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The text is accompanied and transcended by the author’s own intriguing, expressionistic line drawings.
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His description of his gender-identity development occasionally slips into a well-worn pink-and-blue binary. Man shares his experiences of becoming deaf as a small child and at times feeling ostracized from the Deaf community but not how he arrived at his current Deaf identity. He is open and vulnerable throughout, even choosing to reveal his birth name. He describes his gender and sexual identity, his experiences of racism and ableism, and his desire to use his visibility as a YouTube personality, model, and actor to help other young people like him. Growing up in conservative central Pennsylvania was tough for the 21-year-old Deaf, genderqueer, pansexual, and biracial (Chinese/White Jewish) author. While he makes some choices that may be divisive-for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”-he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.ĭeaf, trans artist Man meditates on his journey and identity in this brief memoir. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology-what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community.
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In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. One chapter in particular focuses on religious, ethnic, and other identities that intersect with gender, and both the inclusive nature of the questions and the broad range of example scenarios throughout make the book well-suited to a diverse readership.Īn invaluable resource for all young people on a gender quest.Ī miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.Įli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective.
#My new gender workbook book review series#
A segment on socioeconomic status asks a series of practical questions starting with "are there any parts of your gender exploration that will cost money?" A table for planning "experiments," such as wearing a men's shirt, prompts readers with questions about location, materials, and safety considerations. What makes this book so powerful is the balance the authors strike between asking open-ended questions and offering readers tools from which to build answers. The authors use an expansive variety of approaches, from observational exercises to drawing prompts to asking readers to circle words that describe their feelings. Information is presented in brief, straightforward segments, but exercises for readers form the bulk of each chapter. Later chapters discuss various areas of life where gender comes into play, from family to school and work to dating and sex. Introductory chapters lay out such basic concepts as gender identity, gender expression, and differences between sex and gender. An open-ended workbook offers young people questioning their gender identity tools for thinking, feeling, and strategizing.