Exercise is a dreaded activity for most but for some, the idea of gaining a booty and experiencing an orgasm makes excising more appealing than ever.

A Victoria’s Secret model boldly reported experiencing an orgasm while doing squats!… this drove the internet bananas!  The idea of experiencing an orgasm in the gym was a foreign idea, so the tabloid and women around the world hit the gym hoping to experience an orgasm, CRAZY I know.

Interestingly, there are a set of exercises known as ‘Corgasm’ where researchers promise a less intense version of vaginal orgasm. The steps to experiencing these interesting side effects to excising start with at least 30 minutes of cardio excise which activates the sympathetic nervous system making one more likely to ‘corgasm’. After the 30-minute cardio workout, it is suggested that you immediately go into some intense ab workouts. They suggest keeping up these intense ab workouts even when the core muscles reach maximum capacity. After muscle fatigue is reached, you will be on your way to the promised O world!!!

The gym as a new location to search for orgasm for women shows the long-standing struggle which is women experiencing an orgasm far less frequently than their male partners. I think it is interesting that of all places the gym is sucked into the search for an orgasm. Excising is great and all but telling women that a gym is a place they can experience an orgasm shows the lack of effort in our society to teach healthy sex education. Women are again given the responsibility of figuring out the best possible way to experience an orgasm rather than teaching their partners how to meet their needs. The gym is sexualized I think with reports of weirdos staring at women running on the treadmill to the type of workout clothes promising that you will get attention from your gym crush.

Welcome to the hottest new game on the market, “Chute just got Real!” This is not your run of the mill chutes and ladders game kids. This is a game where you get to create a BRAND NEW BODY but no you don’t get to choose what the body looks like, ya just get what ya get.

The first step of the game is to place all player game pieces in the middle of the board on square #57.

To start the game the first player rolls the dice. Then that player will move their game piece whatever number of spaces the dice landed on. However the player gets to decide on which direction (up, down, right, left, diagonal) they would like to go.

If a player lands on a chute or a ladder the player must take a chute or ladder card (whichever one they land on). For example if player 1 lands on a ladder then they must take a ladder card which will give them a somatechnic body part, the same goes for if a player lands on a chute spot. The player MUST take the card.

There is no winning in this game, but in order to end the game all the cards must be taken by the given players. Each player will continue to roll the dice and land on different spots until all the cards are taken. It does not matter who has the most cards or the least amount of cards, everyone is equal in the end. There is no winner and there is no loser.

There is also not many rules to the game either, however the rules that must be obliged are the following:

1. In the end the amount of cards collected is the amount of cards you have. You cannot do take backsy’s or trade amongst the players (Tip: you can however play the game again).
2. When landing on a chute or ladder spot a card corresponding to that spot must be taken. However all feelings associated with that somatechnic card are valid and should be expressed.
3. Play the game and have fun! (Tip: telling stories about how your body was altered and your life journey with your body at the end of the game has been proven to increase joy 3x while playing the game than if you don’t).

You know the saying “Life is just like a game” well this game sure is! So let’s get into what this game REALLY means…

Straight narratives label individuals based on what they observe outwardly. Bodies are forced into submission by doing what society has enforced as “appropriate” behavior. Preciado’s struggle with identity and research into the world of bio-possibility takes us into the reality of lived truth vs ascribed roles. Preciado’s experiment with chemicals to feel masculine speaks to the denial of lived truth making chemicals the only avenue to feel masculine.

In addition to somatechnics, this game interrogates the idea of normality and normalization in everyday life. Straight somatechnics are often seen as natural or taken for granted, while people whose lives work outside of them are more aware of how they influence bodies and society. As Carter writes in The Search For Norma, “being one of the normal people means being defined by reference to what you already are and so slides easily into the (empirically inaccurate) conviction that one’s own position is simply natural and devoid of political meaning” (22). By inviting straight people to play this game, we hope to open up a conversation about the “always already” nature of somatechnics: the roles that they can play in our lives, and the way that their status as straight or normal allows them to slip under the radar, while queer somatechnics are flashy, overt, and outside the norm.

Notably, our game, Chute Just Got Real!, does not have a specific goal oriented end of the game. This was intentional. In a board game that has a specific goal/end point in mind, the way the game is played becomes a means to an end. The end becomes a main focus of the activity. While there is not necessarily something wrong with such games, the human experience is rarely so linear. Something that we have learned (or unlearned, if you will) in class, is that there is always room for things to be done differently than the norm and there is a lot to be learned by thinking about things in a different way. This sort of thinking is a main part of what is driving our version of Chutes and Ladders. The game we created is more about the journey and creating a story than having a set goal from the beginning. We don’t always end up where we planned, and this game is no different. The way the players move around the board is not linear, and as the players compile different types of somatechnics they become a character with not just one type of bodily expression. In our culture, it’s hard not to participate in certain ways of modifying our bodies, as many somatechnics are very deeply normalized. This amalgam final character shows how varied and different the outcomes of our somatechnic practices can be. And lastly, the game is more about fun than competition for success — a queering of the way day to day life is usually expected to be.

Rainbow bookshelf from book blog A Beautiful Mess. Blogger Elsie Nelson had these shelves custom-built and collected books to fit the rainbow aesthetic. https://abeautifulmess.com/elsies-rainbow-bookshelves/

Book bloggers and instagrammers show off their carefully curated rainbow bookshelves, hold coffee and pose while reading in front of a scenic background, and curate book cover aesthetics to show off their latest purchases. None of these activities necessarily relate to the stories contained within the books that they read – instead this pleasure and obsession with books is linked to a more basic capitalistic desire, the desire to collect, curate, and luxuriate in your possessions.

Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit describes desire as a lack, something that can only be permanent when the lack is also permanent. I’m interested in how desire is expressed in bibliophilia, which Merriam Webster’s defines as “enthusiastic or extreme interest in collecting books.” Acquiring books is only one desire that drives bibliophiles – they also exhibit the desire for curation, display, and luxuriating in their collections. I hypothesize that a bibliophile’s desire achieves permanence because their desire is only an outward indicator of a deeper, inner desire for success and stability that is unachievable for most people.  Wishing to collect books on a whim feeds into the desire for a disposable income and for the stability of homeownership. The desire to have a rainbow bookshelf masks a desire for free time to spend organizing something you enjoy rather than making money or taking care of your immediate needs. These goals may seem so impossible as to be unthought of, or at least not something you can directing visualize or relate to your everyday life but manifest themselves as the desires of a bibliophile.

New Book Pages candle by ChiCandle on Etsy. It smells like paper, fresh ink, and amber glue, and it has 117 reviews and a five star average rating.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/614322097/new-books-new-book-pages-8-oz-glass-jar?source=aw&utm_source=affiliate_window&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=us_location_buyer&utm_content=258769&awc=6220_1651107733_2e81eecfb3bcc6808d8ab8200d0737c8&utm_term=0

Bibliophiles don’t limit themselves to the books themselves. There’s an entire book-related market, encompassing t-shirts, teas, candles, posters, perfumes, cosmetics, mugs, coasters, embossers, stationary, paper napkins, and egg cups. Whether it’s collecting books or book-related objects, book lovers who may consider themselves above such basic impulses are simply reenacting self-perpetuating consumerist desires.

Dear Ignorant People,  

Do you avoid new information that doesn’t mesh with your worldview? 

Do you quickly change the subject if someone comes out to you? 

Do you experience a tongue twist pronouncing names that divert from Sarah, Anna, or Jessica? 

Have your friends noticed you clutching your purse when a mysterious Black man walks by?  

Have you ever hypersexualized a woman to bond with your bisexual female friend? 

Have you ever felt compelled to say, “Good guys always finish last?” 

Do you feel anxious when you don’t know someone’s pronouns? 

Are you afraid of using someone’s correct pronouns so you just refer to them by their name? 

Do you mistake the same three black/Asian people but somehow can distinguish 20 Laurens from one another? 

Do you assume your roommate is Mexican just because they know Spanish?  

The bad news is: your ignorance is deliberate. The good news: it’s treatable! 

We’ve diagnosed you with a propensity towards disciplined knowledge. By thinking that the world is predictable and well-ordered, you’ve closed yourself off to the ideas and perspectives of people outside your worldview.  

We notice you may also have tendencies towards “seeing like a state,” which was first brought to our attention by James C. Scott (MD). You tend towards orderliness and ease rather than empathy, and you choose the path that is easiest for you and fits in your pre-established worldview. Tragically, you just don’t know as much as you think you do.  

We invite you to consider a situation from another person’s perspective, and then use your newfound empathy to alter your behavior going forward. It’s not on the marginalized person who is being disrespected to educate you, it’s time for you to treat your ignorance yourself. Repeat as necessary (once daily at minimum). 

Doctor Julien Carter has diagnosed you will subconscious heteronormative ignorance. The treatment plan is to unlearn the normative practices that dictate your everyday life in society. This treatment will include a daily dose of 25mg of learning that normality made it possible to discuss race and sexuality within the restraints of a dominant cisgender heteronormative power structure without fully engaging in the relations of power in which they were embedded. In simpler terms understand that cis-white-heterosexual people are in fact not the default. In addition, you will receive a weekly dose of 130mg of understanding that norms are a social construct that is always evolving, so therefore when cis-white-hetero norms are applied over norms that include the perspectives of those who have not had dominant power for centuries and centuries, you will feel the side effect of historical guilt. 

We remind you that another side effect of ignorance you may experience is privilege. It is important to know this because if you remain ignorant of your ignorance you might be complicit in regimes of power that harm those who are marginalized.  

We urge you to be aware of the many silences that exist in the constructs of society. What we experience is not always the truth of the situation and what is offered as truth may be a performance.  

We urge you to remain conscious of what you declare and how you enact norms through speech acts. A side effect of your ignorance may be further perpetuating norms that harm not only you but others as well. Performances are relational. The closet is a truth left unspoken and an act put on for a world that is unwelcoming. 

We prescribe a healthy dose of Eve Sedgwick’s Epistemology of the Closet. Wash that down with considering the effects of the said and the unsaid. 

Embrace the treatment plan! Stretch and bend your mind! Stop looking for the straight and narrow and find the paths that are crookedy and windy. Once you start the unlearning process, you will open yourself up to the possibilities of a queer utopia. 

Your treatment plan is ongoing. Your ignorance can be managed but never cured. It will be difficult – but we are here unlearning too. Start now. 

Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer. Saturday, April 3, 2010. A topless march by women and supporting men, down Congress St. sidewalk from Longfellow Square to Tommy’s Park to promote the freedom of women to be topless in public like men, attracted many supporters of the idea. Here the lead five are crossing at the corner of Free Street and Congress to a welcoming and supportive crowd.

 It was a beautiful hot summer day, perfect weather for one brave woman to march shirtless down Congress Street. The woman welcomed all the reactions from the shocked public with an expressionless face. She looked straight ahead not looking around to validate/nullify anyone’s reaction. It was clear that this brave woman risked being harassed in hopes that she would liberate her constricted female body from its garments. She attempted to disrupt the norm by pushing the boundary in a public manner which forced bystanders to reevaluate their idea of how the female body should be presented in public.

The most interesting thing about the event was the reaction from bystanders which would go to proof why her public performance was/is needed. Among the crowd were my sister and me along with other younger women who cheered the performer, encouraging her on. Then there were those in shock and confused about what was happening. Then there were the men who cheered for a whole different reason as they lustfully followed the women with their eyes and cheerful applauds. The most interesting spectators were mothers who rushed to cover their children’s eyes and stared at the woman with disapproving and disgustful eyes.

One quick google search showed results of similar performances down Congress Street before were, “Hundreds of men attended the march – some to take off their shirts in solidarity with the female marchers and some to shout, take pictures and gawk” and “One man had climbed a traffic light and others shouted “boobs!” at the top of their lungs” (The Free Press). Marchers also reported that “The only negative things I heard today were from other women, comments like ‘it’s just lesbians’” (The Free Press).

I find it interesting that the quotes above from the topless march in 2010 and the one I witnessed about 3 years later had similar reactions. The women in 2010 and the woman in 2013 were marching for a queer-oriented future. A future that does not define women by their bodies, a future where women will be able to roam shirtless and not be subjected to similar reactions. I am guessing their idea of a queer future allows self-expression in that people will not be defined by their bodies and the body will be taken for what it is- just a body.

The men who easily neglected to acknowledge the message of the march were in the moment living in their own ideal utopian world- free access to “boobs”. I think with such contrasting ideas of what a utopian world might look like, the question becomes, who should have a say in what the ideal utopian world entails?

Now for the mothers/women who had the most negative reaction, do women become anti-feminist, anti-queer-oriented future once they become mothers? How do you help work towards a queer future if the oppressed do not fully support the transformative effort?

The difference between the women who marched and those who judged is the difference between what Munaños calls abstract vs concrete utopia. Mothers often dream of a better world for their children but the women who marched are making that dream come through. Indeed, the efforts towards a queer-oriented future cannot be the work of only a few but require equal participation from all.

“They never stop, these Stepford Wives. They just clean and work like robots!” 

The mundane suburban lives of The Stepford Wives is a fantastical dream to many men, dare I say a Utopia beyond their wildest dreams. The Stepford society allowed the men to control their wives, with the click of a remote, this was a society that valued wives staying at home to cook and clean and tend their children, this was a society whose norms are to stay friendly and not challenge the status quo, or why that woman is glitching. So who would want to live in a boring Stepford wife’s world? Who would want to live in this “Utopia”?

Utopian societies are all about cultivating a set of norms and values that align with a dream or ideal “perfect society”. However no norms and standards need to be set in place in society, subconsciously just by interacting and surrounding yourself with people in a social setting norms will automatically get made. People are drawn to a system or set of standards that surround them. So when thinking of creating a queer utopia, whether it’s inclusive or transformative (or really a mixture of the two) there will be standards and expectations. 

However, the idea exists that there shouldn’t be norms in a perfect world or that in a perfect world (like a Utopia) everyone just lives in peace and is welcome to be exactly who they are. But by describing a world that is peaceful and inclusive I am implying that the norm would be acceptance. So there inherently have to be norms no matter what, in any society. Norms are a part of who we are as a collective. We should not be disregarding them, we should be constantly questioning and analyzing the norms that we build today. It’s just a matter of what the norms in our dream world can be and what rules come out of a world that accepts everyone, is inclusive of all identities, and transforms who is in power and who is being represented (ideally).  

But this all begs the question of how are norms created? How do we change the norms we exist in today if we don’t know how the norms came to be in the first place? The majority of our society would say that we should move away from the norms that create the Stepford Wives and create new norms that can lend women and all individuals the freedom to live their lives, without the remote control.

Are there social norms in a queer utopia? Can or should there be? Normativity (the social imposition to fit the norm) is often conceptualized as the basis of much anti-LGBTQIA+ existence. Yet norms are often necessary for some of the very liberation goals of LGBTQIA+ people. The turn to utopian thought as a horizon of what queer life could be raises the question of how such utopian social relations might be cultivated or sustained without norms (or laws, or some mode of “discipline”). Using the spatializing language of orientation, we might also question how norms (and their temporal existence in the ‘now’ and spatial existence in the ‘middle’) might be compatible or incompatible with utopic queerness as a horizon (with its orientation towards the ‘not yet’ and the ‘far off’). Further, queer theory treats norms as an object of critique and utopia as an object for imagination. Is the very desire to combine critique and imagination itself utopic?