Queer

I was surprised at how good this book is. To me it sounds like a feet of sithesizing and making accessible a great variety of subjects. The few qualifications / questions I had were tackled in the section on some of the criticisms made to queer theory. This book would probably be great for a reading group or collective reading.

I, a big fan of overviews, the big picture, and the jack of all trades, ADORED this book. A super comprehensive depiction of what queer theory entails, and honestly I FINALLY get it? I think we all read and hear and stumble upon queer theory but this is just the ultimate guide to understanding what it truly is about!!

Lots of information in very little space so definitely worth taking notes of things you must look up later on. Here's my literal list of notes as I was reading:

- Gender and sexuality understood as identity traits is constructed! Just a theoretical framework!
- Post-structuralists say we occupy identities that are available to us in our social and historical context. That begs the question... What would I identify as in another day and age? Would I be straight in the 20s? Would I be non-binary in 30 years? Transhuman in 100 years?
- Queeruption and the queercore movement (!!!)
- Biopower, docile bodies, and "technologies of the self" by my main man Foucault
- Explore "sexual configurations"
- Am I part of a queer diaspora?
- A mentality of "both __ and " rather than " or __" to resist the binary
- Queer temporality, including futurity (queer imagined futures)
- Queer ambivalence: how queers can both desire belonging and acceptance, and reject the normativity that alienates them. In Martha Shelley's words, "Sometimes we wish we were like you, sometimes we wonder how you can stand yourselves"

So many queer musings, so little time!

Not a graphic novel. This is an illustrated introduction to queer theory and its precursors. It's written in simplified language while still defining key terms and including further reading. It's incredibly accessible and informative, and I would recommend to basically everyone who can read at a middle grade level or better who isn't already well versed in queer theory.