In lively and impassioned prose, she breaks down three key dualisms - sex/gender, nature/nurture, and real/constructed - and asserts that individuals born as mixtures of male and female exist as one of five natural human variants and, as such, should not be forced to compromise their differences to fit a flawed societal definition of normality.

    He provides thoughtful responses that present Catholic Church teaching in a fresh, thoroughly appealing, and convincing manner. Foreword by Charles J. Chaput.

    Psychologist Geoffrey Miller offers the most convincing-and radical-explanation for how and why the human mind evolved.Consciousness, morality, creativity, language, and art: these are the traits that make us human. Scientists have traditionally explained these qualities as merely a side effect of surplus brain size, but Miller argues that they were sexual attractors, not side effects. He bases his argument on Darwin's theory of sexual selection, which until now has played second fiddle to Darwin's theory of natural selection, and draws on ideas and research from a wide range of fields, including psychology, economics, history, and pop culture. Witty, powerfully argued, and continually thought-provoking, The Mating Mind is a landmark in our understanding of our own species.

    In place of sexual status quo, Warner offers a vision of true sexual autonomy that will forever change the way we think about sex, shame, and identity.

    Here s a book that digs deep and has the answers men are looking for the kind that actually work. While other books deal with the subject superficially, Sexual Idolatry goes right to the heart. It draws back the curtain and exposes how sexual sin corrupts the entire man, something Steve Gallagher understands, having lived in the bondage of it for over twelve years. Put an end to the mystery of lust and maximize God s power in your life with the proven answers that have helped thousands."

    Detailed and realistic information on improving self-image, partner-finding, sexual positions and activities, resources for toys and clothing and much more. "Big Big Love" is essential reading for women, men and transfolk... gays, bisexuals and heterosexuals... and anyone else who's ever been told that sex is only for the slender!

    Co-written by Mantak Chia, the foremost expert in the field of Taoist sexuality, and Rachel Carlton Abrams, M.D., a family practice physician specializing in holistic health and sexuality, The Multi-Orgasmic Couple combines ancient Eastern wisdom with Western knowledge to provide the sexual secrets that every couple needs to know.

    Throughout history, he observes, Christianity has moved towards ever greater openness and inclusiveness. Today's church is led by many of those who were once cast out: people of color, women, and divorced and remarried people. He argues that when we interpret the Bible through the lens of Jesus' redemptive life and ministry, we see that the church is called to grant equal rights to all people. Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality describes Rogers' own change of mind and heart on the issue; charts the church's well-documented history of using biblical passages to oppress marginalized groups; argues for a Christ-centered reading of Scripture; debunks oft-repeated stereotypes about gays and lesbians; and concludes with ideas for how the church can heal itself and move forward again. A fascinating combination of personal narrative, theology, and church history, this book is essential reading for all concerned with the future of the church and the health of the nation. "This is an extraordinary book, arguably the best to appear in the long, drawn-out debates within churches over homosexuality," says J. Philip Wogaman, former senior minister at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. "Rogers' book will be useful to people of ALL mainline denomination..." says the Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire. "For those who truly wish to know what the Bible does and does not say, this is a real find."

    Grounded in actual examples from Latin America, Marcella Althaus-Reid's highly provocative, but immaculately researched book reworks three distinct areas of theology - sexual, political and systematic. It exposes the connections between theology, sexuality and politics, whilst initiating a dramatic sexual rereading of systematic theology.Groundbreaking, intriguing and scholarly, Indecent Theology broadens the debate on sexuality and theology as never before.

    In this hands-on guide to getting it right, behavioral scientists Steve and Vera Bodansky describe how to give and receive remarkable orgasms, taking the experience of sex to a new level of enjoyment. Focusing primarily on women but addressing the needs of men as well, they cover anatomy in detail, address inhibitions and fears, suggest useful exercises, recommend the best positions, and most of all offer insightful advice for every technique covered. While the authors include emotional and psychological components of a relationship, they focus on how and where to touch a partner to produce the most pleasure. No matter how long a couple has been together, it's never too late - or too early - to greatly enhance sexual response.

    Included in this anthology are 121 poems by such poets as Marge Piercy, Emily Dickenson, Jelaluddin Rumi, Nikki Giovanni, Anne Sexton, Sharon Olds, Octavio Paz, Molly Peacock, Dorianne Laux, Jane Hirshfield, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Galway Kinnell, and W.S. Merwin, as well as dozens of lesser-known and unpublished poets.

    And each one of them is surrounded by a constellation of friends, lovers, parents, children and co-workers who may feel frightened, concerned, hurt or bewildered by lifestyles they don't understand.Now, for anyone who's ever overhead a conversation, glimpsed a toy, or been startled by a tattoo, there's When Someone You Love Is Kinky, a sympathetic and comprehensive handbook for helping you understand the behaviors and lifestyles of the people you care about. Therapist Dossie Easton and writer/sex educator Catherine A. Liszt team up once again to help allay your fears and uncertainties and build bridges of communication that will last a lifetime.

    Phillips explores how young women make sense of, resist, and negotiate conflicting cultural messages about sexual agency, responsibility, aggression, and desire. How do women develop their ideas about sex, love, and domination? Why do they express feminist views condemning male violence in the abstract, but often adamantly refuse to name their own violent and exploitive encounters as abuse, rape, or victimization?Based on in-depth individual and collective interviews with a racially and culturally diverse sample of college-aged women, Flirting with Danger sheds valuable light on the cultural lenses through which young women interpret their sexual encounters and their experiences of male aggression in heterosexual relationships.Phillips makes an important contribution to the fields of female and adolescent sexuality, feminist theory, and feminist method. The volume will also be of particular use to advocates seeking to design prevention and intervention programs which speak to the complex needs of women grappling with questions of sexuality and violence.

    Raising sexually healthy children requires that we master what Roffman identifies as five core parenting skills: we must affirm our children's emerging sexuality; provide accurate sexual information; demonstrate the connection between values and action; set safe and healthy limits; and provide constant and effective anticipatory guidance. Powerfully instructive on how to talk in ways that will be meaningful to kids, Sex and Sensibility will help parents confidently interpret and comfortably respond to virtually any question a child might pose or any situation that arises.

    Drawing on experiments, surveys, and interviews conducted in thirty-seven countries on six continents, as well as insights from recent discoveries in biology, anthropology, and psychology, Buss discovers that the evolutionary origins of our sexual desires still shape our passions today. According to Buss, more men than women want to have sex with multiple partners. Furthermore, women who cheat on their husbands do so when they are most likely to conceive, but have sex with their spouses when they are least likely to conceive. These findings show that evolutionary tendencies to acquire better genes through different partners still lurk beneath modern sexual behavior. To counteract these desires to stray -- and to strengthen the bonds between partners -- jealousy evolved as an early detection system of infidelity in the ancient and mysterious ritual of mating.Buss takes us on a fascinating journey through many cultures, from pre-historic to the present, to show the profound evolutionary effect jealousy has had on all of us. Only with a healthy balance of jealousy and trust can we be certain of a mate's commitment, devotion, and true love.

    In The Clitoral Truth, Chalker offers the only mainstream, in-depth exploration devoted solely to women's genital anatomy and sexual response. Women readers everywhere--be they straight, gay, or bisexual--will learn about the countless sexual sensations and discover how to enhance their sexual responses in a more concrete way than ever before. Enhanced with personal accounts, comprehensive illustrations, and a thorough appendix of female sexuality resources, this book helps women and their partners understand and expand their sexual potential and work toward becoming independent sexual beings.

    Come Hither is a frank, friendly guide on how to turn your secret fantasies into satisfying expressions of love and desire. The official resource guide for SM/fetish sex at the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, Come Hither proves that a little kink can be a lot of fun.

    Her psychological vision as a painter of people has been described as both tender and unforgiving. This full-scale examination of her life and work accompanies a traveling retrospective, organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art that celebrates the centennial of her birth and is the first major exhibition of her work since 1974.From deeply personal paintings of her own family and neighbors to arresting portraits of important New York art-world figures like Andy Warhol, Robert Smithson, and Frank O'Hara, the 75 paintings and watercolors presented in this book hover disconcertingly between intimacy and monumentality and have an unforgettable impact. This centennial salute will focus renewed attention on one of the preeminent American artists of the 20th century.

    In this classic volume of sexual learning, Anne Hooper creates a new classic that encourages an emphasis on pressure points, manners, artistic freedom, and most of all finding and pursuing a loving sexual relationship.

    From prostitution, pornography and drug abuse to the most notorious sex crimes, Soto's obsession with the darkest side of humanity is relentless and uncompromising.Intersected throughout with newspaper extracts reporting on and responding to sex crimes and related subjects (such as Myra, Marcus Harvey's controversial portrait at the recent 'Sensation' exhibition in London), Lazy not only presents an unsanitised account of pornographic excess and extreme sex, but through its frank delivery, it questions society's own, often hypocritical, fascination with these taboo subjects.

    Guido Crepax visualises the stories of De Sade's "Justine" and Pauline Reage's "O" being initiated into the worlds of submission, mistresses and masters.

    It is work whose erotic and emotional power remains unabated to this day. Lavishly illustrated with drawings and photographs, Dirty Pictures is a lively and entertaining book encompassing the rise of the gay movement, the world of fine art, and the function (and the functioning) of pornography. For the millions of fans of Tom's work throughout the world, as well as readers unfamiliar with his work, this study brings uncommon insight into Tom of Finland's decidedly uncommon work.

    The women in this book were told they'd be able to get on with their lives after abortion. But their lives would never be the same.Giving Sorrow Words includes the personal accounts of 18 women who had abortions and draws on the experiences of more than 200 others. These women share their stories of personal suffering and loss -- stories that have often gone unheard in a society eager to dismiss abortion-related trauma.Australian journalist and women's rights advocate Melinda Tankard Reist examines the experiences of women, including the lack of resources and support, the misinformation and lack of informed consent, and the intension pressure and coercion often applied by partners, parents and society in general to force women into unwanted abortions.

    McElvaine has broken ranks with his fellow historians and answered the call made by E.O. Wilson in Consilience, that humanistic scholars must begin to draw upon the natural sciences in order to fully understand the human condition. Bridging the gap between evolutionary biology and cultural history, McElvaine has created what he calls a biohistory. He begins with the assertion, by no means accepted by most historians, that history must begin with an understanding of the evolutionary heritage we carried out of the Stone Age, and that the time before writing, usually dismissed by historians as prehistory, saw the development of forces that have shaped the entire course of human history.

    Gray Temple bases his discussion on the Anglican concept of discerning the will of God through Scripture, Tradition, and Reason.In the argument from Scripture, Gray Temple's basic premise is that we cannot presume to know what the Bible says to us if we do not understand what the biblical writers thought they were saying. He discusses the ways in which the concept of sexuality in the minds of biblical writers was very different than ours. He carefully analyzes the most often-cited biblical passages assumed to prohibit homosexual activity and shows why they are not saying what we think they are saying.In the argument from Tradition, Gray analyzes the roots of various traditions coming to the conclusion that traditions generally evolve to maintain privilege. Tradition has been used, for example to bar women from ordination. We are veering dangerously away from the Anglican tradition of the via media.In the argument from Reason, he presents answers to assumptions about homosexuality both from an impassioned liberal stance and from a stance designed to lead to a dialogue engaging the hopes and fears of the conservative and liberal sides.As a liberal charismatic who prayerfully came to the conclusion that his homophobia was not a stance favored by God, Temple is in a unique position to take on this topic. Gray Temple deeply understands the ethos of conservatism and his understanding of that ethos provokes him to engage conservative arguments with rigor and sympathy.

    Impure, soaked with all bodily liquids, pierced by clear recognition of death, wide opened with the power of love—living as love—in any moment of daily life. If you do not choose to be a hermit, if you want to practice awakening within relationships, in the realm where sex and death are such powerful momentums—you'd better read this book, and not only once."—Rabbi Ohad Ezrahi, author of Paths of EmpowermentMeet Mykonos, both scurrilous madman and the voice of truth. Wild Nights presents David Deida's remarkable account of his days with the unconventional teacher who revealed to him the deeper wisdom of the erotic path to the divine.From our very first encounter to the "burden of bliss" that is his parting gift, Mykonos challenges our understanding of what makes a spiritual life. Brutally candid, he offers his teaching to anyone ready to listen, with an uncanny ability to see into the hearts and minds of his students better than they can their own. Charged with provocative scenes of unbridled passion and play, Wild Nights explodes with spiritual insights into our choice to "open as love, or close and suffer"; yogic sexual techniques including circular breathing and expanding feeling beyond the self and into the heart of a lover; and why, for some, full sexual expression is a requirement of spiritual maturation.For its honest depiction of the spiritual teacher and student relationship—and the questions it demands we ask about our own sexuality—Wild Nights proclaims David Deida a guiding light in the often cloudy realm of sex and spirit.

    With the same grim beauty as John Rechy’s “City of Night” and Jean Genet’s “The Thief’s Journal,” this novel traces the arabesques of acrid smoke and loneliness wound around the dim world of hustlers and johns, of porn theaters and crumbling hotel rooms. "Between Dances," an early work by Erasmo Guerra, received a Lambda Literary Award in 2000 and was reissued in a second edition. Praise for "Between Dances" “I was drawn to this book with its plot about a young Latino ‘thang’ trying to survive in New York by dancing in sleazy strip joints. What a kick to read about New York City from the point of view of a gay Tejano. The protagonist, Marco, is a Tex-Mex Holly Golightly—part hustler, part hopeless romantic.” —Sandra Cisneros, author of “The House on Mango Street” “Between Dances is a novel about looking for light in the shadows and holding onto hope in the face of despair.” —The Bloomsbury Review “[Guerra’s] writing is beautifully rendered . . . Between Dances is an impressive debut. It is safe to assume that we can expect further greatness from Erasmo Guerra.” –Lambda Book Report “. . . distinguished by a writing style that is as lavish and beautiful as the world it describes is bleak and harsh.” —Southern Voice

    He has been a sex educator, counselor, and writer for 30 years, including 5 years as the expert who answered the sex questions submitted to the Playboy Advisor. Written with the help of an advisory board that includes some of the nation's leading sex therapists, Great Sex is certain to help you overcome your sex problems; become a better, more confident lover; and enjoy the sex of your dreams.Castleman's message is surprisingly simple: Stop imitating the rushed, all-genital sex you see in pornography. Instead, cultivate the opposite: leisurely, playful, total-body, massage-based lovemaking that includes the genitals, of course, but is not focused on them.Sex inspired by pornography is a major reason why men think their penises are too small and why they have erection and ejaculatory problems. With wit, wisdom, and down-to-earth sympathy for men, Castleman discusses his own penis--like yours, it's a little too small--and his own struggles with balky erections, rapid ejaculation, and not expressing orgasm at all. Then, based on state-of-the-art sex therapy techniques, leading sexology texts, and almost 400 medical journal articles, he reveals how to overcome these issues and enjoy a satisfying and exciting sex life.What's more, the sexual style Castleman advocates is the way most women prefer to make love. Take Castleman's advice and you'll benefit by having a lover who is more arousable, responsive, enthusiastic, and complimentary. In other words, when you embrace sensual, creative, whole-body lovemaking, everybody wins. You have fewer sex problems. The woman you love gets what she wants in bed. And you both enjoy sex that's hotter, more erotic, and more fulfilling.

    He created much of his best work while suffering from tuberculosis. The most tragic of his generation, his life is a story of doomed love and adversity. Adams explores how the poet's strange delights and sexual excesses were worked into his lyrical verse.

    A sealed water dragon and a blind man living at a monastery find what they need from each other...This is a side-story to 'Yami ni Tooboe, Mune ni Toge'.

    Each of the five equality issues of gender, race, sexuality, disability and social class are covered as areas in their own right, and in relation to education. Written by experts in each particular field, the chapters trace the history of the various issues up to the present and enable readers to assess their continuing relevance in the future.With a new preface written by leading educationist Peter McLaren, the substantially updated second edition of this comprehensive book provides an important educational perspective on world-wide equality issues for teachers and student teachers at all stages.

    Written by best-selling sex therapist, Anne Hooper this book is full of original ideas to excite the imagination and increase the sexual repertoire.

    For over three decades Gatewood has been photographing alternative lifestyles, beginning in the late sixties to the tattooed, pierced, SM fetish freaks of today. With the intensity of someone living the life right beside his subjects, Gatewood documented the changes in America, in western society. The radical discovery encoded in his photographs? That after the upheavals, dictatorships and revolutions, humans have returned to their roots. In Gatewood's photos, the individual reigns, the remains when there's nothing left but self. As realities, as documents, as works of art, Charles Gatewood s photos are snippets of the human condition -not dark, but on the trail of life.

    When Califia opens the doors to his imagination, there is no predicting what might spill out: A submissive female android turns the tables on her abusive master in the very funny and nasty "Dolly", Little Red Riding Hood gets a millennial makeover and two 1950s teens discover the front seat of the car is a lot more fun than Your Hit Parade. Continuing the boundary smashing tradition of Macho Sluts and Melting Point, No Mercy is leather-flavored fiction without a safeword -- smart, challenging, intellectual, funny, transgressive, and hotter than the gates of hell. For her legions of fans who have been panting for more, Pat Califia is back with a vengeance!

    In an effort to move away from the divisive frameworks in feminist disputes over pornography, this volume seeks to understand what pornography means to those who consume it, fight against it, and work within it. By opening up a space for divergent points of view to address the complexity of sexual material, this book seeks to forge solidarity among academics, activists, and sex workers from diverse social and political contexts. Feminism and Pornography explores a wide range of contentious issues, including how the meaning of pornography is shaped by changing historical and political realities; the role law should play, if any, in the sex industry; whether union organizing can change the working conditions in the sex industry; and how sexually explicit literature, videos, art, and music can promote sexual freedom. Contributors include such influential writers as Alice Walker, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Catherine MacKinnon, and Andrea Dworkin.

    How useful are these terms? What exactly do they mean? And how is our sense of these terms changing under the pressure of feminist analysis? In Doing Time, Rita Felski argues that it makes little sense to think of the modern and postmodern as opposing or antithetical terms. Rather, we need a historical perspective that is attuned to cultural and political differences within the same time as well as the leaky boundaries between different times. Neither the modern nor the postmodern are unified, coherent, or self-evident realities. Drawing on cultural studies and critical theory, Felski examines a range of themes central to debates about postmodern culture, including changing meanings of class, the end of history, the status of art and aesthetics, postmodernism as the end of sex, and the politics of popular culture. Placing women at the center of analysis, she suggests, has a profound impact on the way we thing about historical periods. As a result, feminist theory is helping to reshape our vision of both the modern and the postmodern.

    The book provides readers with: enhanced knowledge of their own and their partners' beliefs, values, habits, desires, goals, likes, and dislikes; ideas for opening communication and deepening a relationship; skills for making healthy decisions about lifestyles and boundaries; an in-depth understanding of the role of self-esteem in relationships; increased ability to let go of the past and embrace the present; and the knowledge that it is important not only to choose the right partner, but also to be the right partner. What distinguishes Intellectual Foreplay from similar titles is that it includes guidelines on what to do with the answers it gives. This makes it useful in both creating and sustaining a relationship.

    Destined to capture our national consciousness and change the sex life and sexual attitude of America's men and women forevermore.Nature's Secret to Greatest Sex Ever! This landmark book is a must-read for every man and woman.If you are a man, it will improve your sex life immensely-not simply an enhancement-but a profound enrichment. Not just more of the same. But NEW sensations, BETTER sensations, awakening you to sensual delights beyond your highest expectations. At the same time, it offers a newfound explanation and solution for the sexual dysfunctions you may be experiencing.If you are a woman, you, too, have much to look forward to, for it brings the promise of greater overall happiness between the sheets, and pages, of your life. Gentler sex, more sensuous sex, more satisfying sex, increased attainment of orgasm from intercourse, can be yours-giving you new insight into the joy that lovemaking can bring when nature is on your side. At the same time, it will give you a new perspective on the role sexual fulfillment-true sexual fulfillment-plays in the overall well-being of your relationship.How can the book make such a prodigious promise?By revealing a sexual truth of nature-a truth of nature so elemental and yet so enabling, it will not only bring you and your partner a more fulfilling sex life, but, in the process, will reach into the very heart of your relationship and bring a deeper meaning to the word "love."Discusses sex, love, and relationship happiness from a new and surprising perspective: How does surgical alteration of the penis in infancy (circumcision) affect the sexuality of a man when he becomes an adult? How does the circumcised penis affect the sexual pleasure of the woman on the receiving end? And how does sexual pleasure during intercourse-or a deficiency-affect the love bond of the relationship?This landmark book is the first to detail the many sexual functions and benefits of the male foreskin for both the man and his female partner.Presents unequivocal evidence that the foreskin plays a multifaceted role during intercourse that not only promotes increased sexual pleasure, but this enhanced pleasure also serves to enrich and continually re-cement the love bond, borne from sexual union.Circumcision's removal of the foreskin (ultra-erogenous tissue and the penis's only moving part) not only diminishes the man's sexual pleasure, but also the woman's. A national survey of women, conducted by the author, reveals that circumcision abnormalizes the way the penis thrusts and feels to a woman, significantly diminishing her sexual enjoyment and her ability to achieve orgasm from intercourse.The book's explanations of the profound negative effects circumcision has on the intercourse experience of both partners will surely leave America stunned. But luckily, there is a bright side to this shocking news: It is now possible to restore the foreskin through various non-surgical techniques. The book addresses this topic and enwraps the emerging movement for foreskin restoration with hope, promise, and dignity.

    Among the issues covered are gender politics, sexual symbolism and religious ecstasy, and their role in religions as diverse as Christianity and Tibetan Buddhism. Featuring essays by such distinguished thinkers as Arvind Sharma, Karen Lebacqz, Julius Lipner, Karen Jo Torjesen and Carter Heyward, this new collection combines classic sources of text and tradition with innovative ideas and modes of thought, creating a detailed but accessible study. This clear and concise book will challenge the reader to think creatively about both past and present concepts of sexuality, relationships and the role of women in the world faiths. It should be of interest to students, scholars and the interested general reader alike.

    Launched by a powerhouse trio of editors -- Bill Brent and Carol Queen (each widely respected author, as well) -- this will be one of the year's hottest, most innovative and most powerful erotic anthologies. Its crossover appeal will sell to straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and fetish audiences -- in short, anyone literate with a libido.In the tradition of other best-selling "best of" series, Best Bisexual Erotica will mix the cream of the previously published crop with all new stories with a bi-flavored tingle. The stories in Best Bisexual Erotica reflect the tremendous breadth and diversity of the bisexual world, using erotica as a means to explore what it means to be bisexual. Visibility, acceptance, identity, polyfidelity, and expanding one's sexuality -- concerns common to people of all orientations -- will be explored with a fresh and unique bisexual perspective.

    His hilarious, bitchy and moving commentary was chronicled in a three-year series of letters to his longtime friend back home. Sal's observations on the collared and the buffed, the spankers and the slaves, the warped and the wonderful of the Gay Mecca make an unforgettable read -- and outrageous illustrations by award-winning cartoonist Phil Foglio provide the perfect counterpoint."In his three years living in San Francisco, Sal manages more sex than a Parisian whore, more laughs than a Barnum & Bailey clown, and more therapy than someone flying over the cuckoo's nest. His book is honest, exposing a warm, frustrated, gregarious, loving, lonesome, horny, and pushy bottom. Sal is a bitch, a drama queen, a macho sexual player, a masochist, an angry man with AIDS, and a dedicated friend... Love, Sal is also a rare view of life in the big City by the Bay, and a rarer view of what real Leather folk think, how they act, and what they feel." -- Jack Rinella, author, The Master's Manual.

    Shifts in official treatment of charges of adultery, rape, sodomy, widow chastity, and prostitution represented the imperial state's efforts to cope with disturbing social and demographic changes. The aim was to defend the peasant family against a swelling underclass of single, rogue males outside the family system who were demonized as sexual threats to the wives and daughters (and the young sons) of respectable households. The testimony, gleaned from local and central court archives, of such marginalized people as peasants, labourers, and beggars shows how people excluded from accepted patterns of marriage and household bonded with each other in unorthodox ways (combining sexual union with resource pooling and fictive kinship) to satisfy a range of human needs.

    In this three-in-one book, couples will find the broadest range of creative ideas and resources available in any Tantric guide.

    Jeffrey John discusses the issue of Christian homosexual relationships, offering cogent moral and theological arguments for the acceptance of faithful, committed, same-sex partnerships within the Church.

    Here, in this idyllic, remote setting, an annual retreat takes place: a week of camp fires, communal bonding, and gender bending. Pickett's photographs span six years of these summer gatherings, at which people from across the country join together as friends and family. This group forms a circle of souls, individuals seeking to find their place in a culture that seems to prize individuality but frequently distrusts those who are different. As the book relates through interviews with participants of the gatherings, the faerie community provides for much more than a frolic in the woods. It has become a stabilizing support network--a new radical means of extended family. Pickett's elegant black-and-white images are intimate records of the spiritual exploration and the unique closeness found far away from everyday life. Her photographs convey comfort and comedy, solace and joy, exuberance and contemplation. The surprising sight of men in drag against the backdrop of a forest lends the volume an unusual visual drama. She captures the poignant gesture of an embrace, the naturalness and beauty of naked bodies, and a gleefully chaotic abundance of fancy frocks. Through these details "Faeries" reveals the cautious and joyful evolution of a community with members across the United States. An extended text, transcribed and edited from conversations with members of the faeries, accompanies thephotographs. In their own words, they discuss friendship, the process of coming out, magic, religion, and ritual. The voices speak of self-discovery, personal growth, and a sought-after sense of safety--themes gracefully and effectively echoed by Pickett's classically beautiful and often humorous photographs.

    With contributions from some of the most important current feminist thinkers, Transformations traces both the shifts in thinking that have allowed feminism to arrive at its present point, and the way that feminist agendas have progressed in line with wider social developments.A thorough reassessment of feminism's place in contemporary life, the authors engage in current debates as diverse as globalization, technoscience, embodiment and performativity, taking feminism in fresh directions, mapping new territory and suggesting alternative possibilities.