Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'
The 2000s Made Me Gay: Essays on Pop Culture, by Grace Perry
7 reviews
v_neptune's review
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
did not appreciate the lack of emphasis on jkr's transphobia, but otherwise this was a good book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia
livbarry's review
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
2.75
Desperately needed an editor and I will leave it at that…..
Content Warnings
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Biphobia, Cancer, Outing, and Homophobia
Author unabashedly details dubiously consensual sex while under the influencesderrig's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
courtneyfalling's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
4.0
This whole book felt like a comfy hug and gave me nostalgia for my freshman year of college, when I was first really coming into queer friendships, relationships, and community, and doing a lot of it through pop culture! I recognized some of the media discussed, I haven't seen others, and all of the chapters were enjoyable. The tone overall was very "it gets better" on an individual scale and "it's getting better" on a grand, societal scale, which... I agree that millennials have a distinct vantage point and queer representation is becoming quantitatively more common, but liberal rights discourses alone don't make me personally feel like I've had or am having any easier a time coming of age as a currently early-twenties lesbian, and I'm a white, highly femme-presenting person with a comfortable class and education background, this is so much materially worse for folks who experience heightened vulnerability and oppression based on their own multiple marginalizations, especially Black, Latinx, and Indigenous trans women. So.... idk. It was lighthearted, often funny, and cozy as a memoir, and I would recommend it to friends for that comfort, but the analytical frame and place within queer theory and criticism didn't really hold up.
Spoiler
Also, I do want to know if Claire okayed this story... like did she end up coming out years later? Even if not, did she proofread the chapter where she appears to make sure no heavy, unwanted identifying information was present? Did/does she even know this story including her is out there? This comes back to a larger discussion of the ethics of writing nonfiction, in the era of Kidney Girl, but I had to think about this.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, Cancer, and Death
Minor: Sexual content
mallory10100's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
4.75
i loved this book, easily the most relatable book i’ve ever read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Biphobia, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, and Transphobia
Moderate: Cursing and Death
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual violence, and Suicide
i loved this book. at some points it felt like grace literally peeked inside my own brain. however i wish she used the D slur a lot less (yet i understand that it’s an a reclaimed fashion)toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
These essays made me cackle like a mad woman and cry like a baby sometimes within one chapter. As a queer millennial who was molded by the glee era (incidentally it is for better or worse, my favorite show) and taylor swift alike, I really feel like this author gets me in a way no other author has been able to capture on a page (or on audio I guess, since I listened to this on audible).
These essays felt like exchanging memories with a friend, whispers in the dark telling me that I was never alone because Perry felt a lot of the same things I felt and feel about my past and my future. I loved this book.
Also special mention to the fact that Moulin Rouge - my favorite movie, was mentioned a bunch of times. If my love for that movie at an early age wasn't a huge clue to my queerness, I don't know what is.
These essays felt like exchanging memories with a friend, whispers in the dark telling me that I was never alone because Perry felt a lot of the same things I felt and feel about my past and my future. I loved this book.
Also special mention to the fact that Moulin Rouge - my favorite movie, was mentioned a bunch of times. If my love for that movie at an early age wasn't a huge clue to my queerness, I don't know what is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Medical content
Moderate: Cancer, Sexual content, Racism, Death, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Alcohol
cheye13's review
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
This is not "essays on pop culture" but a memoir told through essays on pop culture. Which is perfectly fine! But not what I was hoping for when I picked this up.
The book started off strong, detailing media of Perry's youth. I saw myself immediately, not through the specific media, but by the way Perry described consuming media, internalizing it, living life through the lens of it. Then in a strange regression, the middle began to feel as though it were explicitly written for straight audiences. There's nothing wrong with marketing to a broad demographic, but as a queer woman reading another queer woman, I'd prefer to skip the literary small talk. I anticipated an upswing at the end, but it never really came back around. This was media that had shaped my gay experience and yet the media itself was sidelined for stats about contemporary social issues.
Of course identity and sexuality are deeply personal, but in the case of queerness, they're also deeply communal. This book firmly presents the uniquely nuanced perspective of a gay millennial, which is a conversation worth having. I'm glad this book exists! But with the marketing, I wanted something that felt more communal and less biographical. I wanted followthrough on the "made me gay" joke, I wanted new queer insight into popular media, I wanted a book that read like a gay inside joke all the way through.
The book started off strong, detailing media of Perry's youth. I saw myself immediately, not through the specific media, but by the way Perry described consuming media, internalizing it, living life through the lens of it. Then in a strange regression, the middle began to feel as though it were explicitly written for straight audiences. There's nothing wrong with marketing to a broad demographic, but as a queer woman reading another queer woman, I'd prefer to skip the literary small talk. I anticipated an upswing at the end, but it never really came back around. This was media that had shaped my gay experience and yet the media itself was sidelined for stats about contemporary social issues.
Of course identity and sexuality are deeply personal, but in the case of queerness, they're also deeply communal. This book firmly presents the uniquely nuanced perspective of a gay millennial, which is a conversation worth having. I'm glad this book exists! But with the marketing, I wanted something that felt more communal and less biographical. I wanted followthrough on the "made me gay" joke, I wanted new queer insight into popular media, I wanted a book that read like a gay inside joke all the way through.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death, and Medical content
Minor: Alcohol, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content
The book uses the framework of the author's experience/perspective of her brother's cancer.
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