The Terror Dream by Susan Faludi It’s been something like, oh, I don’t know, 5 or 6 weeks since I posted any reviews here. I’m 30 reviews behind and TOTALLY NOT PANICKING AT ALL. I taught a summer class, and then I added another part-time teaching gig on top of the primary and online gigs that I have, so exhaustion is high and time is low. I’m going to try to catch up over the weekend, but if you really want real-time updates, follow me […]
Some patience required, but a worthwhile read.
Some Assembly Required is a memoir by a young transgender man. It’s a quick read that covers his life, from his dawning feelings of male identification as a child to his physical transition. It’s a very fast read, and a decent book considering the age of the author. I would highly recommend it to someone not particularly well-versed in transgender issues who wants to learn, but if you’re more knowledgable about LGBTQIA* issues it doesn’t necessarily add much to the discussion. I’m not saying that […]
The plan, a memory of the future, tries on reality to see if it fits.
This short, deeply smart collection of essays is really important. Seriously, “Men Explain Things to Me” resonated with me on every level. It’s a perfect gut-check… when some (most) men imply that I’m not entitled to articulate my own experience… when some (most) men cut me off in conversation about a topic on which I’m an authority because they have a couple of thoughts about it… when colleges and universities respond to reports of rape by instituting curfews and behavioral guidelines for women… when my […]
Biological imperative, my ass
Delusions of Gender is a truly interesting study of the (mostly flawed) studies in neurological science intended to explain gender differences between men and women that originate in the brain. It got a lot of press when it first came out a few years ago, and deservedly so — with nearly 100 out of 340 pages dedicated to footnotes and the bibliography, it’s impressively researched and satisfyingly comprehensive. Cordelia Fine’s main argument, after definitively surveying the field, is that neurological claims to identify and explain […]