Luke Kono's Reviews > This Book Is Gay

✒︎3 stars

This Book is Gay is the final book I read for a YouTube video on the most banned books in the US. This- second to Genderqueer - is one of the most banned books in the US for the past few years. Should it be banned? No, but unfortunately it suffers from a lot of issues that need to be pointed out.

First of all, this book has a very humorous and older-sibling vibe to it, which I generally liked. The author definitely suffers from a bit of "millennial humor" however which- although it's a major nitpick- irked me at times. Overall, Dawson has a kind, knowledgable, and caring voice written into the book, which can be helpful for young adults who are questioning their gender/sexuality, or anyone who just wants more knowledge on the LGBTQ community. Her prose made the book quick and enjoyable to get through. At times, she'd make light of very serious subjects such as AIDS which I greatly appreciated since so much of the "discourse" around the community can be so doom and gloom.

As for the content of this book... well, I won't deny that it could be very insightful for people who are starting from zero. However, if you are more educated on LGBTQ topics and/or have been out and in the community for multiple years, you may find that at certain points the book misses some additional context or nuance. For instance, at one point the author says "Lesbians like vaginas". While I did in fact read the revised edition, this statement can definitely be seen as outdated and missing the inclusion of the very existence of transgender people. As the author acknowledges in the forward of the book, it can be very hard to write a book covering the entirety of the large LGBTQ community and our experiences. This is why I feel that 1) this book is a great starting point for those who have no base-level knowledge and 2) it should not be viewed as the "end all be all" of the entire community.

It makes sense that some subjects were (unintentionally) excluded, or if the author at times said things that could be outdated or even offensive to some readers since she cannot by any means please everyone. With this being said, even within the revised edition, there was certainly a lack of inclusion on trans (particularly non-binary), asexual, aromantic, polyamorous, and at times, bisexual people. As someone who is largely a part of most of these aforementioned communities, I felt that there could have been more included on these subjects. As others have criticized, This Book is Gay certainly focuses on the (cis, male) gay portion of it the most, which didn't offend me, but certainly made me feel a bit left out of the conversation. The tidbits that were included about, say, transgender people were helpful, but largely underdeveloped.

Now as for the book being banned. The sex education part of the book is what is most commonly brought up by proponents of the book being banned. I personally don't see any situation where this book would be given to kids who aren't even in high school yet, and I am certain that, so far, the book hasn't been present for any discussions with kids who haven't started puberty yet. The fact of the matter is that LGBTQ sexual education is seen as "gross" and "indoctrination" when it is just as helpful for kids as straight sex ed is (something that is, along with LGBTQ topics, barely taught in most schools across the US.) The author constantly reiterates to "BE SAFE" during any discussions of sex or romance. In no way does sex ed make kids want to have sex (because kids are already doing that- unsafely.) Sex ed helps kids understand themselves, consent, protection, etc. There are times when the author is "teaching kids how to have sex", but again this is not equal to "TELLING kids TO have sex". Personally, unless I knew a kid was sexually active or would be soon, the sex part of this book could completely be skipped by the reader (which the author states at the beginning of the chapter) since the rest of the book is helpful and age-appropriate for a younger audience.

Not the best book I've ever read, and it has its issues, but there nothing so widely lude to warrant it being banned from schools, and especially not public libraries.

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