“The Body Politic, 1982” from Swimming in Hong Kong

The short story “The Body Politic, 1982” was published in the Feminist Studies, Volume 42, Number 2 (2016), pages 469-483.

This was the very first story that I wrote for this collection; it is the very last story to be published before the release of this short story collection. It was started in the fall of 1997. I rewrote this dozens of times, and it was rejected well over 100 times throughout the years. It was the story I took to the VONA workshop in 2001, and the story that I also submitted for another fellowship and that brought me to graduate school. I believe that it was finally published because it discusses what is now public conversation: ideas of sexual consent, intersectionality, Asian American feminism, and identity. Such conversations were happening prior to 2016, but they were not a part of the larger population’s understanding of identity and sexuality. I hope that you might check it out.

While I encourage you to support this journal (they can use the clicks and so can I), I do understand that many instructors seek material for students and do not have the funds or access to journals or JSTOR (particularly teachers who are not affiliated with institutions that have subscriptions and/or who teach at the secondary level). Please feel free to email me and I will send you a PDF. I am also glad to Skype in and meet your students.

Feminist Studies Journal