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nenaveenstra's review
funny
informative
fast-paced
3.75
I can’t fault this book for doing exactly what it says on the tin; Kristy Loehr gives a very brief overview of what we know about queer women in history. However, in being so brief, she has made some questionable choices. The most important of which being that the queer women discussed in this book, are mostly lesbian women, or women who we would refer to as lesbians nowadays. Sure, bisexual and trans women are acknowledged in this book, and I appreciate that, but I wish they had gotten more page time.
I think this book tried to be funny, while also giving the reader names and titles for further reading, and I think it succeeded in that, and yet it leaves me feeling… unsatisfied. What I really wanted from this book was to gain new knowledge that I could tell all my queer friends the next time we meet up, but instead, I got homework. All of the information in this book was very surface-level, and with the humorous nature of this book, I wasn’t even sure if I could trust all of it.
That being said, I did enjoy this read, and I will lend it out to my friends who want to know more about queer history. Although this book might be surface-level, it sure does succeed in sparking the interest of the reader, and it functions as an excellent sample of all there is to learn. On top of that, I liked how aware it was of intersectionality, and that not just white/European-centered stories were portrayed. It was actually quite diverse!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Biphobia, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Sexual content
Obviously, queer history is filled with a lot of trauma and grief. The content warnings above refer to that, as well as the writing style of the author - but I don't think this book itself is transphobic at all.booksjessreads's review
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.5
Overall, a really informative short book about the history of queer women which was witty and funny but also reflective of identity and queerness for women. There were a lot of gems in this book of whom I wasn't aware, and it was great for them to be written about in such a positive way.
The queer joy that emanated from this book was superior and I really enjoyed this element of the book. To say this is also a non-fiction book, it reads so easy which is helped by the matter-of-fact writing which made things so much more digestible. Alongside the jokes and the wit, this just made it a breeze to read. One issue though, was that sometimes, there was just too much cringe jokes and sometimes they could have been cut out, they just weren't needed constantly. It did stop more towards the end, but especially in the beginning, it felt like the witty writing was used to pad areas out.
Furthermore, another issue was that nothing was referenced throughout, but rather a list of sources was presented at the end. It would have helped to have those references throughout to follow up sources so we could do more research. However, I appreciate that without the footnotes etc. it did make it look more appealing to read and this was probably the purpose behind that.
Regardless, it was a really great introduction to queer women in history and I look forward to going back through and researching these wonderful women in more depth. An overall really good read.
The queer joy that emanated from this book was superior and I really enjoyed this element of the book. To say this is also a non-fiction book, it reads so easy which is helped by the matter-of-fact writing which made things so much more digestible. Alongside the jokes and the wit, this just made it a breeze to read. One issue though, was that sometimes, there was just too much cringe jokes and sometimes they could have been cut out, they just weren't needed constantly. It did stop more towards the end, but especially in the beginning, it felt like the witty writing was used to pad areas out.
Furthermore, another issue was that nothing was referenced throughout, but rather a list of sources was presented at the end. It would have helped to have those references throughout to follow up sources so we could do more research. However, I appreciate that without the footnotes etc. it did make it look more appealing to read and this was probably the purpose behind that.
Regardless, it was a really great introduction to queer women in history and I look forward to going back through and researching these wonderful women in more depth. An overall really good read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, and Transphobia
Minor: Suicide attempt
bronzeageholly's review
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Transphobia, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Lesbophobia
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