What if I don't know how to "do stuff" all the other gays can do? What if I don't know the name of that gay Netflix movie? What if I'm not obsessed with Jennifer Coolidge like everyone else? Am I really bad at being gay?While being gay has become more socially and legally acceptable, there's a specific kind of gay that's most accepted. He's hot, jacked, white, loves iced coffee, watches Drag Race, and has a service job but somehow travels to Palm Springs every summer,In thi...

What if I don't know how to "do stuff" all the other gays can do? What if I don't know the name of that gay Netflix movie? What if I'm not obsessed with Jennifer Coolidge like everyone else? Am I really bad at being gay?While being gay has become more socially and legally acceptable, there's a specific kind of gay that's most accepted. He's hot, jacked, white, loves iced coffee, watches Drag Race, and has a service job but somehow travels to Palm Springs every summer,In thi...

An engaging exploration of what it means to be asexual in a world that’s obsessed with sexual attraction, and what the ace perspective can teach all of us about desire and identity.What exactly is sexual attraction and what is it like to go through life not experiencing it? What does asexuality reveal about gender roles, about romance and consent, and the pressures of society? This accessible examination of asexuality shows that the issues that aces face—confusion ...

Combining painfully honest memoir, cultural analysis, and reporting, BoyMom is a humorous and heartbreaking deep dive into the complexities of raising boys in our fraught political moment.“Rapist, school-shooter, incel, man-child, interrupter, mansplainer, boob-starer, birthday forgetter, frat boy, dude-bro, homophobe, self-important stoner, emotional-labor abstainer, non-wiper of kitchen counters. Trying to raise good sons suddenly felt like a hopeles...

A nonfiction investigation into masculinity, For The Love of Men provides actionable steps for how to be a man in the modern world, while also exploring how being a man in the world has evolved.In 2019, traditional masculinity is both rewarded and sanctioned. Men grow up being told that boys don’t cry and dolls are for girls (a newer phenomenon than you might realize—gendered toys came back in vogue as recently as the 80s). They learn they must hide their ...

From the bestselling author of Sex Object, a searing investigation into American culture's obsession with virginity, and the argument for creating a future where women and girls are valued for more than sexualityThe United States is obsessed with virginity--from the media to schools to government agencies. In The Purity Myth, Jessica Valenti argues that the country's intense focus on chastity is damaging to young women. Through in-depth cultural a...

The game-changing book about sex, consent, and the distortion of desire, a battle cry from a generation no longer prepared to stay silent.When activist and internationally renowned philanthropist, Chanel Contos asked her followers to share their stories of sexual assault, her post went viral. Almost 7,000 people provided testimonies of surviving sexual violence by people they knew, but virtually none of these incidents had been reported to authorities. The testimon...

Shortlisted for The Green Carnation Prize 2014'This is not a fairytale. This is a story about how sex and money and power police our dreams.'Clear-eyed, witty and irreverent, Laurie Penny is as ruthless in her dissection of modern feminism and class politics as she is in discussing her own experiences in journalism, activism and underground culture.This is a book about poverty and prejudice, online dating and eating disorders, riots...

Pop culture—and the advertising that surrounds it—teaches young girls and boys five myths about sex and sexuality: Girls don't choose boys, boys choose girls—but only sexy girls; there's only one kind of sexy—slender, curvy, white beauty; girls should work to be that type of sexy; the younger a girl is, the sexier she is; and sexual violence can be hot. Together, these five myths make up the Lolita Effect, the mass media trends that work to undermine girls’ self-confidence, that condone fe...

Kitty Stryker presents a collection of essays exploring the role of consent in confronting power structures in day-to-day life.Have you ever heard the phrase “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission?” Violating consent isn’t limited to sexual relationships, and our discussions around consent shouldn’t be, either.To resist rape culture, we need a consent culture—and one that is more than just reactionary. Left confined to intimate spaces, consent will...

A polyamorous black man explores the intersections of racism and polyamory and their impact on people of color navigating an already misunderstood lifestyle.The issues that make monogamous dating daunting for people of color—shaming and exclusion by white partners, being fetishized, having realities of everyday racism ignored—occur in polyamorous relationships too, and trying “not to see race” only makes it worse. To make polyamorous communities inclusive, we must ...

This book is the result of countless hours of research and life experience in the transgender community. The articles are designed to help, inform and stimulate conversations on the subject of transgender people. Often marginalized and misunderstood, transgender people struggle on a daily basis with discrimination and harassment from the general population. It is my firm hope that this book helps give you some of the tools to deal with some of the aspects of transitioning and being a trans...