Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

55 reviews

zuikerpot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, Transphobia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Bullying, Homophobia, Violence, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Antisemitism, Cursing, Homophobia, Hate crime, Child abuse, Deadnaming, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Drug use, Blood, Dysphoria, Suicide, Pedophilia, Racism, and Drug abuse

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Absolutely a treasure. A glimpse into an era of queer history and lefty history that I've been yearning for. I felt connected to ancestors that I've been wondering about. Complex characters, complex decisions they are making, peppered through with historical moments and movements. Romance, violence, grief. Just a glimpse of a few lives and a few paths to self-understanding. 

Can be found for free on Leslie Feinberg's website as it's now out-of-print in a traditional way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Racism, Homophobia, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Rape, Violence, Physical abuse, Transphobia, and Sexism

Moderate: Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Mental illness, Suicide, War, Toxic relationship, Outing, and Misogyny

averydappercat's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Stone Butch Blues is absolutely essential reading for anyone hoping to learn more about queer history. It is an incredibly insightful look into the butch and femme community of the the 50s and a moving story about Leslie Feinberg's life as a butch. It made me want to annotate and think about the content and did make me think about things in new ways. Mostly it was a reminder of how far society has come since the 60s. And it taught me what a Stone Butch is and how there's a reason it's not such a common term that we use anymore. Because Stone is what happens when you are pushed into the cracks of society and crushed there and forced to harden up or be destroyed.

There are a couple of instances in the book (in Leslie's life) where femmes are described as being able to melt stone. I'm thinking about this a lot lately and how younger generations, new baby butches, may never have to be shoved under that pressure and forced to harden up. And that is the legacy of people like Leslie Feinberg who suffered so much pain so we wouldn't have to.

Before I read this book, I felt a distant, obligatory respect for the people who came before me, for the people I'd only read and heard about in impassive historical information videos and articles. After this book, I feel a deep, appreciative respect and only want to learn more about the sacrifices past generations have made to give hope for the future. Because hope is a gift that keeps on giving, I feel more confidence in hoping for an even brighter future.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Police brutality, Outing, Lesbophobia, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Dysphoria, Violence, Transphobia, Rape, and Homophobia

It is a true and honest depiction of life for queer folk in the 50s and 60s. It is violent. It is difficult. I think it is a very important work but please take care of yourself.

the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Blood, Homophobia, Child abuse, Excrement, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Alcohol, Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Murder, Pedophilia, Drug use, and Suicide

Minor: Animal death

bearystarry's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Fuck capitalism, fuck white supremacy, fuck the police. Incredibly rewarding read, even if it’s excruciatingly painful sometimes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Outing, Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, Blood, Animal death, Alcohol, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Violence, Medical trauma, Excrement, Bullying, Body shaming, Antisemitism, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Death, Sexism, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Dysphoria, Deadnaming, Racism, Racial slurs, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Homophobia, Cursing, Child abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Adult/minor relationship, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Genocide, and War

heisenberglar's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Rape, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Vomit, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Hate crime, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

cornustella's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This book has been sitting in my to-read list for a while, and I decided to download the pdf as the summer had started. I have rarely put it down since the moment I picked it up. I devoured it instantaneously. Something I like about this book is that its raw, its real. It spares little from the truth. I wish that everyone would read this book, it shows so many things that are very well still applicable to the current day. My jaw dropped when I finished it, I didn't want it to end. This is definitely going to be one of my favourite books from now on, and I'm thankful for having crossed paths with it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Cursing, Death, Dysphoria, Blood, Bullying, Excrement, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Rape, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: Deadnaming, Child abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Suicide, Antisemitism, and Racism

sommer22's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

As a novel concerning the protagonist's coming of age journey as a butch lesbian from the 1960s to the 1990s, Stone Butch Blues certainly has its morose moments; it's exactly what it says on the tin. But it wouldn't be worth reading if the blues were the only thing being written about.

Throughout protagonist Jess Goldberg's life, struggle is a constant companion, but the lows are interspersed with such incandescent highs that it never seems like the end for her. With every job and every lover she takes, we witness Jess grow before our eyes into new dimensions of her identity, generating new collections of interactions with the world at large each time. There are times when you'll feel your heart ache or your stomach churn for her, there are moments that will make you grin ear to ear, and there are moments where you just want to give her a hug.

Stone Butch Blues thoughtfully explores the nuances of lesbian AND trans identity through Jess's perspective as she interacts with them. What I like is that she's never 100% accepting or open to everything she encounters-- she has her own relationship with lesbian identity influenced by her own identity and experiences. Reading this novel 30-some years after the time it was set means different queer languages are interacting -- that of the characters and that of the reader --.but that never creates a gulf between the two. Plenty of queer people ascribe rigidity to their queerness as they come to terms with it, a reality which makes this novel so relatable and seminal to queer literature and culture. 

This book has a happy ending, but not one where everything is perfect. As the characters interact with a new wave of queer liberation in the 1990s, they realize that [read: white supremacist capitalist colonial] society wasn't always homophobic and that they've been taught to be ashamed of their identities. Indigenous cultures and history is drawn upon to prove that. It's made clear throughout the book that neither the characters nor the world they live in are perfect and that they live in constant tension.

That makes it all the more satisfying when Jess in particular starts to take pride in herself and opens herself up to sharing herself with the world around her as well as those she is closest to.

Criticisms I had were that the dialogue during the first half of the book read as somewhat corny and grated on me because of that. Perhaps because it's set in the 60's and Jess is a definitive baby butch, but the dialogue didn't feel totally realistic and took me out of it. This wasn't as big of a problem as the book went on. It was even made up for by Feinberg's powerful and lyrical prose that could stab you through the heart with one sentence.

Overall I'm proud to have read this book and connected to the story throughout, especially as a young lesbian. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Transphobia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Suicide and Antisemitism

grrrlkisser's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Beautiful book, made me cry & reflect on myself 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Dysphoria, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Racism, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Death, and Physical abuse

lifewithjoce's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Gore, Police brutality, Sexism, Bullying, Violence, Dysphoria, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Rape, Abandonment, Alcohol, Biphobia, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Antisemitism, Homophobia, and Suicide

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Dementia