Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

The Essential Dykes to Watch Out for by Alison Bechdel

6 reviews

bashsbooks's review

emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I've long heard chatter about Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For - how you can you be in queer spaces & not eventually hear of her groundbreaking comics? - but I didn't have much of an idea about what the strip was about, aside from dykes. Well, it's about their lives, loves, jobs, educations, families, and politics, and every messy bit that pops up in those areas. The strip has an extremely diverse cast of characters, parrying the conservative complaint that characters who are marginalized on multiple axes is modern woke bullshit. It's also refreshingly inclusive - though some of the characters struggle with the concept of transgender, the comic itself is affirming and depicts trans people as real human beings. This should not be a big deal, but it feels revolutionary to me. And, on a related note, Lois is my favorite of the dykes. (Seriously, the comic that discusses bisexual lesbians AND trans men in the same strip changed my life. Those are not modern made-up things or tumblr identities! Here they are, being discussed in our community long before the popularization of the Internet. So validating.) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, and Pregnancy

Minor: Lesbophobia, Biphobia, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Vomit, Police brutality, Abortion, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Bullying, Excrement, War, and Misogyny

robinks's review

emotional funny informative reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The characters were really well thought-out, and it was nice to see them and their relationships evolve over the years. There was also a lot of historical information included, and at times, it was a bit much. I felt like some plot points were omitted, but perhaps it would make more sense if I read it sporadically over a longer period of time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Infidelity, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Mental illness

Moderate: Ableism, War, Biphobia, Cancer, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Xenophobia and Abortion

arsenic_'s review

funny informative inspiring medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Deadnaming, Transphobia, and Animal death

Minor: Abortion, Homophobia, Outing, Sexism, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Ableism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Cancer, Classism, Mental illness, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, War, Gaslighting, and Infidelity

town_scar's review

challenging emotional funny informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Infidelity, Homophobia, Deadnaming, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Cursing

Moderate: Misogyny, Alcohol, Animal death, Biphobia, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Addiction, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Grief, Classism, and Car accident

Minor: Abortion, Ableism, Bullying, Drug use, Dementia, Xenophobia, Torture, and Islamophobia

starrygal's review

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An honest, realistic, and heartwarming portrayal of a group of people (mostly lesbians) living their lives. I found it hard to put down, and it made me laugh more than a few times. The part that I enjoyed less was that it spent a lot of time on the intricacies of US politics - several decades ago. If that kind of thing is your cup of tea, then more power to you, but otherwise, you'll probably do as I did and skim that in order to get back to the relationship drama.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Pregnancy, Transphobia, Ableism, Infidelity, Grief, Cancer, Death of parent, Animal death, and Biphobia

Minor: Car accident, Dysphoria, Genocide, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Xenophobia, Deadnaming, Dementia, Medical content, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, and Hate crime

loverofeels's review

funny

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

so funny and entertaining though depressing at times due to the amount of politics and infidelity. alison bechdel has my heart <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity

Moderate: War, Toxic relationship, Cancer, and Sexual content

Minor: Death, Police brutality, Car accident, Deadnaming, Drug use, Biphobia, Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Abortion, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Dysphoria, Racism, and Animal death