Persephone's (Gothic) Insights

I've decided as of yesterday to finally come out as trans. As such, my new name is Persephone and my chosen pronouns are they/them or she/her.  You may have noticed the domain doesn't reflect my transition and that my dead name is plastered all over the place (a consequence of me not really thinking this through). I will aim to rectify this over time. In the interim, I would ask you to please not to deadname or misgender me. Thank you! As for why I did it, let's just say the reasons are complicated. It's certainly not something I chose lightly. Rather, I'd been considering it for several years and probably would have come out in 2020 had my ex at the time been more supportive.  In spite of their abuse, I was also hesitant to come out for fear of reprisals from online hate groups. But then it occurred to me: I'm already writing a book about TERFs and fascists; I may as well face them as I actually am than try and pass for something I'm not. ***   Persephone v...

This is the original 2022 post that contained the first draft for my book series, Sex Positivity versus Sex Coercion . For various reasons, the body of said post has been removed (see: below), and I've only kept the opening here for historical purposes. That being said, you can excess the final version of this entire book series on its one-page promo, of which a SFW version exists on this blog . [Blogger/Google censors anything with nudity but also bikini shots with gratuitous, sometimes; so I've swapped out the original cover with a slightly less risqué version. Click here the original cover version. ] Update, 6/18/2025: I received a DMCA Compliant from Google, saying this post contains copywritten material and they would: a) be unpublishing it until I removed said material, and b) would strike my Blogger account if I re-uploaded the post while it still contained any of the allegedly infringing materials, be those images or links. However, Google did not say which materials a...

This longread examines Cobra Kai , season 4,  through a Marxist lens, with some queer-feminist elements included as well.  Note:  I'm a Marxist critic who examines heroism in American media—on US soil, but also abroad (as US global hegemony continues to be a reality).  For those who are curious, many of the arguments contained within stem from my broader research, including the anti-fascist book that I'm currently writing .   I've watched the entire series so far. Season 1 was originally made for YouTube Red and felt like a standalone show. Season 2 and 3 were also made under its tenure.  Season 4 is the first season made under the Netflix banner and feels rather different.  Personally I consider season 4 a much better outing than 3, if purely for a refusal to rely strictly on nostalgia and callbacks by giving everyone something to do. This helps me forget about its problematic elements. The  Karate Kid  was a lily-white story about boy-...