#queer folklore

[thegorgonist]

G N O M A N C E (gnome romance) Happy pride, y'all! Grab a print here!

[charocaljuniper]

I Finished My Research!

Hey y'all, I finished my research and would like to formerly introduce...

The Fabric of Identity: Using Clothing and Style to Communicate Gender Expression.

Project Summary: A free and accessible website about nonbinary and gender nonconforming people, their history, and how they use their style to interact with the world around them.

Includes:

What Does "Nonbinary" Mean?

Interviews with Nonbinary Folks

Identity Centric Events

The Effect of Digital Spaces

Further Reading and Resources

Community Building

Please give it some love!

The Fabric of Identity

Using Clothing and Style to Communicate Gender Expression

[hancrow]

The Witching Hour

queer as folklore, eco gothic, folk activism, radical domesticity

found a cool ass wordpress blog. specifically bc of this gem:

Queer As Folklore: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (SGGK) is a 14th Century chivalric Romance poem written in Middle English. It is best known for the challeng

(im a bit obsessed w/how gay it is tbh rn lol)

[newsmutproject]

Cunning Linguists Author Interview: Elizabeth A. Allen

Ethan: so what was this great discovery that you made about cave suckers?

huh huh huh???

Silence: I’m getting there. Calm down.

Ethan: how long will this take

where’s the climax?

Silence: Shhh! I’m still in literary foreplay mode: titillating you with suggestive foreshadowing ... giving just enough detail to inflame your desire for more, more, more, GOD YES, more ...

Ethan: aaaaaaah

the suspense

aaaaaaah

it’s like blue balls

but for a story

Silence: That’s the point. I’m building sexual narrative tension. >:}

Ethan: oh baby

is it getting hot in this story

or is it just me? ;)

-from “Cave Suckers” in Cunning Linguists

Elizabeth A. Allen edits for a living and writes for fun. She lives in Vermont, where she was born and raised. Hardship somewhat resembles the town she grew up in, albeit with more puns, witches, and intergenerational drama. Her work appears in Master Works, We’re the Weird Aliens I, Strange Horizons, Gender Who?, the Williston Observer, the Essex Reporter, Outside In Regenerates, and The Shadow of the Gallifreyan.

What inspired you to write this story?

Storytelling can be a lot like sex -- sneaky, seductive, entertaining, and, at its best, transcendent. What better way to celebrate that similarity than to write a story have someone seducing someone by telling stories about people having sex?

What's the favorite sexy word of one of your story characters?

Silence thinks that the word "research" is incredibly hot. Ethan tells her than this is just because she has the weird idea that research itself is sexy, and she says, "That too!"

What stories are you working on now?

Silence and Ethan star in many stories about queer doings in Hardship, Vermont. This is the first one to be published, but hopefully more will follow.

Cunning Linguists comes out May 18th, 2022! This anthology of language, literature, and lechery is available at

Gumroad (use coupon code NEWSMUTPROJECTFAN for $1 off)

Amazon.com  Amazon.co.uk  Amazon.ca  Amazon.de  Amazon.fr  Amazon.es  Amazon.com.mx   Amazon.co.jp   Amazon.it   Amazon.nl   Amazon.com.br  Amazon.com.au   Amazon.in

Smashwords

Support indie bookstores when you buy a paperback copy through Bookshop.org

Barnes and Noble

Indiebound (where you can arrange to get a copy through your local bookstore)

Book Depository

Alibris

Other retailers – Books2Read

And add it to your shelf on Goodreads and LibraryThing 

[goghawway]

Hey guys!! Some close university friends have put together an AMAZING podcast, and I’m lucky enough to get to star in it! We’ve got a few episodes edited for production, and even more recorded!! Stay tuned for release ❤️

If you’re interested in fantasy and folklore, slice of life friendship stories, and genuine LGBTQ+ characters written by creators of the same community, go ahead and check out their page!!

Upcoming Project: Transmission Folklore

Lavender Lemonade Collective published a post on Ko-fi.com

[laurasimonsdaughter]

I found a new fairy tale to add to my little hoard of queer folktales!

The Princess of China

Albanian folktale, published in 1879 by Auguste Dozon, translated by Robert Elsie.

[Cw: Cross dressing used as deception, but never maliciously.]

This tale follows a Prince and his friend the son of the Grand Vizier. The latter dresses and presents as a woman on two separate occasions. Once to meet the princess of China and tell her his friend is in love with her, once to pretend to be the princess, so he can go get married in her place while she runs off with the prince. Then this happens:

When the son of the Grand Vizier arrived, he was led to the house of the groom with all the pomp and ceremony of a royal wedding. It was the custom there for the sisters of the groom to spend the first three nights with the bride, but the three sisters could not agree which one of them was to go first. The queen, the groom's mother, decided that the youngest daughter, whom she loved the most, should spend the first night with the bride. After the first night, the youngest daughter fell in love with the bride and begged her mother to let her spend the second night there too. The second night, she realized that the bride was actually a young man and said to him, "Tell me the truth, are you a man or a woman?" "I am a man," he replied, " and then told her the story of what had happened. She saw that he was very handsome and said, "I'd like to marry you but I don't know whether you want me." "Oh yes, I do."

They escape the court together, catch up with the prince and the princess of China, and both couples get married.

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Genderqueer Folktales (part 2)

I’ve gathered some new gender nonconforming folktales since making part 1, so it’s time for a new post! Again, please keep in mind these are all translations and products of their time. I will still attempt to put some modern-day labels on them to make them easier to navigate:

The Story of the Maiden-Knight Indian legend, published in 1916, based on the Mahabharata.

[Cw: being outed, threat of violence, awkward use of pronouns.]

A king prays for a son to go to battle his enemy, but the god Shiva reveals to him that he “should have a son who should first be a daughter”. Accordingly the child born to them – Shikhandi – is raised as a boy and married to a princess. When he finds out the situation the bride’s father is furious however, and wants to go to war over it. Shikhandi goes into the forest, in the hope that without him there will be no war. There he meets a kind Yakshas (nature spirit) who is willing to lend Shikhandi his manhood until he has saved his father from this threat. But when the king of the Yakshas finds out about this he decrees that the Yakshas will not get his manhood back until Shikhandi’s death.

The Stirrup Moor Albanian folktale, published in 1895.

[Cw: violence, king attempts to steal son’s wives, some uncomfortable descriptions of a black person.]

A prince, through his many adventures, wins the love of three wives: one human lady, one jinn princess, and one Earthly Beauty (a type of fae-like spirit from the underworld). The latter of the three regularly changes between her supernatural female shape and her chosen human form, that of a black man. In this male shape he is a formidable warrior and helps protect both the prince and the other wives. All four eventually live happily ever after.

The Boy-Girl and the Girl-Boy A Gond folktale from Central India, published in 1944.

[Cw: attempt at being outed, awkward use of gendered terms and pronouns, some doubt as to whether the AFAB protagonist is completely happy with the physical change.]

An AFAB child is adopted by a Raja, who accepts him as his son. Near the palace an old woman raises one of her many AMAB children as a girl and arranges a marriage for her. The young couple is very startled at finding out they have “the same parts” but there are not other repercussions. Later the young wife doesn’t dare to go bathing with the other women and meets the Raja’s adopted son, who has run away and changed himself into a bird. The bird offers to “exchange parts” and both protagonists end the story with a body matching their presented gender.

The Girl Who Became a Boy Albanian folktale, published in 1879.

[Cw: preoccupation with sexual ability, attempts to kill protagonist.]

AFAB protagonist answers the king’s call for warriors, dressed as a man. After several great deeds the young man wins a princess’s hand in marriage in another kingdom. He is liked at the court, but they feel obliged to get rid of him because he seems unable to consummate his marriage. He survives every dangerous task, however, and finally is sent to confront a snake infested church. The snakes curse him to become a boy, after which he returns to the court and all ends well.

With an affectionate mention for the 13th century French poem Yde and Olive, which was brought to my attention by @pomme-poire-peche. You can read about this brave princess-turned-knight married to a loyal princess here.

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Folktales you can read as queer without squinting

Happy Pride everyone! Here is a selection of folk and fairy tales that I enjoy for both their plots and their queer vibes. I speak of vibes only, because I cannot say I have insight in the historical intention of these tales, but I do vouch for me presenting them to you unaltered, as I found them.

I will give the titles with links to the full texts here and summaries under the read more:

Gold-tree and Silver-tree Scottish fairy tale, collected by Joseph Jacobs, published in 1892. [Cw: abusive parent, murder.]

The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces Cape Verdian folktale, collected by Elsie Clews Parsons in 1916-1917. [Cw: attempted poisoning]

The Unicorn Spanish fairy tale, collected by Aurelio Espinosa in 1947. [Cw: murder, attempt at being outed, awkward use of pronouns.]

The Tale of Tamamizu Japanese literary folktale, written by an unknown author between the Muromachi period (1336–1573) and the beginning of the Edo period (1603–1867). [Cw: tragic ending.]

The Tale of the Marquise-Marquis of Banneville French literary fairy tale, published in 1697, authorship contested (suggested: François-Timoléon de Choisy, Marie-Jeanne L'Héritier, Charles Perrault). [Cw: gender dysphoria, age difference.]

Bisclavret French literary legend, written by Marie de France in the 12th century. [Cw: wolf-violence]

Gold-tree and Silver-tree

The beautiful princess Gold-tree is married off to a loving prince to protect her from her murderous mother Silver-tree. When her mother finds out where her daughter is she goes to visit her while the prince is out. To protect her, Gold-tree is locked in her room, but she is persuaded to stick her pink through the key hole so her mother can kiss it. Instead, the jealous queen stabs her with poison, killing Gold-tree. The prince is inconsolable and lays Gold-tree to rest in a locked room. In time he marries a second wife, who is of course curious to know what is in the room. She manages to get in and is so overcome with Gold-trees beauty that she immediately tries to wake her. She discovers a poisoned splinter, takes it out of her finger, and Gold-tree wakes up. When the prince returns home he is overjoyed and when the second wife offers to leave, he insists that she stays. The three of them live happily together until the evil queen finds out Gold-tree was revived. Once again she visits, but this time the second wife protects Gold-tree and tricks the queen into drinking her own poison. The queen dies and the three live a happy long life together, pleased and peaceful.

The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces

A king offers his daughter’s hand in marriage plus half of his kingdom to whoever can find out why his daughter wears out seven pairs of shoes every night. A woman’s only son sets out to discover the secret, despite the threat of being executed if he fails. On his way he meets the Virgin Mary and God in disguise, who give him a coat of invisibility and a special whip. These gifts help him follow the princess as she sneaks out of the castle, passing by three bushes who greet her as she takes a flower from each. So does the boy. They arrive at a great hall where the princess dances with a company of strange old men, until all her shoes are worn. The boy collects the worn pairs of shoes, makes sure to get back to the castle before her and pretends to be asleep. The following morning he reveals the princess’ secret and gives the flowers and shoes as proof. The king asks him if he wants to marry the princess, but the boy declines, instead returning home to his mother with half a kingdom’s worth of fortune, and builds her a new house.

The Unicorn

A young woman’s sweetheart is killed by another man who is in love with her and after avenging his death, she flees her home. In this new life she lives as a man and choses the name Carlos. He goes into service for a wealthy family and the daughter of the house falls in love with him. They marry and while Carlos is sad to explain the situation to his wife, she loves him all the same and they live happily together. The lack of any children makes her father suspicious, however, and he starts putting Carlos to the test to see if he will act like a man or a woman, but he’s never able to discover anything. Eventually he takes Carlos hunting, suspecting that he will not want to bathe with the other men. Before the bathing, however, Carlos meets a unicorn who gives him a blessing and changes his body so he can go bathe without fear. The father is proven wrong and Carlos gets to return to his worried wife, to tell her what happened.

The Tale of Tamamizu

A kitsune falls in love at first sight with a nobleman’s daughter and wanders what he could possibly do to be near her. After considering taking on the appearance of a dashing young man to woo her, he decides he doesn’t want to put her in danger by marrying a fox, and turns into a girl instead. She goes to a devout couple who have only sons and introduces herself as an orphan. They immediately take her in and name her Tamamizu. Once she is settled, she confesses she would like to be a lady’s companion and her foster family get her employment with the young lady she is so in love with. Tamamizu is a great favourite, but so afraid of dogs that the young lady orders that dogs are no longer allowed near her. Three years pass when a contest is held to find the most beautiful autumn leaf. Tamamizu goes back to her fox siblings, who are overjoyed to see her and they help her find the leaf to give to her mistress. It is so magnificent even the Emperor hears of it and invites the lady to court. Tamamizu is to go with her, but she cannot bear it. Before they reach the court and she has to see her beloved become the Emperor’s wife, she disappears, leaving behind a letter for her mistress to explain everything. Everyone misses Tamamizu and the young lady sorrows for her painful heart.

The Tale of the Marquise-Marquis of Banneville

The Marquise of Banneville becomes a widow while she is pregnant and while she first wishes really hard for a son, she changes her mind and begs heaven to send her a daughter who will not have do die in war like her husband. The child is born and regardless of physicality, is raised as a girl. She grows up a beautiful, charming socialite and is a favourite of high society. The little marquise Marianne meets the handsome Marquis de Bercour and they begin a flirtatious, deeply romantic friendship that leaves her mother anxious to prevent them ever thinking of marrying. Eventually she even tells her daughter about the complication of her birth, but after some intense unhappiness the affection of the marquis and his declaration that he wants only to be her best friend, she puts it out of her mind. When her mother dies, however, the two lovers are so much together that they have to marry to escape the gossip. On the wedding night Marianne finds her husband inconsolable and he confesses that he was born a woman. She immediately tells him her own situation and they declare their love all over, decide to keep living exactly as they do now and have a child just as beautiful as they are.

Bisclavret

A kind and handsome nobleman, beloved by his king, is asked by his new wife why he disappears for three days every week. He confesses that this is when he “turns bisclavret” and must go out hunting in the shape of a wolf. His terrified wife convinces a knight who was already in love with her to steal her husband’s clothes so he cannot turn back. After her husband’s mysterious disappearance she quickly marries the knight. The distraught king comes across a wolf while hunting, however, that treats him so affectionately that he takes the animal home with him. The wolf never leaves his side and is incredibly docile, but when he attacks first the knight and then the knight’s wife, the king’s advisor starts to get suspicious. They are arrested and confess everything. The nobleman’s clothes are found and the king brings the clothes and the wolf to his royal bedchamber and leaves them. When he returns the nobleman is human again, fast asleep in the king’s bed. The overjoyed king wakes him with kisses, restores him to his title, and showers him with gifts. 

Honorable mention for this mythic tale from the Bhuiya in India in which two women conceive a child together.