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What book(s) are you currently reading or listening to? October 07 (discuss.online)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/books@lemmy.world
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Reading Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. It, and couple of others, were recommended here recently, and is somewhat of a new genre for me, memoir / biography in graphic novel format, graphic memoir?

Got the omnibus edition, "The Complete Persepolis", it's a pretty interesting read. It's about young girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution of 1979, at least the first volume, after that it's about her life after that.

What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?

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[–] 3 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The past year or two, sexual and gender variance (outside of cis-hetero-normativity) has grabbed my attention as a fascinating topic for understanding the world around me as well as helping me grow as a human. I've read a handful of books discussing inclusive theological aspects of sex/gender variance (Adrian Thatcher's Gender and Christian Ethics, Susannah Cornwall's Constructive Theology and Gender variance to name a few), as well as Queer Theology in a broad sense (Patrick Cheng's Radical Love: An Introduction to Queer Theology, Marcella Althaus-Reid's Indecent Theology and The Queer God to name a few).

I was raised in a conservative environment which sex and gender variance were viewed as problematic or something that needed curing through religion, and I'm trying to move towards a more open and understanding mindset in which I can celebrate sex and gender variance and perhaps even explore it in my own life.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Have you read Hanna Reichel? I have not read this book, but I've listened to some interviews they've done and am currently reading their devotional book. This is more theology focused: https://www.wjkbooks.com/bookproduct/0664268196-after-method/

    Not sure of your religious background, but I'm an ex-evangelical and, while I'm a white, straight, middle-aged guy, I've found nothing has helped me more than reading non-white and/or non-cis folks in recent years. Mainly because it's perspectives that I have not only appreciated before, but actively thought of as bad in the past.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    oh interesting, thanks for those titles as well - I might have to look into them

    I guess I'm left wondering why theology in particular? As a discipline I guess I wouldn't expect to learn as much about sex and gender as apologetics for how to retain your religious commitments / faith in light of traditionally bigoted stances in religious dogma - but that's just a guess. Maybe it helps you explore that connection between gender variance and the way religion was presented as a treatment?

    I'm also interested in sex and gender, but I don't know where your interests lie exactly to know whether you would be interested in the books I've read.

    Regardless, I would be careful about Suthrell's framing of the Hijra as cross-dressers ... one way to interpret the author's perspective is as transphobic, viewing the Hijra as fundamentally male and rejecting their gender. Meanwhile, Hijra included intersex people and people who transformed their bodies with surgeries to fit better as their female gender, people we certainly wouldn't view as male.

    The book is from 2004 when the research on brain sex and the etiology of gender dysphoria was not as robust as it is now, so it's not surprising the author might be ignorant of the facts we now have about gender diverse people, so just be aware of that ignorance and its potential for creating harm. I'm always happy to point to resources if you want them, but I don't want to assume this is where your interest lies.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    I highly recommend those books, and have some others along those lines if you're interested.

    In regards to "why theology in particular": my conservative upbringing was essentially "this is our limited view of what's acceptable as a Christian, anything outside that isn't right". Now, I'm not ready to abandon my faith in exchange for inclusion of "others", so I turned to theological authors to see what they have to say on the matter as an attempt to find inclusion within that faith; Thatcher, Cornwall, and Althaus-Reid are/were college professors of various flavors of theology and also claim a Christian faith, so I believe their works are pertinent here. To summarize: I was taught that judgment of GSMs was inherently expected in the faith (with the understanding that GSMs were living outside God's direction), but now I want to learn about explicit inclusion of GSMs in the faith where a person doesn't have to abandon their homosexuality or variant gender expression in order to find inclusion in the faith.

    I've definitely picked up on some of the outdated-ness of the book. Hijras aren't just crossdressers in the Western understanding of the term, but rather a third gender specific to Indian society as a result of their representation in Hindu mythology in texts like the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Outside of Hinduism, some Hijras have converted to Islam. Some join the Hijra community out of necessity (being outcast by family or community) or by choice (preferring a feminine role in society or feminine clothing). It's been an enlightening read so far. "Surgery" to become a Hijra is a bit of a misnomer, as it's far more of a ceremony involving the community, and the process involves some string and two sharp cuts to remove the genitals; some don't even survive, which is explained as a battle between the gods of good and evil.

    The other half of the book is about transvestites (again, an outdated term nowadays) in the UK, which is much closer to my situation.

    This chain is getting a bit long, so feel free to DM me!

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