Reviews

Gender: A Graphic Guide by Meg-John Barker

rayoftheday's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

thedisabledreader's review against another edition

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informative reflective

5.0


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heyspaghetti's review against another edition

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informative

lara25's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

sophlynne's review against another edition

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5.0

Accessible and thorough - I wish I could give this to everyone who still struggles to understand gender diversity. 

alexauthorshay's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

After some LGBT+ friends raved about this book I decided to bump it up my TBR shelf. I'm not disappointed by any means, but for all the hype, I was expecting more. I do think this book is a good starting place for cishet folks trying to understand the queer gender experience and wanting to be good allies, as well as a good starting place for learning some of the history around pride, and more in particular about trans and non-binary genders. There is inclusion of other cultures and viewpoints, and the graphics do a good job of representing queer experiences through a similar situation cishet people experience. I just found myself constantly wanting more; each little topic only gets a page, maybe two, and I was hoping for a lot more in-depth looks at things, in particular actual gender identities. That said, the discussion around masculinities and femininities as plural things, in the context of our society (patriarchy, capitalism, racism, etc), that can be used by (almost) anyone, to different effect, was very interesting. It's something I've understood for a while but not really given deep thought to until this book phrased it all the way it did.

gaebron's review against another edition

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informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

zarazoom's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

imlizgen's review against another edition

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emotional informative fast-paced

4.25

zea_d_writing's review against another edition

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informative fast-paced

3.5

This book was a decent look at gender, society, and intersectionality. It covers various terms and definitions, references numerous activists and experts, and is - in general - an okay starting point for anyone just getting into deconstructing gender and societal norms. 

This book does a fairly okay job making sure that it’s approaching the subject matter from an inclusive, intersectional standpoint and shows how gender is wrapped up in other forms of hierarchy and systems of oppression. I do feel like the book would have benefited from having a co-author of color to lend their voice to the subject. While the authors clearly tried to tackle this topic with nuance, it did still feel like it was coming from a white perspective. 

I also wasn’t a fan of how the section titled ‘Gender as intergenerational trauma’ was focused on Stephen King’s IT. I felt like that section could have touched on important real world issues, instead of something fictional. 

In the end, this book was okay. Not perfect. But a good jumping off point for someone just getting into the subject.