Reviews tagging 'Biphobia'

Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

17 reviews

bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
General disclaimer if you’ve read other reviews by me and are noticing a pattern: You’re correct that I don’t really give starred reviews, I feel like a peasant and don’t like leaving them and most often, I will only leave them if I vehemently despised a book. Thus, no stars doesn’t indicate that the book wasn’t worthy of any starred system. It just means I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all, even if the lesson is that I’m a ho for the smut, recognizing a genre/book/author is not for me, or confronting my own mommy/daddy issues lol. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Happy reading! Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial

asdsdjhfslhflsdjhskfh I borrowed this from the library and after reading, I want my own copy! I adored this graphic novel/memoir from Maia Kobabe and I am so glad I read this.

Disclaimer: There are a few Harry Potter references in here, but this was published in May 2019 before JKR revealed herself as a TERF POS.

Topics covered:
  • asexuality / aromantics 
  • gender dysphoria
  • finding queer representation in books and music 
  • finding queer community through the Queer Straight Alliance in high school
  • getting eir period and the trauma of navigating this along with pap smears 
  • figuring out what sexual orientation label felt right 
  • discussing queerness with eir family, friends and classmates
  • experimenting with masturbation and tracking this to figure out eir feelings on the physical act of sex in general
  • the spiral of constantly questioning and/or hating eir body
  • binding, clothes/shopping, haircuts/styles, bodily hair 
  • and so much more!

Besides this being highly informative for anyone who is unfamiliar with gender queerness, asexuality, aromantic, nonbinary, othergender, etc, it's at its core a beautifully generous and vulnerable account from Maia's journey as ey question and figure out all of this. I'm so grateful to em for sharing this with us. 
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pidgepodge's review

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emotional informative fast-paced

3.0

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sdupont's review

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emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

Gender Queer is the first graphic novel I’ve ever read. I loved that this memoir was a graphic novel I think that it made the content even more approachable for readers. I read this book quickly in one sitting. I really felt for Maia as I read. Also, the illustrations in this book were fabulous. I would totally recommend this book! 
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grayreadsmanga's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

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hmatt's review against another edition

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hopeful informative fast-paced

4.0

I really like how the author breaks down the topics of sexuality, gender, and pronoun use by recounting eir own experiences and thoughts. And I love the comic style! Whether unintentional because of eir experiences or intentional, it's also notable that this comic steers clear of depicting major [trans/homo/bi/etc.]-phobic events, which could potentially trigger certain readers (It does depict and describe many, many minor events and traumatic dysphoric medical experiences - all of these from what I can remember are unintentional? For what that's worth?).

Big big kudos for conveying fandom/shipping/fanfiction/etc. in a positive, affirming, non-judgemental way. 

I would have loved to see more explicit discussion around the author's asexuality, but maybe this could come in future works as a dedicated topic? It's mentioned here, but then there are other scenes that are very clearly ace experiences to someone educated on the topic that I think will get overlooked to an uninformed reader.

One of my favourite panels (and honestly an affirming moment, because this is a thought I constantly think) is "Would Harry Styles wear this shirt?" (p. 229).
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purplepenning's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

This was exceptional — exceptionally personal and kind and gently paced and honest. A great example of how a graphic memoir can tell a complex story (and aren't all of our truest  stories complex) in a beautifully accessible way.
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orlagal's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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