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duckprintspress · 1 day
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Let’s Go Lesbians! 32 Books for Lesbian Visibility Day
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TODAY! is Lesbian Visibility Day, the first day of Lesbian Visibility Week – April 26, 2024. We are, I’m sure you’re shocked to discover, celebrating with LOTS of lesbian books! 15 people contributed to making this list, all of us sharing our absolute faves, from graphic novels to epic novels, from memoirs to horror fiction, with explicit rep and implied. With this many awesome books to share, we’re prepared to guarantee that everyone who loves wlw lit can find something new to them on this amazing list!
Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin
The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel
Belle of the Ball by Mari Costa
Kiss Number 8 by Colleen AF Venable & Ellen T. Crenshaw
She Wears the Midnight Crown Anthology
Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake
The Scapegracers & The Scratch Daughters by H.A. Clarke
Spinning by Tillie Walden
The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag
The Ruin of Angels by Max Gladstone
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard
Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott & Alyson Derrick
Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
Those Who Wait by Haley Cass
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
Into the Bloodred Woods by Martha Brockenbrough
From Here by Luma Mufleh
Alice Isn’t Dead by Joseph Fink
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel
A Memory Called Empire & A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
Female General, Eldest Princess by Please Don’t Laugh
Clear And Muddy Loss of Love by Please Don’t Laugh
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone & Amal El-Mohtar
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
A Restless Truth by Freya Marske
The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin
Can’t get enough books with lesbians? Yeah, us neither – this new list for 2024 is on top of THREE rec lists of titles featuring lesbians that we posted last year.
Lesbian Visibility Week Recs Part 1
Lesbian Visibility Week Recs Part 2
Duck Prints Press Short Stories with Lesbian Characters
You can also view this list (along with all our other wlw faves!) as a shelf on Goodreads!
See a book you want to buy? You can grab it through the Duck Prints Press Bookshop.org affiliate shop!
What are YOUR favorite reads with lesbian characters?
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variousqueerthings · 1 year
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Some stuff about queer culture in Weimar Berlin 
Note: Das Institut für Sexualwissenschaft does not have a definitively used translation from what I see -- have seen Institute of Sexology (my preferred translation), Sexual Science, Sexual Research, Sexual Knowledge etc. It’s all the same place.
any further suggestions, feel very welcome to add!
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ONLINE:
the wikipedia for the institute: yeah, yeah it’s wikipedia, but get some groundwork done here if you know nothing at all, so the next set of recommendations don’t overwhelm you
Remembering Dora Richter, One of the First Women to receive Gender-Affirming Surgery: good introduction to the Institute of Sexology, with a focus on one of the women who lived, worked, and received care there
On the Clinics and Bars of Weimar Berlin: a more in-depth article about the institute, some of the people who sought to get support via it, and the surrounding culture of the time
The Magnus Hirschfeld Society: a lot of their work is published online, in German, French, and English. Hours of fun.
Interview with the author Laurie Marhoefer: discussing his book (mentioned below) Sex and the Weimar Republic, which focuses on various fronts to sexual liberation in the Weimar Republic, including the limitations of assimilationist approaches*
*Marhoefer is currently working on their third book centred on queer persecution during the Third Reich, which “centrally analyzes racism as a vector of persecution,” so that’s something to keep an eye out for too
The Asian Canadian gay activist whose theories on sexuality were decades ahead of their time: an article about Li Shiu Tong, by Marhoefer, who also wrote a book about him (see below). The title really says it all
The Transvestite Magazine of Weimar Berlin: a series of magazines that were published until 1933 when the crackdown on queer rights resulted in the destruction of the Institute of Sexology, featuring examples of voices almost completely overlooked -- transvestites who were simply living their lives
The Institute for Sexualwissenschaft: this blog post goes into something I’ve been thinking as well -- the parallels between the anti-queer/anti-trans violence perpetuated by the German government before, during, and after the Nazis and the anti-queer/anti-trans rhetoric and violence today. Where would we be if all that research had survived? (and luckily, some of it has!)
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BOOKS
Der Liebe und Dem Leid: Das Institut für Sexualwissenschaft 1919-1933: a recent German historical account of the institute of Sexology that I desperately want to get my hands on
Sex and the Weimar Republic: German Homosexual Emancipation and the Rise of the Nazis: explores intersectional fights for queer emancipation during the Weimar Republic and its limitations
Racism and the Making of Gay Rights: A Sexologist, His Student, and the Empire of Queer Love: goes deeper into the story of Li Shiu Tong, who was an impressive researcher at the institute and whose contribution to sexual and gender philosophies is being reconsidered at the moment!
Magnus Hirschfeld: The Origins of the Gay Liberation Movement: a biography of Magnus Hirschfeld and his central role in the queer liberation movement of the time
The Masculine Woman in Weimar Germany: looks at the depictions of women who didn’t conform to standard gendered and sexual expectations from 1918-1933 and explores their role to understand gendered lives and experiences at this point in German history
The Hirschfeld Archives: Violence, Death, and Modern Queer Culture: a book I desperately want to read on anti-queer violence in the early 20th century, focusing on the Institute of Sexology and its destruction, which has gathered archival material from “over a hundred published and unpublished books, articles, films and photographs.”
Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity: another broader book about Berlin. I’m interested in the subtitle “birthplace of a modern identity” as potentially exploring the ways Berlin was the centre of explorations that despite the Nazis best efforts are still alive and -- with setbacks -- remembered today
Queer Identities and Politics in Germany: A History, 1880-1945: Idk what to tellya it’s about queer identities and politics in Germany between 1880-1945
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ISHERWOOD
British author Christopher Isherwood spent some time in Berlin, notably including a stay at the Institute of Sexology. This time resulted in “The Berlin Stories,” as well as a section in “Christopher and his Kind” (his autobiography). 
These stories were turned into the play+film “I Am A Camera” and the musical+movie “Cabaret”
The 1993 Alan Cumming and Jane Horrocks Cabaret (one of my favourite things in the world)
Opening of the 1972 movie 
(according to a 1977 biography of Isherwood, he denounced the Berlin Stories in a 1956 essay: “He regretted depicting many persons as "monsters" and noted they were "ordinary human beings prosaically engaged in getting their living through illegal methods. The only genuine monster was the young foreigner who passed gaily through these scenes of desolation, misinterpreting them to suit his childish fantasy."” -- that being said, the people in those books are still very, very interesting and -- despite Isherwood’s initial limitations/biases -- beautiful in their realities)
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OTHER MOVIES
Anders als die Andern and Laws of Love -- two movies produced via the institute exploring same-sex relationship rights. I haven’t seen the latter yet (it was only restored in 2021, nearly a hundred years after it was released), but it was heavily censored. The former (with the famous German actor Conrad Veidt as a lead) is considered the first movie to overtly show homosexuality. They’re both on the Internet Archive
The Einstein of Sex: Life and Work of Dr. M. Hirschfeld: by cult film-maker Rosa von Praunheim that explores the opening of the institute up until the 30s. I haven’t seen it yet, but very excited! EDIT: currently watching and it’s definitely On A Budget, but a good rundown of Hirschfeld’s life. On youtube with english subs. EDIT 2: having finished it, am interested in how it portrayed Dora Richter (that it had her in it at all was great) -- not completely accurate, but a labour of love
Paragraph 175: a 2000 movie documenting some of the gay men who experienced the violence of the law under Nazi regime and afterwards. This film is simply made, and there aren’t many men featured in it -- it feels like it’s trying to get the story told before they lost their chance completely. The stories are very brutal. It starts pre-war. One of the men talking is the French author Pierre Seel, who lived until 2005 and received recognition as a holocaust survivor in 2003, in part due to this film and his own memoir
Great Freedom: this actually takes place post-war, but another insight into what Paragraph 175 was. the main character was in a concentration camp, but it’s not depicted. I simply think it’s good, although it’s mildly off-topic. 
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MISC
this has focused a lot on the Institute of Sexology, but I’d like to read some works on Helene Stöcker and the World League for Sexual Reform
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intersexbookclub · 9 months
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September book pick: delving into intersex studies!
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Our book pick for September is a departure from our usual one-novel-per-month as we do our first foray into intersex studies. We'll be reading approximately a third of the edited volume Transgender and intersex: Theoretical, practical, and artistic perspectives, edited by Stefan Horlacher (2016).
Because this is denser than reading fiction we've decided to only read three chapters from this collection, rather than the whole book. The chapters we'll be reading and discussing are:
Chapter 1: Introduction by Stefan Horlacher, Pages 1-27
Chapter 4: Intersex and Trans* Communities: Commonalities and Tensions by Cary Gabriel Costello, Pages 83-113
Chapter 5: Transgender and Intersex: Unavoidable Essentialism and the Normative Struggle for Recognition by Sebastian Jansen, Pages 115-140
A pdf of the three chapters is available on the discord, since many people don't have access to a university library. To join the discord: https://discord.gg/wmMQUQxEK4 (See our code of conduct)
We will be meeting online to discuss the three chapters on on Friday September 29 at: - 11:30am Pacific (Vancouver, San Francisco, etc) - 2:30pm Eastern (Toronto, New York, etc) - 8:30pm Central European (Paris, Berlin, etc) NOTE: this time could be changed given that many folks' schedules will be changing for the fall. We chose this book and these three chapters because:
We wanted to delve into the queer theory done by intersex scholars, but wanted something that is accessible and appropriate for an introduction to the area.
Given the current attacks on the trans community we thought it would be productive to read the literature at the intersection of trans studies and intersex studies, in order to build stronger solidarity. 🏳️‍⚧️
We wanted to pick some queer theory that would be useful in giving people ways of describing their experiences. These chapters, particularly Chapters 4 and 5 describe some frameworks that people may find useful!
You do not need a formal background in queer theory to participate! If there are terms you don't know ask in the discord! :)
You also don't need to read (or understand) all three chapters to join the meeting. The meeting will be a chance to talk through things we did or didn't get, and the wider & personal implications of the texts.
Discussion questions: 1. What did you like? 2. What did you struggle with? 3. What do you think needs to happen for the trans and intersex communities to support each other better? 4. How do you relate to the identity frameworks in Chapter 4 and the essentialism framework of Chapter 5?
If this meeting isn't in the cards for you, our October pick will be the space pirate adventure novel Queen by JS Fields. And it's not too late to get started on our August pick, The Left Hand of Darkness! Hope to see you there 💛💜💛
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queereadsmontreal · 11 months
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June/July read: Joyful Militancy
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For our next read we will be delving into some non-fiction, reading Joyful Militancy by carla bergman and Nick Montgomery. The book is about how to make one's activism joyful rather than an emotional drain. The entire text including pdf and epub versions are available at https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/joyful-militancy-bergman-montgomery We will be meeting Monday June 26 at 7:30pm Eastern to discuss the first half of the book (roughly midway through Chapter 3). You do not need to get that far in the book to join us, however! If you've barely cracked open the book you are still welcome! We'll be meeting online at https://meet.jit.si/ReadingQueerly
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finnslay · 7 months
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"Do you have to make being queer your whole personality?"
Yes. It angers you. It causes you discomfort... it's payback for the discomfort you've caused me. Its reversing my trauma into my queerness and superblasting it into you just because it pisses you off!
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sarielsnowings · 1 year
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After 10 years or so, I'm back, now with proper skills and a shitton of drawings to show you. HELLO WORLD 👁️
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twigsandhearts · 4 months
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Non-verbal & non-speaking characters in Audio Dramas
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A PowerPoint was created after receiving questions as to how we could have characters that don't speak in our show. For an audio version, check our TikTok.
Suggestions for other ways to give non-speaking characters space in shows are welcome! This presentation was made by someone who is mostly non-verbal and previously fully non-speaking.
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uncanny-tranny · 6 months
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I know this is a very unoriginal observation (much like any other), but I'm finally reading The Great Gatsby, and even I wouldn't describe men the way Nick does.
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llyfrenfys · 10 months
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Followers- Dw i angen eich help / I need your help
This is a post I've been sitting on for a while and it's time I finally write it to let you all know how I am, where I'm at and the progress of Prosiect Llyfr Enfys.
So, as I alluded to in previous posts, I had a health scare at the end of May which landed me in the hospital. I've spent June recovering from that and dealing with a few life changes as well (which I will talk about later).
Unfortunately, me and my partner had to deal with an unexpected bill of £200 this month which had to come directly out of my savings and is a huge chunk of it.
I've been doing research in preparation for hopefully doing a Masters at Aberystwyth in September on the topic of LGBTQ+ Welsh terminology before the 20th Century. My undergraduate dissertation was on the topic of 20th-21st Century LGBTQ+ Welsh terminology (which is currently unmarked due to the marking boycott). Hopefully after graduation I can share it with you. But my research into older terminology means needing to travel to different archives and libraries in Wales, which at the minute, I just can't afford. The closest place would be Bangor, but I have no money to spare at the minute and Prosiect Llyfr Enfys is not funded by any scheme or grant- it's currently all funded by myself.
For the first time in my life, I've been considering using a food bank. We're not quite at that stage yet, but it's precarious. It's another unexpected bill away from a critical situation.
Currently, my monthly expenses for anything related to the dictionary totals around £40 (subscriptions to archives, libraries, genealogy research tools) which have been instrumental in my work. For example, I couldn't have written my articles for Hanes LHDT+ Cymru without access to ancestry sites or online newspaper archives. This does not include other expenses such as bus tickets to get to the National Library of Wales when I need to, or costs of purchasing dictionaries in order to source them in my work.
All of this is to say that i need your help:
I have a patreon which I will be posting in next in July- if you enjoy Prosiect Llyfr Enfys and want to help keep it going, please consider subscribing today by clicking the link above or in my bio. The lowest tier is affordable and if you have the cash to spare, will enable me to keep on working on the project. If you want to make a one-time donation, I'm considering enabling tips on tumblr for those who would prefer that.
If enough people are able to subscribe to keep the project going, I can start to make some concrete plans for a trip to Bangor and share my journey with you all and involve you in the trip. If I'm unable to raise enough funds, I will have to make the decision to pause the project until after my Master's. I do not currently have a publisher, which is also a big factor in that decision, if I need to make it.
All your support is greatly appreciated- if you cannot donate, please share this post.
As ever, huge huge diolch yn fawr to everyone who has supported the project so far- with your help, we can get this dictionary published to help benefit the whole Welsh LGBTQ+ community and beyond.
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omensoflucifer · 2 months
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Queer Corner - Book Club
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Welcome to our Book Club! Do you love to read and want a safe space that's LGBTQ+ friendly? You've come to the right place!
✿ Novels, Fan Fiction, Manga, Poems, etc…
✿ Majority LGBQTA+ community (allies welcomed)
✿ Wide variety of fandoms
✘ No fanwars!
✘ No discrimination!
Join us!
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variousqueerthings · 1 year
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this year am going to be reading these three books
Der Liebe und Dem Leid: Das Institut für Sexualwissenschaft 1919-1933: a recent historical account of the institute for sexology in the Weimar Republic -- I really want to read more German books about it, and I’m sure there’s more than just this one
Sex and the Weimar Republic: German Homosexual Emancipation and the Rise of the Nazis: which explores intersectional fights for queer emancipation during the Weimar Republic and its limitations
Racism and the Making of Gay Rights: A Sexologist, His Student, and the Empire of Queer Love: which goes deeper into the story about Magnus Hirschfeld and one of his lovers, Li Shiu Tong, who was an impressive researcher and one of the survivors from the destruction of the institute, the Nazi regime, and the later severe criminalisation of homosexuality in Germany (he was Chinese-Canadian and so was able to not return to Germany)
in connection with the latter two, am listening to this podcast interview with the author, Laurie Marhoefer, and highly recommend even just the podcast, because of the way that it highlights that the fight for queer rights was always heavily entwined with the rights for sex-workers, and questions about assimilation that have existed for at least 100 years in what we today call the LGBT and queer communities
and am going to be sleuthing heavily on the Magnus Hirschfeld Society website
if anyone has any other books (especially by German academics/authors/etc) please feel free to share!
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queerofthedagger · 1 month
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my 'hey yes we have an all-consuming brainrot going but let's try and do something actually productive this week that I'm having off of work' project is sorting through my bookshelves, rigorously throwing things out (little miss I own over a thousand books in my one-room apartment is reaching the breaking point aka I'm finally and utterly running out of space) and i think i threw out almost a hundred books today and it's still not anywhere close for sorting shelves by genre without having to stack and put things second row. how am I supposed to live like this
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queerxqueen · 3 months
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Honestly I'm already a bit interested in your book despite knowing very little about it! I'm trying to be less on social media (also Tumblr is being annoying lately why is this website cursed) but I hope to be around once you get to talk more about your book<3
I'm also always curious about people's publishing path:)
Agh thank you so much anon!!!
Theoretically come May/June (?) I will have more concrete stuff to share such as a cover (!!!!!) and official pitch/blurb.
But for now what I can say is:
The Good Vampire's Guide to Blood and Boyfriends is a gay vampire romcom about mental health and existential dread. Featuring:
🧛 the trials and tribulations of vampire puberty 🚩 moral + existential crises re: becoming a bloodsucking monster 👭 a secret clan of vampire girlbosses that are potentially murderous ✍️ journals + love letters + social media as narrative devices
Here are my children!!! The main character (Brennan, left) is a depressed bisexual disaster, freshly turned into a vampire and Doing His Best. The love interest (Cole, right) is a cinnamon roll stoner gay who is unfortunately obsessed with Twilight.
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(Lovely art by @paladibun)
It's coming out in early 2025 from Macmillan/Wednesday Books. It's for fans of Casey McQuiston, Aiden Thomas, Rainbow Rowell, FT Lukens, and that vibe of humor and heart, quirky casts of characters, and spinning familiar tropes in new ways.
While you can't preorder yet, you can add it on Goodreads!
This is still primarily a fandom account, but once things get closer I will definitely share more information about actually getting to read this book I love so much!!!
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finnslay · 7 months
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"Don't shove it down our throats"
"Protect the kids, keep this away from them"
No. Stop.
We need to keep showing it
We need to let people that they are seen.
We need to show these kids. Kids. That they have someone.
Why?
Because queer youth are 4 times more likely to commit suicide than their peers
Because 45 percent or queer youth have considered suicide within the last year
Because a young queer person attempts suicide every 45 seconds
Because having just one supportive adult reduscing the risk of suicide in queer teens by 40 percent
If you want to protect the kids, save our fucking lives
Instead of saying to stop shoving it down your throats
Take the pills out of our throats
Take the noose off our necks
Take the blades and guns out of our hands
And let them out their hands there instead
So they can hold us and help us
And listen an let us know
Hey. I see you. I hear you. Your feelings are valid. And you are loved
If you care about the children then let us be seen and heard...
At this point I'm scared for my life... If I didn't have a support adult that had that sign on their door at school and wore that pin I would be dead
That sign. That pin. They don't hurt the straight cis kids. They don't cause harm. They don't get affected by them. But it saved my life...
So please. Stop saying stuff like that.
To other queer kids, please. Here me. You are loved. You will be accepted one day. My messages are open. You deserve to be alive. You're not broken. You're not a fuck up. You are a person just like me and all those other 8 billion on this planet. You are worth so much more than what theyve said. I love you so so so so so much. This world is better with you here. It's better with you and your personality because you're unique. We need people who are different. I love you. I'm here if you need anything at all. And I'm so proud of you...
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soullessjack · 8 months
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I can sense my The Boys autism starting up again when Gen V starts this month but every time I sense it starting up I remember I’m gonna have to enjoy this alongside the most media illiterate critically non thinking ironic sigma male audience of all time and i slowly begin to crumble. Anyways here’s this thing to make them start foaming at the mouth:
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that-gay-jedi · 2 years
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