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shane_the_reading_rat 's review for:

Queer as Folklore: The Hidden Queer History of Myths and Monsters by Sacha Coward
4.25
i have three main things to say about this book:
  1. i think this should have stuck to more traditional folklore, rather than branching out into things such as superheroes. it kinda lost the plot there at the end by expanding away from traditional folklore and myth.
  2. it would have been nice to read more about AFAB trans and nonbinary people in myth/folklore. even in the examples people bring up of indigenous cultures to show trans people have always existed (of which there are many examples in this book), the focus is (nearly) always on AMAB people, and it feels like any focus on historical AFAB trans people is (usually) extremely eurocentric. disappointing to see that in a book that talks so much about trans history in folkore/myth, trans AFAB people are still by the wayside.
  3. while my opinion on references/discussion of harry potter/jkr is pretty much “with how much of a phenomenon it was, it’s hard to not ever reference or discuss it, but ideally there should at least be acknowledgement of how shitty jkr is”, this barely mentioned jkr’s politics and hatred of trans people (while discussing harry potter a lot). not my biggest issue with this book, but an issue.

despite how it seems, i did genuinely enjoy a lot of this book! the folklore was interesting, and i learned a lot i didn’t know before. especially liked the chapter on mermaids :)