visit to a new city helped her discover who she was meant to be. Introspective, bittersweet, and empowering, The Only Way Through Is Out is both a coming-out and coming-of-age story, as well as a call to action for every human who is longing to live authentically but is afraid of the cost. -
Ethical Porn for Dicks
Ethical PORN for DICKS A Man's Guide to Responsible Viewing PleasureA Non-Judgmental Way of Thinking and Talking- for Men, Partners, and Therapists
with a Foreword by Tristan Taormino and an Afterword by Chanel Preston
"There's a lot of screaming, yelling, and smut-shaming out there about porn. David Ley's reasonable, calm, informed writing should be read by anyone interested in porn-and it should be required reading for anyone tempted to legislate about it."-Dan Savage
"An important book for men of all ages, written by an expert in men's (and couples') sexualities."-Debby Herbenick, Ph.D. President-Elect of AASECT
Our media are filled with cautionary, polarizing messages about the dangers of porn, even while sexually explicit images are exploited deliberately and persuasively in ads and entertainment. With a casual style and topical format, this accessible, funny, and evidence-based book offers anyone feeling shame and anxiety about their own or their partner's behavior a nonjudgmental way to view and use pornography responsibly.
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Sold outRed X
A hunted community. A haunted author. A horror that spans centuries. Men are disappearing from Toronto's gay village. They're the marginalized, the vulnerable. One by one, stalked and vanished, they leave behind small circles of baffled, frightened friends. Against the shifting backdrop of homophobia throughout the decades, from the HIV/AIDS crisis and riots against raids to gentrification and police brutality, the survivors face inaction from the law and disinterest from society at large. But as the missing grow in number, those left behind begin to realize that whoever or whatever is taking these men has been doing so for longer than is humanly possible. Woven into their stories is David Demchuk's own personal history, a life lived in fear and in thrall to horror, a passion that boils over into obsession. As he tries to make sense of the relationship between queerness and horror, what it means for gay men to disappear, and how the isolation of the LGBTQ+ community has left them profoundly exposed to monsters that move easily among them, fact and fiction collide and reality begins to unravel. A bold, terrifying new novel from the award-winning author of The Bone Mother.Sold out -
Punk Rock Karaoke
"Stole my heart from the first page to the last. Endlessly funny and sincere." --Tillie Walden, Eisner & Ignatz Award-winning cartoonist A debut graphic novel from Ignatz Award-winning and nationally syndicated cartoonist, Bianca Xunise. When life gives you guitars, smash them!
School is out for summer and Ariel Grace Jones is determined to make it one for the books! Together with their bestie bandmates, Michele and Gael, Ariel believes they're destined to break into the music industry and out of Chicago's Southside by singing lead in their garage punk band, Baby Hares. But before Baby Hares can officially get into the groove, the realities of post grad life start to weigh on this crew of misfits. Ari begins to worry that it's time to pull the plug on their dreams of making it big. Just when all hope feels lost, a fellow punk and local icon takes an interest in their talent. It seems like he might be the only one Ariel can rely on as frustrations between bandmates reach at an all-time high. Punk Rock Karaoke is a coming-of-age tale that draws upon the explosive joy of the underground scene, while raising questions about authenticity, the importance of community and what it means to succeed on your own terms. -
Sold outFull-Metal Indigiqueer
This poetry collections focuses on a hybridized Indigiqueer Trickster character named Zoa who brings together the organic (the protozoan) and the technologic (the binaric) in order to re-beautify and re-member queer Indigeneity. This Trickster is a Two-Spirit / Indigiqueer invention that resurges in the apocalypse to haunt, atrophy, and to reclaim. Following oral tradition (à la Iktomi, Nanaboozho, Wovoka), Zoa infects, invades, and becomes a virus to canonical and popular works in order to re-centre Two-Spirit livelihoods. They dazzlingly and fiercely take on the likes of Edmund Spenser, Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and John Milton while also not forgetting contemporary pop culture figures such as Lana Del Rey, Grindr, and Peter Pan. Zoa world-builds a fourth-dimension, lives in the cyber space, and survives in NDN-time - they have learned to sing the skin back onto their bodies and remain #woke at the end of the world. "Do not read me as a vanished ndn," they ask, "read me as a ghastly one."
full-metal indigiqueer is influenced by the works of Jordan Abel, Tanya Tagaq, Daniel Heath Justice, Claudia Rankine, Vivek Shraya, Qwo-Li Driskill, Leanne Simpson, Kent Monkman, and Donna Haraway. It is a project of resurgence for Two-Spirit / Indigiqueer folk who have been ghosted in policy, page, tradition, and hi/story - the very lives of Two-Spirit / Indigiqueer youth are rarely mentioned (and even dispossessed in our very mandates for reconciliation), our lives are precarious but they too are precious. We find ourselves made spectral in settler and neocolonial Indigenous nationalisms - if reconciliation is a means of "burying the hatchet," Zoa seeks to unearth the bones buried with those hatched scalps and perform a séance to ghost dance Indigiqueerness into existence. Zoa world-destroys in order to world-build a new space - they care little for reconciliation but rather aim to reterroritorialize space in literature, pop culture, and oral storytelling. This project follows in the tradition of the aforementioned authors who, Whitehead believes, utilize deconstruction as a means of decolonization. This is a sex-positive project that tirelessly works to create coalition between those who have, as Haraway once noted, "been injured, profoundly." Zoa stands in solidarity with all qpoc folk who exist as ghosts with intergenerational and colonial phantom pains - they sing with Donna Summer, RuPaul, Effie White, and Trixie Mattel. The space made is a post-apocalyptic hub of sex and decolonization - a world where making love is akin to making live.
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Decolonize Drag
Although imagined as a queer subcultural practice, drag seems to be everywhere we look: from AI filters on TikTok to brunchtime entertainment, from state legislations to political rallies. Yet as drag enters the mainstream--largely due to the intense, global popularity of reality TV competition RuPaul's Drag Race--some kinds of gender-based performance fall out of the purview of what we (could) call drag.
Decolonize Drag details the ways that gender is used as a form of colonial governance to eliminate various types of expression, and tracks how contemporary drag, including that on Drag Race, both replicates and disrupts these institutional hierarchies. This book focuses on several gender performers that resist and laugh at colonial projects through their aesthetic practices. It also features the voice of Khubchandani's drag alter ego, judgmental South Asian aunty LaWhore Vagistan. From the firsthand perspective of a drag artist, LaWhore describes encounters with depoliticized versions of drag that leave her disappointed and perplexed, and prompts Khubchandani for context and analysis.
Their dynamic sets the tone for the book, investigating how drag--and gender more broadly--has been privatized and delimited so that it's only available to certain people. Decolonize Drag argues for more abundance in and access to fashioning gender, and considers how drag changes meaning and efficacy as it shifts across geographies.