Picks from Feb 2007
The Wanton Sublime – A Florilegium of Whethers and Wonders by Anna Rabinowitz
About the author:Anna Rabinowitz is the Editor of American Arts & Letters, a literary journal. Her previous books include Darkling, a book-length acrostic poem which was a finalist for ForeWord Magazine’s Best Poetry Book 2001 and At the Site of Inside Out, winner of the Juniper Prize. A National Endowment for the Arts Fellow in 2001, Ms. Rabinowitz has published widely in major journals as Atlantic Monthly, Boston Review, The Paris Review and Double take. www.annarabinowitz.com
Notes on the book:
What if Mary had said, “No” when the angel told her she’d been chosen to give birth to the son of God? That’s one of several questions Anna Rabinowitz explores in her third volume of poetry, “The Wanton Sublime,” centered on Mary. “She’s sort of surprised, but she complies, the way men have always expected women to act,” says Rabinowitz, a mother of three adult children who says she’s long felt a connection to Mary, who was, like her, a Jewish woman.
“For many years every time I went to a museum I’d collect postcards of the Annunciation. And what struck me about the Annunciation scene was that here was a young Jewish girl minding her own business; she’s told that she can be the mother of this divine creature and within moments she says yes. And it was expected -- as a woman she’s expected to be quiet and to respond with a yes. She might have all kinds of ideas about what she might want to be with her life, but something has come along. It’s really about interruption. About how women’s lives are interrupted. That’s where I began, with this business of interruption, and how Mary might have felt and what the real truth might have been because maybe the truth that has been delivered to us may not be accurate.”
This book is about Mary and what’s most essential about Mary is that she’s a woman…Her story raises all kinds of issues about gender and power, and about the struggles between men and women…She guides me to a lot of questions. I don’t have answers.”
Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics by Sister Margaret A. Farley, RSM
About the author:Sister Margaret A. Farley holds the Gilbert L. Stark Chair in Christian Ethics at Yale University’s Divinity School, where she has taught since 1971. She is the past president of the Society of Christian Ethics and the Catholic Theological Society of America, as well as being a recipient of the latter’s John Courtney Murray Award for Excellence in Theology. She was a founding member of the Bioethics Committee at Yale-New Haven Hospital; director of the Yale Divinity School Project on Gender, Faith, and Responses to HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Notes on the book:
This long-awaited work by America’s leading Catholic feminist theological ethicist, Margaret A. Farley, is the product of years of experience, reflection, scholarship and wisdom. Just Love is decisively shaped by Farley’s longstanding interests in the sexual equality of women and men, and of gay and straight couples; and, more recently, in advocacy for people affected with AIDS, especially women in Africa. Just Love’s thesis is that justice is central to sexual morality, especially justice in the sense of respect for the real identity and needs of the other.
Worldwide, sexuality is defined as much by kinship and childbearing as it is by self-expression, mutual love and pleasure. Yet despite the great variety in sexual realities and experiences, Farley offers a norm for all sexual unions: “just love.” This means respect, freedom, mutuality, equality, commitment, “fruitfulness” as responsibility for a wider community and social justice as social and legal respect for all in matters of sex, marriage and family.
The Whole Lesbian Sex Book: A Passionate Guide for All of Us by Felice Newman
About the author:Felice Newman is a sex educator and Somatic Coach certified by the Strozzi Institute. She is a founding co-publisher of Cleis Press. Felice has appeared on the Derek & Romaine Show and other radio programs, and has spoken to audiences throughout the country on sexuality. She is the resident sex coach on ClassicDykes.com and has offered online sex advice on About.com and LesbiaNation.com. She lives with her partner in the San Francisco Bay Area where she coaches individuals and couples. She is a member of the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists. www.felicenewman.com
About the book:
The first truly comprehensive sex guide for all women who desire women. Whether you are lesbian, bisexual, butch, femme, androgynous, or transgendered, and even if you have only just discovered that you want to have sex with a woman, The Whole Lesbian Sex Book is for you. The most comprehensive lesbian sex guide ever: -Where to find sex partners (and how to talk to your lovers about sex). –Why communication is the most important erotic skill you can offer your partners. –Expert how-to information on oral sex, anal sex, and other favorite lesbian sex techniques.-How to choose vibrators, dildos, and get the most out of your sex toys. –Sexual health for lesbians and bisexual women including the latest research on woman-to-woman transmission of STDs. –Plus an international resource guide packed with hundreds of books, magazines, web sites, retail and mail order outlets, email discussion lists, gender resources and more.
