Christina Cauterucci, "Incel Memes Aren’t a Joke"
"Incel culture has flourished online, where like-minded men post unsigned messages on Reddit, 4chan, and incel message boards, describing their most sinister fantasies about worlds in which women are collected like tax dollars and redistributed for sex."
Emily Contois, "I Was Trolled – Here’s Why I’m Turning It into a Teaching Opportunity"
"Food in particular tells us much about gender and power in U.S. society, and gendered online abuse is no exception. It’s not a coincidence that one of the most cited academic papers on the topic of online misogyny by Professor Emma A. Jane is titled 'Back to the kitchen, cunt: speaking the unspeakable about online misogyny'."
Lucy Cotter and Amy Hitchcock, "Line 18: Gender debate sparks bitter divide among trans and feminist groups"
"Transgender activists rubbish claims they cause female spaces to be compromised, while feminists say they want to 'protect girls'."
Hannah Dreyfus, "Harassment Allegations Mount Against Leading Jewish Sociologist"
"Women academics cite long pattern of sexual improprieties at the hands of Steven M. Cohen, who has expressed 'remorse' for his actions."
Ashley Fetters, "Americans Have Some Pretty Vanilla Sexual Fantasies"
"A new book on the science of sexual desire finds Americans are surprisingly romantic and loyal to their partners when they fantasize about sex."
Aura S. Jirau, "Storming Through Research: Historical Production in Post-María Puerto Rico"
"While conditions for historical production were dire before, the storm deteriorated them even further. Research facilities and libraries with meager resources faced flooded buildings and loss of power, putting collections and archives at risk."
"Lebanon: Same-Sex Relations Not Illegal"
"A district court of appeal in Lebanon issued a groundbreaking ruling on July 12, 2018, that consensual sex between people of the same sex is not unlawful, Human Rights Watch said."
Reese Piper, "Secret Life of an Autistic Stripper"
"I've always had trouble reading social cues, but in the strip club, where rules and roles are crystal clear, I finally learned to connect."
Liz Plank, "Should Giving Women Oral Sex be Mandatory for Men?"
"Can a man refuse to go down on a woman and still be someone we all don’t collectively shame into oblivion? Judging by the Twitter reactions to [DJ Khaled's] comments, the answer is a pretty strong and resounding no."
Anne Thériault, “How Being a Girl Guide Informed My Budding Feminism”
"In a world that seemed as if it was increasingly trying to convince me that women needed men, Guiding was the first place where I realized we could take care of ourselves just fine."
Sally Weale, "Campaigners criticise delay in updating sex education curriculum"
"Campaigners have criticised delays to the introduction of a new sex and relationships curriculum that will now not be made compulsory in schools in England until September 2020."
Joseph Wilson, "It’s Not A Sex-Ed Curriculum, It’s A Health Curriculum, And Our Kids Need It"
"Recently, Ontario’s new Premier, Doug Ford, followed through on one of his campaign promises to repeal the previous provincial government's 'sex-ed curriculum' and reverting to the version that was last updated in 1998. But there is no such thing as a 'sex-ed curriculum'."
Article Spotlight
Throughout Shimer's life—as she grew up in upstate New York, attended normal school in Albany, moved to frontier Illinois for a teaching job, served as an influential college president, retired to Florida, helped launch the citrus industry, and lived out her final days—she consistently expressed characteristics that those around her understood to be masculine. However, over her lifetime the meaning of that masculinity and, consequently, the meaning of her identity as a woman changed repeatedly. This essay examines the shifting meanings of female masculinity during Shimer's lifetime, drawing attention to gender's historical incoherency in order to situate Shimer's life within trans history. It follows the lead of scholars who have argued that attention to process rather than identity provides the best approach to writing transgender history avant la lettre.
Episode Spotlight
Chances are you’ve never heard of Ruth Wallis, one of the greatest singers, comedians, and performers of sexually suggestive lyrics in the postwar United States. Most of her catalogue remains on vinyl and historians have forgotten her. But from the 1940s until the early 1970s, Ruth Wallis was a bestselling performer and a mainstay at supper clubs and hotels. At a time when it was legally risky for entertainers to sing about sexuality for profit and pleasure, Ruth sold millions of records that used innuendo to playfully hint at a variety of straight and queer sexual pleasures.
Books
Sexing History Swag
Podcasts
Hysteria's "Freedom Hangover"
"In this episode, we discuss the idea of freedom and reproductive rights, plus a conversation about what’s going on at the U.S. – Mexico border. Then, we answer listener questions in a segment called Dude You Asked and close out the show with recommendations for cool stuff women are doing and making."
Truths be Told's "Hook Ups"
"Lindsay and her guests share their most notable hook up/one-night stand experiences and have an in depth discussion about hook up culture."
Exhibits
"Erotos, the 1993 Series by Nobuyoshi Araki That Saw Sexuality Everywhere"
"Turning his lens to both nature and the manmade world, Araki delineates the glistening sexuality in an open oyster; the curved form of a thick pipe screwed into the wall; an overripe fig; a wilting sunflower."