Monday, May 6, 2013

A Review of 'Queer: The Ultimate LGBT Guide for Teens' by Kathy Belge and Mark Bieschke

"Teen life is hard enough with all of the pressures kids face, but for teens who are LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender), it's even harder.  When do you decide to come out?  To whom?  Will your friends accept you?  And how on earth do you meet people to date?

Queer is a humorous, engaging, and honest guide that helps LGBT teens come out to friends and family, navigate their new LGBT social life, figure out if a crush is also queer, and rise up against bigotry and homophobia.

Queer also includes personal stories from the authors and sidebars on queer history.  It's a must-read for any teen who thinks they might be queer-- or knows someone who is."

In an attempt to read more non-fiction, I came across this book, not really sure what to expect.  But it's quite great!

This book goes through just about everything.  Figuring out whether or not you're queer, what 'queer' means as far as definitions go (because it's often used as an insult, and that's not the case in this book) as well as what it means for a person to be queer, tips on coming out to friends and family, handling bigotry, getting involved with the LGBT community, advice on sexuality and dating... it's a very good starter's guide, I think.  But for teens who are discovering their gender and sexual identities, a starter's guide is most immediately needed rather than the expert's opinion in-depth.

The language in this book was simple, but I don't feel like it was simple in a demeaning, "insult to my intelligence" kind of way.  It was to-the-point.

I like that this book lays out options for those who read this book.  Of course the author's have their own viewpoint, and when it matters, they give it.  For example, when talking about sexuality, they really push safe sex, but they don't say that sex is absolutely where you need to end up.  It made being LGBT feel open to a variety of different pathways.  What I mean is that, if someone who is attracted to women just wants to get to know her and do other couple-y things, she can do just that.  Gender roles aren't defined, the couple needs to figure that out for themselves.

This struck me as a really cool thing!

If you are struggling with your sexual or gender identity, this is a great book to check out!

I give 'Queer':
Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

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