Today's new release: K.L. Noone's queer fantasy romance short In the Pass of Ghosts:
Ghosts are real. And now they’re Aric’s problem. Even legendary swordsmen need time off, and Aric and his half-fairy partner Emrys are traveling south to visit Aric’s brother. But, on a stormy night at a roadside inn, an old friend stumbles...
We're sure you're aware of the human rights crisis impacting LGBTQ+ people in Uganda. Devin is raising the funds to open two safe houses for trans people in Uganda. Donate if you can, share if you can't: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-2-black-trans-shelters-in-uganda
@bookstodon I've included books of poetry on "best of year" lists, but this is the very first time I've added a book of poetry to an all-time "kickass books" list: LORD OF THE BUTTERFLIES, by nonbinary poet Andrea Gibson is that book.
#BookReview: This is simply a remarkable collection by a talented poet.
The themes are varied, but connected by a thread of pain:
of gender exploration and the backlash it creates
of the longing and despair of unrequited love
of watching someone you love defined by their addiction
of seeing the violent hatred that others can have, simply because you exist
of battling anxiety and depression, those twin enemies from within
of battling even harder against unhelpful advice
of chronic illness and the invisibility of disability
of colonialism, and the domination of (rather than stewardship over) the natural world
of the history of this country that has been wildly distorted, and celebrated for exactly the wrong things
of the justification of evil
of grief
of being human
The poet is an artist, carefully surrounding that thread of pain with beauty, acceptance, celebration, strength, and purpose. Gibson creates what I call an "exploratorium," a place where someone can find the truth of themselves, a space they fit into, and safely wander a path until they are ready to love themselves and live that truth. No one can live fully without living authentically.
The poetry was so good, I became greedy for it, and I had to intentionally slow down.
It's been a few weeks since I launched it so we're bumping my GoFundMe again! I'm looking to raise funds to help cover costs for my gender affirming surgery. If you're able to donate it's greatly appreciated. If you can't, even just sharing it around is a huge help 🧡
Men are 100% XY chromosomes and women are 100% XX chromosomes. FALSE.
Men and women are completely hormonally distinct. FALSE.
There is a male brain and a female brain and these can be 100% distinguished in imaging scans. FALSE.
Human beings either produce large gametes (women) or small gametes (men). FALSE.
How you decide if you see a man or a woman in public on 99.9% of occasions is a matter of chromosomes, hormones, brains or gametes. FALSE. None of these things are available for inspection on these occasions.
A TRUTH
On the overwhelming majority of occasions whether someone thinks you are a man or a woman or not is a matter of if you pass socially as either of those things according to cultural customs. It relies on prior social cues and understandings and has nothing to do with whats in your jeans or your genes.
There's a good part of me that wonders if there's a correlation between a wider range gender expression (and relationship diversity, perhaps) and the neurospicy tendency to look at conventions that have no reasoning behind them and then ignore the (stupid) conventions and just do what makes sense/ feels "correct" to us.
I am a cishet dude, so I may be VERY VERY off-base here. Thoughts?