Kimberly Dark (August 12, 1968) is an American author, professor of

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

, and storyteller.

Life

Dark was born in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

in 1968. She received a B.A. from University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in 1989, and an M.A. in Sociology from Cal State San Marcos in 1998. She began her work as a storyteller and performance artist in 1998. She was previously founder and principal for Current Change Consulting, a firm specializing in coalition building facilitation, conflict resolution, and qualitative research. Her current work uses sociological perspectives and first person storytelling to discuss ways humans organize social life – through gender, race, class, and sexuality (among others). Her trainings, lectures and writings use humor to reveal the makeup of privilege and oppression, as the purpose is to prompt change. Her work has been produced at colleges and universities in North America and Europe, and at theaters, festivals, conferences and other events worldwide. She offers regular trainings on Unlearning Unconscious Bias, Becoming a Brilliant Bystander, and Linguistic Reframing. She expands upon these trainings in her 5-day Body Wise Professional Development Intensives in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. Her educational programs and interactive lectures include "Gender Race and Money" and "You Don't Owe Anyone Pretty." Kimberly Dark also teaches in a graduate program in Sociological Practice at Cal State San Marcos. As of 2021, she has authored and toured nine solo-performances including, ''You Don't Owe Anyone Pretty'', ''Things I Learned from Fat People on the Plane'', ''Complicated Courtesies, Love Sex and Laughter,'' ''The Butch Femme Chronicles: Discussions With Women Who Are Not Like Me (and Some Who Are)'', ''Public Contact'', ''True Confessions of a Lesbian Diva'', ''Stripped and Teased: Scandalous Stories With Subversive Subplots'', and ''Dykeotomy''.

Work

According to Dr. Lynda Dickson, University of Colorado, "There is clear evidence that arkhas constructed a social context for her narratives. The characters not only have a personal story – a lived experience – but the stories are routinely connected to a larger, social reality... Attending one of her performances could accomplish more than a semester course of introduction to sociology.Academic Review
"Dr. Dickson Review."" As a form of pop-sociology, Dark's writings are also well-received as entertainment. Strong poetic imagery blend with moving stage presence (Munro, 2008). In October 2010,

Campus Pride Campus Pride is an American national nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded by M. Chad Wilson, Sarah E. Holmes and Shane L. Windmeyer in 2001 which serves lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and ally student leaders and/or campus o ...

, an American non-profit organization that promotes LGBTQ leaders on University campuses, named Kimberly Dark on the "Top 25 'Best of the Best' LGBT speakers, performers horaise awareness of inclusion, visibility on college campuses nationally." The first Tuesday of every month, she offers The Hope Desk, a free social justice online help desk, on different audience-suggested topics. Her first book of poetry, ''Love and Errors'', was released on May 22, 2018.
Love and Errors
is'' a book of

narrative poetry Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need to rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may ...

that uses both personal and fictional accounts to explore themes of love, gender roles, violence, and survival. Jimmy Santiago Baca says of ''Love and Errors'': "I've always loved Kimberly's work, loved the strength and beauty of her renditions, loved the insights and grace of the arrangement of her words, compiling verse line upon verse line to capture the secrets of our dreams and deepest instincts. Radical, lovely..." Sonja Renee Taylor writes, "In this collection, Kimberly Dark combs the mossy undersides of girl and womanhood and exhumes what is most verdant and fertile in us. Her work illuminates the hard to see places, the shadow sides we most fear exposing because Kimberly knows all good growth begins in the soil of us. These poems reminded me of the possibilities in my own rich earth." ''Love and Errors'' also received positive reviews from

Lambda Literary The Lambda Literary Foundation (also known as Lambda Literary) is an American LGBTQ literary organization whose mission is to nurture and advocate for LGBTQ writers, elevating the impact of their words to create community, preserve their legaci ...

and the San Diego City Beat. Her novel ''The Daddies'' will be released on October 21, 2018.
The Daddies
' uses a combination of hybrid narrative,

magical realism Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical rea ...

, and pop-culture analysis to expound the role of

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

and "Daddy" in culture, told as a lesbian leather-Daddy love story. Lidia Yuknavitch says of ''The Daddies'': "No one anywhere writes all the way through eros, power exchange, and sexuality more fiercely than Kimberly Dark. In ''The Daddies'', Kimberly risks what most writers will not, opening up and asking how masculinity has woven through every realm of our existence, how it has seduced us, betrayed us, protected us, violated us, how it lives in men and women and every other gender and sexuality, how we are facing a reckoning. Kimberly Dark asks us to embrace and reimagine masculinity from the inside out and hold the embrace long enough to change the world."

Hanne Blank Hanne Blank, also known as Hanne Blank Boyd, is an American historian, writer, and editor. Her written works include ''Virgin: The Untouched History'', ''Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality'', and ''The Unapologetic Fat G ...

describes ''The Daddies'' as a "hypersaturated, unrelenting Willy Wonka boat ride through a pulsating circulatory system of patriarchy, pain, and desire." Her collection of essays
Fat, Pretty, and Soon to Be Old
' explores appearance hierarchy and provides a blueprint for how each of us can build a more just social world, one interaction at a time. Includes an afterword by Health at Every Size expert, Lindo Bacon. Lucy Aphramor writes, "The conversational tone that draws us in camouflages the robust intellectual work that frames the stories. Linking the personal and political with theoretical integrity and without recourse to academic devices for legitimacy, the book serves as an exemplar of a liberatory teaching style. If you’re looking for a moving read that is also an important contribution to fat activism this is it." Terese Mailhot describes these essays as "Sexy and often fearless and real... beautiful and powerful work. Kimberly Dark is hilarious and heart breaking." Her next collection of essays, ''Damaged, Like Me'' will be released on June 29, 2021 that aim to build roads to a more equitable and loving collective culture of body sovereignty,

racial justice Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...

, and gender liberation. Ariel Gore writes, “Kimberly Dark has forever transformed the way I understand sex, gender, and the notion of ‘damage.’ The

should be terrified of this book. The rest of us can stick it in our hearts—emboldenment for the revolution.” Lidia Yuknavitch says, "Each dazzling essay asks what we might learn from the tensions, contradictions, erasures and difficulties we have inhabited at the edges of culture, and how we may yet reinvent ourselves and new communities. These brilliant insights will illuminate new paths even through the troubled dark."

Themes and style

Frequent themes include

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

, race,

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

, and appearance hierarchy. Driving all of her work is the belief that "we are creating the world even as it creates us," and the belief that we can all reclaim our power as social creators. Her texts and trainings are concerned with both politics and pedagogy – the way

feminist theory Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or Philosophy, philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's Gender role, social roles, experiences, intere ...

and

critical theory Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...

are brought to non-academic audiences through storytelling and performance. Academically, Dark's approaches are situated in research methods such as

autoethnography Autoethnography is a form of ethnographic research in which a researcher connects personal experiences to wider cultural, political, and social meanings and understandings. It is considered a form of qualitative and arts-based research. Autoeth ...

and poetic inquiry. As sociologist Laurel Richardson articulates, "I consider writing as a method of inquiry, a way of finding out about a topic...form and content are inseparable" (2000, p. 923).

Publications

* "Examining Praise from the Audience: What does it mean to be a 'successful' poet-researcher." (Poetic Inquiry 2009) * "Parting, Renewal" and "Famous Poet" (San Diego Poetry Annual 2009) * "My Son is a Straight A Student" (Poetic Inquiry: Vibrant Voices in the Social Sciences 2009) * "Roadside, Perris CA" (Visible: A FemmethologyVisible: A Femmethology
"Dark's Contributions". 2008) *"Ways of Being in Teaching" (Sense Publishers 2017) *"Love and Errors" (May 22, 2018) *"The Daddies" (October 21, 2018) *"Fat, Pretty, and Soon to Be Old" (September 24, 2019) *"Damaged, Like Me" (June 29, 2021)

Discography

* ''You Are My Singing Lesson, Eko Records'', 2002 * ''Location Is Everything'', Durga Sound Studio, 2008

Performances

* ''The Butch Femme Chronicles: Discussions With Women Who Are Not Like Me (and Some Who Are)'' (1998) * ''Public Contact'' (1999) * ''True Confessions of a Lesbian Diva'' (2000) * ''Stripped and Teased: Scandalous Stories With Subversive Subplots'' (2005) * ''Dykeotomy'' (2009) *''Things I Learned from Fat People on the Plane'' (2017)

Lectures and Educational Programs

* ''Gender, Race and Money'' (2003) * ''Is that a Dude? Inside Lesbian Gender, It's More Complex than You Think'' (2004) * ''Becoming the Subject of Your Own Story (Rather Than The Object Of Another's Gaze)'' (2007)

Notes

References

* Munro, David. ''Kimberly Dark and Alix Olson'', Fresno Bee, July 29, 2008 * Juno, Stephanie. ''Dark Sheds Light on Identity Issues in Butch Femme Chronicles'', Gay and Lesbian Times, December 11, 1997 * Smith, Kristin. "Lesbian Theater" ''Curve'', December 2006 * Smith Kristin. "Lesbian Theater" ''Curve'', December 2009 * ''Poetic Inquiry: Vibrant Voices in the Social Sciences'' eds. Leggo C, Prendergast M, Sameshima M, Sense Publishing: Rotterdam 2009 * ''San Diego Poetry Annual 2008'' ed. Hardy, W.H. Authorhouse, 2009 * ''Visible: A Femmethology'' ed. Burke J, Homofactus Press 2008

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dark, Kimberly 1968 births Artists from San Diego Feminist studies scholars Lesbian feminists American lesbian writers Living people Writers from San Diego 21st-century American women writers