What do you think?
Rate this book
Baedan 2: A Queer Journal of Heresy
In many ways, Bædan – a queer journal of heresy picks up where Bædan – journal of queer nihilism left off. Much remains invariant: the form, a general disposition toward hostility, and of course fiery gestures against Gender and Civilization (and all the theories, views of history, and identities which hold them together). Bædan – a queer journal of heresy, does however, take leave of the first by exploring new inquiries and critiques. In this issue we take aim at all manner of radical dogmas, ideologies, and sciences, while also exploring the the worlds of poetics, archetypes, and myth. The new issue is also an engagement with a constellation of recent anarchist endeavors to explore the hell we all inhabit. We remain obviously inspired by conversations within the anti-civilization and nihilist milieu, by recent developments in anarchist thought, by correspondence and critique, and by the actions and words of comrades who are imprisoned or remain at large.
If the first issue of Bædan was a knife thrust wildly in the dark, the second is an effort to examine our enemies in a new light; enemies who bear scars yet endure. In a sense, this issue follows through our initial attack and pushes beyond our own horrors at the consequences of words. We write at a time when everything which seemed slightly possible two years ago has borne its rotten fruit; when queer recuperation has become more powerful and accepted than ever, while the fetish for technology has reached an unprecedented frenzy; when so many efforts at subversion languish under the tyranny of cybernetic identity and aesthetics (even our own etymologies have become identities!); when friends turn away out of fear of the unknown, turn toward all the comforts and certainties of the past (identity politics, traditionalism, religious morality, activism, et al). The old enemies rear their heads and the terrain is as bleak as ever. And yet we take seriously that adage: “There’s no need to fear or hope, but only to look for new weapons.”
Bædan – a queer journal of heresy, over two hundred pages of original content including: a scathing critique of gender and domestication, an exploration of the poetry of Percy Shelley, a vindication of anality and the fecal decomposition of society, an experiment with anarchist rituals and nihilist archetypes, correspondence (friendly and otherwise), and a new translation of Guy Hocquenghem.
If the first issue of Bædan was a knife thrust wildly in the dark, the second is an effort to examine our enemies in a new light; enemies who bear scars yet endure. In a sense, this issue follows through our initial attack and pushes beyond our own horrors at the consequences of words. We write at a time when everything which seemed slightly possible two years ago has borne its rotten fruit; when queer recuperation has become more powerful and accepted than ever, while the fetish for technology has reached an unprecedented frenzy; when so many efforts at subversion languish under the tyranny of cybernetic identity and aesthetics (even our own etymologies have become identities!); when friends turn away out of fear of the unknown, turn toward all the comforts and certainties of the past (identity politics, traditionalism, religious morality, activism, et al). The old enemies rear their heads and the terrain is as bleak as ever. And yet we take seriously that adage: “There’s no need to fear or hope, but only to look for new weapons.”
Bædan – a queer journal of heresy, over two hundred pages of original content including: a scathing critique of gender and domestication, an exploration of the poetry of Percy Shelley, a vindication of anality and the fecal decomposition of society, an experiment with anarchist rituals and nihilist archetypes, correspondence (friendly and otherwise), and a new translation of Guy Hocquenghem.
235 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
10 people are currently reading
228 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 17, 2022
The flagship essay is of course fantastic and a tranarchist must-read, but I will also recommend the "Correspondence" section at the end because it's really funny the way writers argue with and insult each other.
September 5, 2021
I thought the flagship essay, Against the Gendered Nightmare, was pretty lovely. Teasing out autonomous marxist, queer, and anarchist positions and critiques around gender, the essay really feels like it hopes to discuss the pitfalls of each in an effort to provide a path out of the trappings of modern feminist organizing.
What stood out most for me was their critique of women-only spaces, in both it's traditional Cis varieties and the modern verbal inclusion of trans and/or non-binary people. They convincingly critique efforts of feminists to do away with 2nd wave essentialism while failing to produce spaces that bring people together bases on share experiences of gendered violence and oppression.
Not sure if the authors would see themselves within the tradition of intersectional feminism, due to it's modern associations with identity politics and brake-applying professional activism, but I saw a flattering thread tying them together. Within there arguments, there is a strong emphasis on how the glue that binds us and causes us to struggle together is the constellation of experiences and identities we share, and any feminisms or identity based organizing that reduces us to one identity above all others fails to incorporate everyone whose identity and reasons to struggle are so much more than their gender, race, or class alone.
Definitely recommend picking up the book for the first essay alone.
What stood out most for me was their critique of women-only spaces, in both it's traditional Cis varieties and the modern verbal inclusion of trans and/or non-binary people. They convincingly critique efforts of feminists to do away with 2nd wave essentialism while failing to produce spaces that bring people together bases on share experiences of gendered violence and oppression.
Not sure if the authors would see themselves within the tradition of intersectional feminism, due to it's modern associations with identity politics and brake-applying professional activism, but I saw a flattering thread tying them together. Within there arguments, there is a strong emphasis on how the glue that binds us and causes us to struggle together is the constellation of experiences and identities we share, and any feminisms or identity based organizing that reduces us to one identity above all others fails to incorporate everyone whose identity and reasons to struggle are so much more than their gender, race, or class alone.
Definitely recommend picking up the book for the first essay alone.
March 17, 2022
best shit ive read
April 25, 2023
if there is nothing worth embracing, then a romantic one. as a cute touch, baedan 2 is interspersed with the various archetypelizations - faces of a nihilist. I'm not sure if this is the one that includes fragments of an anarchist anthropology, but it was a good addition as well. while the essays weren't completely agreeable and somewhat enmeshed in the dragging structure of psychoanalysis, not quite escaping the patriocentrism of LGBT politics at least suggesting, coherently, a way out. organization was good, even if the curation was only decent. i would love to conspiciously own the entire collection.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews