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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
Thank you, NetGalley for providing me with an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
I want to begin by addressing the fact that I am a disabled-Latina-cis woman who is also heterosexual. I always considered myself an ally to the LGBTQ+ community, and of being knowledgeable when it comes to gender identity and different sexualities. Still, there was so much I learned from this book because goes deeper than just the “basics”, the book recognizes the complexity of gender identity, sexual orientation, and sexuality. I especially loved the correlation the author makes between the behavior of animals and humans. Of course, the art was beautiful and inspiring. I wanted to quickly mention that I appreciated a lot the part where it touches upon intersectionality and white feminism.
However, I disagree that this could be a “beginner’s guide to gender”. Indeed, it tackles a diversity of topics, but I feel it could have organized those topics better to create a simpler and more cohesive idea. I also felt like parts needed of the reader to somewhat be acquainted with gender identity.
I want to begin by addressing the fact that I am a disabled-Latina-cis woman who is also heterosexual. I always considered myself an ally to the LGBTQ+ community, and of being knowledgeable when it comes to gender identity and different sexualities. Still, there was so much I learned from this book because goes deeper than just the “basics”, the book recognizes the complexity of gender identity, sexual orientation, and sexuality. I especially loved the correlation the author makes between the behavior of animals and humans. Of course, the art was beautiful and inspiring. I wanted to quickly mention that I appreciated a lot the part where it touches upon intersectionality and white feminism.
However, I disagree that this could be a “beginner’s guide to gender”. Indeed, it tackles a diversity of topics, but I feel it could have organized those topics better to create a simpler and more cohesive idea. I also felt like parts needed of the reader to somewhat be acquainted with gender identity.
It was exactly that what it promised to be, a summarizing guide to topics about gender. It gave you many new things you could research more in depth about if you were already kinda familiar with the facts and opened eyes if you weren’t familiar with the topics. To be honest I think this book should be a school book (in a very complimenting way).
informative
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
medium-paced
2.5/5
I'm not sure how well it would go for someone who's less familiar with the material, but for me while the illustrations were very enticing and I enjoyed the breadth of ideas covered, the written content in the educational section was disappointing. It was haphazardly organized, sloppy in its use of language, and confusing.
The book's structure could work well or poorly, depending on what you're looking for. Beyond some vague section themes there's no organization - the book is just made up of paragraph to page-long sections on random gender-related subjects. Great as a coffee table book, for people to just pick it up, flip it open, and spend a few minutes reading about a random thing. It's not so good if you want to get a foundation and then build your understanding outward into more complexity in a way that makes sense.
This would have worked well if the contents had been presented more as the author's musings on a variety of subjects that interact with gender. Especially because the section at the end, which is more autobiographical, was beautifully written: moving, lyrical, had great flow, and felt impactful to how we understand gender more generally too. But the majority of the book (the educational part) was written in a way that I found jarring - bouncy, prescriptive, authoritative, and generalized... while also failing to be careful or consistent.
For example the glossary defines "femme" (and "butch") but has no entry for "masc" or "nonbinary" despite using the latter on the very next page.
Then the author tries to teach about separating out assigned sex at birth, gender expression, identity, and pronouns.... and then collapses them again by talking about "she/he identities" to refer to binary genders, thereby once again equating pronouns with identity. In the same section, she refers to "people who are on the spectrum of gender" to refer to nonbinary people - as though people who are cis and/or binary aren't on the spectrum of gender too?
Later on, in a section called Anatomy of Gender, while trying to again separate things that are assumed to go together in our society such as gender, genitals, secondary sex characteristics, and personality, she states "people with biologically male-dominant traits can remain relatively hairless their whole lives". What does "biologically male-dominant traits" mean in this context? Doesn't this just make it seem as though there really IS such a thing, when it would have been more accurate to say "we assume cis men will be hairy but that actually varies"?
That's just a handul of examples of how this book tries hard but then shoots itself in the foot, oftentimes making things more convoluted than they need to be and undermining its own intentions in the process.
I'm not sure how well it would go for someone who's less familiar with the material, but for me while the illustrations were very enticing and I enjoyed the breadth of ideas covered, the written content in the educational section was disappointing. It was haphazardly organized, sloppy in its use of language, and confusing.
The book's structure could work well or poorly, depending on what you're looking for. Beyond some vague section themes there's no organization - the book is just made up of paragraph to page-long sections on random gender-related subjects. Great as a coffee table book, for people to just pick it up, flip it open, and spend a few minutes reading about a random thing. It's not so good if you want to get a foundation and then build your understanding outward into more complexity in a way that makes sense.
This would have worked well if the contents had been presented more as the author's musings on a variety of subjects that interact with gender. Especially because the section at the end, which is more autobiographical, was beautifully written: moving, lyrical, had great flow, and felt impactful to how we understand gender more generally too. But the majority of the book (the educational part) was written in a way that I found jarring - bouncy, prescriptive, authoritative, and generalized... while also failing to be careful or consistent.
For example the glossary defines "femme" (and "butch") but has no entry for "masc" or "nonbinary" despite using the latter on the very next page.
Then the author tries to teach about separating out assigned sex at birth, gender expression, identity, and pronouns.... and then collapses them again by talking about "she/he identities" to refer to binary genders, thereby once again equating pronouns with identity. In the same section, she refers to "people who are on the spectrum of gender" to refer to nonbinary people - as though people who are cis and/or binary aren't on the spectrum of gender too?
Later on, in a section called Anatomy of Gender, while trying to again separate things that are assumed to go together in our society such as gender, genitals, secondary sex characteristics, and personality, she states "people with biologically male-dominant traits can remain relatively hairless their whole lives". What does "biologically male-dominant traits" mean in this context? Doesn't this just make it seem as though there really IS such a thing, when it would have been more accurate to say "we assume cis men will be hairy but that actually varies"?
That's just a handul of examples of how this book tries hard but then shoots itself in the foot, oftentimes making things more convoluted than they need to be and undermining its own intentions in the process.
informative
fast-paced
An informative read about Gender and Sexuality that is able to engage with and educate readers of all backgrounds.
I would have liked it to be more expansive on certain topics but if you are looking for a book that covers almost everything you need to know about the ever-evolving spectrum of gender today then I highly recommend this book.
It leaves room for a second volume that I would most certainly read.
I would have liked it to be more expansive on certain topics but if you are looking for a book that covers almost everything you need to know about the ever-evolving spectrum of gender today then I highly recommend this book.
It leaves room for a second volume that I would most certainly read.
informative
medium-paced