“Searching for Secrets*” is a second book sample series, originally inspired by the one I did with Harmony Corrupted: “Brace for Impact“ (2024). That series was meant to promote and provide Volume Two, part one’s individual pieces for easy public viewing (it has since become a full, published book module: the Poetry Module). “Searching for Secrets” shall do the same, but with Volume Two’s assorted chapters and its twin modules, the Undead and Demons. As usual, this promo series is written, illustrated and invigilated by me as part of my larger Sex Positivity (2023) book series. This specific promo post includes part two’s entire table of contents (and hyperlinks to each post when I finish proofreading them), followed by the usual book disclaimer.
*Inspired by one of my favorite Castlevania songs from Portrait of Ruin (2006). You gotta dance and play in the ruins to camp the counterfeit with its ghost, lovelies!
Note: “Searching for Secrets” is a work-in-progress and will be routinely updated as I publish new sample posts for Volume Two, part two. I anticipate the entire process to take at least two months (“seven vagánias, maybe more“).
Volume Two, part one (the Poetry Module) is out now (5/1/2024)! I wrote a preface for the module along with its debut announcement. Give that a look; then, go to my book’s 1-page promo to download the latest version of the full module (which will contain additions/corrections the original blog posts will not have)!
Permissions: Any publicly available images are exhibited for purposes of education, transformation and critique, thus fall under Fair Use; private nude material and collabs with models are specifically shared with permission from the original model(s). For more details about artist permissions, refer to the book disclaimer at the bottom of the page.
Contents (for Volume Two, part two)
“Searching for Secrets” divides into two main modules bookended by two chapters. Unlike Volume Two, part one, part two of the volume is primarily written, so I will be able to list and summarize all of them at once. I will add hyperlinks as I release the posts, one at a time. For the sake of my sanity, none will be posted my old blog (meant for any audience); i.e., most feature explicit, pornographic nudity* and will post exclusively here on my website.
*My website is 18+ and contains full uncensored images of everything being discussed and exhibited. To that, “Angry Mothers,” “Solving Riddles,” “The Medieval” and “Facing Death” will all contain a variety of erotic nude images discussing psychosexual trauma. The purpose of their inclusion is art criticism, transformation and education regarding erotic Gothic media.
All in all, these are the primary sections/chapters of part two of the volume. Modules are sections that concern multiple chapters (which divide into subchapters that I will not list/summarize here). While the Poetry Module focused on Gothic poetics as a historical-material process whose history we contribute towards, the Monster Modules (and other chapters) shall focus on the history of Gothic poetics as something to learn from when poetically articulating our own pedagogy of the oppressed.
Note, 5/4/2024: Filling these out and posting them will take months. Right now, only the first chapter is fully outlined. I’ll expand on the others in the days ahead! —Perse
Playing with Dead Things (opening and first chapter)
Summary
The opening to Volume Two, part two, as well as the first chapter, “In Search of the Secret Spell.”
Posts
- 0. “Searching for Secrets” series opening: “Volume Two, part two: Opening and Outline“: Explains how Volume Two, part two is focused on the history of Gothic poetics as something that evolved into itself. Also provides a broad outlined to Volume Two, part two (chapter/module summaries and summation). Length: ~2 pages.
- 1. “‘In Search of the Secret Spell’: Digging Our Own Graves; or, Playing with Dead Things (the Imaginary Past) as Verboten and Carte-Blanche (feat. Samus Aran)” (chapter): “Sets the table” by transitioning from what Volume Two, part one outlined (using Gothic poetics to make new histories/a sex-positive Wisdom of the Ancients) to focus on the imaginary historical aspect of Gothic ancestry we’re always inheriting, playing with and subsequently learning from as a self-defining exercise. This chapter outlines the riddle of exploring said past as “half-real,” commonly as a member of the privileged group (the Anglo-American middle class) whose various privileges intersect with various axes of oppression (similarity amid difference) that allow us to play with the past and heal from its older rapes by putting “rape” in quotes; i.e., to cultivate a pedagogy of the oppressed that acknowledges power abuse (which is what rape is) dressed up as xenophilic ludo-Gothic BDSM; i.e., a complicated, multimedia and transgenerational means of liminal expression that can serve workers or the state, but for us is a potent means of interrogating trauma to prevent it again in the future. Total Length: ~119 pages.
- 1a. “Splendide Mendax: the Rise and Fall of ‘Rome’ as Built-in(to Us)“: Considers nature vs nurture relative to Gothic poetics, insofar as this can be used to code humans to war against/rape nature; i.e., how for humans under Capitalism, nurture is currently tied to giant linguo-material structures called “capital” that weaponize the imaginary past’s splendid lies against workers and nature: Capitalist Realism dipping the hero into the river Styx to “gift” him with the aura of invulnerability as haunted by narcissistic echoes of other Roman fools having fallen on the same proverbial sword. Length: ~5 pages.
- 1a1a. “‘Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’!’: From Herbos to Himbos, part one (feat. Dragon Ball Z and Big Trouble in Little China; Wonder Woman)” (included with the “Splendide Mendax” post, above): Outlines the idea of history as toy-like through Gothic action figures: the herbo and himbo (aka the Amazon and the knight). Length: ~35 pages.
- 1a1b. “‘Death by Snu-Snu!’: From Herbos to Himbos, part two (feat. Ayla, Weaponlord and Savage Land Rogue; Autumn Ivy and Claire Max)“: Explores further examples of the herbo as pro-state or pro-workers, and gives two real-life examples. Length: ~46 pages.
- 1a2. “Into the Toy Chest: Gothic History as Toy-like Amongst Ourselves“: Considers the monstrous-feminine as a ludo-Gothic BDSM historical device that operates in relation to ourselves and its effect on us; i.e., rape play (aka consent-non-consent). Total Length: ~67 pages.
- Into the Toy Chest, part zero: A Note about Rape (included with the subchapter opening, above): Outlines rape and the Destroyer persona as something to camp per our definition of it previously introduced during “Psychosexual Martyrdom” (2024). Length: ~6 pages.
- Into the Toy Chest, part one—the Nuts and Bolts of Rape Play (included with the subchapter opening, above): Covers the nuts and bolts of Gothic history as toy-like through its parasocial exchanges. Length: ~38 pages.
- Into the Toy Chest, part two—My Experiences: Observes the nuts and bolts of rape fantasies when reflecting on my interpersonal exchanges. ~22 pages.
- 1a. “Splendide Mendax: the Rise and Fall of ‘Rome’ as Built-in(to Us)“: Considers nature vs nurture relative to Gothic poetics, insofar as this can be used to code humans to war against/rape nature; i.e., how for humans under Capitalism, nurture is currently tied to giant linguo-material structures called “capital” that weaponize the imaginary past’s splendid lies against workers and nature: Capitalist Realism dipping the hero into the river Styx to “gift” him with the aura of invulnerability as haunted by narcissistic echoes of other Roman fools having fallen on the same proverbial sword. Length: ~5 pages.
The Undead: Zombies, Vampires and Ghosts (module)
Summary
This module explores the undead as creatures driven less by active intelligence and more by a desire to freeze and feed in the buried presence of trauma and harmful conditions. It explores how the state’s monopolies lead to a state of exception within its sites of settler-colonial violence, which in turn create a violent upheaval/silent scream among the oppressed and oppressors alike; i.e., the voice of colonial trauma and the vengeful, desperate feeding on the living by the undead as the genocided dead, having come home to roost—zombies. However, the alienation and feeding also affect the ruler class, leading to vampirism as a canonical effect that must be personified in healthier forms of medieval nostalgia that, for their using logical motions, become ghost-like, copied and imperfect. Reclaiming these modules requires embodying and subverting the very traumas the state relies on to control us by keeping us hungry and braindead (a process I call “lobotomization”)—to, as the undead generally do, paralyze our prey and feed on their frozen bodies, albeit in ways that pointedly develop Gothic Communism.
Module Posts
Note: I’ll add the summaries, post numbers and page counts, etc, later. Right now, I just want to get the lists up!
- Bad Dreams, or Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse
- part one: Police States, Foreign Atrocities and the Imperial Boomerang
- part two: Transforming Our Zombie Selves (and Our War-like, Rapacious Toys) by Reflecting on the Wider World through the Rememory of Personal Trauma
- part three: the Monomyth/Cycle of Kings; or, Paralyzing Zombie Tyrants with Reverse Abjection, Sex-Positive Hauntologies (Castle-narrative in Metroidvania) and Perceptive Zombie Eyeballs
- The Monomyth as Undead
- part zero: Mandy and the Problem of Futile Revenge
- part one: “She Fucks Back”; or, Revisiting The Modern Prometheus through Astronoetics (the Man of Reason and Cartesian Hubris) versus the Womb of Nature in Metroidvania
- part two: “Ruling the Slum”; or, Crime Lords and Zombie Caesars When the Boomerang Comes Back Around
- part three: “That Which Is Not Dead”; or, Capitalism as a Great Zombie
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- Eat Me Alive; or Reintroducing Liminal Expression through Undead Feeding Vectors, part one: A Brief History of Feeding, Queer Love and Vampires
- Seeing Dead People; or, Reintroducing Liminal Expression through Undead Feeding Vectors, part two: Ghosts/the Numinous, Metroidvania, the Posthuman and Cryptomimesis
Demons: From Composites and the Occult to Totems and the Natural World (module)
Summary
This module explores demons as actively cunning-yet-alien shapeshifters, presented canonically as treacherous within forbidden knowledge and power exchange; i.e., as untrustworthy beings made deceitful and torturous through the ghost of the counterfeit’s process of abjection. As such, they are manmade, presented as occult beings that are summoned, composite bodies that are built (cyborgs, golems and robots), or overtly natural totems that are hunted down within nature-as-alien in either case: something to present as demonic, then isolate, dehumanize and invade under Cartesian duress. Reclaiming them requires embodying and subversively humanizing the Satanic transformative power they provide, generally in defense of nature as made alien by state forces (the trifectas, monopolies and their proponents)—to imbue with transformative fatal power that, in some shape or form, targets us for state abuse, which we subvert mid-exchange away from Capitalism’s usual tortures and towards Gothic Communism’s unknown pleasures.
Module Posts
- Forbidden Sight and the Promethean Quest
- part one: Making Demons—Composite Bodies, Golems and Mad Science; or the Roots of Enlightenment Persecution
- part two: Summoning Occult Demons—Imposters and Death Curses; the Demonic BDSM of Canonical Torture vs Exquisite “Torture”
- Exploring the Derelict Past: The Demonic Trifecta of Detectives, Damsels and Sex Demons; or Enjoying Yesterday’s Exquisite Torture on the Edge of the Civilized World
- “Damsels, Detectives and Sex Demons,” part zero: Derelicts, Medusa and Giger’s Xenomorph; i.e., the Puzzle of “Antiquity”
- “Damsels, Detectives and Sex Demons,” part one: Damsels and Detectives
- “Damsels, Detectives and Sex Demons,” part two: Demons and Dealing with Them
- Call of the Wild; or “Sex Education,” Trans-forming the World through the Trans, Intersex and Non-binary Mode of Being
- part zero: Hunter and Hunted; or, Nature vs the State
- part one: “Monster-Fucking” and Furry Panic, feat. Lycans, Chimeras, and Sentient Animals
- part two: “Follow the White Rabbit”; or Magic, Drugs and Acid Communism, feat. the Monstrous-Feminine of Magic Girls, Unicorns and Xenomorphs
In Closing (final chapters and conclusion)
Summary
The closing chapter and conclusion to Volume Two, part two.
Chapters Posts
- 0. “The Future is a Dead Mall” (chapter): Monsters are classically devalued outside of canonical forms utilized by state forces, which leads to Capitalist Realism under the current order of things. To critique Capitalism, then, we must critique people’s devaluing of the Gothic or otherwise misusing/scapegoating it for Capitalism’s woes: Radcliffe, but also Coleridge and Jameson. Through a cultivated Wisdom of the Ancients (a cultural understanding of the imaginary past), we can confront Capitalist Realism through the monsters normally pitted against us instead of speaking for us and nature as exploited by the elite. It becomes something to synthesize through our creative successes—a concept we’ll explore entirely in Volume Three while reflecting on Volume Two’s monstrous histories.
- “‘The Caterpillar’; or, What’s to Come” (conclusion): A conclusion to the volume based on its contents, but highlighted through medieval expression and a coda (the caterpillar) to encapsulate everything the volume has discussed moving into Volume Three.
(disclaimer exhibit: Artist: Harmony Corrupted, who provided me with various materials from her Fansly account to use [with her permission] in my book, including cum photos. For those of legal age who enjoy Harmony’s work and want to see more than this website provides, consider subscribing to her Fansly account and then ordering a custom/tipping through her Ko-Fi. You won’t be disappointed!)
Disclaimer
“If it was not good, it was true; if it was not artistic, it was sincere; if it was in bad taste, it was on the side of life.”
—Henry Miller, on criticism and the Supreme-Court-level lawsuit he received for writing The Tropic of Cancer (1934)
Regarding This Book’s Artistic/Pornographic Nudity and Sexual Content: Sex Positivity thoroughly discusses sexuality in popular media, including fetishes, kinks, BDSM, Gothic material, and general sex work; the illustrations it contains have been carefully curated and designed to demonstrate my arguments. It also considers pornography to be art, examining the ways that sex-positive art makes iconoclastic statements against the state. As such, Sex Positivity contains visual examples of sex-positive/sex-coercive artistic nudity borrowed from publicly available sources to make its educational/critical arguments. Said nudity has been left entirely uncensored for those purposes. While explicitly criminal sexual acts, taboos and obscenities are discussed herein, no explicit illustrations thereof are shown, nor anything criminal; i.e., no snuff porn, child porn or revenge porn. It does examine things generally thought of as porn that are unironically violent. Examples of uncensored, erotic artwork and sex work are present, albeit inside exhibits that critique the obscene potential (from a legal standpoint) of their sexual content: “ultimate sexual acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, masturbation, excretory functions, lewd exhibition of the genitals, or sado-masochistic sexual abuse” (source: Justice.gov). For instance, there is an illustrated example of uncensored semen—a “breeding kink” exhibit with zombie unicorns and werewolves (exhibit 87a)—that I’ve included to illustrate a particular point, but its purposes are ultimately educational in nature.
The point of this book isn’t to be obscene for its own sake, but to educate the broader public (including teenagers*) about sex-positive artwork and labor historically treated as obscene by the state. For the material herein to be legally considered obscene it would have to simultaneously qualify in three distinct ways (aka the “Miller” test):
- appeal to prurient interests (i.e., an erotic, lascivious, abnormal, unhealthy, degrading, shameful, or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion)
- attempt to depict or describe sexual conduct in a patently offensive way (i.e., ultimate sexual acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, masturbation, excretory functions, lewd exhibition of the genitals, or sado-masochistic sexual abuse)
- lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value
Taken as a whole, this book discusses debatably prurient material in an academic manner, depicting and describing sexual conduct in a non-offensive way for the express purpose of education vis-à-vis literary-artistic-political enrichment.
*While this book was written for adults—provided to them through my age-gated website—I don’t think it should be denied from curious teenagers through a supervising adult. The primary reason I say this (apart from the trauma-writing sections, which are suitably intense and grave) is that the academic material can only be simplified so far and teenagers probably won’t understand it entirely (which is fine; plenty of books are like that—take years to understand more completely). As for sexually-developing readers younger than 16 (ages 10-15), I honestly think there are far more accessible books that tackle the same basic subject matter more quickly at their reading level. All in all, this book examines erotic art and sex positivity as an alternative to the sex education currently taught (or deliberately not taught) in curricular/extracurricular spheres. It does so in the hopes of improving upon canonical tutelage through artistic, dialectical-material analysis.
Fair Use: This book is non-profit, and its artwork is meant for education, transformation and critique. For those reasons, the borrowed materials contained herein fall under Fair Use. All sources come from popular media: movies, fantasy artist portfolios, cosplayer shoots, candid photographs, and sex worker catalogs intended for public viewing. Private material has only been used with a collaborating artist’s permission (for this book—e.g., Blxxd Bunny‘s OF material or custom shoots; or as featured in a review of their sex work on my website with their consent already given from having done past work together—e.g., Miss Misery).
Concerning the Exhibit Numbers and Parenthetical Dates: I originally wrote this book as one text, not four volumes. Normally I provide a publication year per primary text once per text—e.g., “Alien (1979)”—but this would mean having to redate various texts in Volumes One, Two and Three after Volume Zero. I have opted out of doing this. Likewise, the exhibit numbers are sequential for the entire book, not per volume; references to a given exhibit code [exhibit 11b2 or 87a] will often refer to exhibits not present in the current volume. I have not addressed this in the first edition of my book, but might assemble a future annotated list in a second edition down the road.
Concerning Hyperlinks: Those that make the source obvious or are preceded by the source author/title will simply be supplied “as is.” This includes artist or book names being links to themselves, but also mere statements of fact, basic events, or word definitions where the hyperlink is the word being defined. Links to sources where the title is not supplied in advance or whose content is otherwise not spelled out will be supplied next to the link in parentheses (excluding Wikipedia, save when directly quoting from the site). One, this will be especially common with YouTube essayists I cite to credit them for their work (though sometimes I will supply just the author’s name; or their name, the title of the essay and its creation year). Two, concerning YouTube links and the odds of videos being taken down, these are ultimately provided for supplementary purposes and do not actually need to be viewed to understand my basic arguments; I generally summarize their own content into a single sentence, but recommend you give any of the videos themselves a watch if you’re curious about the creators’ unique styles and perspectives about a given topic.
Concerning (the PDF) Exhibit Image Quality: This book contains over 1,000 different images, which—combined with the fact that Microsoft Word appears to compress images twice (first, in-document images and second, when converting to PDFs) along with the additional hassle that is WordPress’ limitations on accepting uploaded PDFs (which requires me to compress the PDF again—has resulted in sub-par image quality for the exhibit images themselves. To compensate, all of the hyperlinks link to the original sources where the source images can be found. Sometimes, it links to the individual images, other times to the entire collage, and I try to offer current working links; however, the ephemeral, aliased nature of sex work means that branded images do not always stay online, so some links (especially those to Twitter/X accounts) won’t always lead to a source if the original post is removed.
Concerning Aliases: Sex workers survive through the use of online aliases and the discussion of their trauma requires a degree of anonymity to protect victims from their actual/potential abusers. This book also contains trauma/sexual anecdotes from my own life; it discusses my friends, including sex workers and the alter egos/secret identities they adopt to survive “in the wild.” Keeping with that, all of the names in this book are code names (except for mine, my late Uncle Dave’s and his ex-wife Erica’s—who are only mentioned briefly by their first names). Models/artists desiring a further degree of anonymity (having since quit the business, for example) have been given a codename other than their former branded identity sans hyperlinks (e.g., Jericho).
Extended, Book-Wide Trigger Warning: This entire book thoroughly discusses xenophobia, harmful xenophilia (necrophilia, pedophilia, zoophilia, etc), homophobia, transphobia, enbyphobia, sexism, racism, race-/LGBTQ-related hate crimes/murder and domestic abuse; child abuse, spousal abuse, animal abuse, misogyny and sexual abuse towards all of these groups; power abuse, rape (date, marital, prison, etc), discrimination, war crimes, genocide, religious/secular indoctrination and persecution, conversion therapy, manmade ecological disasters, and fascism.
(artist: Harmony Corrupted)