We're living, once again, in the era of artistic repression, and here's the thing about that - repression never actually cleanses, it just curdles and simmers and finds ways to leak and bleed its way out again. It seems that every generation invents new ways to convince itself that it’s protecting innocence, and every generation … Continue reading The Discipline of Desire: How Moral Codes Keep Making Filth
Category: Queerness
Queer Book Bans: What’s Really Happening When Queer Books Get Labeled “Pornography”
Over the last few years, you may have heard that libraries and schools across the U.S. are removing “pornography” from shelves, especially books that children or teens might access. That framing sounds reasonable at first. Most people agree that libraries shouldn’t hand explicit adult material to kids. But when you look more closely at which … Continue reading Queer Book Bans: What’s Really Happening When Queer Books Get Labeled “Pornography”
Queer people have always found each other
Queer people have always existed. In every era, in every culture, even when the world around us refused to see it, we’ve been here. And wherever queer life was forced underground, queer language finds a way to surface. Sometimes it’s in coded gestures or private diaries. Sometimes in poems, letters, or novels that seemed innocent … Continue reading Queer people have always found each other
Whitman’s Gospel of the Body: Queer, Democratic, and Sacred Flesh
I’ve been rereading Walt Whitman recently. He’s a good autumn read – heavy nature imagery and blatant queer joy, which is what I tend to crave this time of year. I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked,I am mad for it to be in contact with me. Walt … Continue reading Whitman’s Gospel of the Body: Queer, Democratic, and Sacred Flesh
Notes in the Margins 