AUTHOR’S NOTE: I had planned on running something for Halloween (in fact had it already been written.) But disturbing trends call for something else for this, the October of our discontent. October is in the air. Halloween, falling leaves, football. And book bans and challenges are roaring into high gear. A decade or so ago, Conservative talk radio would grumble about “The American Library Association and their Banned Book Week,” claiming that “no books are being banned” even as they slyly attempted to remove books from libraries and bookstores. Now, with more conservative-friendly judges and organizations energized we see supposed … Read more
London’s Natural History Museum has confirmed that the first known dual-sex stick insect has been discovered – and their name is Charlie. Charlie is a green bean stick insect, or Diapherodes gigantea, who belongs to stick insect breeder Lauren Garfield who lives in Waldringfield, Suffolk. Garfield shared photos of Charlie to her Facebook page, and said that she had “accidentally” bred a “gynandromorphic” stick insect. Full Story from Pink News
Lego is working to eliminate gender stereotypes from its products after a study revealed that both parents and kids continue to view toys as gendered. A survey from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, commissioned by Lego, found large differences remain in the toys parents expect boys to play with and those they expect girls to play with, Lego reported. These attitudes are also connected to the type of career paths parents ultimately encourage their children to follow. For example, the survey found that parents were five times more likely to encourage girls to dance and dress up, … Read more
Love, Simon actor Keiynan Lonsdale opened up about his sexual orientation and preferred pronoun on Tuesday in an Instagram Q&A with fans. Asked by a fan if he’s gay, Lonsdale responded: “I’m still surprised I get this question. I came out not really as anything last year, but as not straight. Now it just depends on the day, sometimes I’m bisexual, sometimes I’m gay, sometimes I feel straight, sometimes I’m not anything. It doesn’t matter. Either way, throughout all of that, I’m Keiynan. So if your question is, ‘Am I Keiynan?’ yes, I am Keiynan.” A short time later Lonsdale … Read more
Billions has shown a non-binary sex scene in a landmark move. Last year, the Showtime drama introduced Taylor, a character who does not identify as male or female, played by Asia Kate Dillon, who is also non-binary. They were widely considered to be the first representation of a non-binary character on TV. The acclaimed TV show, which stars Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis, tells the story of a battle between a top hedge fund and the New York District Attorney’s office. Taylor is an intern at the hedge fund who is super-intelligent, a vegan, and also happens to use the … Read more
FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Alicia Nordwell: In honor of National Tech Day – artificial wombs: How would an artificial womb change the ‘humanity’ of the babies grown this way? What might genetic manipulation might lead to in terms of more than purifying the DNA for characteristics? What might be done with “abandoned” genetic materials that are used to create babies? Who would they belong to? What are their legal rights from conception or would they lack of human interaction during gestation make them more prone to be viewed as a product? Today we peer into the … Read more
Star vs. The Forces of Evil is a Disney Channel show that first aired in January of 2015. The premise of the show is about a princess from another dimension who travels to Earth as a foreign exchange student. There, she becomes close with her host family’s son, Marco Diaz, and the two go on adventures together. Like Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time and Steven Universe, Star vs. The Forces of Evil is a kid’s show that adults can enjoy as well due to the hidden adult themes. For instance, Star vs. The Forces of Evil had a very progressive moment … Read more
Trickster gods occur in many cultures and often demonstrate a certain gender and/or sexual fluidity. For today’s post I will concentrate on one: Norse trickster Loki.
Loki practices forms of magic which, in Norse culture, mark him as effeminate. He’s also a gender-bending shapeshifter, as demonstrated in the following tale….
We hear a lot about the male gaze in the arts, but what about the female gaze, especially when it comes to MM fiction?
It is no secret that women make up a high percentage of gay romance writers and readers. I, myself, number among them. The question I thought I’d raise today is what influence this prevalence of women has upon the genre. Does it even affect it at all?
Hi all and Happy Friday! This week is Transgender Awareness Week, November 14-20. Instead of me talking about this, I want to signal boost The Trans Fiction Week blog project that Matthew Metzger spearheaded. The blogs this week focused on inclusion, on non-binary issues as writers, and on getting writers past that “can’t” mentality one often hears from cis-gendered writers. Some of the wonderful and informative blogs include: Beyond Punctuation: Editing Diverse Content Safe Spaces, and Safety Writing from the Closet (a non-binary writer’s view) Gun Control (a cis-gender writer’s view on the importance of inclusion) If it’s Cis, It … Read more