Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by kimdokjaa
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
4.0
lives up to its reputation as required reading for queer americans!!
stone butch blues is a very raw examination of queer liberation, community, and oppression. it chronicles brutal and graphic violence, but also cathartic and beautiful depictions of community and solidarity. it highlights not only the pain inflicted on, and between, marginalized groups, but also the power and love in acceptance
the writing style employed here is not my favorite. the prose and dialogue are a bit clunky, the characters are flat and interchangeable, and, while it says a lot that's great, a lot of the delivery is unpolished. that said, you can truly feel the passion and pain that feinberg drew on her own lived experiences to analyze here. it definitely read like a memoir, and as such the qualms i had were lessened by how real everything felt
one of my favorite aspects of stone butch blues was how unsanitized of a look feinberg provides here. she delves into how divisions prevent us from true solidarity, and you leave this book ever conscious of how marginalized communities are continuously pitted against each other and how much we need intersectionality. it's so important we continuously remind ourselves of this. it's so important that we remember queer history as a whole, and appreciate how much easier activists have made our lives. it's also so important, when fighting against people hellbent on stripping our rights, to remember that people have faced this and gotten through it once before, and that we, by learning from them, can too.
feinberg's closing words are so timely and moving, and the section below in particular really struck me
I am typing these words as June 2003 surges with pride. What year is it now, as you read them? What has been won? What has been lost? I can't see from here; I can't predict. But I know this: You are experiencing the impact of what we in the movement take a stand on and fight for today. The present and past are the trajectory of the future. But the arc of history does not bend towards justice automatically - as the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass said, without struggle there is no progress.
I can say this with certainty: If your life is being ground up in economic machinery and the burden of oppression is heavy on your back, you hunger for liberation, and so do those around you. Look for our brightly colored banners coming up over the hill of the past and into your present. Listen for our voices - our protest chants drawing nearer. Join us in the front ranks. We are marching toward liberation.
stone butch blues is a very raw examination of queer liberation, community, and oppression. it chronicles brutal and graphic violence, but also cathartic and beautiful depictions of community and solidarity. it highlights not only the pain inflicted on, and between, marginalized groups, but also the power and love in acceptance
the writing style employed here is not my favorite. the prose and dialogue are a bit clunky, the characters are flat and interchangeable, and, while it says a lot that's great, a lot of the delivery is unpolished. that said, you can truly feel the passion and pain that feinberg drew on her own lived experiences to analyze here. it definitely read like a memoir, and as such the qualms i had were lessened by how real everything felt
one of my favorite aspects of stone butch blues was how unsanitized of a look feinberg provides here. she delves into how divisions prevent us from true solidarity, and you leave this book ever conscious of how marginalized communities are continuously pitted against each other and how much we need intersectionality. it's so important we continuously remind ourselves of this. it's so important that we remember queer history as a whole, and appreciate how much easier activists have made our lives. it's also so important, when fighting against people hellbent on stripping our rights, to remember that people have faced this and gotten through it once before, and that we, by learning from them, can too.
feinberg's closing words are so timely and moving, and the section below in particular really struck me
I am typing these words as June 2003 surges with pride. What year is it now, as you read them? What has been won? What has been lost? I can't see from here; I can't predict. But I know this: You are experiencing the impact of what we in the movement take a stand on and fight for today. The present and past are the trajectory of the future. But the arc of history does not bend towards justice automatically - as the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass said, without struggle there is no progress.
I can say this with certainty: If your life is being ground up in economic machinery and the burden of oppression is heavy on your back, you hunger for liberation, and so do those around you. Look for our brightly colored banners coming up over the hill of the past and into your present. Listen for our voices - our protest chants drawing nearer. Join us in the front ranks. We are marching toward liberation.