Gender Queer had been vaguely on my radar for awhile, but the efforts of various pearl-clutchers to ban it from schools increased my motivation to read it. What I found was largely what I expected: a vulnerable, honest, and at times euphoric memoir of the author's experiences exploring eir gender and finding the nonbinary identity that fits em. Kobabe's voice is approachable and friendly, eir art solid and clean and a pleasure to look at. The section about em grappling with whether or not to come out to eir students felt powerful, and a good example of why books like this should exist. Because there might be a nonbinary kid who's scared, confused, and silent, thinking that they're broken, without any words for what they feel, and all it would take for them to start feeling more comfortable might be to see an adult they an relate to, thriving. Same for any trans kid, any queer kid.

Honestly, I don't know that reading Gender Queer has equipped me to more effectively counter assertions that it and other queer lit is pornographic or grooms children, because those assertions are not made from a place of understanding the text, or even caring about the text. Those assertions are a game of telephone started by groups seeking to gain political power and continued by the gullible, small-minded, and scared. Arguing with them seems like a time-wasting trap. But I did enjoy Gender Queer a lot, which feels like a win.

Rating 5 stars to balance out some of the bad faith 1-stars on here. For full disclosure, I do think that the structure gets a bit too loose toward the end, and I wish that there had been some contextualization of the concept of autoandrophilia (and its counterpart, autogynephilia) and how some people use the idea of trans people being fetishists to assert that they should not transition or have access to gender-affirming care.