Monsters, Misfits, and Drag Queen Reading Hours
I recently finished Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy, and the Fear of Female Power. Excellent book. The first two-thirds is a thorough review of historical monster-making in the service of patriarchy, and the finish is a call to arms. What is a Monster ? In movies we see The Thing, or the Werewolf, or Dracula. In Frankenstein it's pretty clear that the begotten creature is a monster, but it's ambiguous as to whether the Dr. is also a monster. A monster is often a type of grotesque creature, whose appearance frightens and whose existence threatens the human world's social or moral order. A monster can also be like a human; they are commonly portrayed as the lowest class, as mutants, deformed, supernatural, and otherworldly. And so deformed children were once (and perhaps still are) monsters. But the Unicorn Puppy born with a tail on it's forehead is so cute, and doesn't threaten our notion of dogs, so they're good to stay. Animal mo...