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randlepap's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.25
I enjoyed this book and liked Brown's analysis of sex in pop culture, and their explanation of the Bond movies was interesting. As well, Brown explores the implications of placing queerness on historical figures that have passed. Which I think is such an important conversation. Overall, I recommend to those wanting to learn more about asexuality.
natejazz's review against another edition
5.0
Beautifully written and incisive in its critique. Life changing in many ways.
bookph1le's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars
This book and I have been on a long journey. It's by far the most academic book I've read about asexuality, which is why it took me so long to get through. It's extremely thought-provoking and very well written, and it definitely helped shape my thoughts as I've been working through my understanding of asexuality. I do think if you want something more accessible, this may not be the right book, but if you're looking for a book that dives very deep and really interrogates how tied up in white supremacy compulsory sexuality is, you can't find a finer book.
This book and I have been on a long journey. It's by far the most academic book I've read about asexuality, which is why it took me so long to get through. It's extremely thought-provoking and very well written, and it definitely helped shape my thoughts as I've been working through my understanding of asexuality. I do think if you want something more accessible, this may not be the right book, but if you're looking for a book that dives very deep and really interrogates how tied up in white supremacy compulsory sexuality is, you can't find a finer book.
seeceeread's review against another edition
Oppressive ideas are never singular. They are always informed by other interlocking notions of power.
Black people are doubly closed out of asexuality, both because it is an aggressively gendered experience (and the gender binary struggles with Blackness) and because ace intimacies conflict with widely held assumptions of Black hypersexuality. Yet Brown is real, as are the people they cite in a quick closing chapter, "Black Asexual Insights." The book aims to explain the many ways Blackness is treated as a foil in the human story, as well as to read asexuality into spaces where it has been erased.
In on-screen villains, historical statutes, and the DSM-IV, Brown finds asexuality has long been (and still is) synonymous with devilish and deviant, cruel and cold, sophomoric and naive. White supremacy, patriarchy, and cisheteronormativity obscure, distort and demonize aces. However, we may find ace traces if we allow ourselves to accept that some of our icons – notably, Langston Hughes and Octavia Butler – were honest about pursuing career over relationship, and turning on audiences for their art, instead of lovers. Brown's methods reminisce of Heyam's in BEFORE WE WERE TRANS; they’re not interested in posthumously assigning labels so much as documenting contextualized transgressions, themselves queer invitations.
Brown picks up after Chen's ACE, briefly discussing the spectrum and its entry points to delve into cultural (mis)interpretations of asexuality. Each chapter reads as its own essay, but the crescendo makes this more than a collection of standalone thoughts. More than once, I craved simpler sentences that could better allow the author's bold thinking to shine, though they also deliver several times. I'm curious about writers in conversation with Brown's work, those who might invite me to further simmer.
han_reardonsmith's review against another edition
5.0
A brilliant articulation of the impact of white-supremacist colonial capitalist patriarchal compulsory sexuality on our knowing of our own selves and our desires, and the possibilities of freeing ourselves from this prevailing and suffocating ideological grasp. Essential reading for literally EVERYONE.
biobeetle's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia, Racism, and Misogyny
Moderate: Homophobia and Rape
Minor: Sexual violence and Violence