Outer Alliance Podcast #46

It’s the Butt Panel from Readercon! Moderated by Amal El-Mohtar with Mikki Kendall, Julia Sparkymonster, Emily Wagner, and Vinnie Tesla. Here’s the official description:

The Booty Don’t Lie: A Cheeky Discussion of Butts in Literature.

This panel is about butts. Fundamentally divisive, throughout history the humble buttocks has often found itself at the intersection of concerns about gender, sexuality, race, and truly terrible puns. This gameshow-style discussion of butts in literature and popular culture promises to be deep, probing, and entertaining in equal measure; join us in reasoning a posteriori.


Picture of the panelists twerking


Things mentioned in the panel:

Saartjie Baartman,the “Hottentot Venus”

“Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix A Lot (“She’s so … black.” and “LA face with Oakland Booty” and "An itty bitty waist and a round thing in your face.") 

“Bootylicious” by Destiny’s Child  (“I don’t think you’re ready for this jelly. My body’s too bootylicious for ya babe.”)

“Q.U.E.E.N.” by Janelle Monae, featuring Erykah Badu (“The booty don’t lie.”)

“Poison” by Bell Biv Devoe (“Never trust a big butt and a smile.”)

Insults of note:
Bundle of ass twigs (Amal’s gift to the world)
Ass bucket
Ass hat (as a gateway to ass haberdashery — “What is this ass haberdashery?”)

Fashion:
Alexander McQueen’s Bumster trousers
Chaps (Should they be worn with or without trousers? The panelists say yes.)
Prince’s buttless pants at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards

Visual Art:
Vegetable art by Guiseppe Arcimboldo
Amal passed around a similar piece of art depicting a face made of butts. Possible it was by André Martins de Barros?
Avengers Booty Ass-emble by Kevin Bolk
The Hieronymus Bosch butt song

Misc pop culture:
Hellboy: The Soul of Venice (about Cloacina, the Etruscan sewer goddess)
Le Pétomane

Literature:
“The Miller’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Finally a note that the Queers Destroy Science Fiction special issue of Lightspeed is now open to submissions!