nonfiction Archives

memoir

nonfiction

Melissa Febos "Girlhood" book review: Melissa Febos is in a black turtleneck, next to the cover art of her book "Girlhood." The book title says the word "Girlhood" in dark magenta lettering over and over until it fades into orange, spelling her name, like a sunset. It's all against a black background.

literature

Power Is Searingly Political and Personal In Melissa Febos’ “Girlhood”

Secrets, silence, internalized misogyny, power, desire, and the catastrophic — yet very common — ways in which girls are harmed as they grow into women are all themes that Febos…

Luna Adler —

Apr 9, 2021

essay collection

nonfiction

Three repeating images of the cover of We Too: Essays on Sex Work and Survival

literature

How New Anthology “We Too: Essays on Sex Work and Survival” Honors Sex Workers’ Truths

We Too maps out the underground ecosystems of sex worker survival and self-determination that are literally the building blocks of a new world order.

Aegor Ray —

Apr 5, 2021

AIDS

HIV/AIDS

literature

Surprise Porn and Hospital Parties: The Queer and Trans Pleasure in Marty Fink’s “Forget Burial”

Marty Fink shows how caregiving is activism, disability is sexy and dusty archives are tantalizing in Forget Burial, an essential, highly pleasurable, read.

Anna Lee-Popham —

Feb 24, 2021

essay collection

nonfiction

Black Furures by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham

book features

The Drop: Jenna Wortham and Kimberly Drew’s “Black Futures” Is a Triumphant Celebration of Black Voices and Black Innovation

Black people are the future, creating some of the most beautiful and challenging art we have seen, forging a way out of the past while being entirely cognizant of it.…

danijanae —

Jan 31, 2021

gabrielle korn

memoir

The cover of Everybody (Else) Is Perfect repeated three times

literature

“Everybody (Else) Is Perfect,” Gabrielle Korn’s Debut Essay Collection, Examines the Media World She Helped Create

“Everybody (Else) Is Perfect” is a bold and complicated meditation on media, feminism, and the internet, written from the perspective of a thoughtful and deeply honest insider. It is also…

Vanessa —

Jan 26, 2021

interview

nonfiction

A photo collage of the cover of Marlee Grace's Getting to Center, which features pastel abstract shapes, and a photo of Grace, a blond woman in a white turtleneck in front of a backdrop with pastel shapes on it.

literature

Getting to an Imperfect, Queer Center: Interview with Marlee Grace

“The goal, especially in 2020, has not been to feel better or feel my best, but it’s to feel less shitty than I did five minutes ago.” Marlee Grace’s Getting…

Sarah Yanni —

Jan 4, 2021

nonfiction

trans book

literature

Hil Malatino’s “Trans Care” Doesn’t Have the Answers on Meeting Trans Community Needs — But It Shouldn’t

It’s doubly oppressive that we’re denied care and then left to fulfill the care needs of each other with our own depleted resources. Transantagonism is a global pandemic of indifference…

Abbie Jones —

Dec 1, 2020

asexuality

consent

one person with short red, orange and yellow hair rests their nose on the shoulder of another person with longer brown hair, who is smiling with their eyes closed and holding a mug with both hands

love + sex

How To Negotiate Better Consent: An Asexual Perspective

Most consent conversations are based on the assumption that everybody experiences sexual desire and attraction — but asexual people don’t.

Angela Chen —

Oct 30, 2020

nonfiction

steven universe

literature

“Steven Universe: End of an Era” Reveals How Hard Rebecca Sugar Fought for Our Queer Gem Wedding

“But if Steven Universe gets a gay wedding, then every show is going to want a gay wedding!” “‘YES!’ I said. ‘GOOD! WHY NOT???'”

Heather Hogan —

Oct 12, 2020

nonfiction

A woman in a blue dress stands in front of a table of sex toys and holds a heart-shaped riding crop.

lgbt book reviews

Carnal Knowledge Is the Sex Guide You Wish You Had In High School

Carnal Knowledge is full of the truths you wish you’d learned from your hip older sister if your hip older sister happened to read a lot of feminist literature.

Ro White —

Oct 12, 2020

nonfiction

literature

Leigh Finke’s “Queerfully and Wonderfully Made” Answers Crucial Questions for LGBTQ+ Christian Youth

“I wish I had these books when I was 15. I needed permission. I needed somebody to tell me, ‘You’re ok.’ If I had had one place to go, one…

Adrian —

Sep 29, 2020

nonfiction

literature

Tana Wojczuk’s “Lady Romeo” Profiles Shakespearean Actress Charlotte Cushman, Leading Man of the 19th Century

What kind of choose-your-own-adventure occurs when a queer lady with an unbending will and a penchant for leaping about onstage with a dagger strapped to her thigh is born in…

Luna Adler —

Jul 13, 2020