Authors like Clark, Caldwell, Wilson, Chandrasekera, Hopkinson, etc. dismantle sexual taboos b/c they're invested in dismantling the racial-imperial systems they're enmeshed in. They write in & about contexts that often can't afford to differentiate b/w problematic & unproblematic queers.

It would be interesting to dive further into the reasons for this shift. One possible explanation is post-AIDS anxiety (Flight from Nevèrÿon got Delany dropped from his U.S. publisher). Notably the authors who do still write in that mode are ones w/ explicitly intersectional concerns.

This would have been unheard of to fantasy authors of the '60s, '70s, & '80s (Le Guin, Delany, Lynn, Duane, Butler, early Marks) who deliberately set out to challenge preconceptions of sexual morality. Their intent is not necessarily to endorse particular practices, but to provoke thought.

Partly also influenced by this @clclark.bsky.social essay - as Clark notes we're in a moment where depictions of queerness are evaluated based on how flattering they are to the reader's preconceived sensibilities, often implicitly reasserting heteronormative morality. reactormag.com/everyones-in...

19. CALL AND RESPONSE (Christopher Caldwell, 2025)

I found myself lingering over each sentence of these stories, organised as paired dyads in a nested structure. With gorgeous prose, Chris's stories probe at the complex ways Black people & queer people respond to impermanence in a hostile world.

19. CALL AND RESPONSE (Christopher Caldwell, 2025)

I found myself lingering over each sentence of these stories, organised as paired dyads in a nested structure. With gorgeous prose, Chris's stories probe at the complex ways Black people & queer people respond to impermanence in a hostile world.

Ideally somebody who is not me would've written a book about this already that I could just gesture at in a handwave-y fashion, but nobody seems to have done this, hence ... elephant in the room.

It’s particularly important to note that legislation to limit what kids can do and see online also limits what *everyone* can do and see online, censors broad swaths of the internet, further disempowers marginalized tech users, and allows the fascist government to control what is on the internet