Gender Queer

The Streisand Effect came about from the singer Barbra Streisand not wanting to have pictures of one of her houses posted on the internet, and through her complaining about it, more people saw her house than if she had not said a darn thing about the picture of her house.

I mention this because there was a row at one of our local libraries where they wanted to ban this book because it was smut. This is part of a larger project from a group of conservative people who have a larger project in banning books like Gender Queer. So of course I went to my library and checked it out (my library not having had local concerned citizens try to ban the book yet).

The book is a graphic memoir of Maia Kobabe growing up and learning about eir own gender and sexuality. This is a journey that all of us take, no matter where we end up (or wherever we are on the journey that never really ends). What makes brings out the controversy is that Kobabe doesn’t fit in with the straight, cis crowd, and there is a set of regressive forces in our society that want to do their darndest to make sure people fit in the standard boxes. For what it is, it is well done and shows the arc and where e is at the end of the story so far. One thing that was really interesting to me is that Kobabe came from a progressive family and is relatively young, so it would have been a lot easier for eir than some other people who have had their own gender and sexuality journeys. It took eir a long time to figure out who e was, and that was with fewer barriers than a lot of people would face. Sometimes people don’t even have the vocabulary to describe how they feel inside. I think books like this are important for all readers to give them that vocabulary for themselves and other people in the community.

So the book is also a 239 page graphic memoir and there’s like three pages where there’s human bodies in sexual positions. That’s what these people say is the controversial thing but I really think it’s the broader subject matter and these three pictures are anchors for bigots to hold onto as the denigrate Kobabe’s entire existence and want to shove eir story back into the closet. The thing is these pictures aren’t titillating (to me at least, this stuff is subjective) and pretty matter of fact. But it’s close enough for the pearl clutchers. My advice? If you’re a bigot, don’t read the book.