y.' just once i would like to read a femme-centred anthology where femme care, relational, and community-building skills are the focus, and makeup only mentioned as an underscore with explicit links to these practices. i think this collection really wanted to do this work, and many of the pieces in this collection did some of this work, but my sense after reading the whole thing was repeatedly being like 'lipstick. this is the story i was hoping for from this book, and i was really disappointed. i am here for a revolution where skills of listening, adaptation, accommodation, collaboration, and emotional intelligence are centred. i am here for a revolution where the links between individual adornment, pleasure, giving, and receiving are woven powerfully. i am not here for a revolution defined as a bunch of individual femmes wearing their preferred shade of lipstick. Overall, however, this collection fell flat for me in its overemphasis on individual empowerment as collective liberation, and on makeup & clothing as the epitomizing identifiers of femme. it feels important at this moment to have a more substantial documentation of individual femme practices of magic than the sort of ephemeral social media waves that rise and fall. i was really excited about it, and also, the further i got through the collection, the more my excitement splatted onto the ground.ĭon't get me wrong i appreciated every piece in this collection & there are a lot of great stories & a lot of great writing.

This collection comes at a moment of peak trendiness for witchiness & femmeness, at least in my own lived experience so far.

Becoming dangerous by katie west