Hi friends!
My first year of undergrad at Oberlin College was a bit of a shock as my first Gender and Women’s Studies class introduced me to the wonderfully wide world of ‘theory.’ Coming from Detroit Public Schools where I could dissect Maya Angelou like a pro, I wasn’t quite prepared for what Judith Butler had to offer. These days I’m much more at ease diving into books where I have to look up every third word, but I also have an incredible appreciation for theory that I can read without my head exploding. While academic jargon has its place, making new ideas accessible to everyone is incredibly important and opens up the field for new ideas from people other than the white, male, heterosexual perspective that can, at times, overtake academia. Here are some theory books that I’ve enjoyed, not only for the complex ideas they impart, but for the engaging and entertaining way they frame them.
My Gender Workbook by Kate Bornstein
Kate Bornstein is the gender non-conforming queen of accessible theory. The most recent book from Bornstein, A Queer and Pleasant Danger actually explores Bornstein’s ambivalent relationship to the theory so often presented as truth at gender and women’s studies conferences. My Gender Workbook not only presents complex, excitingly controversial ideas about the construction of gender in our society, it also offers various real-world exercises and quizzes with plenty of humor mixed in. If you like My Gender Workbook, check out Bornstein’s other books, including Gender Outlaw, Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation, Hello Cruel World, and PoMoSexuals: Challenging Assumptions about Gender and Sexuality.
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde
Lorde actually prefers to categorize her book as a ‘biomythography’ but it’s a great way to see how personal narrative can offer essential theoretical insights. Lorde’s writings are all based on the ‘theory of difference,’ offering a far less simplistic notion of what defined a ‘woman’ by arguing that identities such as race, class, age, gender and health were inextricably linked to one another – unable to be separated into nice, complete categories. Now referred to as ‘intersectionality’ in the theory world, Lorde’s biomythography tracks her life as a lesbian, mother, warrior and poet.
Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire by Lisa M. Diamond
Reading Sexual Fluidity was an experience of hearing so many things I’d felt and thought about in a totally undefined way, verified and backed up with credible research. While it’s a bit more dense than some of the other books I’ve outlined here, the overall idea of sexuality as a fluid, changeable identity has been incredibly validating for many people I know first encountering a romantic interest with someone other than the gender they’re usually attracted to.
Dude, You’re A Fag by C.J. Pascoe
Anyone who has worked (or for that matter, gone) to high school knows about the proliferation of casual anti-LGBTQIA speech and slurs often embedded in the environment. Pascoe explores the connection between sexuality and gender based on 18 months of fieldwork in a racially diverse, working-class high school. She manages to recount engaging ethnographic observations while making a clear correlation between the use of anti-LGBTQIA speech and the direct assertion of masculinity. It was the first book I’d read that so clearly posed so much of homophobia as a direct descendent of sexism, and idea that is more or less essential to understanding the root of anti-gay speech not only in high school, but in many other places as well.
Gay Power by David Eisenbach
For people looking for a comprehensive history of the first wave of the gay rights movement in NYC, Gay Power is a great place to start. It was recommended to me by the head of the LGBT Collections at the New York Public Library who has read pretty much all the books there are to read on the subject. While rather white, male and cis-centric, Eisenbach’s exploration of the media in relation to the movement is particularly interesting and since we don’t get a whole lot of LGBTQIA history taught in our schools, Gay Power is a great intro to it all.
Happy Reading!
Live, Love, Learn,