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A review by papilionna
Queerleaders by M.B. Guel
1.0
Now, I was trying to come up with a reason to give this two stars, but my gut wasn't comfortable with it. For a coming of age novel about an LGBTQ+ teen, this is one of the most prejudiced things I've ever read.
Back when I was a little baby gay, I too read Afterellen and the likes religiously, collecting signs of queerness and scanning girls' nails to figure out if they were short enough to classify them as possibly gay. Reading this book as an adult, this filled me both with nostalgia and concern. Mind you, I wasn't nearly as bad as the girls in this book.
One of the main characters at one point describes a girl she suspects of being a lesbian as "totally smelling like golf court", which is, first off weird af and, second off so outdated and early 2000s it hurts. That one screams L Word. (Speaking of, there's also that other character, a "stupid" bicurious cheerleader who over-humanises her cat that reminds me so much of Brittany from Glee it can't be a coincidence.)
Now the thing bugging me most about this book is the positively icky plot. Our main character Mack, after being outed by a classmate, sets out to make out with as many cheerleaders as she can, thus proving she can "steal them from their boyfriends".
There's so much wrong with this. I won't go into the whole "stealing someone from somebody" deal, since that's a whole other issue, but will instead focus on the "turning straight girls gay" part. In this essay, I will -
Just kidding. I won't go into too much detail, but I really dislike the "spaghetti girl" thing. (You might know the meme - a girl who is straight until you get her wet).
Firstly, that is the EXACT thing homophobes and creepy men are saying to queer women ("I'll turn you straight, you just haven't been with a real man before.")
I feel like that trope deprives the girls in question of their identity, being their own persons, their own sexualities and inner lives. They are basically objects for our main character.
Maybe I'm all the more aggrevated because Mack is a fucking creep. Her flirting with girls made me want to gouge my eyes out, honestly
The weirdest fucking thing is that these cheerleaders are essentially throwing themselves at Mack, begging her to make out with them, for one reason or another. Not to open a whole other can of worms, but one of them wants Mack to kiss her to "bleed the gay out of her". I'm sure people like that are out there, but most of the characters in this book feel like caricatures.
The writing isn't the worst, but doesn't build any tension or atmosphere. It's a quick read, but not worth it in my opinion.
Back when I was a little baby gay, I too read Afterellen and the likes religiously, collecting signs of queerness and scanning girls' nails to figure out if they were short enough to classify them as possibly gay. Reading this book as an adult, this filled me both with nostalgia and concern. Mind you, I wasn't nearly as bad as the girls in this book.
One of the main characters at one point describes a girl she suspects of being a lesbian as "totally smelling like golf court", which is, first off weird af and, second off so outdated and early 2000s it hurts. That one screams L Word. (Speaking of, there's also that other character, a "stupid" bicurious cheerleader who over-humanises her cat that reminds me so much of Brittany from Glee it can't be a coincidence.)
Now the thing bugging me most about this book is the positively icky plot. Our main character Mack, after being outed by a classmate, sets out to make out with as many cheerleaders as she can, thus proving she can "steal them from their boyfriends".
There's so much wrong with this. I won't go into the whole "stealing someone from somebody" deal, since that's a whole other issue, but will instead focus on the "turning straight girls gay" part. In this essay, I will -
Just kidding. I won't go into too much detail, but I really dislike the "spaghetti girl" thing. (You might know the meme - a girl who is straight until you get her wet).
Firstly, that is the EXACT thing homophobes and creepy men are saying to queer women ("I'll turn you straight, you just haven't been with a real man before.")
I feel like that trope deprives the girls in question of their identity, being their own persons, their own sexualities and inner lives. They are basically objects for our main character.
Maybe I'm all the more aggrevated because Mack is a fucking creep. Her flirting with girls made me want to gouge my eyes out, honestly
The weirdest fucking thing is that these cheerleaders are essentially throwing themselves at Mack, begging her to make out with them, for one reason or another. Not to open a whole other can of worms, but one of them wants Mack to kiss her to "bleed the gay out of her". I'm sure people like that are out there, but most of the characters in this book feel like caricatures.
The writing isn't the worst, but doesn't build any tension or atmosphere. It's a quick read, but not worth it in my opinion.