A review by juliemawesome
GenderQueer: Voices From Beyond the Sexual Binary, by J.T. LeRoy, Raven Kaldera, Robin Maltz, Joan Nestle, Kristen Walker, Sylvia Rivera, Peggy Munson, Chino Lee Chung, Sonya Bolus, Debbie Fraker, Barb Greve, C. Jacob Hale, Stacey Montgomery, Gordene MacKenzie, Aaron Link, Hilda Raz, Carrie Davis, Toni Amato, Wally Baird, Clare Howell, Loree Cook-Daniels, Ethan Zimmerman, Mollie Biewald, Allie Lie, L. Maurer, Susan Wright, Cheryl Chase, Rusty Mae Moore, Allen James, Riki Anne Wilchins, Dawn Dougherty, Lucas Dzmura, Nancy Nangeroni, Gina Reiss
3.0
This is a collection of essays/stories by people who don't fit into the neat packages of 'male' and 'female'. A number of them defy any labels, while others identify by their gender or sexual orientation, but aren't quite what you'd expect from that label.
I did find it all interesting, but there was a lot more discussion of sex than I was expecting. It gives the impression that gender is all about (or mostly about) sex. Not a lot of asexual voices in here, for one thing.
It's also a little inaccessible (wait, bad term, scratch that term). There are a number of references to people, places, events, and a lot of terms and acronyms that the writers and editors just expect you to know. It seems to be written with the LGB if not even also T community in mind. Now, I'm not ignorant, but there were a number of things that went over my head completely. And it took me a minute to figure out what GB meant.
There are some really good ones in here. A few I even half-identified with. But even though I didn't identify with any of them fully, you sort of glean that it's okay that you don't. Because most of these writers are trying to carve their own path amongst all the labels.
Weirdly, I kept thinking this was published in the early 90's. But it was 2002, I think. I kept having to remind myself that it really wasn't that old. Still, a lot has changed in even 8 years. Resources and information and community are a lot easier to find on the Internet now.
I'd like to see another anthology like this, aimed at teens, maybe. More current. Less sex. More diversity of voices.
I did find it all interesting, but there was a lot more discussion of sex than I was expecting. It gives the impression that gender is all about (or mostly about) sex. Not a lot of asexual voices in here, for one thing.
It's also a little inaccessible (wait, bad term, scratch that term). There are a number of references to people, places, events, and a lot of terms and acronyms that the writers and editors just expect you to know. It seems to be written with the LGB if not even also T community in mind. Now, I'm not ignorant, but there were a number of things that went over my head completely. And it took me a minute to figure out what GB meant.
There are some really good ones in here. A few I even half-identified with. But even though I didn't identify with any of them fully, you sort of glean that it's okay that you don't. Because most of these writers are trying to carve their own path amongst all the labels.
Weirdly, I kept thinking this was published in the early 90's. But it was 2002, I think. I kept having to remind myself that it really wasn't that old. Still, a lot has changed in even 8 years. Resources and information and community are a lot easier to find on the Internet now.
I'd like to see another anthology like this, aimed at teens, maybe. More current. Less sex. More diversity of voices.