Elmo Moorby

Gender Queer is a memoir written by Maia Kobabe, who uses E, Em, Eir pronouns. You can find more about Spivak (1991) pronouns here.

I borrowed Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe from my local library this week. I’d heard of this book before, but knew nothing of its content. I was delighted to discover it was a graphic novel drawn in a friendly, rounded style, and even happier to see it was a memoir, meaning it was based on someone’s lived experiences of queerness.

Though my experiences are also reflective of my autistic experience, I found myself relating to many of Kobabe’s reflections on gender and sexuality growing up.

“Everyone around me […] seemed to have access to information I lacked”^[p.30] regarding gender performance, that “It’s more about NOT being female than BEING male”^[p.152] in experiencing gender, and “I’ve spent my whole life not feeling male or female”^[p.201]. Though my life differs from Maia’s in many ways, I was elated to find e had lived eir life so silimar to mine and found happiness in being emself.

There were so many aspects to Kobabe’s life to which I could relate. Not understanding why shaving is considered necessary, having crippling anxiety around periods (which I take medication to prevent), feeling incredible discomfort when buying underwear and having noticeable breasts.

Gender Queer has been banned in 56 School Districts in the United States, and has been touted online as the ‘Most Banned Book in the Country*’ by the New York Times.

*Country: The United States of America.

This fact that such an eye-opening book of self expression has been so thoroughly rallied against deeply saddens me. Thousands of queer teens and young people are not allowed to access resources to help understand themselves, and potential allies lack access to educatuion to understand and support their queer friends. Banning books and the withholding literature from young people only helps contribute to the endangerment of society’s most vulnerable. It is why I, and thousands of others across the globe, take the time to read banned books such as Gender Queer.

If you are partaking in a Banned Books Challenge, or are looking for somewhere to start, I would highly recommend Maia Kobabe’s memoir, Gender Queer.