• Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe “ Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity — what it means and how to think about it — for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere." https://www.amazon.com/Gender-Queer-Memoir-Maia-Kobabe/dp/1549304003
• “The Courage to Be and Act” A poem by Calvin Niles. Here is a poem set to music with some nice techno-art at the end. Our teen members might like this, “ But he was loving his life now because he was being authentic” [4 mins]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g0rElNjObg
• Adrienne Rich’s “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” “ Rich challenges the notion of women’s dependence on men as social and economic supports as well as for adult sexuality and psychological completion. She calls for what she describes as a greater understanding of lesbian experience, and she believes that once such an understanding is obtained, these boundaries will be widened and women will be able to experience the “erotic” in female terms. In order to gain this physical, economical, and emotional access for women, Rich lays out a framework developed by Kathleen Gough (a social anthropologist and feminist) that lists “eight characteristics of male power in archaic and contemporary societies definitions for the term.This YouTube is a nice summary [19 mins] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGNOl2uzHZ0
• Taking off the armour and showing up authentically — Brené Brown TED Talk Speaker. Brené Brown PhD is a research professor at the University of Houston where she holds the Huffington Foundation — Brené Brown Endowed Chair. She has spent two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy and is the author of the books The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, Rising Strong, Braving the Wilderness and Dare to Lead. [about 20 mins]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9669oUfqbDU
• Max Binder & Morgan Crist — “Real Boy/Real Girl” [YouTubr,4 min] ‘This powerful poem was performed by rhymic duo Max Binder and Mo Crist in 2016’s College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational. “To be gendered is to answer every question before it is asked,” the two say in unison, bringing to light the social constructs surrounding gender. They also unpack what it means to be fully ourselves. “Home is a body where you get to be you, no strings attached,” they say.’ The poem’s two speakers are young trans teens. I couldn’t find a site with the words. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK3qJ65WIwc
In faith,
Dale