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The 2000s Made Me Gay: Essays on Pop Culture by Grace Perry
9 reviews
torturedreadersdept's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Dysphoria
lilybear3's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
From the introduction, Grace Perry had me hooked! I rarely laugh while reading a book, even if it's funny. This book broke that for me as I laughed many times throughout. Grace and I are technically in the same generation, albeit I'm so close to the next one. Her voice is exactly my humor, so I felt like I had a grasp on the pop culture moments that were before my time. A++ for essay titles, my favorite being "Harry Potter and the Half-Assed Gay Character." "Taylor Swift Made Me a U-Haul Dyke" is one of my favorite chapters, because I semi-grew up knowing and sometimes liking her and her music. I have to agree with Grace, listening to her music made me a romantic, to my detriment at times.
I enjoyed reading Grace's experiences and her use of pop culture to tell these stories. I found myself reflecting on my own journey in discovering my sexuality, often relating to the pop culture references. It was a super fun read and I will be recommending to everyone.
I enjoyed reading Grace's experiences and her use of pop culture to tell these stories. I found myself reflecting on my own journey in discovering my sexuality, often relating to the pop culture references. It was a super fun read and I will be recommending to everyone.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Biphobia, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Sexual content, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Medical content
pleigh02's review
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, and Medical content
reading_between_the_trees's review
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This book got me. Perry put into words so many things that have shaped who I am without me even realizing it. The book covers a very specific set of media, but if you were consuming it at the time it came out, you were being influenced in a very specific way. It was like the puberty of queer media- when it was starting to become socially acceptable to portray queerness, but not so much that it was done overtly or correctly. Instead, it was done in a confusingly suppressed way that warped the brains of all the queer tweens watching.
Some highlights of the book were Perry's description of the layered closet, where she describes the various stages of coming out to yourself and then to others. Other great chapters were the one connecting the Taylor Swift songwriting framework to U-haul Dyke culture, the one absolutely calling out JKR for her half-assed admission of Dumbledore being gay, and the entire chapter on Disney's attempt to just take the parts they wanted from queerness for their characters.
But my favorite part of the book was where Perry flips the quintessential gay question "do I want to be them or be with them?" from a realization of your sexuality to a realization of your gender: "do I want to be with them or do I want to be them?". Reading that was a "aha moment" for me in understanding my own sexuality. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who was conscious for even part of the 2000s. Whether you're queer or not, this will give you a whole new look at some very familiar media from that time.
Some highlights of the book were Perry's description of the layered closet, where she describes the various stages of coming out to yourself and then to others. Other great chapters were the one connecting the Taylor Swift songwriting framework to U-haul Dyke culture, the one absolutely calling out JKR for her half-assed admission of Dumbledore being gay, and the entire chapter on Disney's attempt to just take the parts they wanted from queerness for their characters.
But my favorite part of the book was where Perry flips the quintessential gay question "do I want to be them or be with them?" from a realization of your sexuality to a realization of your gender: "do I want to be with them or do I want to be them?". Reading that was a "aha moment" for me in understanding my own sexuality. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who was conscious for even part of the 2000s. Whether you're queer or not, this will give you a whole new look at some very familiar media from that time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia and Homophobia
Moderate: Cancer, Death, and Medical content
leahlovesloslibros's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
This book had the perfect amount of nostalgia for a millennial. I loved hearing about all of the different things that that the author felt were "gay coded" (or that were actually gay) in a time where I was growing up watching and listening to them as well. There were a few chapters I couldn't personally relate to because I didn't interact with the discussed media, but I was still at least aware of the basics surrounding those topics - enough that I could still enjoy that section of the book. The 2000s Made Me Gay was a fairly lighthearted read that I could easily listen to or read again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Death, and Sexism
Minor: Drug use, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Alcohol
TW/CW: full chapter about Harry Potter, incarceration, divorce, underage drinking, gay slurs, homophobia (internalized and externalized)mallory10100's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
4.75
i loved this book, easily the most relatable book i’ve ever read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Transphobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cursing and Death
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Bullying, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Suicide, Grief, and Gaslighting
i loved this book. at some points it felt like grace literally peeked inside my own brain. however i wish she used the D slur a lot less (yet i understand that it’s an a reclaimed fashion)spaghettireads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Medical content
toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
These essays made me cackle like a mad woman and cry like a baby sometimes within one chapter. As a queer millennial who was molded by the glee era (incidentally it is for better or worse, my favorite show) and taylor swift alike, I really feel like this author gets me in a way no other author has been able to capture on a page (or on audio I guess, since I listened to this on audible).
These essays felt like exchanging memories with a friend, whispers in the dark telling me that I was never alone because Perry felt a lot of the same things I felt and feel about my past and my future. I loved this book.
Also special mention to the fact that Moulin Rouge - my favorite movie, was mentioned a bunch of times. If my love for that movie at an early age wasn't a huge clue to my queerness, I don't know what is.
These essays felt like exchanging memories with a friend, whispers in the dark telling me that I was never alone because Perry felt a lot of the same things I felt and feel about my past and my future. I loved this book.
Also special mention to the fact that Moulin Rouge - my favorite movie, was mentioned a bunch of times. If my love for that movie at an early age wasn't a huge clue to my queerness, I don't know what is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Medical content
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Racism, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Alcohol
cheye13's review
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
This is not "essays on pop culture" but a memoir told through essays on pop culture. Which is perfectly fine! But not what I was hoping for when I picked this up.
The book started off strong, detailing media of Perry's youth. I saw myself immediately, not through the specific media, but by the way Perry described consuming media, internalizing it, living life through the lens of it. Then in a strange regression, the middle began to feel as though it were explicitly written for straight audiences. There's nothing wrong with marketing to a broad demographic, but as a queer woman reading another queer woman, I'd prefer to skip the literary small talk. I anticipated an upswing at the end, but it never really came back around. This was media that had shaped my gay experience and yet the media itself was sidelined for stats about contemporary social issues.
Of course identity and sexuality are deeply personal, but in the case of queerness, they're also deeply communal. This book firmly presents the uniquely nuanced perspective of a gay millennial, which is a conversation worth having. I'm glad this book exists! But with the marketing, I wanted something that felt more communal and less biographical. I wanted followthrough on the "made me gay" joke, I wanted new queer insight into popular media, I wanted a book that read like a gay inside joke all the way through.
The book started off strong, detailing media of Perry's youth. I saw myself immediately, not through the specific media, but by the way Perry described consuming media, internalizing it, living life through the lens of it. Then in a strange regression, the middle began to feel as though it were explicitly written for straight audiences. There's nothing wrong with marketing to a broad demographic, but as a queer woman reading another queer woman, I'd prefer to skip the literary small talk. I anticipated an upswing at the end, but it never really came back around. This was media that had shaped my gay experience and yet the media itself was sidelined for stats about contemporary social issues.
Of course identity and sexuality are deeply personal, but in the case of queerness, they're also deeply communal. This book firmly presents the uniquely nuanced perspective of a gay millennial, which is a conversation worth having. I'm glad this book exists! But with the marketing, I wanted something that felt more communal and less biographical. I wanted followthrough on the "made me gay" joke, I wanted new queer insight into popular media, I wanted a book that read like a gay inside joke all the way through.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death, and Medical content
Minor: Homophobia, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol
The book uses the framework of the author's experience/perspective of her brother's cancer.
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