Girls Can Kiss Now: Essays in Rolling with the lgbt

Jan 26, 2023 Reading on Wheels rated it it was ok

Shelves: feminist, reviews, nonfics, queer, jewish

1.75 / 5 stars

So, um. As you can see from my rating, this was not good very much not for me. The one thing that saved it for me is the writing was okay sometimes. It very much felt like kept-in-the-drafts tweets. But then she would throw in shit like "*in alien voice*". Unironically. In a book. And this isn't even the only example of unnecessary, millennial-desparately-trying-to-stay-relevant type of way. Like this is the shitty sort of writing that gives fanfics a bad rep.

My other ick from the 1.75 / 5 stars

So, um. As you can see from my rating, this was not good very much not for me. The one thing that saved it for me is the writing was okay sometimes. It very much felt like kept-in-the-drafts tweets. But then she would throw in shit like "*in alien voice*". Unironically. In a book. And this isn't even the only example of unnecessary, millennial-desparately-trying-to-stay-relevant type of way. Like this is the shitty sort of writing that gives fanfics a bad rep.

My other ick from the writing was the random and, again, unnecessary capitals (ex. "Kissing in College"). Like I get it. I do it, too. But really? Right now? In this economy??

And if you thought I was done criticizing the writing, you were wrong (last one, I swear). She uses a lot of disability-coded language to be...I don't know, quirky, or something? I guess this is less of a critique of this book and more a critique of nondisabled people in general : don't use language you don't fully understand nor have a right to. What bothered me most was interchangeably using obsessions and compulsion. Which, surprise, are different. I know this is about 2000s culture, or whatever, and saying 'omg i'm so ocd' was big back then, but like, c'mon, haven't we realized that's ableist and invalidating yet? Or at least, if we haven't realized this, maybe don't talk about thing you don't understand in your published-ass book.

Onto the shit I'm more annoyed at.

This is one dimensional as hell. So much so that it's pretty much a memoir, and between essays, she suddenly forgets she already wrote the same essay and gave us the same context. As a book marketed to the queer community at large, it's certainly exclusive in who it lets in. It's really only for white cis lesbians. Which, is fine I guess. But, like, isn't the point of community bringing together people with a commonality but are all still different? Oh, no? Damn, you learn something new everyday.

Blatant hypocrisy, homophobia has ended! I missed the memo, I guess. Actually, I think most of us missed the memo. But yes, homophobia ended the second 2010 started and girlie started realizing she was a lesbian.

To quote a key millennial phrase, "So...that just happened"

Genuinely, the worst thing in this book is the bi/pan erasure and inherent transphobia that came into play the second she called nonbinary and genderfluid queer people women. No. I fucking can't with cis queers being transphobic. You wanna be a part of the LGB T Q+ community, you're gonna use the right fucking pronouns. It's really not that hard.

This pissed me off, and as a queer very-not-cis person, it genuinely hurt my feelings. ...more

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Jan 27, 2023 Eva B. rated it did not like it

Shelves: queer-leads, adult, dnf, nonfiction

I actually really liked the essay about her experiences with the internet and getting visited by the FBI over a Game of Thrones joke (which made me go "hmm, I should probably make less Assassins jokes!") but my God I could not handle the writing style. I should have quit after she tried to explain how actually her endless speculation on Taylor Swift's sexuality is totally 100% different than Perez Hilton's speculations on and outings of queer celebrities but I held on for a little longer before ...more

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Nov 24, 2022 eline rated it really liked it

ahhh, i enjoyed this a lot! i cringed throughout the whole book hahaha but overall, I found myself stupidly laughing and smirking at some of the cultural references, it was great! lesbians rule!

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