Julia Serano

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About Julia Serano
Julia Serano is an Oakland, California-based writer, spoken word performer, activist, and biologist. She is the author of several award-winning books, including Whipping Girl, Excluded, and her debut novel 99 Erics. Julia's forthcoming book – Sexed Up: How Society Sexualizes Us, and How We Can Fight Back – will be released by Seal Press in May, 2022. Julia’s other writings have appeared in over twenty anthologies, in news and media outlets such as The New York Times, TIME, The Guardian, Salon, The Daily Beast, and Ms., and have been used as teaching materials in college courses across North America.
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Blog postHello everyone! I've already mentioned that tomorrow (Thursday July 21st), California Institute of Integral Studies is hosting an online conversation between me and Abeni Jones entitled On Sexualization and Society. We will be talking about my latest book Sexed Up: How Society Sexualizes Us, and How We Can Fight Back. It will take place at 7pm PDT (10pm EDT), suggested price of $10 but pay what you can. Info about registering for the event and accessibility accommodations can be found via the2 weeks ago Read more
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Blog postHi folks, lots of news to share!First, I just published a new excerpt from my latest book Sexed Up: How Society Sexualizes Us, and How We Can Fight Back – it's from a section of the last chapter entitled Sexual Dystopias and Utopias. While not explicitly discussed in the piece, it grew out of my concerns with “no kink at Pride” discourses, but it’s also pertinent to recent “don’t say gay” bills and claims that LGBTQIA+ people “groom”/“sexualize” children by merely existing. Here i1 month ago Read more
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Blog postMy latest email update just came out. If you want to receive these sorts of updates directly into your inbox, you can sign up here. Since it's chock-full of reviews, excerpts, and info about my new book Sexed Up, I have transcribed it here in its entirety... In last month's update, I announced my new book, Sexed Up: How Society Sexualizes Us, and How We Can Fight Back (Seal Press), and encouraged y'all to pre-order it. It officially came out a week ago, so hopefully many of you have your copi2 months ago Read more
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Blog postMy latest book, Sexed Up: How Society Sexualizes Us, and How We Can Fight Back, will be published by Seal Press on May 17, 2022 – three weeks from today! I believe that it is my best and most important book (fwiw, I have not claimed this about any of my other post-Whipping Girl books). I highly encourage you to pre-order it now if you can, as this really helps to convince bookstores to carry it. It’s available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook – those links will take you to the S3 months ago Read more
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Blog postSome good news to share: The Tokyo-based publisher Thousands of Books has made an arrangement with my publisher (Seal Press) to translate my first book Whipping Girl into Japanese! The translation is dependent on their ability to raise money for this effort via crowdfunding. So if you (or someone you know) are excited about this prospect, here are the links where you can contribute. They also share further information about the publisher, project leader, and translator for the book.
Th5 months ago Read more -
Blog postEarlier this year, I was happy to announce that my first foray into fiction, 99 Erics: a Kat Cataclysm faux novel, was the winner of the Publishing Triangle’s 2021 Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, and an Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) 2021 silver medalist in LGBT+ Fiction. On top of all that, Kirkus Reviews just released their "Best Books of 2021" issue, and they included 99 Erics on their Best Indie Books of 2021 list! The entire list can be found via that link7 months ago Read more
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Blog postLast week, I published my latest email update, you can read it via that link. (If you want to receive these email updates directly into your inbox, you can sign up here.) The update includes links to all my writings from the past year! On top of that, it includes a special deal that I will reiterate here:
I am once again offering signed copies of two of my books – 99 Erics & Outspoken – for sale! (for $25, shipping included, provided that the address is within the U.S.)
99 E8 months ago Read more -
Blog postA few months back, I published an essay entitled Transgender People, Bathrooms, and Sexual Predators: What the Data Say. It cited numerous research studies showing that trans people and trans-inclusion policies pose no threat to cis people in sex-segregated spaces. It also chronicled how similar campaigns to smear an entire marginalized group as supposed "sexual predators" have occurred previously, for instance, against Black people, Jewish people, and gays and lesbians. In other words9 months ago Read more
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Blog postAs some of you may know, I sometimes publish articles on Medium – that link will take you to my Medium page, where you can find all the pieces I've written there. Here, I will share my six most recent Medium articles, spanning back to December of last year. All of the links below are "friend links" that bypass the site's paywall – so feel free to read them all for free! For Bisexual Visibility Week, I published Bomb (image to right), which is a chapter from my award-winni10 months ago Read more
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Blog postCW for mentions of child sexual abuse (CSA) and accusations thereof
so basically, it’s a trap. no matter what you do.
because person X (who you don’t know personally) has threatened that if you (and 65 other people they “follow” on Twitter, the majority of whom you also don’t know personally) don’t immediately “unfollow” person Y, then they will publicly “name” you tomorrow. even though they have already tagged you and all these other people on a giant multiple-tweet publi10 months ago Read more -
Blog postI recently sent out my latest email update – you can read it at that link. And if you want to receive these email updates directly to your inbox, you can sign up here. The biggest news is that my latest book 99 Erics: a Kat Cataclysm faux novel, is the winner of not one, two book awards!
First came the Publishing Triangle’s 2021 Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction (shown to right). And I have since learned that it is an Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) 2021 silver medali1 year ago Read more -
Blog postAs some of you may know, my latest book 99 Erics: a Kat Cataclysm faux novel was recently announced as a finalist for the Publishing Triangle’s 2021 Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction! On April 23rd, the Publishing Triangle published a lovely review of the book; here it is:
99 Erics is such a delightful read! Julia Serano attacks gender norms, sexual stereotypes, gentrification, and homophobia. In addition, she breaks the fourth wall and gets super meta in this romp as her main chara1 year ago Read more -
Blog postSo a couple new 99 Erics book reviews were recently published and I wanted to share excerpts with you! This excerpt is from Kirkus Reviews:
Serano has written about gender identity and feminism in her nonfiction books Whipping Girl (2007) and Excluded (2013); she explores many of the same ideas in her debut work of fiction. The writing is conversational in style, and though Kat claims to be uninterested in banal descriptions, the scene-setting in various California locales works well.1 year ago Read more -
Blog postLast week, I published my latest email update, you can read it via that link. (If you want to receive these email updates directly into your inbox, you can sign up here.) It includes a bunch of 99 Erics: a Kat Cataclysm faux novel news, including links to watch my now completed virtual book tour!
But in this brief post, I want to highlight a special offer I announce within it:
For a limited time, you can purchase SIGNED COPIES of 99 Erics and/or my 2016 book Outspoken: A Decade2 years ago Read more -
Blog postThe virtual book tour is over now. But all the readings have been archived on YouTube & Facebook, so you can watch them there! (see below for specific links)
I am happy to announce my virtual book tour for my new novel 99 Erics: a Kat Cataclysm faux novel! All the relevant links & info can be found on my Medium post about the tour (shown on right). Here is the most pertinent info:
Saturday, September 5th, 3pm EDT/noon PDT (& 8pm in the UK)
theme: On writi2 years ago Read more -
Blog postThis week, The Sociological Review (an academic journal) published a special issue entitled TERF Wars: Feminism and the fight for transgender futures. (If you are reading this now, that link will take you to the issue; in the future, you may need to scroll back to Volume 68 Issue 4, July 2020.) It contains my essay Autogynephilia: A Scientific Review, Feminist Analysis, and Alternative ‘Embodiment Fantasies’ Model. That link will bring you to a PDF of my accepted manuscript. If you have2 years ago Read more
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Blog postthe latest excerpt from my novel 99 Erics!Last week, I published my first full email update in about a year! You can read the whole update here. It covers a lot of ground, including . . .the publication of my debut novel 99 Erics: a Kat Cataclysm faux novel (plus free downloads!)a new 99 Erics excerpt: Ethical Slut vs. Confused Slutvideo of me reading the 99 Erics excerpt: Posersa mix of personal + book promotion news: On Publishing a Book During a PandemicSpanish/Español and French/Fran&2 years ago Read more
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Blog postSo in recent posts, I shared news of my 2nd book Excluded being mentioned in two "best books of the 2010s" lists, the release of Spanish and French translations of Whipping Girl, and my essay "He's Unmarked, She's Marked" being included in the anthology Believe Me. But I've been saving the biggest news of all for last...
My debut novel – 99 Erics: a Kat Cataclysm faux novel – is now officially released!
You can purchase 99 Erics right now (in p2 years ago Read more -
Blog postWelcome to the third of four posts summarizing recent news about books that I have written and/or am otherwise included in. In this post, I want to talk about my contribution to the new Jessica Valenti & Jaclyn Friedman anthology Believe Me: How Trusting Women Can Change the World, which just came out a month or so ago.
During the height of the #MeToo movement in 2017-18, many people shared their personal stories of sexual harassment & assault using the hashtag #BelieveWomen2 years ago Read more -
Blog postWelcome to the second of four posts summarizing recent news about books that I have written and/or contributed to. In this post, I am honored to announce the publication of Spanish/Español and French/Français translations of my first book, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity!
The Spanish/Español translation is entitled Whipping Girl: El sexismo y la demonización de la feminidad desde el punto de vista de un2 years ago Read more -
Blog postI have had a bunch of book-related news of late, some of which I've alluded to or mentioned elsewhere on social media over the last several months. But I figured that it would be helpful to pen a few posts to share all this news in a more comprehensive manner. So here is the first of four posts – the biggest news of all will land next Tuesday...
As you know, the 2010s recently came to an end. And I was excited to see that my 2013 book Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Incl2 years ago Read more -
Blog postOver the last few years, I have been writing silly, surreal, sex-positive fiction centered on a character named Kat Cataclysm. Back in 2016, I published the chapbook you see here, full of short pieces that were supposedly penned by her. And this fall, my/her debut novel – 99 Erics: a Kat Cataclysm faux novel – will be released!
[Note: it has since been released, read more at the link!]
99 Erics will be published on Switch Hitter Press in October, 2019 early 2020. A descri3 years ago Read more -
Blog postAs some of you may know, in addition to being an author, I also write and perform music – originally with my noise-pop band Bitesize, and currently with my solo music project *soft vowel sounds*. Quite a few of my songs are transgender-themed – back in 2014, I chronicled many of these in a blog post entitled Transgender-themed artists, bands, music, songs & anthems.
Just this last December, I debuted a brand new transgender-themed song. Actually, it's a cover of one of the catch3 years ago Read more -
Blog postThis post inadvertently grew out of research that I've been doing for another essay, which I will link to once it is published. Basically, while the concept of "social contagion" is quite old, the notion that it somehow causes children and teenagers to adopt transgender identities is rather recent. So I was curious to know where this assertion first arose. To this end, I carried out a series of internet searches, and was surprised (although perhaps I shouldn't have been) to find out th3 years ago Read more
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Blog postI joined Twitter back in 2011 and, for the most part, I've appreciated the experience – it is the social media platform that I spend the most time on. It's a great place for me to get the word out about my writings and music, and to find/follow/read other people's work. But over the last few years, Twitter has become far more difficult to navigate.
For me personally, the primary reason has been the anti-transgender backlash we've been living through the last few years. Not that long4 years ago Read more
Titles By Julia Serano
Named as one of 100 Best Non-Fiction Books of All Time by Ms. Magazine
Julia Serano shares her experiences and insights—both pre- and post-transition—to reveal the ways in which fear, suspicion, and dismissiveness toward femininity shape our societal attitudes toward trans women, as well as gender and sexuality as a whole.
Serano's well-honed arguments and pioneering advocacy stem from her ability to bridge the gap between the often-disparate biological and social perspectives on gender. In this provocative manifesto, she exposes how deep-rooted the cultural belief is that femininity is frivolous, weak, and passive.
In addition to debunking popular misconceptions about being transgender, Serano makes the case that today's feminists and transgender activists must work to embrace and empower femininity—in all of its wondrous forms.
The author of landmark manifesto Whipping Girl exposes the violent ways we are all sexualized–then offers a bold path for resistance
Feminists have long challenged the ways in which men tend to sexualize women. But pioneering activist, biologist, and trans woman Julia Serano argues that sexualization is a far more pervasive problem, as it’s something that we all do to other people, often without being aware of it.
Why do we perceive men as sexual predators and women as sexual objects? Why are LGBTQ+ people stereotyped as being sexually indiscriminate and deceptive? Why are people of color still being hypersexualized? These stereotypes push minorities farther into the margins, and even the privileged are policed from transgressing, lest they also become targets. Many view sexualization as a mere component of sexism, racism, or queerphobia, but Serano argues that liberation from sexual violence comes through collectively confronting sexualization itself.
While many feminist and queer movements are designed to challenge sexism, they often simultaneously police gender and sexuality -- sometimes just as fiercely as the straight, male-centric mainstream does. Some feminists vocally condemn other feminists because of how they dress, for their sexual partners or practices, or because they are seen as different and therefore less valued. Among LGBTQ activists, there is a long history of lesbians and gay men dismissing bisexuals, transgender people, and other gender and sexual minorities. In each case, exclusion is based on the premise that certain ways of being gendered or sexual are more legitimate, natural, or righteous than others.
As a trans woman, bisexual, and femme activist, Julia Serano has spent much of the last ten years challenging various forms of exclusion within feminist and queer/LGBTQ movements. In Excluded, she chronicles many of these instances of exclusion and argues that marginalizing others often stems from a handful of assumptions that are routinely made about gender and sexuality. These false assumptions infect theories, activism, organizations, and communities -- and worse, they enable people to vigorously protest certain forms of sexism while simultaneously ignoring and even perpetuating others.
Serano advocates for a new approach to fighting sexism that avoids these pitfalls and offers new ways of thinking about gender, sexuality, and sexism that foster inclusivity.