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Sex Matters: The Sexuality and Society Reader
Mindy Stombler - 2003
This anthology of almost 70 readings--from contemporary scholarly literature, trade books, popular media, as well as contributed articles-- examines the many ways in which human sexuality is socially constructed and regulated behavior, and how it is studied by social scientists.
Whores and Other Feminists
Jill Nagle - 1997
Comprising a range of voices from both within and outside the academy, this collection draws from traditional feminisms, postmodern feminism, queer theory, and sex radicalism. It stretches the boundaries of contemporary feminism, holding accountable both traditional feminism for stigmatizing sex workers, and also the sex industry for its sexist practices.
Celebrating it All
Livia Grant - 2021
Black Light is nothing like the Punishment Pit, but this exclusive club has something Lukus might need to take back to Chicago, and if he gets to use his lovely wife as a test subject, well that only makes it more fun. And just how much trouble can one bad boy Dom get into on his pit stop in L.A.?
My Dangerous Desires: A Queer Girl Dreaming Her Way Home
Amber L. Hollibaugh - 2000
Hollibaugh is a lesbian sex radical, ex-hooker, incest survivor, gypsy child, poor-white-trash, high femme dyke. She is also an award-winning filmmaker, feminist, Left political organizer, public speaker, and journalist. My Dangerous Desires presents over twenty years of Hollibaugh’s writing, an introduction written especially for this book, and five new essays including “A Queer Girl Dreaming Her Way Home,” “My Dangerous Desires,” and “Sexuality, Labor, and the New Trade Unionism.” In looking at themes such as the relationship between activism and desire or how sexuality can be intimately tied to one’s class identity, Hollibaugh fiercely and fearlessly analyzes her own political development as a response to her unique personal history. She explores the concept of labeling and the associated issues of categories such as butch or femme, transgender, bisexual, top or bottom, drag queen, b-girl, or drag king. The volume includes conversations with other writers, such as Deirdre English, Gayle Rubin, Jewelle Gomez, and Cherríe Moraga. From the groundbreaking article “What We’re Rollin’ Around in Bed With” to the radical “Sex Work Notes: Some Tensions of a Former Whore and a Practicing Feminist,” Hollibaugh charges ahead to describe her reality, never flinching from the truth. Dorothy Allison’s moving foreword pays tribute to a life lived in struggle by a working-class lesbian who, like herself, refuses to suppress her dangerous desires. Having informed many of the debates that have become central to gay and lesbian activism, Hollibaugh’s work challenges her readers to speak, write, and record their desires—especially, perhaps, the most dangerous of them—“in order for us all to survive.”
Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality
Anne Fausto-Sterling - 2000
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.
Seven Deadly Sins
Laura Cooper - 2013
New York was a long way away from Charleston, and for a recent graduate from the Charleston School of Law, a high powered New York law firm was the perfect way to pad her resume. But more importantly, it was away from him.It’s not that she didn’t love him. No, love was never the problem. Benton Frazier gave her the firm and controlling hand she’d grown so used to having. The only real problem was that her lover, her master, her best friend just couldn’t be monogamous.Liz could have easily taken a local job offer in Charleston. However, since her brother waited for her to graduate, it was now his time to pursue his fashion career, and what better place than New York City. Now that her parents were gone, Palmer was all she had. Everything seemed to be falling into place… until she met Carlton. And now, all she can think about is him.Carlton was dreamy. Handsome, rugged, and well dressed. Deep brown eyes the color of chocolate, and the silken voice with a hint of an English accent that simply drove her crazy. Most importantly, Carlton had it all; a partner in a prestigious law firm, old family money that left nothing out of reach. He was perfect. But even this perfect man came with baggage.Follow Liz as she navigates through the Seven Deadly Sins. Is Benton out of her life for good? Can Carlton’s past not get in the way of their future? Where will her heart take her?Excerpt-I bent low to pick it up when a thick hand appeared in my vision in front of me, grabbing the hair band just before my fingers touched it. “Here you go.” My mind registered the voice instantly. The smooth English accent made my skin flush. Thick, muscular hands held my hair band in front of me. I looked up suddenly, my face now level with his crotch where I couldn’t help notice the bulge there, even through the Amosu slacks that covered it. “Thank you,” I moaned as I carefully studied the hair band in his outstretched palm. I hesitated to touch him again; the memory of the feel of his hand yesterday warned me. With the delicacy of a bird I pecked it from his hand.“You’re welcome Liz, are you ready to start your first day?”I frowned, how did he know it was my first day? “Yes, I am,” I flustered. “Do you work here too?”He laughed as he towered over me, “As a matter of fact I do!” Again his mammoth size and deep, dark appearance sent shivers through my blood. There was a foreboding that came with this man; it screamed to me to stay as far away from him as possible. He no longer donned the casual attitude that he’d worn yesterday. His suit alone cost more than my entire education. It was black pin stripe affair, and beneath it a starched white button down complimented a red power tie. Black leather Italian made shoes that were large enough to be used as flotation devices matched the belt that accented his waist. Clearly fashion wasn’t something he ignored; Palmer would have an absolute fit to see his suit!With my hair back into some sort of control I stood and shoved my tennis shoes into my bag. Standing in front of him I smiled politely, “Well, it’s good to see you again Carlton.” I walked away from him towards the bank of turnstiles and elevators, flashing my badge at the security guards as I passed them. The elevator doors opened and I filed inside along with twenty of my new co-workers. Carlton was the last person to climb aboard before the doors closed.
Epistemology of the Closet
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick - 1990
What is at stake in male homo/heterosexual definition? Through readings of Melville, Nietzsche, Wilde, James and Proust, the author argues that the vexed imperatives to specify straight and gay identities have become central to every important form of knowledge of the 20th century.
In the Dream House
Carmen Maria Machado - 2019
In this extraordinarily candid and radically inventive memoir, Machado tackles a dark and difficult subject with wit, inventiveness and an inquiring spirit, as she uses a series of narrative tropes—including classic horror themes—to create an entirely unique piece of work which is destined to become an instant classic.
Prisoner of X: 20 Years in the Hole at Hustler Magazine
Allan MacDonell - 2006
Here’s the inside story of running America’s most influential porn domain.A professional career of evaluating countless skin photos, taking XXX field trips, mastering “fully erect” film criticism and enduring creepy interoffice schemers suddenly launches MacDonell into national politics when Larry Flynt opens his wallet to impact the impeachment proceedings against President William Jefferson Clinton. MacDonell reveals the backside of his prominent role in tricking right-wing Speaker-elect Bob Livingston into resigning from Congress.Prisoner of X is a wildly entertaining memoir about life climbing the bent and fearsome masthead of an infamous magazine, and the bittersweet reward of publicly crossing its hillbilly Caesar.Aside from being the most prolific writer in the history of Larry Flynt Publications, Allan MacDonell contributed to the archetypal punk magazine Slash and the underground anthology Apocalypse Culture. Freelance pieces have appeared in venues as diverse as Gambling Times magazine, MrSkin.com and the L.A. Weekly. Mr. MacDonell lives in California's Hollywood Hills with two dogs, his wife Theresa, and a clear conscience.
Confessions of a Pickup Artist Chaser
Clarisse Thorn - 2012
Within the last ten years, these underground "pickup artists" have burst into the popular consciousness, aided by Neil Strauss’s bestselling book "The Game" and VH1’s hit reality show "The Pick-Up Artist."Some men in the seduction community are sleazy misogynists who want nothing more than power and control. Some are shy wallflowers who don't know how to say hi to a girl. The one thing they all have in common is a driving need to attract women.Clarisse Thorn, a feminist S&M writer and activist, spent years researching these guys. She observed their discussions, watched them in action, and learned their strategies. By the end of it all, she'd given a lecture at a seduction convention and decided against becoming the next great dating coach. In "Confessions of a Pickup Artist Chaser," Clarisse tells the story of her time among these Casanovas, as well as her own unorthodox experiences with sex and relationships. She examines the conflicts and harmonies of feminism, pickup artistry, and the S&M community. Most of all, she deconstructs and reconstructs our views on sex, love, and ethics — and develops her own grand theory of the game.
Holy Sex: Song of Solomon
Michael Pearl - 2002
God created his children as sexual opposites, and designed marriage to be the context of erotic pleasure. While the church has been mostly silent on the subject of sex, the world and the devil have attempted to make it their domain. The church has rightly proclaimed the biblical prohibitions on the misuse of sex, but it has failed to speak out on the godliness of erotic pleasure in the context of marriage. Out of the 66 books composing the Bible, one whole book is dedicated to promoting erotic pleasure—the Song of Solomon. Michael Pearl takes his readers through a refreshing journey of the Biblical texts. This sanctifying look at the most powerful passion God ever created will free the reader from false guilt and inhibition. Michael Pearl says, “It is time for Christian couples to take back this sacred ground and enjoy the holy gift of sexual pleasure.” This material is intended for mature audiences. Don’t read this book unless you are married, have definite plans to be married in the next few weeks, or are an older teenager whose parents have first read it and approve of you doing so. If you don’t think God meant for sex to be fun, this book is definitely for you!
The Argonauts
Maggie Nelson - 2015
At its center is a romance: the story of the author's relationship with the artist Harry Dodge. This story, which includes Nelson's account of falling in love with Dodge, who is fluidly gendered, as well as her journey to and through a pregnancy, offers a firsthand account of the complexities and joys of (queer) family-making.Writing in the spirit of public intellectuals such as Susan Sontag and Roland Barthes, Nelson binds her personal experience to a rigorous exploration of what iconic theorists have said about sexuality, gender, and the vexed institutions of marriage and child-rearing. Nelson's insistence on radical individual freedom and the value of caretaking becomes the rallying cry of this thoughtful, unabashed, uncompromising book.
Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity
Judith Butler - 1989
This is the text where Judith Butler began to advance the ideas that would go on to take life as "performativity theory," as well as some of the first articulations of the possibility for subversive gender practices, and she writes in her preface to the 10th anniversary edition released in 1999 that one point of Gender Trouble was "not to prescribe a new gendered way of life [...] but to open up the field of possibility for gender [...]" Widely taught, and widely debated, Gender Trouble continues to offer a powerful critique of heteronormativity and of the function of gender in the modern world.
Sexuality Now: Embracing Diversity
Janell L. Carroll - 2004
Janell Carroll clearly conveys foundational biological and health issues, extensively cites both current and classic research, and addresses all material in a fresh and fun way; her book helps teach students what they need, and want, to know about sexuality. Her focus takes into account the social, religious, ethnic, racial, and cultural contexts of today's students. Dr. Carroll has used feedback from the first edition to add even further value to this popular title-streamlining student pedagogy and providing dynamic learning opportunities through Active Summaries at the end of chapters, a new online student tutorial, new video components, and content for Classroom Response Systems. This continues to be the text most representative of today's students, incorporating new sexual position art, a new pronunciation guide, and (for instructors) a new cross-cultural Slang Guide.