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Feel It All: A Therapist's Guide to Reimagining Your Relationship with Sex
by Casey TannerA groundbreaking guide to sexuality that dispels the stale cultural attitudes about sex that leave too many feeling inadequate, and offers an expansive, attachment-based framework to free us and develop bolder, more satisfying relationships with our sexual selves.When it comes to sex, most people feel insecure. But it's not because we're deficient; it's because we've been under-resourced and miseducated.Certified sex therapist Casey Tanner argues that our sex lives are a microcosm of every untruth we've internalized about gender, sex, relationships, our bodies, and ourselves. Most of us were taught that healthy sexuality is only for a certain kind of person, in a certain kind of relationship, with a certain kind of body. As a result, the way we've learned how to define "good sex" is reflective of how good, worthy, and loveable we see ourselves.Feel It All is a comprehensive guide to help everyone uncover their personal misconceptions about sexuality and relationships. Tanner helps you recognize and assess your core beliefs surrounding relationships, sexuality, gender, and more; identify past trauma; find pathways to healing that work for you; and redefine sex based on knowledge and possibilities, rather than potential consequences.Comprehensive yet accessible, informative, warm, and nonjudgmental, Feel It All provides a pathway for personal healing, creating stronger relationships, and achieving deeper intimacy.
Festivals as Reparative Gender Politics: Millennial Feminism in Southeastern Europe (Gender and Comparative Politics)
by Zorica SiročićWhat explains the popularity and widespread appeal of numerous post-Yugoslav feminist and LGBTQ+ festivals in the last decade? This book argues that the millennial generation expresses "reparative politics", as a distinct type of activism, through festivals. Reparative political acting, as identified here, characteristically relies on playfulness and creativity, interpretative (gender) dissent, acceptance of organizational and programmatic messiness and hybridity, belonging, and positive affect. The reparative politics is vital in a context that is marked by an individual and collective trauma of heteropatriarchy, violent breakdown of the common state, and post-transitional economic precarity. The book uses excerpts from programs, interviews and observations collected through the multi-sited ethnographic research. Siročić’s focus on contemporary activism in Southeastern Europe challenges the narrow geopolitical understanding of the recent feminist politics and refutes the common assumptions of a passive millennial generation. Yet, the book’s relevance surpasses its area of study, as it argues against the popular deriding of "artivist" expressions as the "merely cultural" or "merely aesthetic" engagement. In contrast, the book claims that such activities urge a redefined understanding of political agency. Festivals as Reparative Politics demonstrates that contemporary feminist festivals represent a distinct reformulation of contentious politics of gender whose constitutive principles can be exemplary for other types of political engagements.
Festivals as Reparative Gender Politics: Millennial Feminism in Southeastern Europe (Gender and Comparative Politics)
by Zorica SiročićWhat explains the popularity and widespread appeal of numerous post-Yugoslav feminist and LGBTQ+ festivals in the last decade? This book argues that the millennial generation expresses "reparative politics", as a distinct type of activism, through festivals. Reparative political acting, as identified here, characteristically relies on playfulness and creativity, interpretative (gender) dissent, acceptance of organizational and programmatic messiness and hybridity, belonging, and positive affect. The reparative politics is vital in a context that is marked by an individual and collective trauma of heteropatriarchy, violent breakdown of the common state, and post-transitional economic precarity. The book uses excerpts from programs, interviews and observations collected through the multi-sited ethnographic research. Siročić’s focus on contemporary activism in Southeastern Europe challenges the narrow geopolitical understanding of the recent feminist politics and refutes the common assumptions of a passive millennial generation. Yet, the book’s relevance surpasses its area of study, as it argues against the popular deriding of "artivist" expressions as the "merely cultural" or "merely aesthetic" engagement. In contrast, the book claims that such activities urge a redefined understanding of political agency. Festivals as Reparative Politics demonstrates that contemporary feminist festivals represent a distinct reformulation of contentious politics of gender whose constitutive principles can be exemplary for other types of political engagements.
Floating Hotel: a cosy and charming read to escape with
by Grace Curtis'Smart, bold and so much fun . . . I'm officially a member of the Grace Curtis fan club' AMIE KAUFMANThe Grand Budapest Hotel in space, Floating Hotel is a hopeful story of misfits, rebels and found family, perfect for fans of Becky Chambers, Martha Wells and Aliette de Bodard.Welcome to the Grand Abeona Hotel: home of the finest food, the sweetest service, and the very best views the galaxy has to offer. Year round it moves from planet to planet, system to system, pampering guests across the furthest reaches of the milky way. The last word in sub-orbital luxury - and a magnet for intrigue. Intrigues such as: Why are there love poems in the lobby intray? How many Imperial spies are currently on board? What is the true purpose of the Problem Solver's conference? And perhaps most pertinently - who is driving the ship?At the centre of these mysteries stands Carl, one time stowaway, longtime manager, devoted caretaker to the hotel. It's the love of his life and the only place he's ever called home. But as forces beyond Carl's comprehension converge on the Abeona, he has to face one final question: when is it time to let go?** AUTHORS LOVE GRACE CURTIS **'A beautiful novel . . . You will turn every page hoping for one hundred more' HANNAH KANER'Curtis oozes charm and humour' TAMSYN MUIR'An absolute marvel' BETH REVIS'A real treat' MAX GLADSTONE'Bittersweet and breathtaking' JULES ARBEAUX'Beautiful and clever, sad and hopeful, subtle and profoundly moving . . . A heartbreak and a hug' CLAIRE NORTH'If you read one sci-fi novel this year, make it this one' KATE DYLAN** READERS LOVE FLOATING HOTEL **'I was completely immersed ' Netgalley, Five Stars'Made me laugh and tear up and restore a little hope in humanity' Netgalley, Five Stars'Grace Curtis is a wonderful writer' Netgalley, Five Stars'Unique and brilliant' Netgalley, Five Stars'Deliriously divine' Netgalley, Five Stars
Game On: Can you love the player, if you hate the game?
by Matt CainFrom the author of The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle and Becoming Ted, a brand new enemies-to-lovers romcom for fans of Ted Lasso and Red, White and Royal Blue . . .'Heart-warming and joyful' LORRAINE KELLY 'A great big hug of a book' MICHAEL BALL Toddington FC defender Tom Horrocks is never happier than when he's on the football pitch, but when it comes to love, he's hiding a big secret. Worried about his young daughter and sick father - and with his team finally in the Premier League - he avoids all media.Journalist Cosmo Roberts wants to change the world, so is angry when he's sent to a quiet northern town to cover a sport he sees as anti-gay. Then something about Tom catches his eye.Cosmo hates football. Tom hates journalists.Perhaps this time they've both met their match.'Filled with joy and strength and optimism' RUSSELL T. DAVIES'Romantic and heartbreaking and uplifting' LAURA KAYReader love Matt Cain 'Wonderfully uplifting' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Absolutely brilliant' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'I loved every second of this book' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Gay Shame: The Rise of Gender Ideology and the New Homophobia
by Gareth Roberts'Boisterous and uncompromising ... An important argument' The Times Only a few years ago, it seemed that the fight for gay rights was won in the UK: legal equality was achieved, prejudice rapidly dying out. Mission accomplished, right? Wrong, argues Gareth Roberts. Homophobia is making a major comeback under the guise of the ideology of 'gender identity'. The enforcers of this new creed insist that attraction to people of the same sex is 'hateful'. They argue that effeminate men and butch women can't just be gay, but must 'really' be trans. Worse, this ideology has colonised the gay rights movement, capturing institutions like Stonewall and the gay press completely. Anyone who disagrees risks professional suicide. So what happened to the funny, grown-up culture, truth-telling and knowing irony of many gay men? How and why was the older gay rights activism, which gifted such progress to homosexual people, hijacked? In this passionate, witty polemic, Gareth Roberts answers these questions and argues that we need a new gay liberation movement.
Gender Recognition and the Law: Troubling Transgender Peoples' Engagement with Legal Regulation (Social Justice)
by Flora RenzAnalysing the strategies people use to resist, accept and respond to laws that attempt to shape not just their behaviour, but also their identity, this book pursues a critical engagement with legal gender transition. The Gender Recognition Act (GRA) has often been described as a groundbreaking and progressive legal framework for allowing people to legally change their gender. This book seeks to challenge this representation by drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with trans people about the GRA. Theoretically this book uses the concepts of legal consciousness, agency and emotion to highlight the normative underpinnings of the GRA. Overall, the book contends, the GRA does not accurately reflect many trans people's own understanding of their gender identity or their sexuality. It is designed to create subjects that govern their behaviour and self-expression in a way that aligns with a purely binary model of sex/gender and sexuality. Although a deviation from these norms does not incur any direct punishment, it indirectly leads to a denial of rights and legal protections. By reviewing relevant legislation and case law, and through qualitative research, the book establishes how, instead of uncritically accepting or completely rejecting the GRA, trans people enact their singular identities by engaging strategically with law. This book will be of interest across a range of disciplines, including socio-legal studies, family law, gender, sexuality and law as well as sociology courses on gender, identity and social policy.
Gender Recognition and the Law: Troubling Transgender Peoples' Engagement with Legal Regulation (Social Justice)
by Flora RenzAnalysing the strategies people use to resist, accept and respond to laws that attempt to shape not just their behaviour, but also their identity, this book pursues a critical engagement with legal gender transition. The Gender Recognition Act (GRA) has often been described as a groundbreaking and progressive legal framework for allowing people to legally change their gender. This book seeks to challenge this representation by drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with trans people about the GRA. Theoretically this book uses the concepts of legal consciousness, agency and emotion to highlight the normative underpinnings of the GRA. Overall, the book contends, the GRA does not accurately reflect many trans people's own understanding of their gender identity or their sexuality. It is designed to create subjects that govern their behaviour and self-expression in a way that aligns with a purely binary model of sex/gender and sexuality. Although a deviation from these norms does not incur any direct punishment, it indirectly leads to a denial of rights and legal protections. By reviewing relevant legislation and case law, and through qualitative research, the book establishes how, instead of uncritically accepting or completely rejecting the GRA, trans people enact their singular identities by engaging strategically with law. This book will be of interest across a range of disciplines, including socio-legal studies, family law, gender, sexuality and law as well as sociology courses on gender, identity and social policy.
Geographies of Us: Ecosomatic Essays and Practice Pages (Routledge Studies in Theatre, Ecology, and Performance)
Geographies of Us: Ecosomatic Essays and Practice Pages is the first edited collection in the field of ecosomatics.With a combination of essays and practice pages that provide a variety of scholarly, creative, and experience-based approaches for readers, the book brings together both established and emergent scholars and artists from many diverse backgrounds and covers work rooted in a dozen countries. The essays engage an array of crucial methodologies and critical/theoretical perspectives, including practice-based research in the arts, especially in performance and dance studies, critical theory, ecocriticism, Indigenous knowledges, material feminist critique, quantum field theory, and new phenomenologies. Practice pages are shorter chapters that provide readers a chance to engage creatively with the ideas presented across the collection. This book offers a multidisciplinary perspective that brings together work in performance as research, phenomenology, and dance/movement; this is one of its significant contributions to the area of ecosomatics.The book will be of interest to anyone curious about matters of embodiment, ecology, and the environment, especially artists and students of dance, performance, and somatic movement education who want to learn about ecosomatics and environmental activists who want to learn more about integrating creativity, the arts, and movement into their work.
Geographies of Us: Ecosomatic Essays and Practice Pages (Routledge Studies in Theatre, Ecology, and Performance)
by Sondra Fraleigh Shannon Rose RileyGeographies of Us: Ecosomatic Essays and Practice Pages is the first edited collection in the field of ecosomatics.With a combination of essays and practice pages that provide a variety of scholarly, creative, and experience-based approaches for readers, the book brings together both established and emergent scholars and artists from many diverse backgrounds and covers work rooted in a dozen countries. The essays engage an array of crucial methodologies and critical/theoretical perspectives, including practice-based research in the arts, especially in performance and dance studies, critical theory, ecocriticism, Indigenous knowledges, material feminist critique, quantum field theory, and new phenomenologies. Practice pages are shorter chapters that provide readers a chance to engage creatively with the ideas presented across the collection. This book offers a multidisciplinary perspective that brings together work in performance as research, phenomenology, and dance/movement; this is one of its significant contributions to the area of ecosomatics.The book will be of interest to anyone curious about matters of embodiment, ecology, and the environment, especially artists and students of dance, performance, and somatic movement education who want to learn about ecosomatics and environmental activists who want to learn more about integrating creativity, the arts, and movement into their work.
The Girl in Question: The thrilling sequel to The Girls I've Been
by Tess SharpeThe highly anticipated sequel to the must-read psychological thriller The Girls I've Been (soon to be a Netflix film).Nora O'Malley has survived . . . senior year, that is. School's over, but her life isn't, which is weird since last she checked, her murderous stepdad Raymond is finally free. Determined to enjoy summer before her (possibly) imminent demise, Nora plans a backpacking trip with Iris and Wes. And Wes's girlfriend tags along. Amanda's nice, so it's not a huge issue. Until she gets taken. Or rather, mis-taken . . . for Nora, that is. Now they're deep in the woods. Raymond has a hostage. Nora has no leverage. Iris is carving spears out of sticks. And Wes is building booby traps. It'll take all of them to make it out alive. But someone is lying. Someone is keeping secrets. And someone has to die.Praise for THE GIRLS I'VE BEEN'Unlike anything I've read before... immediate, gripping, incredibly tense, heart-breaking, heart-warming and FUN! ' - Holly Jackson, author of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder'Slick, stylish and full of suspense' Sophie McKenzie, author of Girl, Missing'A powerful gut-punch of a book that will leave you reeling long after its final pages. I couldn't put it down!' Chelsea Pitcher, author of This Lie Will Kill You'I could hardly breathe until I finished. The tension! Absolutely loved it.' Emily Barr, author of The One Memory of Flora Banks
Global LGBTQ Activism: Social Media, Digital Technologies, and Protest Mechanisms
by Paromita PainFocused on understanding and analyzing LGBTQ activism and protest globally, this edited collection brings together voices from different parts of the world to examine LGBTQ protests and their impact.Through the lens of media, culture, and sociopolitical structures, this collection highlights how cultural and technical factors like the emergence of social media and other digital platforms have impacted LGBTQ activism. This book draws on studies from countries as varied as Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Hungary, Morocco, China, and the US. The contributions provide important insight into how social media and digital platforms have provided space for self-expression and protest and encouraged advocacy and empowerment for LGBTQ movements. It also examines the diversity and similarities between different national contexts and the various obstacles faced, while spotlighting countries that are traditionally understudied in Western academia, in an important step toward decolonizing research. Each chapter, through the voices of activists and media scholars, moves beyond an oversimplified examination of queer protests to show, in rich detail, the exciting yet complicated terrain of queer protests throughout the globe.This book is suitable for media, communication, and cultural studies students; researchers; academics; and LGBTQ activists, as well as students and scholars from related academic disciplines.
Global LGBTQ Activism: Social Media, Digital Technologies, and Protest Mechanisms
by Paromita PainFocused on understanding and analyzing LGBTQ activism and protest globally, this edited collection brings together voices from different parts of the world to examine LGBTQ protests and their impact.Through the lens of media, culture, and sociopolitical structures, this collection highlights how cultural and technical factors like the emergence of social media and other digital platforms have impacted LGBTQ activism. This book draws on studies from countries as varied as Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Hungary, Morocco, China, and the US. The contributions provide important insight into how social media and digital platforms have provided space for self-expression and protest and encouraged advocacy and empowerment for LGBTQ movements. It also examines the diversity and similarities between different national contexts and the various obstacles faced, while spotlighting countries that are traditionally understudied in Western academia, in an important step toward decolonizing research. Each chapter, through the voices of activists and media scholars, moves beyond an oversimplified examination of queer protests to show, in rich detail, the exciting yet complicated terrain of queer protests throughout the globe.This book is suitable for media, communication, and cultural studies students; researchers; academics; and LGBTQ activists, as well as students and scholars from related academic disciplines.
Globalized Queerness: Identities and Commodities in Queer Popular Culture (Library of Gender and Popular Culture)
by Helton LevyHas a global queer popular culture emerged at the expense of local queer artists? In this book, Helton Levy argues that global queer culture is indebted to specific, local references that artists carry from their early experiences in life, which then become homogenized by contemporary media markets. The assumption that queer publics live and consume only through a global set of references, including gay parades and rainbow flags, for example, erases many personal complexities.Levy revisits media characters that have caught the attention of the broader public – such as Calamity Jane (1953), the Daffyd Thomas character from the BBC comedy Little Britain (2003-2007), Brazilian drag queen Pabblo Vittar, French singer Christine and the Queens, and the Italian-Egyptian rapper Mahmood – and argues that they have gradually blended in the public's perception. This has often obscured the individual struggles faced by these characters, such as immigration, homophobia, poverty and societal exclusion. Levy also questions what happens when global media flows take queer culture to regions wherein the notion of LGBTQ+ rights are not entirely acceptable. Utilizing insights from media reports published across the world's ten biggest media markets, Levy argues that there are a series of conditions which artists and cultural actors negotiate once they achieve any kind of success in mainstream media, while local queer references remain unseen in the wider media world. For that reason, he argues for stronger incentives for communities to accept and acknowledge the work of queer people before and after commoditization.
Go Lightly: The funny, sharp and heartfelt bisexual love story
by Brydie Lee-Kennedy'Sharp and funny and humane ... Brydie skewers everyone equally, but always with empathy, warmth and wit.' Monica Heisey, author of Really Good, Actually'A novel that really nails the chaos, panic and joy of being young' Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable'Captures twentysomething chaos ... Very funny' THE TIMESA funny and tender twenty-first century story of family, friendship, love – and how getting it wrong is sometimes the only way to get it right.WHO IS ADA?With Sadie she's an Aussie girl in London, a performer, a ball of creativity and a lover of food.With Stuart she's funny and quirky, capable of finding romance in a dinner of crisps on a cold harbour and long train rides.With her family she's the joker, the peacekeeper, the entertainer.But she doesn't have to choose which version of herself to be… right?Ada's answer to most questions is: yes. Every night is an opportunity to be thrilled and every morning a chance to recount it to her friends, so when she falls for Sadie and Stuart at the same time, she sees no reason not to pursue them both.But as the realities of modern life begin to catch up with her, and everyone wants Ada to define herself in relation to them, she feels the weight of the questions: which version of yourself is most true? And do other people enhance your best self, or distort it?Go Lightly is a tribute to party girls who'd rather enjoy the present than fear the future or regret the past, and a love letter to the community you find when you're far from home.'Funny, perceptive and effortlessly engaging … I loved this novel' Lily Lindon, author of Double Booked
The Golden Hour: A richly atmospheric and compelling historical novel from the author of THE FRENCH HOUSE
by Jacquie Bloese'What a sumptuous, evocative triumph of a novel!' Jenny Ashcroft At the golden hour, hidden truths and desires come to light . . . In the genteel squares of late-Victorian Brighton, Ellen and Reynold Harper - twins, companions, colleagues - ply their trade as portrait photographers. But at the golden hour, the models arrive to pose for the lucrative - and illicit - photographs that really keep the Harpers' business afloat. This is the other, shadowy world of the city: a world of erotic tableaux, boundary-crossing music hall performers, and the sinister figure of the local gangster, the Croc. When Ellen is drawn into the orbit of unhappy newly-wed Clementine, she finds herself torn between loyalty to her brother, her dangerous attraction to new model, Lily, and her burgeoning friendship with Clem. And as the two worlds of Brighton collide, the three women discover that there is only a knife edge between the promise of freedom, and the threat of ruin . . . Atmospheric, sensual and powerfully moving, The Golden Hour is a spellbinding portrait of three women determined to find their freedom - perfect for fans of Sarah Waters, The Doll Factory and The Essex Serpent.Praise for The Golden Hour: 'A divine and sumptuous portrait of Victorian Brighton, written in gloriously seductive prose, I was enthralled' Amanda Geard, author of The Midnight House'A glorious and sumptuous feast for the senses and it drew me in from the start, wanting to find out more about these women's stories and their struggles for freedom and change. It's an absolute joy. I couldn't put it down' Rosanna Ley, author of The Orange Grove'A captivating panorama of late-Victorian Brighton... Beautifully atmospheric' Gill Paul, author of The Secret Wife'I was hooked from the very beginning... The characters and the setting were all portrayed with such vivid colour and conviction' Suzanne Goldring, author of My Name is Eva'Luminous... Perfect for fans of Sarah Waters and Sarah Perry' Sean Lusk, author of The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley
Good Grief
by Brianna Pastor'Brianna Pastor is by far one of my favourite new writers. If you want to feel seen and deeply moved, read Good Grief. Let the power of her writing guide you to a better life.' Yung Pueblo, #1 New York Times bestselling authorAn expanded edition with over forty brand-new poems of the bestselling poetry collection Good Grief by Brianna Pastor.When Brianna Pastor released her self-published poetry collection, Good Grief, she was blown away by the outpouring of support from people who reached out and said, 'Yes. Me too.' For anyone who has struggled with questions of identity or coped with serious emotional issues, including grief, trauma, anxiety and depression, this collection will help you find hope on the other side.We don't know how long our pain will last. we assume that because it hurts now, it is probably going to hurt tomorrow. it may even hurt the next day. perhaps it will get worse. but we sleep, and you see, and we do this marvellous thing in our sleep - we mend. And tomorrow is not always what we thought it would be. From Good Grief
Greasepaint Puritan: Boston to 42nd Street in the Queer Backstage Novels of Bradford Ropes
by Maya CantuGreasepaint Puritan details the life and work of Bradford Ropes, author of the bawdy 1932 novel 42nd Street, on which the classic film and its stage adaptation are based. Inspired by Ropes’s own experiences as a performer, 42nd Street “reads less like a novel than like a documentary about the lives of New York’s theatre people and, above all, about the practicalities, the personalities, and the sexual politics that go into the making of a show,” according to Richard Brody in The New Yorker. Why did Ropes’s body of work--which included a trilogy of backstage novels--and consequently his biographical footsteps, disappear into obscurity? Descended from Mayflower Pilgrims, Ropes rebelled against the “Proper Bostonian” life, in a career that touched upon the Jazz Age, American vaudeville, and theater censorship. Greasepaint Puritan follows Ropes’s successful career as both a performer and the author of the backstage novels 42nd Street, Stage Mother, and Go Into Your Dance. Populated by scheming stage mothers, precocious stage children, grandiose bit players, and tart-tongued chorines, these novels centered on the lives and relationships of gay men on Broadway during the Jazz Age and Prohibition era. Rigorously researched, Greasepaint Puritan chronicles Ropes’s career as a successful screenwriter in 1930s and ’40s Hollywood, where he continued to be a part of a dynamic gay subculture within the movie industry before returning to obscurity in the 1950s. His legacy lives on in the Hollywood and Broadway incarnations of 42nd Street—but Greasepaint Puritan restores the “forgotten melody” of the man who first envisioned its colorful characters.
Grow Where They Fall
by Michael Donkor'Michael Donkor is a real talent' SARAH WINMAN, author of Still Life'Hugely enjoyable and very moving, Donkor's frank, clear-eyed and funny prose is so refreshing - an important voice in contemporary British fiction' DIANA EVANS, author of Ordinary PeopleBright and precocious ten-year-old Kwame Akromah knows how to behave. He knows the importance of good manners, how to stay at the top of the class and out of the way when his mother and father are angry with each other. But when his charismatic cousin Yaw arrives from Ghana to live with the family while he looks for work, the rules Kwame has learned about the world can no longer guide him.Twenty years later, Kwame is a secondary-school teacher, popular with his students and depended on by his friends. His is a life spent elegantly weaving between the classroom, the labyrinth of Grindr politics and increasingly intermittent visits to his parents’ home. Behind the confident façade, however, he is as driven by caution as he was as a boy.But when electrifying changemaker Marcus Felix is appointed as headteacher, Kwame must reckon with himself as he never has before. Can he face the ghosts of his childhood? How will he learn to move through the world without losing who he is? And where does existing stop and living begin?Grow Where They Fall is a beautifully written, spirited and deeply moving novel about a young man finding the courage to expand the limits of who he might become, from the acclaimed author of Hold.---'Brilliant ... Donkor shapes lives that are so rich in texture that you genuinely care about who they are and what they’re going through' JEFFREY BOAKYE'Radiant, deeply felt ... I loved every shining moment' GUY GUNARATNE'A masterclass in immersive storytelling ... Donkor's words make me proud to be a Black British man' ASHLEY HICKSON-LOVENCE
Guest Privileges: Queer Lives and Finding Home in the Middle East
by Gaar AdamsAn intimate and illuminating account of queer lives and migration, homemaking and community in the Gulf, from a brilliant new voice in narrative non-fiction'An eye-opening tour de force... an important and necessary contribution to queer literature and an essential one.' Alex EspinozaUpon moving to the Gulf States – where penalties for queer acts include deportation, imprisonment, torture and death – Gaar Adams wants to understand why LGBTQ+ migrants might choose to live amid such peril. From the UAE to Bahrain and Oman to Saudi Arabia – a region where four out of five residents are noncitizens – he begins riskily gathering interviews outside the tightly controlled state media, leading with what he thinks is a simple question:Isn't it harder for you to make a life here?But as unforgettable residents share a kaleidoscope of stories – from uproarious Filipino salon workers throwing secret drag parties to a courageous Pakistani farmhand helping his compatriots smuggle themselves across borders – cracks emerge in the framing of his enquiry, revealing disquieting assumptions about the motivations, places and identities of others.As Gaar begins his own clandestine queer relationship, fault lines and deeper questions begin to emerge: about what we perpetuate and refuse to examine, and how we balance opportunity, risk, subversion and assimilation.Weaving revealing memoir with unprecedented reportage, Guest Privileges is a decade-long journey of dislocation not just through the Gulf States – one of the most maligned and misunderstood regions in the world – but into the very nature of home, belonging and how we form a life and community.
Healthy Chest Binding for Trans and Non-Binary People: A Practical Guide
by Frances ReedBinding is a crucial strategy in many transgender and non-binary people's lives for coping with gender dysphoria, yet the vast majority of those who bind report some negative physical symptoms. Written by Frances Reed, a licensed bodywork and massage therapist specialising in gender transition, this comprehensive guide helps you make the healthiest choices from the very start of your binding journey.Including guidance for choosing the right binder, approaching your first bind, an overview of potential health risks and complications, a range of self-massage and self-fascial release exercises to minimize pain and dysphoria, as well as tips and tricks for exercising safely in a binder - this is the ultimate resource for anyone that practices chest binding.
Henry Henry: ‘Needs to be read right now’ Brandon Taylor
by Allen BrattonMeet Hal: twenty-two, gay, Catholic, chops lines of cocaine with his myWaitrose card - and reluctant heir to the noble House of Lancaster'Fun... Bratton has a sharp eye' TELEGRAPHHal's father Henry, the sixteenth Duke of Lancaster, is half tyrant, half martyr. His investment in his eldest son has grown into an obsession. While Hal floats between internships and drinking sessions, Henry keeps him in check with passive-aggression, religious guilt, and a cruelty that Hal sometimes confuses for tenderness.When a grouse-shooting accident – funny in retrospect – makes a romance out of Hal’s rivalry with fumblingly leftist family friend Harry Percy, Hal finds that he wants, for the first time, a life of his own. But his father is an Englishman; he will not let his son escape tradition. To save himself, Hal must reckon not only with grief and shame but with the wounds of his family's past.Elegant and blisteringly funny, Henry Henry is a brilliant recasting of Shakespeare's history plays for the modern era - for fans of Alan Hollinghurst, Evelyn Waugh and Saltburn.'Carnal and precise' RAVEN LEILANI'You will come away from this book changed' KALIANE BRADLEY'A brilliantly glinting and twisted debut' SEÁN HEWITT
Here for the Wrong Reasons: A swoon-worthy, opposites-attract queer rom-com
by Annabel Paulsen Lydia WangIn this swoon-filled lesbian rom-com, two dating show contestants vying for the attention of the handsome, eligible 'bachelor' fall head over heels - for each other...Krystin knows exactly what she wants: a husband, a horse, and a place to hang all her competitive rodeo blue ribbons. On Hopelessly Devoted, Krystin is determined to win the affections of the season's Hopeless Romantic, Josh - that is, if she can just ignore the glossy brunette whose crimson smile gives her goosebumps.Lauren has never done anything for the right reasons. Her plan is simple: stay on Hopelessly Devoted long enough to build her social media following, gracefully leave when it's her turn to be eliminated, and use her new-found freedom to do what she really wants, including coming out of the proverbial walk-in closet. But the longer she stays on the show, the more she finds herself tangled up in a certain blonde's lasso...Fans of Ashley Herring Blake and Alexandria Bellefleur, and readers who love The Bachelor, will adore this steamy, laugh-out-loud debut romanceWHAT EARLY READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT HERE FOR THE WRONG REASONS:'This book gave me *everything* I wanted...all the romantic tension and yearning, spice and a conclusion that left me so satisfied' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'I ATE this book up' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Watching this story play out left me laughing and crying in the best way' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Perfect for fans of dating shows and reality TV - and all romcom fans who like a bit of spice!' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Oh my gosh this was so FUN...easily a five star read' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Homebody: Discovering What It Means To Be Me
by Theo Parish'An uplifting, hopeful, empowering memoir that celebrates self-discovery and self-love' - Alice Oseman, author of the bestselling Heartstopper seriesAn unmissable graphic novel perfect for fans of the global hit Heartstopper and Juno Dawson's What's the T?Hello! I’m Theo. I like cats, Dungeons & Dragons . . . and I’m trans and non-binary.Ever since I was young, I’ve been on a journey to explore who I am. To discover the things that make me . . . me.Sometimes it can feel like the world is trying to fit you into a box, to label you one way or another, but there is nothing more wonderful than finding your true authentic self, whoever you are. Whether you are transgender or cisgender, we are all searching for ways to make our houses feel like homes . . .In Homebody, Theo tells the heartwarming story of discovering how to live life on their own terms through beautiful illustrations and lyrical text.
Hope and Kinship in Contemporary Fiction: Moods and Modes of Temporality and Belonging
by Dr. Gero BauerExplores the emphasis that contemporary novels, films and television series place on the present, arguing that hope emerges from the potentiality of the here and now, rather than the future, and as intimately entangled with negotiations of structures of belonging.Taking its cue from an understanding of hope as connoting an organizing temporality, one which is often presumed to be projecting into a future, Hope and Kinship in Contemporary Fiction challenges this understanding, arguing that hope emerges in practices of relationality in the present, disentangling hope from a necessary correlation with futurity. Through close readings of contemporary works, including The Road, The Walking Dead, Cloud Atlas, Sense8, The People in the Trees and A Little Life, Gero Bauer investigates how these texts explore structures of kinship as creative and affective practices of belonging and care that claim spaces beyond the heterosexual, reproductive nuclear family. In this context, fictional figurations of the child – often considered the bearer of the future – are of particular interest. Through these interventions into definitions of and reflections on fictional manifestations of hope and kinship, Bauer's analyses intersect with queer theory, new materialism and postcritical approaches to literature and cultural studies, moving towards counterintuitively hopeful readings of the present moment.