CAHUN YOUR ENTHUSIASM (13)
By:
February 14, 2026
One in a series of enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, analyzing and celebrating our favorite… anti-fascist art! Series edited by Josh Glenn.
UPRIGHT WOMEN WANTED
Sarah Gailey’s 2020 pulp Western novella Upright Women Wanted begins with the innocent voice of a young woman, her thoughts and impressions simple and direct — strangely lulling and almost normal — until you begin to realize there’s something dark and insidious lurking behind every naive statement and desperate hope.
Esther is on the run from circumstances in her town: her best friend is devastatingly dead, hanged for harboring “unapproved materials”; she herself is betrothed to an “important man” she doesn’t love. She stows away with a passel of “Librarians” tasked with distributing state-approved materials to disparate and far flung post-apocalyptic outposts across what was the American West. She’s under the impression that if she can be an upright woman, a Librarian, she can evade the future of woe and damnation she’s been convinced is in store for her. After all, girls who are different, outspoken, independent, and certainly not interested in the home, children, or men, are destined to bring misfortune upon themselves, their families, and communities.
Yes, it’s a grittier Handmaid’s Tale, but with a pleasingly subversive twist. Those “upright women” doing the work of the state are in fact in relationships with one another, smuggling goods for the resistance, and are in no way timid or frightened by state dominance. They’re competent, fighting women. Esther, soon discovering that she’s not a shame, not an abomination, blossoms in their company — which is not gentle and ministering, but true and real. Their honesty is a heady counterpoint to the saccharine but terrifying stories from the approved materials on which Esther has been raised.
Add in the bittersweet nonbinary love interest Cye (who goes by “she/her” in dangerously mixed company), and we have a coming-of-age story that sketches the outlines of the impact of authoritarianism without being preachy or bombastic. Instead, it’s clear-eyed about the long-term impact of forming young minds and forcing a point of view that reinforces the domination of some to the benefit of others — a deep fear and anxiety, paired with necessary code-switching, and a dark condemnation of self that’s difficult (if not impossible) to crawl out from under. Likewise, Gailey provides hope for anyone toiling under such a weight: find your people, stick with them, hear their truths, and fight for your own true self.
CAHUN YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Josh Glenn | Mark Kingwell on ONCE UPON A HONEYMOON | Lynn Peril on ZAZOUS | Judith Zissman on DIE GEDANKEN SIND FREI | Annie Nocenti on MEDIUM COOL | Mike Watt on FASCIST | William Nericcio on LALO ALCARAZ | Josh Glenn on THE LADY VANISHES | Carlo Rotella on INQUIETUD | Heather Quinlan on CASABLANCA | Adam McGovern on HEART OF GLASS (MAD JENNY) | Matthew Battles on WOODY’S GUITAR | Carl Wilson on PALACES OF GOLD | Ramona Lyons on UPRIGHT WOMEN WANTED | Lucy Sante on CAMOUFLAGE | Adelina Vaca on THE LIVES OF OTHERS | Tom Nealon on THE BARON IN THE TREES | Nikhil Singh on PARIS PEASANT | Mandy Keifetz on THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED | Gordon Dahlquist on THE CONFORMIST | Michael Grasso on PYNCHONIA | Gabriela Pedranti on THE ETERNAUT | Heather Kapplow on ANTI-FASCIST PASTA | Marc Weidenbaum on (WHAT’S SO FUNNY ’BOUT) PEACE, LOVE, AND UNDERSTANDING | Peggy Nelson on PUPPETS | Sonia Marques on CARNATIONS AGITPROP.
JACK KIRBY PANELS | CAPTAIN KIRK SCENES | OLD-SCHOOL HIP HOP | TYPEFACES | NEW WAVE | SQUADS | PUNK | NEO-NOIR MOVIES | COMICS | SCI-FI MOVIES | SIDEKICKS | CARTOONS | TV DEATHS | COUNTRY | PROTO-PUNK | METAL | & more enthusiasms!