Queer

I just pulled this off the Pride month display at the end of June and decided I wanted to read it myself rather than reshelve it; I'd assumed based on the cover that it would be a history of like gay rights or queer culture or something but it's actually more specifically a history of queer theory. It does a great job of introducing really complex theorists like Butler and Foucault. The tone is conversational and funny and genuinely helpful, as well as intersectional.

I will NOTE for school/teen librarians that frankly some of the illustrations in here were a little spicier than I expected–in further investigation I don't think this was specifically published as a teen book but as an adult one, and I think older teens would definitely find it informative and be up for the challenge but it maybe would be better for a college audience? Like there are definitely multiple illustrations of “kink” in here that, I mean, to be honest if a parent complained about them being in the teen collection it would be a little hard to justify. It was published as an adult title but we had it in the teen collection? IDK. But also, it's been in the teen collection for 5 years and nobody's complained yet.

a good introduction to queer theory, it breaks down a lot of complex ideas in a more accessible way & im glad i read it. the title is misleading as i wasn't expecting this to be about queer theory & it was more academic than i anticipated. the graphics don't typically add to the text, but they do break it up & make a generally dry academic text more enjoyable to get through which i appreciate as someone who struggles with nonfiction. i did find it strange that at a couple points the text is phrased really awkwardly like “in regard to trans” & “the trans,” i am paraphrasing but i find that to be off putting. the trans WHAT??? identities? people? community?

also the n slur was written out a few pages in as an example when discussing reclaiming slurs. this put a sour taste in my mouth for the remainder of the book as to my understanding, the authors are not black & that felt unnecessary, though i myself am white so i can't speak for the black community or any black individual

3.5 stars.

The art is decent, but wildly under-utilized for something that is a graphic history. It also still smacks of academia, although academia-light, so it will still be slog for some people. There is quite a bit of information being thrown at one as one reads it, so it probably requires multiple readings to fully process the information. But it also gives some good background on queer theory (which is, actually, the focus of the book) more than queer history per se. Some things perhaps needed a bit more explanation, were too summarized, especially for someone new to queer history and theory. Don't go into it expecting sequential art, and don't go into it expecting a light read. And go into realizing you'll probably have to look into more things to fully comprehend what is being discussed. Luckily, they have resources in the back.