Here are 100 books that Discriminating Sex fans have personally recommended if you like
Discriminating Sex.
Book DNA is a community of 13,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
I never set out to be a historian of sexuality, but the more I read, the more convinced I became of the centrality of sex to politics, culture, religion, and social change. I am fascinated by histories of sexuality in the making and shaping of individual identities and behaviors, and Iām also drawn to histories of other topicsāpolitics, religion, enslavement, leisureāthat also teach us something about the history of sex and sexuality. These interests drew me to the podcast Sexing History, where I edit the stories and help produce the episodes. I love to read widely to find histories of sex in unexpected places.
Pearsallās book is the sort that leaves a reader entertained, deeply informed, and unable to see the past the same way again. Polygamy, she shows, was at the center of the social and political systems of many Indigenous nations. As European soldiers and settlers attempted to trade withāor dominateāthe people of these nations, they provoked violent reprisals. Opposition to monogamy drove Indigenous resistance movements. Europeans increasingly argued that their monogamous practices made them racially and religiously superior to the people they subordinated. The centrality of metaphors about monogamy and polygamy to American revolutionary political ideas is one of the bookās most enlighteningāand entertainingācontributions in a book rich with surprises.
A groundbreaking examination of polygamy showing that monogamy was not the only form marriage took in early America
"A richly sourced, elegantly written, and strikingly original interdisciplinary study of the diverse practices of polygamy in American from ca.1500 to 1900."-John Witte Jr., Journal of Law and Religion
Today we tend to think of polygamy as an unnatural marital arrangement characteristic of fringe sects or uncivilized peoples. Historian Sarah Pearsall shows us that polygamy's surprising history encompasses numerous colonies, indigenous communities, and segments of the American nation. Polygamy-as well as the fight against it-illuminates many touchstones of American history: the Puebloā¦
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa storiesāall reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argueā¦
I never set out to be a historian of sexuality, but the more I read, the more convinced I became of the centrality of sex to politics, culture, religion, and social change. I am fascinated by histories of sexuality in the making and shaping of individual identities and behaviors, and Iām also drawn to histories of other topicsāpolitics, religion, enslavement, leisureāthat also teach us something about the history of sex and sexuality. These interests drew me to the podcast Sexing History, where I edit the stories and help produce the episodes. I love to read widely to find histories of sex in unexpected places.
What does it mean to be freeāand how can you prove that you are? Millwardās utterly engrossing book demonstrates how significant Black womenās reproductive sexuality was to their pursuit of freedom. Following the formal end of US participation in the international slave trade in 1808, white enslavers placed unprecedented demands on enslaved Black women to bear more children. Because the laws defined the child according to the motherās free or unfree status, enslaved women literally birthed the property of white enslavers. But what if a currently enslaved person proved that the womb from which they entered the world belonged to a free person? Millward shows how Black women and their descendants paved their own pathways to freedom.
Finding Charity's Folk highlights the experiences of enslaved Maryland women who negotiated for their own freedom, many of whom have been largely lost to historical records. Based on more than fifteen hundred manumission records and numerous manuscript documents from a diversity of archives, Jessica Millward skillfully brings together African American social and gender history to provide a new means of using biography as a historical genre.
Millward opens with a striking discussion about how researching the life of a single enslaved woman, Charity Folks, transforms our understanding of slavery and freedom in Revolutionary America. For African American women such asā¦
Based on my experiences as a single parent and worker in traditionally male fields (journalism and law, back when newsrooms and law firms resembled men's clubs), I believe that each person contains both āfeminineā and āmasculineā behaviors and feelings. Yet socially constructed gender norms discourage people from exhibiting this full range of being. Ben Koehlerās troubling and tragic story presented a way to explore the origins of 20th-century American gender norms while trying to solve the mystery of Benās guilt or innocence. A bonus was the opportunity to write about Plum Island, an environmental treasure with a fascinating history that many people, including myself, are seeking to preserve and open to the public.
Men, did you know that too little body hair or too much talkativeness could keep you from being admitted to the United States in the early 1900s? The Straight State will have readers shaking their heads at the outrageous presumptions that immigration inspectors applied to keep ādegeneratesā out of the country. This was the first time that federal officials had both the interest and power to create policies against homosexuality, and they were crassly influenced by the eugenics movement and hostility to the poor. Canaday also shows how early welfare policies perpetuated gender stereotypes and discrimination against sexual ādeviants,ā favoring the married over the single. I learned so much!Ā
The Straight State is the most expansive study of the federal regulation of homosexuality yet written. Unearthing startling new evidence from the National Archives, Margot Canaday shows how the state systematically came to penalize homosexuality, giving rise to a regime of second-class citizenship that sexual minorities still live under today. Canaday looks at three key arenas of government control--immigration, the military, and welfare--and demonstrates how federal enforcement of sexual norms emerged with the rise of the modern bureaucratic state. She begins at the turn of the twentieth century when the state first stumbled upon evidence of sex and gender nonconformity,ā¦
A poisonous maiden, a Daoist sex cult, and a violent insurgency.
The polyandrous Yan family in China's rural Shaanxi Province takes in two carpenter brothers. When one brother is convicted of murder after killing their neighbor in a dispute, a constable threatens to expose the family's rumored polyandry and extortsā¦
I never set out to be a historian of sexuality, but the more I read, the more convinced I became of the centrality of sex to politics, culture, religion, and social change. I am fascinated by histories of sexuality in the making and shaping of individual identities and behaviors, and Iām also drawn to histories of other topicsāpolitics, religion, enslavement, leisureāthat also teach us something about the history of sex and sexuality. These interests drew me to the podcast Sexing History, where I edit the stories and help produce the episodes. I love to read widely to find histories of sex in unexpected places.
Aimee Semple McPherson lived a trailblazing life as the founder of the Four-Square Gospel Pentecostal church in Los Angeles, the first woman to own a US radio station, and a captivating, theatrical preacher. The beauty of Suttonās book is the way he shows how McPhersonās sexual charismaāas well as her nearly career-ending sexual scandalsāenabled her to define herself as the embodiment of Christian virtue. Wearing white and preaching with props and scenery worthy of a Hollywood set, McPherson used a show business savvy to portray conservative Christianity as the bedrock of Americanism.
From the Pilgrims who settled at Plymouth Rock to Christian Coalition canvassers working for George W. Bush, Americans have long sought to integrate faith with politics. Few have been as successful as Hollywood evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson.
During the years between the two world wars, McPherson was the most flamboyant and controversial minister in the United States. She built an enormously successful and innovative megachurch, established a mass media empire, and produced spellbinding theatrical sermons that rivaled Tinseltown's spectacular shows. As McPherson's power grew, she moved beyond religion into the realm of politics, launching a national crusade to fight theā¦
My day job is teaching U.S. history, particularly courses on urban history, social movements, and race and gender. It is womenās experiences in cities, however, that have driven much of my historical research and sparked my curiosity about how people understandāand shapeāthe world around them. Lots of people talk about what women need and what they should be doing, but fewer have been willing to hear what women have to say about their own lives and recognize their resiliency. I hope that this kind of listening to the past will help us build more inclusive cities in the future.
In this book, Lisa See drops us into the lives of three young women of Asian descent who were fighting to make their way in a city and society that saw them as ādollsā rather than people. The friendship at the heart of the novel is compelling, but I am equally impressed by Seeās historical research.
She weaves her fictional characters through real events, people, places, and cultures. I often shy away from āhistorical fictionā as a genre, cringing at the license some authors take with the history side of things, but See is an excellent social historian and storyteller. I loved this opportunity to visit World War II America, the entertainment industry, and, most especially, San Franciscoās Chinatown through the eyes of these women.Ā
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ā¢ āA fascinating portrait of life as a Chinese American woman in the 1930s and ā40s.āāThe New York Times Book Review Ā āSuperb . . . This emotional, informative and brilliant page-turner resonates with resilience and humanity.āāThe Washington Post (One of the Best Books of the Year)Ā Ā San Francisco, 1938: A worldās fair is preparing to open on Treasure Island, a war is brewing overseas, and the city is alive with possibilities. Talented Grace, traditional Helen, and defiant Ruby, three young women from very different backgrounds, meet by chance at the exclusive and glamorous Forbiddenā¦
I was a painfully awkward teenager, two years younger than the rest of my class and a little too āextraā to fit in anywhere. I spent all of high school desperately seeking my weirdosāpeople who would accept me the way I was, rabid-puppy enthusiasm and all. One night I met a colorfully-dressed trio on the street who invited me to a loft party that changed my life. That night I fell in love with NYCās underground party scene: the high-energy music, grimy locations, and most of all the people. I had found my weirdos. When the Beat Drops is my love letter to discovering your people and finding your scene.
Noteworthy is a pitch-perfect novel set in the elite a capella group of a selective performing arts boarding school. Undistinguished Alto 2 Jordan Sun disguises herself as a guy to land a spot in the all-male Sharpshooters a capella group, only to realize she has to keep up the act for the remainder of her Junior and Senior years. Hijinks ensue as Jordan finds herself questioning her identity, her sexuality, and her place in the world. The writing in this book is crisp and funny, and I enjoyed learning a bit about how a capella works. Most of all, I enjoyed watching Jordan become more sure of herself even as her ruse starts to wear thin. This is a light-hearted read with some heavier discussions of race, class, gender, and sexuality deftly woven throughout. If you like voice-driven music books as much as I do, add Noteworthy to your list.Ā
It's the start of Jordan Sun's junior year at the Kensington-Blaine Boarding School for the Performing Arts. Unfortunately, she's an Alto 2, which-in the musical theatre world-is sort of like being a vulture in the wild: She has a spot in the ecosystem, but nobody's falling over themselves to express their appreciation. So it's no surprise when she gets shut out of the fall musical for the third year straight. But then the school gets a mass email: A spot has opened up in the Sharpshooters, Kensington's elite a cappella octet. Worshiped . . . revered . . . allā¦
Big Ideas... For Small Businesses
by
John Lamerton,
Big Ideasā¦ for Small Businesses is a straight-talking, no-nonsense guide to growing a small business without sacrificing your lifestyle. Written by a former civil servant turned entrepreneur, the book challenges hustle culture and instead champions the idea of an "ambitious lifestyle business" - one that provides freedom and financial stability,ā¦
I have enjoyed personal experiences that are probably unlike those of most women my age and background. I thought it would be a unique example to write about myself, growing up as a local child in British Colonial Singapore, at a time when most other local children who grew up in Singapore during the early 50s and 60s had lives fraught with hardships, poverty, and distress. The common theme is extensive in all the book references I have made, as every story is about someoneās growing-up years in an Oriental or Eastern environment, and their relationships or lack thereof, with their respective parent(s).
I found the book reminded me so much of my own ātiger motherā during my childhood and growing up years, where āgoodā was never enough. It had to be ābestā. Her writing was plain and uncomplicated, whilst the relationships she had with her musician daughters were quite the contrary, and I found this juxtaposition rather extraordinary.Ā
I found the book satisfying to read, and the incidents in it were uncannily similar to my own experiences with my mother.
A SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER: the most talked-about book of the year 'Blissfully funny' India Knight, Sunday Times 'Entertaining, bracingly honest and, yes, thought-provoking' New York Times 'A treat from first to last: ruefully funny, endlessly self-deprecating, riven with ironies .. I relished this memoir' I Updated with a new postscript by Amy Chua and a letter from her eldest daughter, Sophia Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is a story about a mother, two daughters, and two dogs. It was supposed to be a story of how Chinese parents are better at raising kids than Westernā¦
I am the author of two middle grade books, and I love writing about kids who may not have much materially but abound in heart and courage. I grew up in a small southern town and my childhood was just like thatālow on income but full of love, hope, and friendship. I want kids to know that despite their circumstances there is hope for a better life. Like Wavieās mom tells her in my book, Hope In The Holler, āYouāve got as much right to a good life as anybody. So go find it!ā
This is a fantastic book about the hardships many immigrants face, from being taken advantage of by their employers, to language barriers, and of course, racism. What I loved about this book is its portrayal of community. Growing up poor, I know that itās often those with nothing who give the most. Kids will cheer for Mia as she works the front desk, helps those around her, and stands up to injustice.
Four starred reviews and over ten best-of-year lists!* "Many readers will recognize themselves or their neighbors in these pages." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Winner of the Asian / Pacific American Award for Children's Literature!* "Many readers will recognize themselves or their neighbors in these pages." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewMia Tang has a lot of secrets.Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, ten-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests.Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the meanā¦
I'm passionate about ghost stories, classic gothic literature, and horror comics, and I have always felt that October is too short to contain the atmospheric chills and versatility of horror stories. I am also passionate about graphic novels and have worked as a professional illustrator, comic artist, and colorist for 7 years. I love the camp, the fun, and the macabre invoked by Summerween. Now that I have written and published my own cozy, spooky graphic novel, which made both the American Book Association's Indies Introduce List for Summer 2024 and People Magazine's Summerween 2024 Book List, I want to shine the spotlight on other comics with the feeling of October.
This book surprised me a lot. I was expecting a gory, grimdark, good-for-her revenge storyāand it is thatābut this book is also darkly funny! It gives What We Do in the Shadows vibes, but with demons.
The comic follows a duo of hapless twin siblings who are way over their heads, coming to terms with their demonic heritage, coping with emotionally unavailable parents, and running the family restaurant. I feel it perfectly balances dark comedy and gripping horror in its themes. (CW: gore)
The Night Eaters: She Eats the Nights is the first volume in a graphic novel horror trilogy from author Marjorie Liu and illustrator Sana Takedaāthe creative team behind the New York Times bestselling series Monstress.
NAMED A BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST NAMED A BOOK WE LOVED BY NPR
Chinese American twins Milly and Billy are having a tough time. On top of the multiple failures in their personal and professional lives, theyāre struggling to keep their restaurant afloat. Luckily their parents, Ipo and Keon, are in town for their annual visit. Having immigrated fromā¦
The problem is not with the actions young women take but with the toxic, sexist conditions they are responding to.
Tanenbaum found, based on six years of interviews with young people ages 14-30, that young women are navigating a culture littered with gendered dress codes, revenge porn, and sexually explicitā¦
Itās often said that it takes a village to raise a child. I grew up in an intergenerational family in India. Grandparents, aunts, and uncles provided that extended community. Grandparents can pass down traditions, ensuring the preservation of culture. Stories that speak to the reality of multi-generational households can normalize and celebrate the presence of elders. The number of Americans living in multigenerational households is about four times larger than it was in the 1970s, yet the educational potential and the joy of these relationships are often ignored in literature.
I love that the protagonist, Lin, discovers that not only does tofu take time but also takes up the whole universe. It starts with the soybean seed and sunshine. Some kids might not know that tofu can be made at home. Most of all, little Lin realizes that making tofu means spending time with Grandma Nai Nai.
All good things--and foods--take time, as Lin learns in this beautifully illustrated story about patience, family, and a good home-cooked meal.
CLICK CLACK WHIRRRR . . . Lin and her grandma, NaiNai, are making tofu from scratch! When NaiNai goes through each step, from blending soybeans with water to molding curd into shape, Lin gradually becomes impatient. But she soon discovers that making tofu not only takes time, but also takes the whole universe! It takes the seed from soil and sunshine, the cloth from thread and fiber, weight and space, books of words and pictures. And most of all,ā¦
