Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights in Queereaders

Jan 12, 2020 Thomas rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, biography-or-memoir, lgbtq

I so appreciated Kenji Yoshino’s heart in this book. Yoshino, a gay first generation Japanese American man and law professor, writes about the pressure for marginalized groups in the United States to cover – the pressure for gay people to act straight, for people of color to act white, for women to act like men, etc. He approaches this both from a legal perspective and from his own life, sharing his personal experiences with struggling to accept his sexuality and come out. There’s a level of con I so appreciated Kenji Yoshino’s heart in this book. Yoshino, a gay first generation Japanese American man and law professor, writes about the pressure for marginalized groups in the United States to cover – the pressure for gay people to act straight, for people of color to act white, for women to act like men, etc. He approaches this both from a legal perspective and from his own life, sharing his personal experiences with struggling to accept his sexuality and come out. There’s a level of conviction in his writing, backed up by his vulnerability in revealing his own journey, that shows how much he genuinely cares about supporting marginalized people and advocating for social justice.

Reading the first part of this book made me feel both grateful and angry as a fellow gay Asian American. I felt grateful because I feel like I grew up in quite a different era than Yoshino, even just a couple decades apart (I was born the year before he graduated from law school.) Growing up, I had access to a decent amount of queer narratives, iconic young-adult books like Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and What They Always Tell Us or The Mortal Instruments series, that centered or featured queer characters. These narratives, combined with a general movement toward accepting queer people among peers my age, made it so I actually did not struggle much at all to accept myself, which differed a lot from Yoshino’s journey. Reading his experience made me feel so grateful for all the artists, activists, and others who fought and are fighting for systemic, legal, and relational change for the queer community. I also felt angry because Yoshino writes about the literal torture and abuse (e.g., electroshock therapy, conversion therapy) as well as legal discrimination that queer people have experienced throughout time, which is just awful. I think there needs to be more integration of queer history into common curriculums so we can continue to remember our past and fight to prevent a similar past from occurring again.

I give this book four stars instead of five because some of his conclusions rubbed me the wrong away. I recognize that this book was published in 2006 so a lot has changed since then and Yoshino’s ideas may have changed as well. Mainly, I felt annoyed when he criticized identity politics as well as when he wrote that increased “rationality” is what will help us create a more equitable legal system. Instead of falling back on these rather centrist arguments, he could have further strengthened his suggested solutions by writing about how we can dismantle the broader and deeper systems (e.g., patriarchy, white supremacy) that create and maintain the need to cover in the first place. I would have loved if Yoshino, with his unique blend of immense legal knowledge and a strong command of language, wrote more about how law may stem from and may counteract the root sources of these systems of oppression.

I also feel like he could have used a more intersectional framework when writing this book, which again I recognize is a framework that has gained traction more so now than in 2006. He writes about gays being forced to be straight and women being forced to act like men for example, but what about the unique pressures for gay Asian Americans, or for women of color? I know from my lived experience that gay Asian Americans experience a lot of racism from within the gay community, and at least touching on that would have deepened the analysis in this book.

Overall a good read I would recommend to those interested in law and social justice and memoir. I do slightly wish I could read more about Yoshino’s journey to accept himself and find power in his identity. Grateful that he’s using his voice and his skills to advocate and create change. ...more

47 likes · Like · see review

Aug 12, 2008 Larry-bob Roberts rated it really liked it

Shelves: queer

Most people are familiar with conversion (see ex-gays) and being closeted; law professor Kenji Yoshino is working on examining a third, more subtle demand on non-conforming people: covering (a concept introduced by Erving Goffman in Stigma Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Even if someone is openly gay, they may still tone down their behavior. Yoshino also covers racial covering and sex-based covering, the latter of which is even more complex, since women may be called on both to cove ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 16, 2022 Brandon Will rated it it was amazing

Ahead of its time. So many arguments in here are widely accepted now (in queer spaces, NOT the straight world at large). Well worth reading to consider your own relationship to queerness (even if you yourself are not queer--are you a true ally, or a normativity enforcer?)

Like · see review