luch reviewed S/He by Minnie Bruce Pratt
Unapologetically Queer, Romantic
5 stars
I don't always connect with queer authors who came before me, in large part because they carry the baggage of previous generations, i.e. of those who raised me. While it's true that we often do not overcome the deficiencies we perceive in our elders, it is also true that those deficiencies we spot in youth often remain glaring to us throughout our lives, even as our own may remain hidden from us; or even as our foolish repetitions of the past elude our notice.
In any case: i /did/ connect with this book. Pratt shares just /so many/ feelings and thoughts that i have had myself: questions about the nature of gender, of sexuality, of the truth of one's identities, the malleability (or not) of these, etc. Questions of Truth or Validity that haunt us all, i expect. It was sincerely comforting to read, because sharing my doubts and …
I don't always connect with queer authors who came before me, in large part because they carry the baggage of previous generations, i.e. of those who raised me. While it's true that we often do not overcome the deficiencies we perceive in our elders, it is also true that those deficiencies we spot in youth often remain glaring to us throughout our lives, even as our own may remain hidden from us; or even as our foolish repetitions of the past elude our notice.
In any case: i /did/ connect with this book. Pratt shares just /so many/ feelings and thoughts that i have had myself: questions about the nature of gender, of sexuality, of the truth of one's identities, the malleability (or not) of these, etc. Questions of Truth or Validity that haunt us all, i expect. It was sincerely comforting to read, because sharing my doubts and fears is often so terribly Difficult to do, especially in a world filled with those who see any Doubt as a fundamental flaw, a reason to deny and/or erase us. Pratt lived an unapologetically queer, unapologetically radical life that pushed overtly for intersectional thinking and the expanding of horizons of sexuality and gender beyond the conventional prisons that confine us all, whether we desire these cages, find them gilded, or not.
The book is poetic, though reads like prose. It is also /quite/ graphically sexual, but—crucially—in an uplifting way. Which is to say… i'm quite ace, and often intense sexual content makes me squirm unpleasantly in, e.g., films, books, stories. But… i think her descriptions of the sex she's having here are significant partly because they document the beauty that can be present in queer sex; partly because they reveal the deep love that can exist in queer relationships; partly because they reveal the deep meaning in our sexual expression; partly because it's not gazey… there are a lot of layers. It is at times passionately erotic, and is always soaked in affection for Pratt's partner (famous queer author Leslie Feinberg). While it didn't arouse me the way i expect it has others, it felt Important, a beautiful and overt document of queer love.
I'd recommend giving it a look! And… for speedy readers (i.e.: not me), it's probably a very quick read.