ABOUT
Queer Mushroom Forest is a community effort to share and create resources for gender expansive folks. The topics are sexual wellness, body positivity and self-determination. We gather clothing suggestions, DIY solutions, sex toys and prosthesis reviews, link to small queer shops and makers, while promoting body diversity and acceptance. Content warnings will always inform you at which point graphic and sensitive content starts.
picture of the Trans and Intersex Pride in Dublin
LANGUAGE
Pages and guides are written in italian and in english. Language tries to be neutral as much as possible, to better encompass all the experiences and identities without separating them when it's not necessary, or naming all of them each time.
Words will be written in their complete forms because we believe in the familiarization of our bodies and experiences. The only exceptions will be medical terms that are unnecessary and stigmatizing, or don't reflect the lived reality of people. We apologize if that can end to be distressful or confusing to some, and we encourage to be contacted about improving the language with suggestions.
Pages and guides are written in italian and in english. Language tries to be neutral as much as possible, to better encompass all the experiences and identities without separating them when it's not necessary, or naming all of them each time.
Words will be written in their complete forms because we believe in the familiarization of our bodies and experiences. The only exceptions will be medical terms that are unnecessary and stigmatizing, or don't reflect the lived reality of people. We apologize if that can end to be distressful or confusing to some, and we encourage to be contacted about improving the language with suggestions.
WHY QUEER?
Queer is a word that Mush, the italian founder of the site, knows from afar. They found it first in old books written in english from street markets, as a mere adjective, and now they see it reclaimed and spreaded joyfully around the internet. Through it, they found community that showed intersectional at the core.
Mush has always been singled out as weird, bizarre, curious when not performing learnt gender roles. Queer was a vague enough word to describe both the dread and the joy of never being at home. They found later the resonating words of Bell Hooks: "…all of our lives we have experienced ourselves as queer, as not belonging, as the essence of queer… queer not as being about who you’re having sex with (that can be a dimension of it) but queer as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and has to invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live." |
picture of Bell Hooks
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WHY MUSHROOMS?
Stylistic choice, inspired by Queer Theory for Lichens and The Science underground: Mycology as Queer Discipline:
Stylistic choice, inspired by Queer Theory for Lichens and The Science underground: Mycology as Queer Discipline:
"Fungi are often seen as poisonous, agents of disease, degenerate, deadly, freaky, gross, and weird - language historically leveled against both queer and disabled people - and as having no positive interrelationships with their environment" and we know that's far from the truth. Mycelia are vital in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
Mushrooms are super interesting and fit the project quite well! They have thousands of sexes and while they might be the most familiar part of a fungus, most of their bodies are made up of a mass of thin threads, known as a mycelium. Mycelium are incredibly tiny “threads” of the greater fungal organism that wrap around or bore into tree roots. Taken together, myecelium composes what’s called a mycorrhizal network, which connects individual plants together to transfer nutrients and info. |
WEBSITE STATUS
Project launched on Trans Day of Visibility, 31th March 2021. The website is a work in progress: little by little we are going to add resources, links, new comics and illustrated guides. If you wish to contribute to the project or join, please contact us via mail using the form in the English Home.
Project launched on Trans Day of Visibility, 31th March 2021. The website is a work in progress: little by little we are going to add resources, links, new comics and illustrated guides. If you wish to contribute to the project or join, please contact us via mail using the form in the English Home.
Online presence ● Mastodon: queermush ● Istagram: transmush ● Telegram channel: Queer Mushroom Forest ● Linktree: queermush |
WHO IS WORKING AT THE PROJECT CURRENTLY?
KAOS NEST (MUSH)
Mx. | any pronouns Artivist of the QMF project Mad queer person, into relationship anarchy. Anti-specist. Artisan and illustrator with the dream of a future queer commune. Creator of the project, works on website, writes and draws. Local transbassador. |
SANT'ARMA
She/her Printer and designer Partner in crime, printing zines and stickers at her LunaLab Shop. Hosts a creative neuroqueer space where to hang out and work together. |
NONONOIRE
He/Him | They/Them Translator and designer Fashionista, illustrator, designer, musician, wannabe professor. Nonbinary alien, ADHD, polyam, anarchoqueer. From time to time he likes to strum the guitar on the rocks next to the sea. |
H
Mx. | He/him Supporter and translator Disabled healthcare professional. Metal music lover, coincidentally also skull-on-t-shirt lover. |
ALL OF YOU
Who are gathering online and offline, sharing, sending resources, supporting and cheering us! |