A Queer and Pleasant Danger


Book Description

The inspiring true story of a nice Jewish boy who left the Church of Scientology to become the lovely lady she is today In the early 1970s, a boy from a Conservative Jewish family joined the Church of Scientology. In 1981, that boy officially left the movement and ultimately transitioned into a woman. A few years later, she stopped calling herself a woman--and became a famous gender outlaw. Gender theorist, performance artist, and author Kate Bornstein is set to change lives with her stunningly original memoir. Wickedly funny and disarmingly honest, this is Bornstein's most intimate book yet, encompassing her early childhood and adolescence, college at Brown, a life in the theater, three marriages and fatherhood, the Scientology hierarchy, transsexual life, LGBTQ politics, and life on the road as a sought-after speaker.




Queer and Pleasant Danger


Book Description

"Louise Rafkin gives us characters (both fictional and not-so-fictional) who encounter life's Big Questions in places made odd by thier familiarity: in front seats of Valiants and old Volvos, among the obits and wedding notices in the daily paper, in the visitors' trailer at Soledad, at a slumber party strip tease, at flea markets and in thrift stores, amidst the Harley Davidson Rodeo and Roundup at Mount Rushmore..." -- Publisher's description.




Fifty Key Figures in Queer US Theatre


Book Description

Whether creating Broadway musicals, experimental dramas, or outrageous comedies, the performers, directors, playwrights, designers, and producers profiled in this collection have contributed to the representation of LGBTQ lives and culture in a variety of theatrical venues, both within the queer community and across the US theatrical landscape. Moving from the era of the Stonewall Riots to today, notable scholars in the field bring a wide variety of queer theatre artists into conversation with each other, exploring connections and differences in race, gender, physical ability, national origin, class, generation, aesthetic modes, and political goals, creating a diverse and inclusive study of 50 years of queer theatre. For readers seeking an introduction to or a deeper understanding of LGBTQ theatre, this volume offers thought-provoking analyses of theatre-makers both celebrated and lesser-known, mainstream and subversive, canonical and new.




Handbook of Scientology


Book Description

The Handbook of Scientology brings together a collection of fresh studies of the most persistently controversial of all contemporary New Religions. In recent years, increasing scholarly attention has been directed at the Church of Scientology, resulting in a small tsunami of new scholarship. We have finally reached a point in time where a book on Scientology need not restrict itself to basics. Thus, for example, the historical chapters in the present volume are not really aimed at providing elementary facts on Scientology’s background, but, rather, focus on understanding how the Church of Scientology developed over the years. In short, the Handbook of Scientology will provide a wealth of new information on a topic that one might otherwise have thought exhausted. Contributors are Matthew Charet, Dorthe Refslund Christensen, Carole M. Cusack, Bernard Doherty, Marco Frenschkowski, Liselotte Frisk, Kjersti Hellesøy, Don Jolly, James R. Lewis, Renee Lockwood, András Máté-Tóth, Gábor Dániel Nagy, Johanna Petsche, Erin Prophet, Susan Raine, David G. Robertson, Mikael Rothstein, Lisbeth Tuxin Rubin, Nicole S. Ruskell, Shannon Trosper Schorey, Michelle Swainson, Inga Bårdsen Tøllefsen, Hugh G. Urban, Donald A. Westbrook, and Benjamin Zeller.




Fight Like a Girl


Book Description

Nearly every day there's another news story or pop cultural anecdote related to feminism and women's rights. #YesAllWomen, conversations around consent, equal pay, access to contraception, and a host of other issues are foremost topics of conversation in American (and worldwide) media right now. Today's teens are encountering these issues from a different perspective than any generation has had before, but what's often missing from the current discussion is an understanding of how we've gotten to this place. Fight Like a Girl will familiarize readers with the history of feminist activism, in an effort to celebrate those who paved the way and draw attention to those who are working hard to further the cause of women's rights. Profiles of both famous and lesser-known feminists will be featured alongside descriptions of how their actions affected the overall feminist cause, and unique portraits (artist's renderings) of the feminists themselves. This artistic addition will take the book beyond simply an informational text, and make it a treasure of a book.




Interrogating the Use of LGBTQ Slurs


Book Description

Interrogating the Use of LGBTQ Slurs: Still Smearing the Queer? provides a critical exploration of LGBTQ slurs through its innovative focus on hetero-cis-normativity and Norm-Centered Stigma Theory (NCST), the first-ever testable theory about stigma. Based on research with more than 3,000 respondents, the ways gender/sexuality norm-violators are stigmatized and disciplined as “others” through asserting and affirming one’s own social power are highlighted alongside other unique elements of slur use (joking and bonding). Through its fresh and in-depth approach, this book is the ideal resource for those who want to learn about LGBTQ slurs more generally and for those who seek a nuanced, theory-driven, and intersectional examination of how these LGBTQ prejudices function. In doing so, it is the most comprehensive scholarly resource to date that critically examines the use of LGBTQ slurs and thus, has the potential to have broad impacts on society at large by helping to improve the LGBTQ cultural climate. Interrogating the use of LGBTQ Slurs: Still Smearing the Queer? is important reading for scholars and students in the fields of LGBTQ studies, Gender Studies, Criminology, and Sociology.




Encyclopedia of Sex and Sexuality [2 volumes]


Book Description

Providing a comprehensive framework for the broad subject of human sexuality, this two-volume set offers a context of historical development, scientific discovery, and sociopolitical and sociocultural movements. The broad topic of sex—encompassing subjects as varied as sexuality, sexual and gender identity, abortion, and such crimes as sexual assault—is one of the most controversial in American society today. This two-volume encyclopedic set provides readers with more than 450 entries on the subject, offering a comprehensive overview of major sexuality issues in American and global culture. Themes that run throughout the volumes include sexual health and reproduction, sexual identity and orientation, sexual behaviors and expression, the history of sex and sexology, and sex and society. Entries cover a breadth of subjects, such as the major contributors to the field of sexology; the biological, psychological, and cultural dimensions of sex and sexuality; and how the modern-day political climate and the government play a major role in determining attitudes and beliefs about sex. Written in clear, jargon-free language, this set is ideal for students as well as general readers.




Nonbinary Gender Identities


Book Description

Nonbinary gender identities are those that fall outside the traditional binary of “man” and “woman.” These include genderfluid, androgynous, genderqueer, and a multitude of other identity terms, some of which overlap. Although there have always been people who identify outside the gender binary, only recently have they gained popular media attention. Despite some visibility, however, nonbinary gender identities are poorly understood by the general public. It is critically important for gender minorities to find themselves in the media that they consume. Just as important is the need for those outside the minority community to understand and appreciate them. Nonbinary gender identities are represented in books and other media, but these resources prove difficult to locate, as classification vocabulary doesn’t evolve as quickly as community language. Reference sources identified include archives and special collections, theses and dissertations, key journals, and related organizations and associations. This timely resource—the first reference on nonbinary gender identities—offers an accessible entry into researching this topic. Written by a nonbinary scholar and librarian, this guide includes valuable appendixes that will aid every researcher and writer: a glossary of the rich vocabulary emerging from nonbinary communities; a guide to pronoun usage; a primer on sex, sexuality, and gender; and Library of Congress Classification information.




Out Online: Trans Self-Representation and Community Building on YouTube


Book Description

Trans people are increasingly stepping out of the shadow of pathologization and secretiveness to tell their life stories, share information and to connect with like-minded others, using YouTube as a platform. Out Online: Trans Self-Representation and Community Building on YouTube explores the digital revolution of trans video blogging, addressing ’trans’ in its many meanings and configurations to examine the different ways in which the body in transformation and the vlog as a medium intersect. Drawing on rich, virtual ethnographic studies of trans video blogging, the author sheds light on the ways in which the video blog (or ’vlog’) as a multimodal medium enables trans people to tell their stories with the use of sound, text, music, and pictures - thus offering new ways to construct and archive bodily changes, and to revise the story endlessly. A groundbreaking study of the intersection between trans identity and technology, Out Online explores the transformative and therapeutic potential of the video blog as a means by which trans vloggers can emerge and develop online, using the vlog as a site for creation, intervention, community building and resistance. As such, it will appeal to social scientists and scholars of cultural and media studies with interests in gender, sexuality and embodiment.




My New Gender Workbook


Book Description

"This updated edition of Bornstein's formative My Gender Workbook (1997) provides an invigorating introduction to contemporary theory around gender, sexuality, and power. The original is a classic of modern transgender theory and literature and, alongside Bornstein's other work, has influenced an entire generation of trans writers and artists. This revised and expanded edition extends that legacy, offering an accessible foundation for examining gender in the reader's life and in the broader culture while arguing for the dismantling of all forms of oppression. For fans of the original, Bornstein's new material merits a fresh read..."--Publishers Weekly, starred review Cultural theorists have written loads of smart but difficult-to-fathom texts on gender theory, but most fail to provide a hands-on, accessible guide for those trying to sort out their own sexual identities. In My Gender Workbook, transgender activist Kate Bornstein brings theory down to Earth and provides a practical approach to living with or without a gender. Bornstein starts from the premise that there are not just two genders performed in today's world, but countless genders lumped under the two-gender framework. Using a unique, deceptively simple and always entertaining workbook format, complete with quizzes, exercises, and puzzles, Bornstein gently but firmly guides readers toward discovering their own unique gender identity. Since its first publication in 1997, My Gender Workbook has been challenging, encouraging, questioning, and helping those trying to figure out how to become a "real man," a "real woman," or "something else entirely." In this exciting new edition of her classic text, Bornstein re-examines gender in light of issues like race, class, sexuality, and language. With new quizzes, new puzzles, new exercises, and plenty of Kate's playful and provocative style, My New Gender Workbook promises to help a new generation create their own unique place on the gender spectrum.