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3rd out of 16 books
—
3 voters
Brazen Femme: Queering Femininity
Brazen Femme: Queering Femininity is a manifesto for the unrepentant bitch, straddling the furious and fantastic. Undeniably celebratory and deeply troubling, this sharp-edged collection (of fiction, prose poetry, personal essay, photographs, and illustration) figures the un-hyphenated femme experience emerging in performance, betrayal, -violence, humor and survival.
Brazen...more
Brazen...more
Paperback, 176 pages
Published
April 1st 2003
by Arsenal Pulp Press
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I started and finished this brief anthology during a three-hour train ride. I would agree with other reviews that this collection is a mixture of brilliant and mediocre work. I was especially impressed by Anna Camilleri and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. This book is a nice introduction to femme identities as it includes women of color, immigrants, drag queens, gay men, bi women, fat women, etc. Another thing I like about this book is that it explores femme identity as separate from normative...more
This book is amazing. As with Anna's other work, there is a lot of rape related stories, which I'm not so into, but the text that deals with identity is fantastic.
I read the intro and was hooked immediately. I felt better about myself and that I had the ability to be braver in my own identity.
I read the intro and was hooked immediately. I felt better about myself and that I had the ability to be braver in my own identity.
As a queer femme, I absolutely loved this so, so much, such a radical and beautiful read. Nonetheless, I feel as though it's just the first foot in the door of femme discourse as separate from that of the femme/butch dichotomy. There are a couple of reasons why I didn't give it all five stars: 1) I wish it were longer, 2) I wish it included more critical analyses about femme as a radical identity, rather than just the intro (after a while I felt that the book became a little narrative-heavy, whi...more
this anthology is a bit spotty, but there are definitely some gems.
Like others have said, this book is not bad, but falls short in some areas. I did question the inclusion of some essays ("Wheels Plus" for instance, even though I enjoyed reading it), and I also questioned the manifesto at the end which sort of said, "If you date men you can't be in the club," which I found kind of off-putting considering I identified heavily with the rest of the book, consider myself queer/pansexual, and am currently in a relationship with a man.
But aside from that, I did enjoy...more
But aside from that, I did enjoy...more
I really liked this book, and it's one I'd recommend. It covers a great cross-section of femme identity, and while not all the pieces are good, I found most of them at least thought-provoking. The mix of mediums throughout the book works really well, and it's one I can see myself referring back to.
There are some stellar pieces in this: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha's 'gonna get my girl body back: this is a work in progress', which I had to take a couple of hours to get through because I kept...more
There are some stellar pieces in this: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha's 'gonna get my girl body back: this is a work in progress', which I had to take a couple of hours to get through because I kept...more
it took me something like six months to make my way through this slender little volume. admittedly, i do not read nonfiction quickly, ever. but i've had a weird relationship with this book. i kept finding myself in its pages, and then losing any connection with the content at all, not a touch or a trace of recognizability. the essays, poems and comics are, as a collection, very uneven; there is some work of sheerest brilliance in here, and there's some stuff that's gazing so deeply at its own na...more
When I picked up this book I was really excited (after all, just look at the cover!) I was really disappointed in this book. Someone recommended it to me and said it might help with my understanding of Femme-ness and help me evaluate my own shaky identity as a possible femme. It didn’t do this at all. Some of the articles tried to hard, others were just uninteresting. However, if you are going to pick up the book these articles worth reading:
-Whores and Bitches Who Sleep With Women by Kathryn Pa...more
-Whores and Bitches Who Sleep With Women by Kathryn Pa...more
This book was not what I expected. And it makes that clear from its cover image. I was expecting a lot more theory-talk about femme identities. That is not this book at all-- and that's a good thing! We need more books that feature essays, stories, poems and other art that look critically at structures such as "femme" and say what that word means to them, in all its different ways.
I would have given it a higher review if I felt it was a little tighter. Occasionally, this desire to make the discu...more
I would have given it a higher review if I felt it was a little tighter. Occasionally, this desire to make the discu...more
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. It was tough to read, very confrontational, and I liked that about it - I enjoy having to examine my own discomfort to see what that means about me - but as far as actual writing quality goes, I think it varied. Some essays were amazing, but a lot felt heavy-handed, or like they were relying too much on style and metaphor and not enough on emotional or literary impact. These essays positioned femme as a category unto itself, not as defined by butch or mas...more
Some of this was a little over my head. I liked the way there was a mixture of creative pieces and essays. Only a few entries resonated with my personal journey but I loved getting to share in the stories of so many other femmes.
This is a brilliant anthology. It's un-apologetically honest and has something for everyone, especially anyone who identifies as 'femme'. Even if you don't, it's worth reading. Just, read it.
i don't identify as "femme" (or anything, really), but quite a few people in my life do. i picked this up because the femme conference happened recently, & i found myself talking to lots of different people about their relationship to the word. i'm also a sucker for subtitles that use "queer" as a verb, so.
i very much appreciated the interview with some women on fatness and queer femme identity; i skipped a few of the poems & an essay that was abusing the linguistic trick of enclosing on...more
i very much appreciated the interview with some women on fatness and queer femme identity; i skipped a few of the poems & an essay that was abusing the linguistic trick of enclosing on...more
I will forever love this book for introducing me to Zoe Whittall. Other than that, though, I would deem it a pretty uneven, not-very-groundbreaking anthology.
After a few blah experiences recently with queer/gender anthologies, I wasn't expecting much. But this was amazing. The essays/poems/stories/etc were all incredibly nuanced and well-written and challenging. As someone who doesn't identify as femme, I wasn't really sure what my relationship to this material would be, but I hugely enjoyed reading this and got a lot out of it (even in regard to my own lack of/gender) and it was so refreshing to see stuff about gendered experiences that were super q...more
lots of stellar pieces, and some leaning more toward mediocre. but the cover photo alone earned at least a star and a half.
I wish I could remember which Women's Studies class I read this book far but, alas, I can't remember.
As others have said, very mixed bag of essays. And in my opinion the less said about some of the poetry, the better.
I think the only thing I didn't like about this book is how surprised I was to find out that it was, in fact, a collection of prose/poetry. Somehow I was expecting non-fiction. I didn't have time to finish it until a bunch of schoolwork set in, but what I did read was rather interesting.
This went out in an email to my best friend:
"I tried to read the queer theory/lit anthology "brazen femme" but, well: "It has been this way for a long time, since they put a restraining order against my breasts and called it a bra." (pp29) back to the library you go little one"
"I tried to read the queer theory/lit anthology "brazen femme" but, well: "It has been this way for a long time, since they put a restraining order against my breasts and called it a bra." (pp29) back to the library you go little one"
Mostly notable for its existence, the introduction, and two essays: "Quantum Femme" by Elizabeth Ruth and "Whores and Bitches Who Sleep With Women" by Kathryn Payne. And that fucking killer cover photo.
This is a great book. I was lucky enough to host the editor when she read here in SF!
view all 3 comments
It's all about "Quantum Femme".
May 23, 2013
Ivy
marked it as to-read
May 23, 2013
WordsByFlashlight
marked it as to-read
May 22, 2013
Ali Ibrahim
marked it as to-read
May 21, 2013
John Bergin
marked it as to-read
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Chloë Brushwood Rose is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at York University.
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