KNOWhomo

LGBTQ* Videos You May Have Missed

The VlogBrothers’ Hank Green weighs in on “infinite shiny boxes.” (I also fall into a deeper infinite love for this man.)

phdougie:

If anyone would like to discuss gender and sexuality on YouTube right now, go ahead and watch the new vlogbrothers video. Tell me what you think about what Hank says and his commentary.

Reblogged 7 months ago from douglasplease

534 notes

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LGBTQ* Quotes and Quips

Gore Vidal on sexuality and gender as binaries

*note, this quote predates most of the language/terms which have been formed over the last two decades

Posted 10 months ago

158 notes

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LGBTQ* Ancient Texts You Should Know

Plato explains the “three sexes/soulmates” in his Symposium

“In the first place, let me treat of the nature of man and what has happened to it. The original human nature was not like the present, but different. The sexes were not two as they are now, but originally three in number; there was man, woman, and the union of the two, of which the name survives but nothing else. Once it was a distinct kind, with a bodily shape and a name of its own, constituted by the union of the male and the female: but now only the word ‘androgynous’ is preserved, and that as a term of reproach.

In the second place, the primeval man was round, his back and sides forming a circle; and he had four hands and the same number of feet, one head with two faces, looking opposite ways, set on a round neck and precisely alike; also four ears, two privy members, and the remainder to correspond. He could walk upright as men now do, backwards or forwards as he pleased, and he could also roll over and over at a great pace, turning on his four hands and four feet, eight in all, like tumblers going over and over with their legs in the air; this was when he wanted to run fast.

Now the sexes were three, and such as I have described them; because the sun, moon, and earth are three; and the man was originally the child of the sun, the woman of the earth, and the man-woman of the moon, which is made up of sun and earth, and they were all round and moved round and round because they resembled their parents.”

(above translated by Benjamin Jowett from Collected Works of Plato,

4th Edition, Oxford U. Press, 1953 (189c-189d) p 520 to (193d-193e) p 525)

You can watch the Hedwig and the Angry Inch video “Origin of Love” which recounts this story (spliced with other mythology) HERE.

Posted 1 year ago

171 notes

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LGBTQ* Charts, Diagrams and Breaking it Down

Venn Diagram Reference for Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Biological Sex

(from Transgender Allies Blogspot)

Posted 1 year ago

480 notes

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Standing By My Blog

Personal Note from Rebecca, moderator of KNOWhomo —

Recently I have received larger amounts of emails revolving around identification, verbiage, terminology, and representation on the KNOWhomo tumblr blog.

In the last two weeks opinions have started to run high and a few choice words have been shared with me. I have been told (often anonymously) that I am not representing enough of the LGBTQ* umbrella and focusing too tightly on gay and lesbian history. Another individual shared that if all the “People You Should Know” appear to be trans* and if I want to run a trans* blog, I should just do that. Another individual felt that I was giving unneeded attention to demisexuals and that I would be unfollowed for helping advertise a group that finds comfort in a new term instead of just choosing one already provided. Ironically, the email before asked why so many people need new terminology and why can’t we just be people without labels. Everyone has an opinion and the ask box is opened on this page for that purpose.

To all of you who email, anonymously or not, I have this to say:

THANK YOU. I read every email. If you are not anonymous, I try to respond privately to you and even spend time exploring your tumblr. I appreciate all you have to offer.

Also - (and here’s the moment many of you will probably become a little irritated with me personally), I AM HUMAN. I am learning more and more about the community every day. Like many of you, I never grew up learning anything about LGBTQ* historical figures or the past and I must research it on my own.

Just because I am a queer* woman (cisgender) it does not mean that I am biased to my orientation, gender or expression. Nor does it mean that I try to overcompensate for my identification. I may have a sense of who I am and may have a more confident voice when it comes to certain discussions but I am not queer* cis-woman exclusive. Nor do I feel I try to pretend that I understand how anyone else feels or identifies and attempt to act as a megaphone for any community. I started KNOWhomo because I’m a nerd and I love history and queer culture. That’s really as deep as it goes.

Over the last 10 months I have learned a lot. I look forward to what the next ten years will teach me. This blog is not for any one person. It is for ANYONE (myself included) who want to read/watch/hear about something within the LGBTQ* spectrum and possibly start a dialogue at a later time.

I do respect insight and have changed posts to be as inclusive as possible when possible.

I think it is important to realize that many posts, videos, graphs, pictures and expressions will not represent all of the community. As unfair as it is, many things may appear cisgender in verbiage (when pulling from another site/source) and they are not being shared to upset but instead to reflect what others read/have when doing research. I do try to add *trigger warnings* whenever possible.

— I personally belong to the mindset that while it is highly exhausting to act as an educator/ally/voice of/for LGBTQ* persons, it is much more detrimental to be the angry individual who just assumes everyone is naive and an @$$hole. I think it is important to remember we all have to learn these things. We are not given a common vocabulary or education.

If you’d like to start a discussion, please send your asks to moreweknow.tumblr.com/ask (the discussion page). Remember all emails to KNOWhomo’s page are kept on a one-on-one discussion, so if you email anonymously I won’t respond publicly.

Keep On Keepin’ On, Everyone.

-R.

Posted 1 year ago

53 notes

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“Everyone wants to know what the sex is like.

It’s different from being with a man, for all the obvious reasons, and many more that you’d never imagine. For one thing, it’s more emotional, and there’s less to prove. There are moments that are soft and tender, and others that are raw and intense — but it’s not as if there’s a guy to play the dominant role and a girl to play the passive one. We take turns being protected and being the protector.

Sex with a woman is what you wish it was with a man but rarely seems to be: all about the journey, and not the destinations. It’s foreplay forever. It is the freedom to not have to suck in your stomach or think about cellulite. It is being able to say, that feels good and, more important, that doesn’t. I will admit that, at first, it was strange to curl up in Vanessa’s arms when I was used to resting against a muscular chest — but the strangeness wasn’t unpleasant. Just unfamiliar, as if I’d suddenly moved to the rainforest after living in the desert.

It is another kind of beautiful.” — Jodi Picoult, Sing You Home

Posted 1 year ago

440 notes

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