One of our new books in the RAPP resource library is
That's Revolting! Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation, edited by
Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore.
Bernstein describes
That's Revolting! as "a queer intervention in the culture wars." It's includes essays, articles, and musings of three dozen leading writers and activists, as Bernstein calls them "gay liberation rabble-rousers, counterculture demons, fringe artistes, renegade academics, the dispossessed, the obsessed and various other enemy combatants."
Working in a program in a way that I'm in many ways institutionalizing a radical concept, I think this book will provide much food for thought. Particularly, it will challenge us to think in new ways about how we approach enacting the collective action part of our mission in fighting oppression.
The work also seems to provide much fodder for discussion on identity politics around sexuality, gender, and gender expression. It challenges folks to explore community priorities - what message do we send when attainment of a heteronormative processes steeped in sexist structures is considered key? What values do we have within our actions and how do we show them?
This promises to be an interesting - and digestible, with dozens of essays in three main sections - read. Stop by if you'd like to check it out!
(pic - copied from Bernstein's website)-Rebecca
Friday last week!
Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity was written by Julia Serano. She describes her first full-length book as "a collection of personal essays that debunk many of the myths and misconceptions that people have about trans women, as well as the subject of gender in general."
My Gender Workbook by Kate Bornstein is an interactive book (seriously, it's a workbook) that serves as a guide not only for developing great awareness of the construct of gender in our society but also as a guide for living with or without a gender. The activities can help you gain personal insight - and are fun!
