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A review by thequeeraunt
Finding Normal: Sex, Love, and Taboo in Our Hyperconnected World by Alexa Tsoulis-Reay
Did not finish book.
1.0
I would give 0 stars because I didn't finish, but that's not the way this site works.
I am reviewing this audiobook after receiving a complimentary ALC from Libro.fm
I believe that, somewhere along the way, Finding Normal had an interesting premise. "Our hyperconnected world," as the subtitle describes, does indeed allow people all over the world to find their own version of normal - others who think like them, share their beliefs, belong to their communities. This, as a concept, would make a pretty cool study. You could look at all of the positive ways this hyperconnectedness impacts marginalized people, at the myriad ways it allows fans to band together over their favorite pop culture phenomenons, and at the unsavory ways in which it leads to cultlike behavior, indoctrination, and radicalization. I would read that book.
Finding Normal is, unfortunately, not that book. While the author does state in her introduction that the structure of the book's chapters is not meant to imply that she is drawing an equivalence between their subjects, she must know that, disclaimer or no, that is absolutely how it will come across. She even acknowledges this! Was there truly no other way to organize these stories in a way that did not place polyamory, asexuality, and incest on the exact same level? These things are not the same. If you wanted to write a book about the huge technological shift in finding like-minded individuals to normalize our experiences as human beings, write that book instead of this one. This one unintentionally reinforces the exact kind of "slippery slope" argumentation that many sexual conservatives like to throw around in discourse about gay marriage ("What's next, people marrying dogs?"). And I just can't get behind that. I can't.
I don't recommend this book.
I am reviewing this audiobook after receiving a complimentary ALC from Libro.fm
I believe that, somewhere along the way, Finding Normal had an interesting premise. "Our hyperconnected world," as the subtitle describes, does indeed allow people all over the world to find their own version of normal - others who think like them, share their beliefs, belong to their communities. This, as a concept, would make a pretty cool study. You could look at all of the positive ways this hyperconnectedness impacts marginalized people, at the myriad ways it allows fans to band together over their favorite pop culture phenomenons, and at the unsavory ways in which it leads to cultlike behavior, indoctrination, and radicalization. I would read that book.
Finding Normal is, unfortunately, not that book. While the author does state in her introduction that the structure of the book's chapters is not meant to imply that she is drawing an equivalence between their subjects, she must know that, disclaimer or no, that is absolutely how it will come across. She even acknowledges this! Was there truly no other way to organize these stories in a way that did not place polyamory, asexuality, and incest on the exact same level? These things are not the same. If you wanted to write a book about the huge technological shift in finding like-minded individuals to normalize our experiences as human beings, write that book instead of this one. This one unintentionally reinforces the exact kind of "slippery slope" argumentation that many sexual conservatives like to throw around in discourse about gay marriage ("What's next, people marrying dogs?"). And I just can't get behind that. I can't.
I don't recommend this book.