The Daily Rumpus
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“Funny Women” submissions don’t read themselves. Most of the time Assistant Regional Funny Woman Katie Burgess reads them (she wrote the infinitely funny “How to Read a Poem,” anthologized in Oxford University Press’s Humor: A Reader for Writers, and has since gone on to read slush).
...moreAt Catapult, Miranda Popkey explores gender in society and in literature, recalling her own journey as an emerging writer. Her job and financial status provided her little time to pursue her true passion, being an ‘art monster.’ She finds that marrying her husband ultimately put her closer to her dreams.
...moreThe fear of expulsion from that collective black-boy body, of being deemed not black enough or male enough or straight enough, counterfeit somehow, terrified me.
As football comes under increasing scrutiny from all sides, Frederick McKindra, over at BuzzFeed, pens a lyrical ode to the naive dance of masculinity he witnessed on his childhood football teams—and the particular intricacy of this dance for the black boys who found the sport to be one of the only places they can carve out space for themselves.
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At Aeon, Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore writes on the language of “mothering” and the trans parents and activists seeking to define the work of mothering for themselves.
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This column has been on hiatus since the springtime and I’m happy to be back. I’ve been reading so much—mostly books by women—this summer. While I’ve been away, I’ve been thinking about gender more than ever, if you can believe that.
...moreOver at the New York Review of Books, Zoë Heller writes about American Girls by Nancy Jo Sales and Girls and Sex by Peggy Orenstein: how each book deals with the concepts of female “hotness” and body positivity in the social media age—as well as her own critiques of books that may fall within the genre of “middle-aged people complaining about the mores of the young.”
...more...moreI wonder about this in terms of genre. Just as I don’t want to identify as non-binary, regardless of the potential room for accuracy, I don’t want to identify as a “writer of neither genres.” But how much does want matter when perception is what labels us in the mainstream?
In a powerful essay at The Establishment, Evelyn Deshane discusses rejecting the medical narrative around transitioning, and how tattoos allowed them to reclaim their own body:
...moreWhen the physicality of my gender—that “place” that could be home—feels out of reach, tattoos are my way to be present in my body, and to control what happens to it.
My point is that she’s a bit of a paradox.
Over at McSweeney’s, Amy Watkins explains why George Eliot has every right to be really, really upset.
...moreFor Notches, Kristy L. Slominski writes about the Reverend Anna Garlin Spencer, an early 20th century Unitarian minister who worked with scientists to educate the public on sexual health. Spencer’s efforts greatly influenced the modern connection between sexuality, sexual behavior, and the family structure.
...moreShe made it clear that the body is not a stable foundation for gender expression.
For New York Magazine, Molly Fischer profiles gender theorist and philosopher Judith Butler, focusing on how Butler’s theory of performativity has disseminated into pop culture in the thirty-six years since its inception in Gender Trouble, and how the conversations around gender and identity politics have grown since then.
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In a darkly humorous new story at n+1, Jen George questions the qualifications of being “adult,” gives thirty-somethings across the world nightmares, and packs in plenty of social criticism while she’s at it. The story, “Guidance/The Party,” follows a single, childless, career-less, 33-year-old woman who is visited by a mysterious Guide.
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For Lenny Letter, Alexis Coe writes on the gendered politics behind book acknowledgements, including acknowledgment of emotional labor, research, and the expectations behind praise for female and male partners.
...moreEmma Garman tells the story of how Mary Wollstonecraft’s “radical sensibilities” inspired her protégée Margaret King to cross-dress as a man in order to attend medical school and to test “the rigid conventions of an era”.
...moreFor Electric Literature, Tabitha Blankenbiller offers a critique of the recent New York Times article about “Man Book Clubs,” and analyzes how gendered book covers influence readers’ choices and experience:
...moreWe can debate the levels of hubris and/or drunkenness in the NYT editorial room all we want, but what we have is an article claiming real estate and resources in The New York Times’ Books section.
Using Anne Garréta’s 1986 novel, Sphinx, as a springboard, Stephanie Hayes explores the superpowers of gender-blank characters for the Atlantic. Sphinx’s recent translator, Emma Ramadan, describes how what began as an Oulipan constraint to avoid gender became a freedom from preconceived notions of male and female, and sometimes, a guessing game.
...moreAn essay by Daniel Harris in the most recent issue of The Antioch Review has sparked a backlash from the transgender community, with many members of the trans community feeling Harris missed the point completely, and worse—wishes they would just accept themselves as they are, in their “true” gender.
...moreFor Motherboard at VICE, John R. Platt examines the gender disparity in journalism sources and the consequences in his own work when addressing and correcting that disparity. Platt’s piece ran as part of Motherboard’s Silicon Divide series that looked at gender inequality in the tech industry.
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