Tag Archives: reading

cafém in December

The last cafém of 2015 (20/12/2015) won’t start until 4pm and will take place at the AZ Conni, but you’ll find the usual vegan bring-along-brunch, as well as zines, books and info material. Apart from that, there’ll be mulled wine and punch, we invited Jayrôme C. Robinet – who’ll perform “Das Licht ist weder gerecht noch ungerecht” at 6pm – and the evening will end with a bit of music. It’s going to be cosy! 🙂

cafém: 4pm
performance (in German): 6pm
@AZ Conni, Rudolf-Leonhard-Str. 39 (!)
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[Sorry, we usually try to translate the whole announcement. Unfortunately time is very short at the moment, hence you can only find the most important facts in English. The perfomance itself will be in German, als well and it’s probably rather difficult to translate simultaneously – but that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t try! :)]

cafém in November: “Goodbye Gender”

For the next cafém on 15/11/15, we invited Steff from the publishing house ‘w_orten und meer’. Steff will bring some of their books and read from ‘Goodbye Gender’.

Is it possible – a life without gender? Stories about trying and failing, cheerful and sad, about connections with people, their irritations and with an approach to a solution that might be new for many: bidding farewell to gender as a categorie. ‘Goodbye Gender’ makes a start.

gg_cover_webI wasn’t born into the wrong body, I was born into the wrong world.“
– Rae Spoon

Whast does it mean to never being in the right gender? – not in the one one was assigned to at birth; not in the notion of sexual identities, that were tried out later in life; not after a transition from ‘woman’ to ‘man’. And is it possible – giving up gender completely?

In short texts, Rae Spoon and Ivan E. Coyote take turns at telling about their journey through different phases of gendered and sexual life – up until they completely give up gender as an identification for themselves and are now ‘retiring on a pension’ of gender. But what is the reaction of friends, colleagues and relatives? How do I act in the pub, at a job interview, at a fuel station at night? Which other form of words do still exist to address me or talk about me/myself? And can I tell someone else’s gender just by looking at them?

Ivan and Rae tell about their childhood and youth, about first loves and growing-up, their lives on stages and behind them. They include reactions and make their readers laugh and cry, make them think and recognise – maybe they make them hear questions about gay identities and the lack of pronouns for the first time. Straightforwardly and closely, the book depicts how the idea of gender as a clear norm falls at a reality, in which looks, appearance and desires aren’t always clear.

Note: The authors won’t be present. The reading will be in German.

This cafém is part of the action days against sexism and homophobia of the student council of TU Dresden.