An informative hodgepodge that explores gender identity and related subjects.
A browsable potpourri of information and musings on gender.
First published in 2019, this newly revised paperback edition explores a range of topics related to gender. The book is divided into three sections: “A Good Place To Start,” “Digging Deeper,” and “My Story.” A new foreword by Kacen Callender and a content warning start the book off. Part 1 explores gender as a social construct, gender and sexuality terminology, and pronouns. Part 2 explores subjects such as intersectionality, colonialism, toxic masculinity, sports, gendered violence, Black masculinity through the White gaze, cultural bias against sex work, and historical movements like the Zapatistas and the Stonewall Uprising. Occasional profiles of famous individuals such as David Bowie and Coco Chanel have been updated to acknowledge their complicated legacies. Part 3 explores Gottlieb’s own gender journey with a reflection on how Harry Styles helped inform her gender, an account of her experience with anorexia, and a top-surgery journal. Some spreads include information about different human sexualities and animal sexual behaviors and sex characteristics that, while informative, does not actually pertain directly to gender and, for some readers, may muddy the distinctions among gender, sex characteristics, and sexuality. Other language choices are at times overgeneralized, imprecise, and/or confusing, as when the text includes contradictory statements. The full-color art includes both full-page illustrations and spot art, some of it representational and clearly connected to the text.
An informative hodgepodge that explores gender identity and related subjects. (resources, index) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: April 26, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-79721-197-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today.
A beautifully heart-wrenching graphic-novel adaptation of actor and activist Takei’s (Lions and Tigers and Bears, 2013, etc.) childhood experience of incarceration in a World War II camp for Japanese Americans.
Takei had not yet started school when he, his parents, and his younger siblings were forced to leave their home and report to the Santa Anita Racetrack for “processing and removal” due to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. The creators smoothly and cleverly embed the historical context within which Takei’s family’s story takes place, allowing readers to simultaneously experience the daily humiliations that they suffered in the camps while providing readers with a broader understanding of the federal legislation, lawsuits, and actions which led to and maintained this injustice. The heroes who fought against this and provided support to and within the Japanese American community, such as Fred Korematsu, the 442nd Regiment, Herbert Nicholson, and the ACLU’s Wayne Collins, are also highlighted, but the focus always remains on the many sacrifices that Takei’s parents made to ensure the safety and survival of their family while shielding their children from knowing the depths of the hatred they faced and danger they were in. The creators also highlight the dangerous parallels between the hate speech, stereotyping, and legislation used against Japanese Americans and the trajectory of current events. Delicate grayscale illustrations effectively convey the intense emotions and the stark living conditions.
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today. (Graphic memoir. 14-adult)Pub Date: July 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-60309-450-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Top Shelf Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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