In Praise of Queer Feminist Porn
Like it or not, porn is where most Americans learn about sex. The ubiquity of free pornography on the internet has made it easier than ever to watch strangers having sex. And because of abstinence only education, sex-shaming parents and politicians, when people want real answers about sex, there's no where else to turn but the google search box. Then queer feminist pornography stepped onto the scene. A movement spearheaded by people like Tristan Taormino & Shine-Louis Houston (and whose path was paved by sex-positive feminists like Betty Dodson, Pat Califa, Dossie Easton, Annie Sprinkle [nsfw-ish], and many, often unsung others), queer feminist porn sought real portrayals of pleasure with women and trans-people of all body types, ethnicities, ages, and proclivities. Suddenly, it became possible to see people who looked like you doing things you liked to do (or wanted to try) and enjoying it.
Read MoreI Hate Women Who Hate Women (or Henry Miller is just alright with me)
Henry Miller's misogyny is the kind of Wall Street honchos who hire pro-doms on the weekends to knowingly give their hubris a wicked and necessary dose of humility. Thus, Miller and his cohorts get a pass from me. Carrie Bradshaw can die in a fire, as far as I'm concerned, because she is NOT in on the joke. She doesn't see her cultural vapidity, her insipid desires, and her deference to class markers and antiquated beauty standards as products of the patriarchy, not a repudiation of it.
Read MoreMeet the Beavers
I'll be gone next week, off to play in the dust with about 40,000 other folks. Yep, it's Burning Man, and yep, it's awesome. This will be my fourth foray into the intense, insane, trying and magical experience in the third largest city in Nevada. Why I go is a complicated question that is really best answered over cheap beers in a dark and cozy bar on the edge of nowhere. But the easy answer is that I go for authenticity- to witness the beauty of people expressing themselves in whatever way is most confronting and enticing, to be a part of the exploration of identity and personal freedom.
Read MoreCall Me Queer
Queer, by its very definition, is a word for the fringe. It represents the "off," the strange, the not-quite-anything. Queer is both an adjective and a verb. To queer something means to skew it, recontextualize it, or remediate it. Sometimes this means to apply a strictly queer sexual context to something, as in "queering art" by laying over a canon a queer sensibility (such as skewed gender roles, homo-eroticism, or kink, for instance). Sometimes, it means taking something out of context so that its essence can be better understood. Thus, queer is both an addition and a subtraction, inclusive and exclusive.
Read MoreGender Theater
Gendered traits are completely arbitrary, yet we are sold them as if they are real things. Once you start getting clued into the sheer ridiculousness of gender, you start to see it everywhere.
Read MoreLunatic Fringe On Sale Now
Crash Pad Series
QueerPorn.Tv
Babeland
