This blog hasn’t been very active in the past month, but I’ve been active elsewhere.  On Pillowfort, I’ve been going through ace romance, ace mystery, and gay mystery novels, and writing reviews.  On The Asexual Agenda, we had a journal club discussing a study about ace romance novels.  Then I wrote about the trope of single-target sexuality.

Roma People – Europe’s Forgotten Social Disaster | Adam Something (video, 24 min) – A discussion of anti-Roma racism in Europe.  In my experience with European readers, many express a sort of culture shock to the American-dominated internet, because we talk about endlessly about race, which is not such a big deal in their countries.  But I’ve always thought, are you sure that you don’t have racism, or is it just that your culture doesn’t talk about it as much as Americans do?  Learning about this subject confirms my suspicions.

A History of Men Not Being OK in America | We’re In Hell (video, 1 hour) – This is a sampler of historical crises in white masculinity.  I find it funny how modern hegemonic masculinity pretends to hearken back to an imagined golden age of masculinity, but if you actually look at the past they have some really alien ideas.

Composite Theory of Dissonance | New Tonality (video, 21 min) – A music theory video on a subject that I’ve written about, the theory of why certain musical sounds are dissonant.  My writing has leaned towards the theory of spectral interference, but he argues persuasively that no single theory can account for all the data.  I will keep this in mind if I ever try to write about it again.

The Great Sex Rescue: Don’t have sex till you’re married AND aroused | Tell me why the world is weird (cn: sexually explicit) – Perfect Number (an ex-evangelical Christian ace blogger) is continuing her reading of The Great Sex Rescue.  This is a pretty great breakdown of what people learn about sex, or fail to learn, in purity culture.  They’re not really taught about physical arousal or its essential role in sex, and they’re also discouraged from learning any of it through practice.  There’s also the expectation of sex on the wedding night, which is not only against the spirit of consent culture, but also sets up many couples to start their marriage on a sour note.