Love in the Margins

This needs to be the cover of a romance novel.

• Pride and prejudice: Scotland’s complicated black history – Hat tip to Laura Vivanco for this link. May it breed plot bunnies.
  

  "Black History Month has been held annually in the US since the 1920s and in the UK from the late 80s.

  It is a celebration of the contribution that black African and Caribbean communities have made on a local level and across the world.

  Scotland’s black history is populated by interesting and important characters, many of whom had to endure prejudice and racism. But who were some of these people?"

• The Hardest Word To Say Is Goodbye: Why I’m Quitting Jezebel – I’m a white woman, and I feel sort of the same way. Jezebel was where I learned that feminism was relevant and awesome and it set me off to learn more. In the process of learning more, I realized Jezebel was the Mean Girl on the block, and I felt cheated. That and they banned me for complaining about Hugo. So, yeah, this post is spot on and you should read it.
  

  "I found Jezebel and I started reading. I’m the kind of person who just likes to know things, so perusing the site pre-Kinja was like a revelation to me. All of a sudden I had this entire vocabulary to explain the little microagressions that I’d faced all my life, and a community of women who were engaged in parsing those issues. I could finally vocalize why I felt an inconsolable rage when I was tone policed. I knew how to defend myself against slut shaming. I could explain in detail why rape culture was so insidious and why restrictions on reproductive freedom were a devastating step backwards for women.

   

  Jezebel taught me how to be a woman.
  And then it taught me that it didn’t care about the kind of woman that I am."

   

• True Story: I’m Never Having Penis-In-Vagina Sex Again – This article contrasts sharply with romance’s focus on PIV sex as the be-all-end-all of relationship consummation. Only read the comments if you’re concerned about the menz and how sad their penises will be.
  

  "I’m done feeling broken. Never again will I have a penis inside me. But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up penis.

  
  Conventional wisdom says that, if you’re straight (or mostly straight) and don’t want your partner’s genitals inside you, you’re either dreaming of a hyper-sterilized sex act that denies the reality of bodily fluids, or in really deep in denial about your latent homosexuality. But conventional wisdom just stops at straight and gay, and doesn’t take into account my actual desires. I get the most turned on when I think about men’s nipples and pecs, asses, bellies and penises — just not when they’re in my vagina. I love the feel of a penis in my mouth or in my hands. It’s just when the same penis is in my vagina, nothing happens."

   

• 2013 LGBT YA by the Numbers – Malinda Lo breaks down this year’s LGBT YA catalog. The numbers are about what you expect. We deserve better.
  

  "In 2012 I counted how many LGBT YA novels were published. In comparison to statistics on LGBT YA from 1969-2011, it looked like the representation of LGBT characters in YA was continuing to improve.

   

  This year there is both an increase and a decrease in the number of LGBT young adult books published. How does that work? Well, things are complicated. Additionally, things don’t look so good for girls. Here’s the overview:"

   

• Reactions to Anna Goldsworthy’s Quarterly Essay: I wanted to whisper, ‘Intersectional analysis is your friend.’ – This post is why Jessica is one of my favorite bloggers. I loved her analysis of this essay and how she tied the issues back to debates romance fans are familiar with.
  

  "Anna Goldsworthy’s essay, Unfinished Business: Sex, Freedom, Misogyny, is one I wouldn’t have read if Kat hadn’t asked me to contribute a comment on it. I would have missed not only a very thought-provoking piece, but a glimpse into some of significant cultural events of particular relevance to women in Australia. Although most of the issues Goldsworthy touches on were familiar to me as a USian (body image, the double bind, rape culture, the messages of pop culture), the specific context was not."