Forest Euphoria
The Abounding Queerness of Nature
Mycologist Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian’s book Forest Euphoria demonstrates that queerness is inherent in the natural world’s form and function.
Growing up in the foothills of New York’s Taconic Mountains, Kaishian knew early on that she was different, describing herself as “gender dysphoric,” “queer,” and “racially ambiguous.” She preferred being outdoors, where frequent encounters with the area’s abundant snake population led to her love for the slithery creatures, along with a vast array of fungi and other inhabitants of forest and culvert that others wrote off as creepy, repulsive, and dangerous.
In support of its observation that that the natural world abounds with queerness, the book includes information such as that fungi have twenty-three thousand sexes, that female bower birds drive the evolution of the species by only mating with males with superior nest-decorating skills, and about the slow, sensual mating dance of snails. The book has a quirky, open stance toward nature’s acceptance of the doings of its creatures, positing that studying reproduction from a broader perspective than the binary and heteronormative would enable asking different questions about human biology and evolution. It suggests that doing so would invite research that would yield deeper, truer answers.
Indeed, Forest Euphoria is a liberating nature text that finds level ground and interrelatedness between humble microbes and the swirling cosmos, all abounding in queerness. Addressing capitalism, eugenics, the legacy of slavery, and how Western society rendered people, places, things, and time as commodities valued only for what they could contribute to the bottom line, the book makes a cogent case that “queerness teaches us that someone or something need not be productive—or reproductive … to be valued, respected, or loved.”
Reviewed by
Kristine Morris
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
