Member Review
Review by
Tiphaine M, Reviewer
This is honestly a book I would have loved as a teenager, because there are so many things I discovered only later in my 20s, specially about myself (never heard of asexuality and aromantism before), that would have clicked or at least got me intrigued with a book like this one, and would have made me feel "normal" back then.
It's general but gives a lot of diverse topics to talk about, and it's done very well and very accepting. I perhaps would have wished a few more infos and sentences that weren't there? In the coming out section, I would have loved to have something along the line "you don't own a coming out to nobody except yourself", because it talks about coming out and why people don't come out, but doesn't talk about the fact that you don't have to come out (to anyone) if you don't want to, you don't own them this part of yourself, and even if it's implied it would have been nice to express it better to make teenagers understand that no, once they figured out who they are, the next step isn't to come out, you don't have to.
Also as an aroace, I would have liked subtility in the whole "feelings" section: it talks so much about how you feel towards someone in a romantic and sexual way, but it doesn't really much says that it's alright to /not/ feel these things. Aromantism and Asexuality is only talked in short description, but it'd have been nice to be added as a "yes, you can feel romantically attracted to someone but not sexually" or even harder to accept for someone "it's okay to feel sexual attraction towards someone even if you don't feel romantically attracted to them". I know this book is general and it does says that you can always check online if a word seems to click to you, but it would be waaay more validiting to have only these shorts statements added to this book, specially when aromantism and asexuality is still hardly accepted even in the LGBTQIAP+ community!
But overall yes, it's a very interesting starter book and I actually really like the idea of reading this book outside to attract queer fellows who might feel better talking to you if they see you reading such a book haha
It's general but gives a lot of diverse topics to talk about, and it's done very well and very accepting. I perhaps would have wished a few more infos and sentences that weren't there? In the coming out section, I would have loved to have something along the line "you don't own a coming out to nobody except yourself", because it talks about coming out and why people don't come out, but doesn't talk about the fact that you don't have to come out (to anyone) if you don't want to, you don't own them this part of yourself, and even if it's implied it would have been nice to express it better to make teenagers understand that no, once they figured out who they are, the next step isn't to come out, you don't have to.
Also as an aroace, I would have liked subtility in the whole "feelings" section: it talks so much about how you feel towards someone in a romantic and sexual way, but it doesn't really much says that it's alright to /not/ feel these things. Aromantism and Asexuality is only talked in short description, but it'd have been nice to be added as a "yes, you can feel romantically attracted to someone but not sexually" or even harder to accept for someone "it's okay to feel sexual attraction towards someone even if you don't feel romantically attracted to them". I know this book is general and it does says that you can always check online if a word seems to click to you, but it would be waaay more validiting to have only these shorts statements added to this book, specially when aromantism and asexuality is still hardly accepted even in the LGBTQIAP+ community!
But overall yes, it's a very interesting starter book and I actually really like the idea of reading this book outside to attract queer fellows who might feel better talking to you if they see you reading such a book haha
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