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A review by jhbandcats
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
I am SO glad I read this book. As an older heterosexual woman, I feel very ignorant about gender issues, and this memoir taught me so much about how a nonbinary person - at least this specific nonbinary person - would feel.
There are all the questions starting in childhood when friends, schoolmates, other kids’ parents, and teachers start asking about gender. How do you answer if you don’t know? How do you explain if you don’t have the words? What feels right, what feels most natural, and how does that fit into more conventional thinking of gender? *Does* it fit into conventional thinking of gender?
The section on trying to find pronouns that felt most appropriate helped me a lot. I often accidentally misgender nonbinary people and I’m horrified whenever it happens - I feel so ashamed. It really made me feel better when the author described eir difficulties getting used to new words. It made me think that maybe there’s hope for me, that I just have to keep practicing till I no longer need to think about it. Until then I need to try harder, to make sure I know how someone wants to be addressed.
I can see why conservatives would want this book banned but, to me, I think it should be required reading. If there were more understanding and compassion, the world would be a safer, more livable place.
There are all the questions starting in childhood when friends, schoolmates, other kids’ parents, and teachers start asking about gender. How do you answer if you don’t know? How do you explain if you don’t have the words? What feels right, what feels most natural, and how does that fit into more conventional thinking of gender? *Does* it fit into conventional thinking of gender?
The section on trying to find pronouns that felt most appropriate helped me a lot. I often accidentally misgender nonbinary people and I’m horrified whenever it happens - I feel so ashamed. It really made me feel better when the author described eir difficulties getting used to new words. It made me think that maybe there’s hope for me, that I just have to keep practicing till I no longer need to think about it. Until then I need to try harder, to make sure I know how someone wants to be addressed.
I can see why conservatives would want this book banned but, to me, I think it should be required reading. If there were more understanding and compassion, the world would be a safer, more livable place.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Transphobia