When I was young, I was that kid. I was the kid who everybody hated, and who hated everybody, and enjoyed it. My peers singled me out from as early on as I can remember. Having very few friends, I developed a hobby, bolstered by an overactive imagination, of sensationalism and overreaction; some time around the fourth grade I decided I was an alien from outer space.

The story was elaborate: my alien parents had switched me with the real Rachael, and used the human child's DNA to make me an exact copy of her. My real self, the alien, had blue skin and eyes on long stalks, and seven fingers on each hand.

I had been mildly unhappy with all the readings for Critical Feminist Studies, even the ones I enjoyed, without knowing why.  As my participation dropped off, my discontent, rather than diminishing, increased.  Cixous's call to hear from women had spoken deeply to me, and the volcanoes were churning down below.  Some of the things that were thrown out in the eruptions follow.

Now that I've posted "Sex in Flatland", I feel the need to elaborate on some of my own opinions that wormed their way into what I meant to be a lighthearted satire-- good fun for all, you know?-- but never would have found a place in their entirety. Specifically, I'd like to address the second-to-last paragraph, in which The Good Doctor dismisses the idea of Gay Pride.

I fully realize my position on the issue might warrant me my share of hisses and thrown tomatoes by many, but I must make it known: I agree with Dr. Pentagon.

By popular request, I've uploaded to Serendip the good doctor Pentagon's article on the mating habits of his fellow Flatlanders. Enjoy!

I wrote the attatched essay as a response to Abbott's Flatland, a novella that's risen to cult status among math geeks everywhere. Flatland is at once an exploration into the geometry of higher dimensions, a commentary on classism, and a dark caricature of Victorian prudishness and misogyny. But the one thing that Abbott never mentioned was sex. How would geometrical figures reproduce? Would they enjoy it? And what about sexuality itself-- is it as variable in two dimensions as it is in our three?

This post has been brewing in my head for a week or so. I'm not sure why I was so hesitant to verbalize what I'm thinking, but here goes. It seems that there is a movement on the forum and in the class towards honest personal expression. And I think I should respond in kind. Many students have been voicing frustrations with the course. I have been feeling frustrated with the course as well, but in different terms. I've shared these thoughts with Anne, but feel like I should disclose them to everyone else as well.