to be human, says Long Chu, is to be female—to give up parts of oneself for the sake of others, to surrender oneself to others' narcissism, and to be fucked. using Valerie Solanas' SCUM Manifesto and play Up Your Ass as springboards, Long Chu pounces on gender and sexuality like a panther. Long Chu unrelentingly asserts her claim that everyone is female, and everyone hates it—and that the mere concepts of gender, misogyny, and feminism are all fundamentally contradictions of themselves.

this book is certainly provocative, and it had a unique outlook on desire and gender, but it lacked a bit in its delivery. there are a lot of excellent ideas here, and i was hungry for them, but was never made full. as with all of Long Chu’s work, i have come out of it significantly changed; though in what way, i am presently unsure. i understand, largely, what she is trying to say, and i think i agree; but there is something missing here, something bigger that is not breached.

i expect i’ll return to my dog-eared pages and maybe someday i will find a true revelation in these theses—but for now i am sated with a plethora of Long Chu’s (slightly half-formed, or at least slightly unconvincing, yet still challenging and worthwhile) ideas swimming in my head, waiting for something to put them into focus.