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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
challenging
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
I received this ARC courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
First impressions of Seeing Gender: What a gorgeous book. Love the cover, love the illustrations. I’ve put off reading this because I always kind of feel like books like this cover ground I’m already aware of (I know, that sounds really arrogant, please feel free to roll your eyes, but I have read a lot of books on LGBTQA+ theory, and I am actually not a heterosexual, so there is that, not that that means I can’t be an uneducated jerk, but that’s a whole other can of worms).
After reading this (which I tore through pretty quickly, it's an easy read, the illustrations are really more the meat of this book), my first impressions were pretty on target. The illustrations are amazing, and this book is really more of a primer for LGBTQA+ information and not as interesting if you already know a lot about the community.
One of my notes I wrote to myself while reading was: "I’m really kind of bored other than the illustrations, which I feel bad saying! I want to like it! If you need a primer on gender and sexuality and have basically no knowledge maybe this is a good fit for you."
Also, I have some criticisms. Talking about White Feminism and using Betty Friedan, who is Jewish, really annoyed me. Jews like Friedan are only white-passing, in my opinion. But regardless of your opinion on that, they should not be held up as White Feminists with a capital W. Especially considering events like the Women's March and LGBTQA+ events that specifically exclude Jews. But moving on.
Using the term trans with an asterisk ("Trans*") is not commonly used because nonbinary people consider it offensive. It implies that only binary trans people are included under trans, and other identities are more of an afterthought.
I also really didn't love including David Bowie, who, despite his idol status, sexually assaulted a 15-year-old. What kind of a spotlight in a book is that, especially when it didn't view him with any kind of critical lens?
I just never really warmed up to this book. While it had many good elements, and would likely be enjoyable to someone who has very little knowledge about the community, to me there were elements I just didn't appreciate and it didn't have enough interesting content to make up for it. The biographical content at the very end by the author was interesting, and I wish she had included more of it throughout the book, because it would have made the book less dry.
First impressions of Seeing Gender: What a gorgeous book. Love the cover, love the illustrations. I’ve put off reading this because I always kind of feel like books like this cover ground I’m already aware of (I know, that sounds really arrogant, please feel free to roll your eyes, but I have read a lot of books on LGBTQA+ theory, and I am actually not a heterosexual, so there is that, not that that means I can’t be an uneducated jerk, but that’s a whole other can of worms).
After reading this (which I tore through pretty quickly, it's an easy read, the illustrations are really more the meat of this book), my first impressions were pretty on target. The illustrations are amazing, and this book is really more of a primer for LGBTQA+ information and not as interesting if you already know a lot about the community.
One of my notes I wrote to myself while reading was: "I’m really kind of bored other than the illustrations, which I feel bad saying! I want to like it! If you need a primer on gender and sexuality and have basically no knowledge maybe this is a good fit for you."
Also, I have some criticisms. Talking about White Feminism and using Betty Friedan, who is Jewish, really annoyed me. Jews like Friedan are only white-passing, in my opinion. But regardless of your opinion on that, they should not be held up as White Feminists with a capital W. Especially considering events like the Women's March and LGBTQA+ events that specifically exclude Jews. But moving on.
Using the term trans with an asterisk ("Trans*") is not commonly used because nonbinary people consider it offensive. It implies that only binary trans people are included under trans, and other identities are more of an afterthought.
I also really didn't love including David Bowie, who, despite his idol status, sexually assaulted a 15-year-old. What kind of a spotlight in a book is that, especially when it didn't view him with any kind of critical lens?
I just never really warmed up to this book. While it had many good elements, and would likely be enjoyable to someone who has very little knowledge about the community, to me there were elements I just didn't appreciate and it didn't have enough interesting content to make up for it. The biographical content at the very end by the author was interesting, and I wish she had included more of it throughout the book, because it would have made the book less dry.
challenging
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
Visually it’s a beautiful book, and I enjoyed the artwork immensely. I appreciated the concept as well. As a genderfluid person, I learned a lot from this book, especially about intersectional feminism. But the amount of topics covered was overwhelming and lacked organization. I would have preferred an in-depth study of fewer topics.
This book would be an excellent addition to libraries and bookstores. My only concern is that it’s written for open-minded and curious readers, but I truly hope that this resource reaches a wide variety of people.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.
This book would be an excellent addition to libraries and bookstores. My only concern is that it’s written for open-minded and curious readers, but I truly hope that this resource reaches a wide variety of people.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.
This is an accessible, thoughtful, beautiful book. This is the first book I’ve read exploring gender and it did a great job laying the foundations for understanding gender identity, gender expression, sexuality, and sex - how they are all different and the fluidity within these labels. Everything is written as information blurbs, none longer than a page, related to the broad topic of gender with beautiful illustrations. There’s history, biographies, varied topics, definitions, and memoir all rolled into one. Ultimately, the goal of this book is to build empathy and for me, that goal was accomplished.
This book was fantastic! From the information to the illustrations to the history lessons, I loved it! I just want a dozen copies to hand to anyone who means well but really needs a good intro into gender, trans identities, and intersectionality. I thought this book did a fantastic job of highlighting queer and trans persons stories throughout.
As a queer person who spends a lot of time in queer spaces, a lot of this information was known to me. But it was also really brave and wonderful to hear the author’s own journey through gender. I think through telling her own story, as well as through the information presented in the rest of the book, it’s very clear that sometimes things aren’t black and white. And a lot of times, gender is confusing and contradictory, and sometimes people are going to mess up. But that if we all try to do our best to be respectful, things would be so much better.
I read this book as a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
As a queer person who spends a lot of time in queer spaces, a lot of this information was known to me. But it was also really brave and wonderful to hear the author’s own journey through gender. I think through telling her own story, as well as through the information presented in the rest of the book, it’s very clear that sometimes things aren’t black and white. And a lot of times, gender is confusing and contradictory, and sometimes people are going to mess up. But that if we all try to do our best to be respectful, things would be so much better.
I read this book as a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I think that I have a fair amount of knowledge when it comes to gender and different sexualities. However, I was surprised how much I learned throughout this book. This book does not cover just terminology of different gender identities and sexualities. It discusses a variety of topics that one would not immediately think of when talking about gender, but that are indeed very connected to it.
I think that the diversity of topics is a great thing, but also maybe one of the few things that I didn't like about this book. The topics are scrambled with each other and it would make more sense to bundle similar ones together rather than jumping back and forth between them. Some of them are also very complicated that I think just one or two pages don't do the topic justice and must be a bit simplified.
I also really liked the shoutouts to different people from history defying the gender norms and fighting for equality on all fronts. I knew some, some I just recognized names and some I didn't know at all. The pages about facts from the animal kingdom are interesting too, I have to say that baby turtles shocked me the most.
The illustrations are really nice in this book and kept me interested the whole time. I'm inclined to check out other books by this author because of that. I think that most of the illustrations are clever and depict the ideas in the text very well.
The last thing I would like to say is that though I think I agree with the author on every issue discussed, I feel like there were moments I was picturing someone with semi-open/semi closed mind reading this book and slapping it close again because some things are worded a bit pushy. The beginning of the book makes it seem like a real "beginners guide to gender" but then it quickly dumps anything and everything onto your head expecting you'll take it all in with no problem. I can't quite imagine someone who doesn't know almost anything about other genders/sexualities than straight male/female and processing all the information in it just like that. That is probably my only critique of the book though.
I would recommend this book to everyone because I think that everyone can learn something from it. If you think you know everything you possibly can about this stuff, you're wrong. There's always something new you can learn. :)
An arc was kindly provided to me by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I think that the diversity of topics is a great thing, but also maybe one of the few things that I didn't like about this book. The topics are scrambled with each other and it would make more sense to bundle similar ones together rather than jumping back and forth between them. Some of them are also very complicated that I think just one or two pages don't do the topic justice and must be a bit simplified.
I also really liked the shoutouts to different people from history defying the gender norms and fighting for equality on all fronts. I knew some, some I just recognized names and some I didn't know at all. The pages about facts from the animal kingdom are interesting too, I have to say that baby turtles shocked me the most.
The illustrations are really nice in this book and kept me interested the whole time. I'm inclined to check out other books by this author because of that. I think that most of the illustrations are clever and depict the ideas in the text very well.
The last thing I would like to say is that though I think I agree with the author on every issue discussed, I feel like there were moments I was picturing someone with semi-open/semi closed mind reading this book and slapping it close again because some things are worded a bit pushy. The beginning of the book makes it seem like a real "beginners guide to gender" but then it quickly dumps anything and everything onto your head expecting you'll take it all in with no problem. I can't quite imagine someone who doesn't know almost anything about other genders/sexualities than straight male/female and processing all the information in it just like that. That is probably my only critique of the book though.
I would recommend this book to everyone because I think that everyone can learn something from it. If you think you know everything you possibly can about this stuff, you're wrong. There's always something new you can learn. :)
An arc was kindly provided to me by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley for the free e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
A super complete book on matters regarding gender mostly, but also sexuality, sexual orientation, gender expression, intersectionality, feminism, privilige and much more. I fully recommend it for anyone that is still struggling with all the new labels that are out there, for anyone questioning their gender and for the allies that day after day keep informing themselves to make LGBTQ+ lives a bit more bearable.
A super complete book on matters regarding gender mostly, but also sexuality, sexual orientation, gender expression, intersectionality, feminism, privilige and much more. I fully recommend it for anyone that is still struggling with all the new labels that are out there, for anyone questioning their gender and for the allies that day after day keep informing themselves to make LGBTQ+ lives a bit more bearable.