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anakuroma 's review for:
Please note my review is coming from someone who is white, non-binary and autistic/ADHD.
CW: Discussions and descriptions of racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, rape, death, murder, abuse, ablism, classism, colonisation.
I picked up this textbook simply from the title. As a non binary person I was really interested, and thumbing through the first chapter seemed promising. However, I now feel the title is *very* inaccurate. A better one would be "Beyond binaries, an intersectional & feminist orientation to communication and identities."
This is because gender is mentioned only as much as any of the other topics I mentioned in my CW section. Gender is not the main focus. Binaries certainly are, but not just gender. This is a nit pick but I thought I should mention it.
TW: misgendering:
I got through most of the book till I hit a huge brick on the face on page 182, in the section talking about microaggressions and the sub section of non-binary pronouns. The entire section was about how something as simple as misgendering someone can be a microaggression, and quote author Sassafras Lowrey (who is SPECIFICALLY speaking about hir pronouns of "ze/hir") and the book MISGENDERS HIR TWICE in the same sentence. That left me absolutely reeling.
TW: Ablism:
Then a few pages later it got to the section on inclusive language and the dreaded "Use person first language" section reared its head. Specifically saying "Use 'person with autistm' not "autistic" which anyone who has spent more than 10 minutes in any sort of presence of the autistic community would know is VERY much the opposite. As a book that champions itself as fighting against ablism, I wonder how much exposure the author has actually had with the disabled community, which to me seems rule #1 in fighting ablism. Also it is never suggested to have any of these important discussions on ablism WITH disabled folk. She talks ABOUT disabled folks a lot. It felt often like talking OVER us or FOR us.
(TW mentions of weight: She also advocates against the term "fat" and says to use more "body positive terms like 'large' and 'robust'", which to me and those whom I follow in the fat positive movement is a big NOPE)
It was then I realised that the two sections I had most experience in personally were where I found glaring errors, so I was now worried that there might be similar errors/mistakes in sections about experiences other than my own that I didn't catch on to.
The author touched A LOT on racism, and though she quoted many Black authors and advocates I felt my time would have been better spent reading their works rather than her summaries, if only for the reason stated above.
TW: rape/violence
The section 'Intersectional Approaches to Safety in Private Spaces' has a content warning section that is adequate. However, I don't feel the trigger warning for this section was quite detailed enough. It wasn't in the header or in a bold font to stand out. After reading the section, I, who can normally do alright reading about such things, was quite upset and shaken afterwards. I would very much caution anyone who has experienced any sort of violence/abuse (emotional or physical) when reading this section. If you are reading this textbook for a class, talk to your teacher, and have support with you.
While there were SO many good points and clear explanations, I'm left with a sour taste. I think it's probably a great classroom text, but from my personal experience really hope the author can update the next edition to clear the errors and get some input from the communities she is writing about.
CW: Discussions and descriptions of racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, rape, death, murder, abuse, ablism, classism, colonisation.
I picked up this textbook simply from the title. As a non binary person I was really interested, and thumbing through the first chapter seemed promising. However, I now feel the title is *very* inaccurate. A better one would be "Beyond binaries, an intersectional & feminist orientation to communication and identities."
This is because gender is mentioned only as much as any of the other topics I mentioned in my CW section. Gender is not the main focus. Binaries certainly are, but not just gender. This is a nit pick but I thought I should mention it.
TW: misgendering:
I got through most of the book till I hit a huge brick on the face on page 182, in the section talking about microaggressions and the sub section of non-binary pronouns. The entire section was about how something as simple as misgendering someone can be a microaggression, and quote author Sassafras Lowrey (who is SPECIFICALLY speaking about hir pronouns of "ze/hir") and the book MISGENDERS HIR TWICE in the same sentence. That left me absolutely reeling.
TW: Ablism:
Then a few pages later it got to the section on inclusive language and the dreaded "Use person first language" section reared its head. Specifically saying "Use 'person with autistm' not "autistic" which anyone who has spent more than 10 minutes in any sort of presence of the autistic community would know is VERY much the opposite. As a book that champions itself as fighting against ablism, I wonder how much exposure the author has actually had with the disabled community, which to me seems rule #1 in fighting ablism. Also it is never suggested to have any of these important discussions on ablism WITH disabled folk. She talks ABOUT disabled folks a lot. It felt often like talking OVER us or FOR us.
(TW mentions of weight: She also advocates against the term "fat" and says to use more "body positive terms like 'large' and 'robust'", which to me and those whom I follow in the fat positive movement is a big NOPE)
It was then I realised that the two sections I had most experience in personally were where I found glaring errors, so I was now worried that there might be similar errors/mistakes in sections about experiences other than my own that I didn't catch on to.
The author touched A LOT on racism, and though she quoted many Black authors and advocates I felt my time would have been better spent reading their works rather than her summaries, if only for the reason stated above.
TW: rape/violence
The section 'Intersectional Approaches to Safety in Private Spaces' has a content warning section that is adequate. However, I don't feel the trigger warning for this section was quite detailed enough. It wasn't in the header or in a bold font to stand out. After reading the section, I, who can normally do alright reading about such things, was quite upset and shaken afterwards. I would very much caution anyone who has experienced any sort of violence/abuse (emotional or physical) when reading this section. If you are reading this textbook for a class, talk to your teacher, and have support with you.
While there were SO many good points and clear explanations, I'm left with a sour taste. I think it's probably a great classroom text, but from my personal experience really hope the author can update the next edition to clear the errors and get some input from the communities she is writing about.