announcing the end of my hiatus...

[goddess32585]

...except for the part where I never announced this lj break in the first place. whoops.

Anyway, I really am making a commitment to more updating (possibly on a schedule, like once a week or something). But before I jump into clearing the backlog, I've got a short PSA to make. badoingdoing, conana, and I are starting a reading/discussion group on gender theory, and

Comments

[catamorphism]

Obviously, I'm far away, but some books I recommend:
_Whipping Girl_, Julia Serano (maybe way too obvious and perhaps you've already mentioned reading it)
_Self-Organizing Men_, Jay Sennett ed. (there are some essays there that maybe you can make sense of... I sure couldn't :P But other stuff that I thought was worth reading.)
_The Female Thing_, Laura Kipnis
_What Becomes You_, Aaron Raz Link (a memoir, not a gender theory text, but says more about gender theory without trying than a lot of people do when they're trying to be insightful)
_That's Revolting_, Matt Bernstein Sycamore ed. (a lot of this is fluff, but there are some worthwhile essays in it, esp. Charlie Anders' essay on choosing to be trans)
_Speaking Sex to Power_ and _Public Sex_, Patrick Califia (well, duh. _Public Sex_ has more of the stuff that would be likely to be controversial even among queer-friendly folks, I think.) _Sex Changes_ by him is well worth reading too.

[goddess32585]

oh oh thanks! I should've clarified that we're currently pulling readings from 'what's on our shelves that we think is good', plus I'll probably go trawling the Women's & Gender Studies dept. and blogland for reading lists, esp. for some specific topics. And I hope participants will have their own suggestions.

This idea actually came out of a discussion after several of us had read Whipping Girl (and Speaking Sex to Power?) in short order; it's definitely going to be in there somewhere. I am keen on memoirs/lit informed by reality, to keep texts readable and avoid spinning off into bizarro-theory land.

[conana]

I think we're starting with Nobody Passes, also by Sycamore. Possibly because assimilation is still a contentious issue is this group, or just because more people know it exists. But I'll bet I could get everyone to read the excellent Charlie Anders essay anyway :) Thanks for the list.

[catamorphism]

I haven't read _Nobody Passes_ (darn public library waiting lists with 100 people wanting to read every queer book in existence), but _That's Revolting_ is around the same theme. Picking and choosing essays would probably be the way to go rather than reading the whole book.

[iridium]

Welcome back! Also, yarg. I'd be all over that reading group thing, med school notwithstanding, but y'all are still 3000 miles away and no one's invented a decent teleport closet yet.

[goddess32585]

Yeah, I'm offering to write about stuff primarily for people like you and glasser, who've expresesd interest but are not around, and also for people who are interested but don't have time. The readings probably won't be drastically groundbreaking if you're already into the topic, but I'm using it as a spur to get me to actually read rather than just daydream.

[iridium]

Yeah, I think I could really use a prod to get out and read/re-read more gender theory. So you're planning to write about what y'all are reading? That would rock. If I'm really good, if you let me know what you're looking at at any given time, I could probably track down the books myself and read along from the west coast. :)

Also, recommendation: Despite the silly name, I liked PoMoSexuals, by Carol Queen & others.

[badoingdoing]

Oh man, please come as soon as you figure out that teleport thing! I wants to see you!