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 Femme recognizes femme as an identity in flux and in motion, as constantly being reinvented. This mutability sets the stage for creative and thoughtful representation featuring critically acclaimed writers including Michelle Tea, Camilla Gibb, Sky Gilbert, Amber Hollibaugh and Anurima Banerji. The collection includes the entertaining and challenging work of writers and artists whose stories are missing from existing explorations of femme that exclude experiences of men, transsexual women, and sex workers.

Whether by choice or necessity, these frenzied femmes each explore their desires to make (and remake) femininity fit their own queer frames. Darlings, drag queens, whores and action heroes . . . a femme by any other name is spectacular.

With writings by Debra Anderson, Anurima Banerji, T.J. Bryan, Anna Camilleri, Daniel Collins, Lisa Duggan and Kathleen McHugh, Camilla Gibb, Sky Gilbert, Tara Hardy, Amber Hollibaugh, Suzann Kole, Heather Mc-Callister, Elaine Miller, Kathryn Payne, Leah Piepzna-Samarasinha, Elizabeth Ruth, Trish Salah, Abi Slone and Allyson Mitchell, Michelle Tea, Zoe Whittal and Karin Wolf.

With photographs by Chlo Brushwood Rose, and Daniel Collins, and illustrations by comic artists Sandi Rapini, Suzy Malik and Allyson Mitchell.

Chlo Brushwood Rose and Anna Camilleri have been collaborating in Toronto as curators, editors and art-makers for the past four years. Anna co-founded the -interdisciplinary performance troupe Taste This, who -collaborated on the acclaimed Boys Like Her.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1551521261
• ISBN13: 9781551521268
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

adding to my collection

I am thrilled whenever i read a book about femmes that shows a variety of femmes being strong and proud of who they are. I think everyone who loves femmes, is femme, or is curious about femmes should read this book, and add it to their small, but surely growing, collection of femme books. That said, as high femme in my early thirties, i felt a little disconnected from the femmes in this book. I guess it's too much to hope for that i will find something written about femmes that accurately reflects my life and history and choices, but i keep hoping. As it is, I fall somewhere between Femme Mystique and Brazen Femme, a little young for the former, a little old, perhaps, for the latter. My femme friends who are also in their 30's and i have discusssed whether or not we are just jealous of femmes who are coming out now, as queer and femme all at once, whereas we mostly came out as queer and learned about femme later... that could be. In any case, it is an amazing thing for young femmes to have a community of femmes to come out into, and this book is a part of that brilliant, powerful community. i have to give it 5 stars, even tho i didn't quite connect with some of the writing... i'm gonna keep re-readng this, i'm sure i'll find something new to like every time.

Femme without Butch

In the lesbian community, it is uncommon to find a definition of Femme without Butch even though we do, in fact, exist independently. Lesbian community culture it seems is largely semi-androgens and what I have found is that falling in the gaussian tail of feminine identification to be something of a liability. What I am discovering now however is that it feels less important to fit myself into my communities preconception of behavior and presentation, additionally, I am feeling considerably less apologetic about myself.This is the first account that I've read that most correctly describes my most consistent feelings and behaviors. It has been a greatly beneficial normalization experience for me to have an account of other individuals who feel and behave similarly, particularly since there are only a very few with which I have had contact.