I like the month of May. Maybe it’s the weather – here in the southeast, it’s been creeping up on hot but also lots of summer storms and breezes. Everything is vividly green and it just feels like winter has truly and completely slipped away. Maybe I am clinging to the hopefulness of Spring this year because of everything else but it’s nice to focus on anyways.
Wendy Williams – Becoming A Slave: A Beginners Foray Into The Master/Slave Dynamic
I wrote a short Twitter thread about this blog post but I really adore it and wanted to include it in Good Reads this month. Wendy is brave and vulnerable in this post as she explores M/s and everything that goes into it. Power exchange is an emotional roller coaster in many ways, especially in the beginning, and I love the way Wendy writes about it.
rebeccaeblanton – Submission and Control
Sparked by the idea that “submission is a gift” is a way of making BDSM palatable to vanillas, this is a great exploration about control, fear, and trust.
Kayla Lords – Masturbation Monday: Week 300 by Molly Moore (and an Announcement)
I am absolutely terrible at participating in the many wonderful sex blogging memes and weekly themes that our community has but I do try to keep up. This is Masturbation Monday’s last week for a while, so please check out everyone’s posts and then the other 299(!) weeks worth of content linked up. Also, congrats to Kayla for running MM for 300 weeks! That is an accomplishment!
Quinn Rhodes – Gender glossary 101: An intro to trans terminology
Quinn wrote a great guest post over at g-silicone.com all about trans language. If you’re new to some terms or just need a quick refresher, this post is excellent at covering some important bases.
The Smutlancer Podcast – No One Can Decide the Right Path For You
I love The Smutlancer and everything Kayla and Molly say on the podcast. I try to listen each week while working on my planner and this one was exactly what I needed. If you’re in your feelings about making a big decision or just wanting a change in your life, Kayla has some very relatable thoughts about all of that. If anything, it’s just nice to know you’re not alone in the turmoil of making decisions and trusting yourself.
Alia Volz – My Mom’s Pot Brownies Were Legendary During the AIDS Epidemic. This Is Her Recipe.
For various reasons, I’ve been reading about cannabutter and pot brownies and stumbled across this article. While, yes, there’s a great recipe at the end, I loved reading Volz’s story about their mother and the community that connected over these baked goods.
DNA – Tom Of Finland Turns 100!
Touko Laaksonen, aka Tom of Finland, was deeply influential on gay male culture and Leather culture. His art depicted hyper masculine men in hyper sexual moments and that influence is still strong today. If you’re not familiar with the work, I suggest looking it up and perusing some of the many pieces out there.
NPR – Larry Kramer, Pioneering AIDS Activist And Writer, Dies At 84
As we are in the midst of a global pandemic, I can’t help but think about my queer history and the epidemic queers went through just a few decades ago. People I look up to lived through that and are living through this one. And not just another disease but another American government unwilling, unable, incapable of taking care of their citizens.
Larry Kramer was one of the first AIDS activists and it’s important, deeply important, for younger queers to learn his name, learn his story, and carry on his work. My queer history isn’t as strong as it could be and, while I’d been casually familiar with Kramer previously, reading the many many tributes to him over the last few days have really impressed upon me how much change a single person can enact.
I originally wrote this month’s Good Reads almost a week ahead of time and in that time, a lot has happened here in the US. It would be remiss of me to not bring attention to these events.
George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade have all been murdered by police recently. White people can not, and should not, turn away from this again. To paraphrase many black activists I’ve seen on Twitter the last few days, it isn’t enough to not be racist, we must be anti-racist.
Here are some resources to read, contribute to, help, etc. Do not turn away from this. Do something today.
I have tried to verify these sources as best I can but please do research and make sure you are donating where it will help the most.
- Tony McDade’s GoFundMe
- George Floyd’s GoFundMe
- JusticeForBreonna.org
- Louisville Community Bail Fund
- Atlanta Solidarity Fund
- Minnesota Freedom Fund
- LGBTQ Fund
- A Twitter thread of bail funds
- Google Document containing bail funds, memorial funds, political education resources, etc, etc
- A Twitter thread of info, ways to support, and education resources
- A Twitter thread of more resources
- How to Safely and Ethically Film Police Misconduct
- A Guide to Allyship
- 11 Things You Can Do To Help Black Lives Matter End Police Violence
