DEAR CIS(GENDER) PEOPLE: A Guide to Trans Allyship and Empathy, when you wonder "what do They want" best ask Them

DEAR CIS(GENDER) PEOPLE: A Guide to Trans Allyship and Empathy
KENNY ETHAN JONES
DK Books
$24.99 hardcover, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: A powerful call to arms to empower cisgender people to be better allies, blending memoir, detailed research, and interviews.

The trans experience is all too often the subject of fierce debate in the media and online. While we’re having more and more conversations about the trans experience, the stark reality is that hate crimes against the trans community have quadrupled over the past five years and that two in five trans young people have attempted suicide.

But behind the shock headlines and the distressing statistics, what does it really mean to be trans?

In this powerful, extensively researched, and deeply personal book, Kenny Ethan Jones, a trans activist and writer, offers an authentic and in-depth insight into the trans experience. From gender dysphoria to surgery, from being outed to finding love and considering parenthood, Kenny Ethan Jones draws on his own life and the stories of others from the trans and nonbinary communities to create discussion around the complexities and reality of the trans experiences in today’s society.

Dear Cis(Gender) People is a powerful call to arms, equipping people of every gender with the tools to step forward as allies in order to bring about meaningful change. Through acting and speaking out, we can create a safer, fairer world for trans people—a world in which all of us can exist as our most authentic selves and celebrate who we are without fear.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: I can not say this loudly, often, or long enough: PAY.

ATTENTION.

TO.

WHAT.

THEY SAY THEY WILL DO.

You can start here, with this book made up of trans peoples' words. It's addressed at all cis people, a group I am very much part of. I needed to hear these trans voices. These voices are not heard in any systemic way even in the QUILTBAG community. Trans people can and should speak up...and all too often, risk the direst imaginable consequences for doing so. I think the best way to learn is to ask, and if the silence imposed on trans people in F2F reality is blocking that avenue, then we can read! This book marries asking with reading because Author Kenny Ethan Jones has spoken to his fellow trans folk and used their own words to address us cis people, regardless of our sexual identities, about the nature of being trans.

The ball is in our court, cis folk. We possess the information, now we need to listen to what trans people want us to know. There is no more fig-leaf for our ignorance. Now it is a choice to remain ignorant. I think almost everyone who reads this blog, being readers themselves, will take this chance to lift the veil of unknowing and see what the most Othered people in the QUILTBAG rainbow of identities want to get in the way of support and acceptance.

I hope this compact, unchallenging read will make its way into your reading this #PrideMonth. There are so many ways to offer the gift of acknowledgment. The price is, honestly, negligble to the giver; the gift is precious to the receiver, as the stories told here will show you. Please do the whole angry, shouting world this favor:

Sit and listen to what your Othered siblings would appreciate you offering to them.

GAY SCIENCE: The Totally Scientific Examination of LGBTQ+ Culture, Myths, and Stereotypes, fun froth for the train to Babylon

GAY SCIENCE: The Totally Scientific Examination of LGBTQ+ Culture, Myths, and Stereotypes
ROB ANDERSON
DK Books
$25.00 hardcover, available now

KINDLE SALE! $2.99! (NON-AFFILIATE Amazon link)

Rating: 3.75* of five

The Publisher Says: New York Times Bestseller

Comedian Rob Anderson examines queer stereotypes and LGBTQ+ culture with humorous explanations borrowed from real principles across multiple fields of science.

Class is in session, babe! Discover the inner workings of the LGBTQ+ community with this humorous and informative book. Author and comedian Rob Anderson borrows the familiar science textbook format to skewer ridiculous queer stereotypes with his own version of science.

Using the principles of natural, social, and formal sciences, Rob answers extremely serious questions Why can’t gays sit in a chair properly? Why don’t lesbians have electricity in their movies? Are colleges turning people bisexual? How does gaydar work? Will bottoms survive the apocalypse?

You’ll read about the three subtypes of the gay uncle species, examine the Periodic Table of LGBTQ+ Elements, understand gay crime and punishment, and get educated on the types of bacteria and viruses that exclusively affect the LGBTQs, like the state of Florida.

Inspired by his viral “Gay Science” series, Rob recreates some of his most popular episodes in a literary format, and also tackles completely fresh subjects, presenting them with super empirical and totally evidence-based homosexual data.

Gay Science

Coverage of 60 topics across 29 fields of science including biology, chemistry, physics, genetics, botany, nutrition, astronomy, anthropology, oceanography, sociology, criminology, engineering, computer science, and more!Informative sidebars including Get PrePared, The Tea, Serving Conclusions, The Gloss, Yas or Naur, Fagtoids, and A Lesbian Explains.Diagrams, charts, illustrations, and maps to explain the gayest concepts.

Rob Anderson is course-correcting decades of educational shortcomings by explaining the scientific reasonings behind every aspect of LGBTQ+ life. If you’re looking for a fun book that will probably be banned (if it isn’t already), add Gay Science to your personal lesson plan.

I RECEIVED THIS BOOK AS PART OF A PROMOTION. THANK YOU.

My Review: Do you remember the science textbooks from seventh grade? You will soon...you will forcefully recall the graphic design, the placement of information, the snippets and bullet points and images you sometimes wondered where they came from. It's deja vu only not scary...you're still sitting there book/device in hand, not out-of-body wondering how to escape the nightmare.

Comedy = misery plus time was never more well-aimed. The way we learn how to be queer is often bound up with laughter. Joking, clowning, being the butt of the joke, being laughed at...it's all laughter and all fuel for the deep wells of humor in gay culture. And notice I'm using "gay" not the more inclusive words. If this gigglemaker of a book has a flaw it's that it us very much for, by, and about the gay male. Being one of those I don't find that troubling. I find it more indicative of marketing segmentation than a product of innate malice or even unexamined bias. Go watch his YouTube channel; decide if you think the man's being insensitive or telling his own truth, not trying to generalize his experience into spurious universality.

Of course, as humor, it will inevitably fail to "hit" with some; I am not among them. I got good laughs and lots of snorts and a few eye-streaming fits. My Rob was a little scared by my call during one of those! He thought I was having another, weirder, stroke. He was far more muted in his responses to Mr. Anderson, possibly because I introduced him as "the hot comedian"—might've been a tad prejudicial.

The stereotypes and archetypes Anderson takes on are real, so there will be some butthurt among the people. Laugh at yourself, get over the idea that respect = praise, and most of all take in the scene...get some perspective on how you actually look from the outside. It very much helps everyone when we all do that.

So let me urge the gay guys to listen to this call from inside the house. Let me urge the eww-ick homophobes to splash out for a sale Kindlebook. Let's look at the reality of gay identity in its weird and wonderful strangeness, its wildly obsessive focuses, its deeply human flawed glorious fun-seeking.

And laugh. Together.