How Queer! Personal narratives from bisexual, pansexual, polysexual, sexually-fluid, and other non-monosexual perspectives.

by Faith Beauchemin

How Queer! collects fourteen short autobiographical essays--not written by sociologists or professional activists, but by ordinary bisexual, pansexual, and sexually-fluid people from diverse backgrounds, sharing their experiences and telling their own stories. These personal narratives explore themes of bisexual and pansexual visibility, activism, confrontations with homophobia, and non-monosexual experience in the LGBT community. Alongside these stories, Faith Beauchemin offers commentary in the form of an introduction and five reflective essays that place these writers' experiences in the context of broader movements for radical social change. She argues that the common trend toward bisexual erasure in LGBT activism functions only to serve the interest of patriarchy, sexism, and homophobia. In contrast, the stories collected in this book help to subvert oppressive hierarchies by highlighting the perspectives of people who refuse to fit neatly into categories like "gay" or "straight."

Genres: LGBT, Nonfiction, Queer, Bisexual, Memoir, Gender and Sexuality, Gender

130 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the three parts that you find in the book, the narratives are my favourites, by far. There is a lot of variety in these stories and I enjoyed reading about what other people experience. It was easy to get into the descriptions of different people, and funny enough, although I did not like all of the analysis and reflection part that Faith Beauchemin wrote, her narrative ‘The Invisible B’ is among the ones that spoke to me most.
I think she is right about a lot of what she says in the last part of her book, but the tone in it felt too much like the abstract of a thesis, with a few additional lines that seem to call for a kind of revolution (and echo Ryan Conrad). This is not bad at all, however I couldn’t enjoy it after reading the different narratives and would have preferred a different kind of concluding remark. 4 out of 5 points for the good narratives and giving non-monosexual individuals a voice.

[Dax · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was at first hard to read, each story built on negative experiences and invisibility in the Queer community and more. I find myself trying to be an optimist and point out where we are succeeding and trying to be pragmatic about how we can be better. I felt bad reading the first stories because all I could think was how all of them were a bunch of whiners (harsh because their stories are true and valid but it was their focus that was hard for me). I continued on because they are true stories, real people, and very important to see the struggle. Because of that I continued to read and see that the book was really a call to action. A way to pint out where we need enlightenment and how in many ways we are misguided in the way we go about change. I identify as sapiosexual and therefore pansexual and recognize that I have been very fortunate to have my immediate family always support and love me. While they may not understand many aspects of my identify they respect me and my life choices. We are not looking to make everyone understand but we are certainly looking for respect and safety!! I appreciate the pacing and size of this book. It's short and really calls to where we can work to make a difference.

[Erinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite part of the book were the personal stories, as it was easiest to connect with people on that level. The author makes some really good points in the analysis, but the writing was a bit dry for me, possibly because I've done a lot of reading on queer identities, and much of it felt like things I have already read, and I often found it hard to keep my attention on the book and found myself rereading passages.

[Tori · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked how part was the narratives and part the analysis.

[Scott Neigh]

Reviewed here.