This Book Is Gay

by Juno Dawson, David Levithan (Introduction)

Overview

The bestselling young adult non-fiction book on sexuality and gender!

Lesbian. Gay. Bisexual. Transgender. Queer. Straight. Curious. This book is for everyone, regardless of gender or sexual preference. This book is for anyone who's ever dared to wonder. This book is for YOU.

There's a long-running joke that, after "coming out," a lesbian, gay guy, bisexual, or trans person should receive a membership card and instruction manual. THIS IS THAT INSTRUCTION MANUAL. You're welcome.

Inside you'll find the answers to all the questions you ever wanted to ask, with topics like:

• Stereotypes — the facts and fiction
• Coming out as LGBT
• Where to meet people like you
• The ins and outs of gay sex
• Stereotypes — the facts and fiction
• How to flirt
• And so much more!

This candid, funny, and uncensored exploration of sexuality and what it's like to grow up LGBTQ also includes real stories from people across the gender and sexual spectrums, not to mention hilarious illustrations.

You will be entertained. You will be informed. But most importantly, you will know that however you identify (or don't) and whomever you love, you are exceptional. You matter. And so does this book.

This book is for:

• Anyone with questions
• Parents of gay kids and other LGBT youth
• Educators looking for advice about the LGBTQIA+ community

Praise for This Book is Gay:

A Guardian Best Book of the Year

2018 Garden State Teen Book Award Winner

"The book every LGBT person would have killed for as a teenager, told in the voice of a wise best friend. Frank, warm, funny, USEFUL." —Patrick Ness, New York Times bestselling author

"This egregious gap has now been filled to a fare-thee-well by Dawson's book."—Booklist *STARRED REVIEW*

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781492617839
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	06/02/2015
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	1070L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Juno Dawson is the international bestselling author of fiction and nonfiction for young adults. She is a columnist for Attitude magazine and a key LGBTQ+ activist with the charity Stonewall. A former teacher specializing in behavior studies, Juno now writes full time and lives in Brighton, England.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS
•Introduction
•Welcome to the members club
•The name game
•You can't mistake our biology
•Stereotypes are poo
•The fear
•Haterz gon' hate
•Coming out
•Where to meet people like you
•The ins and outs of gay sex
•Nesting
•Hats
•A guide to recognizing your gay saints
•Build a bridge
•The cheat sheet
•Acknowledgments
•About the author

Editorial Reviews

06/22/2015
First published in the U.K., this irreverent, informative handbook offers a wide-ranging overview of gender identity, sexual orientation, coming out, dating, and more. Adopting a humorous tone that should help set anxious readers at ease, Dawson dismantles stereotypes, such as “Gay women hate men” (“I imagine they’d hate men who said that to them, yes”); defines a range of terms from “camp” to “cubs”; and offers (very) frank information about sex (“A bit of spit, Brokeback Mountain–style, is NOT a substitute for a proper water-based lubricant”). Gerrell’s playful b&w cartoons help maintain an encouraging atmosphere, even when Dawson turns to homophobia/transphobia, anti-gay legislation, and STDs. Readers will find guidance to navigating their sexual identities and more general advice about self-esteem, forming respectful relationships, and seeking personal fulfillment. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jo Williamson, Antony Harwood Ltd. Literary Agents. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"An exuberant guide to LGBT life takes the stance that "being L or G or B or T or * is SUPER FUN." Speaking with candor, humor, and enthusiasm, Dawson addresses topics from coming out to sexually transmitted infections to sex apps. With irreverent chapter titles like "Stereotypes Are Poo" and a chatty narrative voice, the tone is largely upbeat, though the author also touches on "some MEGA-SADFACE topics" like discrimination. Easily readable tables and humorous cartoons further liven up the presentation. " — Kirkus Reviews

"[Witty] and wise and so packed with information it’s hard to imagine a reader who won’t learn something new...Illustrated with clever cartoon art, the book is generally upbeat while honestly acknowledging downsides of being LGBTQ, such as homophobia and bullying.....Highly recommended. " — Booklist (STARRED Review)

From the Publisher

06/01/2015
Gr 10 Up—This witty, no-holds-barred look at the LGBTQ experience provides information that parents or school friends often can't or won't give. The book covers dating, religious perceptions of LGBTQ people, bullying, coming out, and more. Employing occasionally snarky, informal language, Dawson provides very direct, frank guidance (among the subheadings are "Doing the Sex" and "Why Are Gay Men So Slutty?"), including sexual advice (complete with labeled anatomical cartoons). However, these are all topics about which teens are curious. Though the book has an intended audience, a variety of readers will appreciate it. VERDICT An insightful option for those with questions about what it's like to be LGBTQ.—April Sanders, Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL

School Library Journal

2015-04-01
An exuberant guide to LGBT life takes the stance that "being L or G or B or T or
• is SUPER FUN." Speaking with candor, humor, and enthusiasm, Dawson addresses topics from coming out to sexually transmitted infections to sex apps. With irreverent chapter titles like "Stereotypes Are Poo" and a chatty narrative voice, the tone is largely upbeat, though the author also touches on "some MEGA-SAD FACE topics" like discrimination. Easily readable tables and humorous cartoons further liven up the presentation. To add more perspectives, segments from interviewees who represent areas of the LGBT spectrum not represented by the author himself are also included. Chapters on sex and apps like Grindr are helpfully matter-of-fact, and readers hear from people who choose casual sex as well as those who prefer emotionally intimate relationships. The book is a U.K. import, and while U.S.-based readers shouldn't have much trouble understanding Briticisms like "fancy" or "shag," some of the anti-discrimination laws referenced won't apply. More troubling, the book's efforts to support transgender readers are undermined by persistent, thoughtless affirmations that biology really is destiny—for instance, when the author debunks the myth that "gay men are ‘girls' " with a jokey "Penis? Check! Yup, gay men are, in fact, male." Important for its frank sex talk but far less inclusive than it aims to be. (glossary, resources) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews