Anthophorism

Recent Reads

by Vim Lena
August 6th, 2025

Intro

What are “recent reads”? Well, my idea with this hopefully re-occuring post format is to periodically share links and initial thoughts I have about things I’ve found in online that I think are insightful, provocative, or interesting.

I may share a quick blurb next to the links with any initial thoughts I have but the focus is on linking to other stuff I find on the internet. I am focusing on text-based articles although I may also link other things like YouTube videos or images/image galleries if they stick out to me, the content will vary based on what I’m learning about or what internet wormholes I’ve fallen down. The content of the links will vary in length but I’ll include an indicator of, say, how long a video is or an estimation of how long an article will take to read.

Why do this? Simply, there are a lot of people in this world who have different experiences, perspectives, ideas, and approaches than you or I do which are worth our attention and consideration. Rather than try and summarize or quote everything, it makes more sense to just link to stuff so that the authors/creators can speak for themselves. It’s cool that the internet lets us have near-instant access to such a vast amount of information and media, something actually really novel and new in human history but overlooked among many who have grown used to it.

“Understanding Transmisogyny” & “Understanding Lesbophobia” Series

Bhatt’s writing throughout all of these is really exceptional and I think the points she makes are well- reasoned and argued while still being approachable. She captures a fire in her writing that I think is missing from a lot of contemporary feminist thought. I was made aware of Bhatt’s writing while on Bluesky and I’m really glad I took the time to read it. Going to buy her books “Trans / Rad / Fem” and “Brown / Trans / Les” when I have funds. Definitely check out her website for more of her writing and follow her on Bluesky if you’re a user on that platform!

Trans Liberalism

So I wrote a whole long post both criticizing and supporting different parts of this essay because I admire Gill-Peterson’s work and have found it to be well-worth engaging with. Her books “A Short History of Trans Misogyny” and “Histories of the Transgender Child” are worth taking the time to read, although two of the links below also criticize the former so I think those are good supplementary commentary.

Reha’s article is important reminder that the state will not liberate us and even if things appear to be “improving” for trans people. Remember that this was first published around the time the “Tipping Point” for acceptance was declared. We should always be looking at whether the material conditions are improving for those who are most affected by oppression when assessing the state of things.

Best analysis and response to the contemporary moral panic over trans youth seeking medical care I have read. The idea proposed here of a right to change sex is so immensely valuable and important.

Two pretty good video essays about the phenomenon of MOGAI Tumblr. I think that they kinda lose the plot in talking about this as a “radical” phenomenon or asserting that all of this stuff is “valid” but it was good to get my wheels turning in critically analyzing this subject.

Trans Orientialism

A good criticism of Jules Gill-Peterson’s exploration of travesti identity and politics in the final chapter of her book “A Short History of Trans Misogyny” where she basically gives the example of Latin-American transfeminism as a path forward. Basically, Neuhouser argues that the subject more complicated and nuances than Gill-Peterson simplifies it to be and points out that there are other historically transfeminized colonial subjects that precede British-occupied India’s policies about hijras.

Invaluable and thorough exploration of the orientialist, transphobic gaze of western anthropology towards hijras and other cultures where they academically suppose the existence of a “third sex.” Honestly this article made me re-think a lot of my assumptions and ideas about this subject because of largely being informed by the legacy of Serena Nanda and Gayatri Reddy’s orientialist works.

Trans & Queer History

A pretty cool interview with two of the original popular trans activists and theorists with some historical insight into the early movement. I like how you can tell how much they appreciate each other’s company and had fun recording this (Bornstein even jokingly refers to Feinberg as “Daddy” at one point).

This article is Gill-Peterson’s reflections on her then recently published book “Histories of the Transgender Child.” At the end of it, she talks about the sense of shame she feels for the fact that just writing and thinking about trans youth’s history isn’t enough to save them which is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately in light of recent events.

Misc

A good discussion on why race and gender can’t simply be swapped out because they’re both social constructs.

From one of the originators of transfeminism, this is Serano’s thoughts on the phenomenon of investigating whether people are trans, both enacted towards celebrities by conspiracy theorists as well as an everyday cognitive social phenomenon. Well-worded and insightful.

Probably the best article I’ve ever read about transmasculine issues and identity. Huge, huge rec.

A website documenting proposed and passed anti-trans legislation. It includes a map where you can look at what’s happening in your specific state. Really shocking how anti-trans legislation has exponentially risen since 2015.

A website where you can download a bunch of cool various trans texts for free.

A really long but very valuable discussion of the anime Citrus with a lot of time spent talking about it’s place in the historical context of Class S and Yuri.

Cool video talking about the phenomenon of weird late night TV in the USA, specifically public access and advertisements. I really like McGuire’s videos about different regional variations and time periods of horror on the internet also.

Now that my usual preferred way to get around paywalls online was taken down (RIP 12ft.io), this is a site I’ve found that more or less does the same thing. Kinda hate that something like this has to exist but yeah. All my homies hate garden walls.

When I got into learning webpage design and HTML/CSS/JavaScript, there was a lot of emphasis on like flashy effects and complicated frameworks that used up a bunch of memory and slowed load time a lot. I don’t remember when I first found this (admittedly kinda cringe) website but I do think it makes a point: websites are kinda too complex now in their attempt to be everything. Maybe we should remember that websites work by default and we break them by adding a bunch of stuff to them. When I made this blog, I intentionally opted to just use basic HTML and CSS without bringing up a bunch of images or complex frameworks because I wanted it to just work and be accessible without having to be hosted on a walled garden website. So yeah it’s very 2013 in the best way but it reminded me of the an oft-repeated maxim of software development: keep it simple, stupid.