Gender Queer
by Maia Kobabe · first published 2019
3% recommend68% neutral29% critical
In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia's intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears. Started as a w
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Gender Queer isn’t a children’s book. It’s a book for older teens, and I think it’s quite appropriate in like a highschool setting for example. Go Ask Alice has worse than that(rape and prostitution and addiction),…
on “Book Publishers Won't Stop Until Libraries Are Dead” ↗…child giving an older child oral sex falls into that category: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBdP1kYXoAA_c0T?format=jpg&name=... People lost their minds when a woman read several pages from the book "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe.
on “As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective” ↗Here are the top most challenged books of 2022 according to the ALA: - "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe - "All Boys Aren't Blue" by George M. Johnson - "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison - "Flamer" by Mike Curato - "Looking for Alaska" by John Green - "The Perks of Being…
on “Leaked government document shows Spain wants to ban end-to-end encryption” ↗Anyone who wants can look on archive.org to see a copy of Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer book, often cited as one of the "most banned" books out there. It is apparently intended for minors. And it is pornographic, check page 168. Just far enough into the book so that any adult checking it…
on “A Nationwide Book Ban Bill Has Been Introduced in the House of Representatives” ↗…Additionally, I searched “fox news book bans” and “nbc book bans” and these were the first links that came up. https://www.foxnews.com/us/choice-lies-parent-texas-dad-supp... > Maia Kobabe’s book "Gender Queer" became one of the most banned books in the country in 2022. The book has been at the center of the debate over what books should be banned in schools. https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/map-book-bans-rise-rcn...…
on “Illinois to Become First State to Ban Book Bans” ↗I recently looked up one of these books that was on the "banned" list. Someone had scanned it in on archive.org. I just checked, and it was either the #1 banned book on most lists, or made the top 10. Gender Queer by Kobabe. You can see it for yourself. https://archive.org/details/gender-queer-a-memoir-by-maia-ko... This is apparently what it would be censorship to keep out of gradeschool libraries. If you're…
on “Illinois to Become First State to Ban Book Bans” ↗A question: has anyone here actually read this book? While I'm frustrated that books like Maus are being caught up in these book bans, I'm more frustrated that books like "Gender Queer" are being treated as important books that should be in school libraries and accessible to fourteen year olds. But most of all, I'm angry that whenever this discussion happens, people try to gaslight…
on “Pennsylvania school district bans Girls Who Code Book” ↗> extremists Putting the book Gender Queer in the children’s section is extreme. Have you seen that book? Looked at the pictures? You wouldn’t be able to show that book on broadcast TV and there are librarians that insist kids should read it.…
on “Book Publishers Won't Stop Until Libraries Are Dead” ↗…wanting to be allowed to have pornographic books in the kids' section so badly that they're willing to hold all of the useful services you mentioned hostage if they can't have that. (Note: I did see that Gender Queer was in the adults' section. But as the letter in the article pointed out, there were other similar books that were in the kids' section.)
on “US library defunded after refusing to censor authors” ↗…Another book that is promoted to children that includes explicit discussion of sexuality, and that has been challenged by the parents you're talking about, is the Diary of Anne Frank. I don't think "Gender Queer" belongs in school libraries. I do think the Diary of Anne Frank belongs in school libraries. Can you offer an argument that acknowledges that? I'm skeptical.
on “US library defunded after refusing to censor authors” ↗…legitimate interest in the party line from adults to children being “no teenage exploration of sexuality for anyone.” The diary of Anne Frank has historical value, and the sexual exploration is incidental. In Gender Queer, it’s quite central to the book. I don’t think a library should be defunded over it, but I do think it’s counterproductive for folks to close ranks around defending it. It reminds parents that folks…
on “US library defunded after refusing to censor authors” ↗…to younger children that some parents claim is sexually grooming the children. Some of these books have been included on reading lists. The book that is the poster child for this is the cartoon book Gender Queer https://www.westernjournal.com/book-depicting-child-pornogra...
on “Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools” ↗“Gender Queer” is an unfortunate example of the broader movement for sex positivity creating unnecessary headwinds for LGBT rights. What’s most notable about the book is the graphic depictions of underage sex that…
on “US library defunded after refusing to censor authors” ↗…you're trans, you might be disturbed by these changes and want some background information. So it's actually correct for books about gender to be in the school library. I can't endorse a particular book ("Gender Queer"), of course -- is that a real example? Usually the school librarian will be another check point on who has access to these books, if the library is open to a wider age group than, say, middle schoolers.…
on “Pennsylvania school district bans Girls Who Code Book” ↗Not OP, but most of the controversy has been about age restrictions on the books "Gender Queer: A Memoir" which contains images of graphic scenes of gay sex and oral sex as well as a girl encouraged to “taste” herself by her own siblings or “Lawn Boy” which describes a man talking approvingly to…
on “Wikipedians are rebelling against “unethical” Wikipedia fundraising banners” ↗