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Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'
This Arab Is Queer: An Anthology by LGBTQ+ Arab Writers by Elias Jahshan
2 reviews
julian7's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
As a gay, trans, Lebanese man, I’ve been needing a book like this for a long time. Not all of the essays in this anthology resonated with me, but the ones that did were often a little too relatable. Reading these essays sometimes felt like having my heart torn out and then shown to me-painful, but cathartic and healing. The fact that I didn’t connect to or feel like I “got” every essay just speaks to the diversity of the collection and the fact that not all queer Arabs have the same experiences. Also, I wasn’t expecting for there to be some “theory,” and not just memoir, but that’s not a bad thing.
Overall, the book can be triggering for queer Arabs who have faced abuse, homophobia, transphobia, etc, so I would recommend only reading when you feel like you are in a safe space, both in and outside of your body. I would definitely look at the trigger warnings beforehand!
Will probably add a list of my favorite essays from the collection after I mull over it a bit more. :)
🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🇱🇧❤️🌍🌈🌟💫
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Colonisation, Genocide, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and War
Moderate: Bullying, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Islamophobia, Medical content, Outing, and Transphobia
Minor: Body shaming and Panic attacks/disorders
tigger89's review
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
This collection of eighteen short essays by queer people with roots in the Arab world covers a wide variety of experiences, from gay and lesbian to trans and nonbinary, in many permutations. The content of the essays themselves are as varied as the authors, featuring everything from informative expository pieces(The Artist's Portrait of a Marginalized Man, by Danny Ramadan) to incredibly personal narratives(Return to Beirut, by Saleem Haddad). There's even something that appears to be short fiction(The Bad Son, by Raja Farah) as well as a piece that reads closer to poetry than anything else(Tweets to a Queer Arab Poet, by Omar Sakr). The contributors are Lebanese, Syrian, Sudanese, Iraqi, Egyptian and more, raised in both the Arab world and in the diaspora. The variety of voices featured, and the differing ways they choose to express their queerness, is this book's greatest strength.
There was little that really bothered me. Some essays were better than others. As mentioned in the introduction, there is some sexual content, both discussed and depicted in narrative form. I wasn't so much a fan of the latter(sex scenes in nonfiction always get me like that, it's too personal), but I understand why it was included from an artistic standpoint. My biggest complaint is that the included glossary was largely useless. Most of the terms in it were explained or translated in the works themselves, and every time I was unsure what a thing or phrase was, it was never in the glossary!
I recommend this book to anyone — LGBTQ or otherwise — who has an interest in exploring intersectional queer identities.
There was little that really bothered me. Some essays were better than others. As mentioned in the introduction, there is some sexual content, both discussed and depicted in narrative form. I wasn't so much a fan of the latter(sex scenes in nonfiction always get me like that, it's too personal), but I understand why it was included from an artistic standpoint. My biggest complaint is that the included glossary was largely useless. Most of the terms in it were explained or translated in the works themselves, and every time I was unsure what a thing or phrase was, it was never in the glossary!
I recommend this book to anyone — LGBTQ or otherwise — who has an interest in exploring intersectional queer identities.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content
Moderate: Body shaming, Medical content, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Dementia, Islamophobia, Racism, and Transphobia
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
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