A review by bashsbooks
Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots?: Flaming Challenges to Masculinity, Objectification, and the Desire to Conform by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore

challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.25

What makes a good essay collection? I think it starts with clarity of theme, and I don't only mean on the curation side of things. Something I really like about Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots? is that Sycamore (editor) opens the collection with an introduction that clearly conveys to readers its purpose and why all these essays are together in one place. Bonus points for the thematic string being broad and complex enough to produce a number of thoughtful and creatively-distinct pieces.

This thematic string is, of course, how inter-queer relationships are often hateful, violent, and/or shame-riddled, despite our supposedly shared community and struggle. I resonated with some pieces more than others, but overall, they gave me quite a bit to think about regarding respectability politics and equality goals (not that important), rooting out ableism, transphobia, and racism within the community (extremely important), and having lots of weird sex (critical).

My favorite essays were: Death by Masculinity (Ali Abbas), Penis Is Important For That (Nick Clarkson), Straightening the Shawl (Ezra RedEagle Whitman), It Gets Better? (Matthew D. Blanchard), Generations (Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore), Cell Block 6 (Mishael Burrows), Something Resembling Power (Kristen Stoeckeler), and Rich Man's War, Poor (Gay) Man's Fight (Larry Goldsmith). 
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