With chapters on desire, f*ckability, utility, refusal, and possibilities, Refusing Compulsory Sexuality discusses topics of deep relevance to ace and a-spec communities. Brown advocates for the “A” in LGBTQIA+, affirming that to be asexual is to be queer-despite the gatekeeping and denial that often says otherwise.

She takes an incisive look at how anti-Blackness, white supremacy, patriarchy, heteronormativity, and capitalism enact harm against asexual people, contextualizing acephobia within a racial framework in the first book of its kind. Brown offers new perspectives on asexuality. In this exploration of what it means to be Black and asexual in America today, Sherronda J. For asexual folks, it means that ace and A-spec identity is often defined by a queerness that’s not queer enough, seen through a lens of perceived lack: lack of pleasure, connection, joy, maturity, and even humanity. And it impacts the most marginalized among us. It’s intertwined with our ideas about capitalism, race, gender, and queerness. The notion that everyone wants sex-and that we all have to have it-is false. A few are already out (July 12 was a big day for queer books!) and the rest are ready and waiting for your preorders and library holds.#32 in Bestselling LGBTQIA+ Nonfiction Audiobooksįor readers of Ace and Belly of the Beast: A Black queer feminist exploration of asexuality-and an incisive interrogation of the sex-obsessed culture that invisibilizes and ignores asexual and A-spec identity.Įverything you know about sex and asexuality is (probably) wrong. Some I have already read and fallen head-over-heels for, and some are at the top of my TBR. These are 20 of the ones I’m most excited about.

And, happily, there are tons of amazing queer books coming out this summer and fall, even if they haven’t all gotten the buzz they deserve. The deluge of queer books in June sometimes feels a little bit like publishers appeasing us - like as long as they release a ton of LGBTQ+ books in June, they can ignore us the rest of the year. And that was just one release day, and just the books that interested me, one reader.Īll of these new queer books are very exciting, but, news flash: queer people exist year round. I lost track of how many it was this year, but a quick glance at my new release spreadsheet (yes, I have one) reminded me that there were 10 queer releases on June 7th alone that I’d either read or was planning to read. Every year, a ton of queer books come out during Pride Month.

Sherronda j brown book