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sharppointysticks's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting. I knew just about nothing about Susie Bright so I didn't really know what to expect. She definitely had a very interesting life. I think my favorite part was when they were discussing the movie Chasing Amy.
editrixie's review against another edition
2.0
Much as I admire Susie Bright and have enjoyed her writing in the past, her memoir left me tepid. I'd expected a far more engaging read from someone so brave and expressive. Perhaps the episodes from her adolescence and early adulthood she breezily recounts were more cohesive in her head than they wound up becoming on the page.
Her story might be better told by another person -- someone with a little critical distance who could describe Bright's life and work in the context of the larger feminist, sex-positive movement. I have no doubt that she had a major influence in changing our culture's attitudes toward women's sexuality, but it doesn't come through in her autobiography.
Her story might be better told by another person -- someone with a little critical distance who could describe Bright's life and work in the context of the larger feminist, sex-positive movement. I have no doubt that she had a major influence in changing our culture's attitudes toward women's sexuality, but it doesn't come through in her autobiography.
ericawrites's review against another edition
3.0
Susie's a talented writer, and her conversational style makes this an easy read, even if not all the subjects are breezy fun.
I would've loved to read more of her self-reflection on her life as adult. There's good parts about her parents (who at least her mom had passed when this was published), but everything else is more about the moment. Like I wonder how she feels about the adults she had sex with when she was still a teen or the amount of sex workers she was friends/lovers with who committed suicide? Or what about her relationship with Jon and the stability at a height of chaos in the rest of her life?
But I also understand the protectiveness any of us on the margins of society have to protect each other and the work from being degraded by our critics finding out what messy humans we are (because we're human). It's hard to critique your comrades.
I would've loved to read more of her self-reflection on her life as adult. There's good parts about her parents (who at least her mom had passed when this was published), but everything else is more about the moment. Like I wonder how she feels about the adults she had sex with when she was still a teen or the amount of sex workers she was friends/lovers with who committed suicide? Or what about her relationship with Jon and the stability at a height of chaos in the rest of her life?
But I also understand the protectiveness any of us on the margins of society have to protect each other and the work from being degraded by our critics finding out what messy humans we are (because we're human). It's hard to critique your comrades.
thecatwood's review against another edition
4.0
Susie Bright is famous in some circles, infamous in others, for her work editing "On Our Backs," what is considered to be the first "for women by women" lesbian erotica. Big Sex Little Death gives a window into her personal history leading up to the magazine and the experiences that made her one of the first voices in sex positive feminism.
caitlinxmartin's review against another edition
3.0
As a person who came of age during the roaring '70's only to enter college and adulthood for the early years of HIV, I've always admired Susie Bright. She's been a sex-positive educator throughout her career - openly gay, an editor of annual collections of erotic stories. She founded On Our Backs, the first magazine for gay women. She was the first female critic of the X-Rated Critics Organization and wrote feminist reviews of erotic films for the Penthouse Forum. She sassy and funny and was a beacon during the Reagan-era for treating sex as a normal and extra fun part of life. I was really excited to get this memoir, but stopped reading about halfway in. It's not that it wasn't well-written or interesting (it is both), but for some reason it just didn't grab me. Maybe I already know as much as I want to know about Susie Bright?
leighkhoopes's review
3.0
I have to admit: I had not read any of Susie Bright's work, nor could I really place her name or face when I started reading this book. Then she started dropping names like On Our Backs and bringing up beef with Andrea Dworkin, and it all kind of fell into place.
This is a pretty light memoir that focuses more on Susie's childhood, parents, and early activist life, glossing somewhat over her time as a leader in the second-wave sex-positive queer feminist movement. It's quick and smart, a good introduction to the movement for beginners, and intriguing to see the movement from the hippies of the 1960s to the radicalization of the 1970s and 1980s.
I'm glad it's not heavy on the theory, which is both a good and bad thing I've found in second-wave texts, especially when it comes to a lack of intersectionality. Bright comes close to a good examination of the intricacies of queerness, poverty and feminism, but never takes it any deeper than she could. Bright's stories of the 1970s Midwest Communist labor movement are almost more fascinating than her sexual escapades in San Francisco, because they seem so anachronistic, uncovering a section of history that I for one knew next to nothing about and also revealing the hypocrisies of even the most seemingly liberal movements.
The later chapters feel rushed, but maybe that was just me rushing to finish them. I like her writing style, which sometimes errs on the side of a little too conversational, but I feel like that works when the extremely personal becomes the political. Worth a read for anyone interested in second-wave radical feminism who doesn't mind the details when it comes to sex of all flavors and drugs of every sort.
This is a pretty light memoir that focuses more on Susie's childhood, parents, and early activist life, glossing somewhat over her time as a leader in the second-wave sex-positive queer feminist movement. It's quick and smart, a good introduction to the movement for beginners, and intriguing to see the movement from the hippies of the 1960s to the radicalization of the 1970s and 1980s.
I'm glad it's not heavy on the theory, which is both a good and bad thing I've found in second-wave texts, especially when it comes to a lack of intersectionality. Bright comes close to a good examination of the intricacies of queerness, poverty and feminism, but never takes it any deeper than she could. Bright's stories of the 1970s Midwest Communist labor movement are almost more fascinating than her sexual escapades in San Francisco, because they seem so anachronistic, uncovering a section of history that I for one knew next to nothing about and also revealing the hypocrisies of even the most seemingly liberal movements.
The later chapters feel rushed, but maybe that was just me rushing to finish them. I like her writing style, which sometimes errs on the side of a little too conversational, but I feel like that works when the extremely personal becomes the political. Worth a read for anyone interested in second-wave radical feminism who doesn't mind the details when it comes to sex of all flavors and drugs of every sort.
mkat303's review
4.0
I just read this book in a day. I had to stand in line at court today, and had brought this along with me, and I was so absorbed I didn't even notice that a minor altercation had broken out in front of me until the growing group of sheriffs started questioning us at to what we'd soon. Oops. Oddly, I'd been reading what I thought was the weaker part of the book, about the splits in the socialist group Bright had worked with in Detroit.
Some good quotes in here. I hope I can find them again.
Some good quotes in here. I hope I can find them again.
onecrab's review
Interesting memoir from Susie Bright. It was interesting to read about her beginning in the world of politics and revolution. The book reads like many small conversations between the author and reader. The ending was a bit odd - not that I expected some drawn out reflections on life, but it was very abrupt. I also found it curious that Susie Bright really didn't reflect on the erotica collections she's edited or her podcast on audible.com.
likeaduck's review
3.0
I found the socialist organising and zinemaking far more engaging than any of the sex actually described (and the political implications of the zine more intriguing than the pornographic ones), which makes the title seem a bit of an odd choice, but I enjoyed the book immensely and want to be buddies with Susie Bright now.
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