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broccsi's reviews
819 reviews
This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson
2.0
"This Book Is Gay" – But It’s Not Really Queer
The book primarily focuses on (white) gay cis men, leaving large parts of the queer community out of the conversation. It lacks intersectionality and fails to acknowledge how different identities experience marginalization differently—for example, it doesn’t explore how a Black trans woman faces far more systemic oppression than a white cis gay man.
Aside from the writing style and the cute illustrations by Spike Gerrell, there’s little to truly enjoy about this book. It might be helpful or informative if you’re a gay cis man, but for anyone else in the LGBTQ+ community, it offers very little. Bisexual, pansexual, and asexual identities are briefly mentioned at the beginning and then completely forgotten. If you’re looking for information on nonbinary people, you won’t find any here. And if you’re interested in wlw (women loving women) topics, the coverage is minimal at best.
Beyond these omissions, the book also contains misleading information and problematic statements, such as:
- Incomplete or inaccurate STI prevention advice for sapphic sex (e.g., mentioning condoms for sex toys but completely ignoring dental dams).
- The use of outdated terms like "transsexual" and "transvestite," along with the incorrect claim that crossdressers and drag performers fall under the trans umbrella.
- Referring to sexuality as a "preference."
- Repeatedly using the word "d***," despite acknowledging that it is offensive.
- Creating a list of "gay icons" while failing to include the Black trans women who led the fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
- Using flippant language like "mega political sadface" when discussing the death penalty for queer people in certain countries.
- Contradicting itself by stating that people don’t fall in love with genitals, while continuously defining "gay" as penis/penis and "lesbian" as vulva/vulva.
- Speaking on topics the author clearly lacks knowledge about—for instance, claiming they "can’t speak for lesbians" and then proceeding to do exactly that.
Overall, This Book Is Gay presents a very narrow and non-intersectional view of queerness, centering gay cis men while erasing the experiences of other marginalized groups. If you’re looking for a well-rounded, inclusive introduction to LGBTQ+ topics, you’re better off finding another book.
We Have Always Been Here by Samra Habib
2.0
I really wish the author would've tried to go deeper into the analysis and commentary, was a lot of telling instead showing