42 pages • 1 hour read
Juno DawsonThis Book is Gay
Nonfiction | Book | YA | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “Stereotypes Are Poo”
Chapter 4 deals with stereotypes surrounding the LGBTQ+ community, subverting some and exploring nuggets of truth in others. Dawson hopes that over time, LGBTQ+ representation will become better, and stereotypes will lose their power. She begins the chapter by debunking a long list of stereotypes within a chart. Dawson lets her survey respondents speak for themselves on how stereotypes have affected them personally; all of the respondents cited have had negative experiences due to stereotyping.
Dawson differentiates between subcultures and stereotypes. Sometimes stereotypes contain truths about subcultures (Dawson’s example is that some gay men do like Beyoncé), but stereotypes always flatten and dehumanize the people at whom they are aimed. A subculture is a collection of behaviors, beliefs, presentations, etc. with which a group of people identifies. Dawson presents several LGBTQ+ subcultures that are used to categorize gay men and lesbians. While stereotypes can be made up about bears (larger, hairier gay men) or butches (lesbians who cultivate more masculine appearances), these are subcultures in the LGBTQ+ community that people actively identify with.
Dawson explains the term “camp” and why it is usually a negative stereotype attached to gay men. Camp is used to describe anything excessive, flamboyant, and (usually) feminine. Dawson believes the term’s implied femininity is why it’s used as an insult, which is a form of misogyny.
Dawson tackles steroid usage among gay men and subculture infighting within lesbian circles. She believes excessive steroid usage in gay subcultures is due to a fear of femininity (misogyny) and internalized anti-gay biases. She addresses how stereotypes about lesbians have led to harm, such as the practice of corrective rape; some men believe that raping lesbians will “fix” them and make them heterosexual. Dawson concludes by stating that every community has norms they adhere to. The norms of the LGBTQ+ community are not any different or special in that regard.
Chapter 5 Summary: “The Fear”
Chapter 5 deals with the fear of openly identifying as LGBTQ+. Dawson explains that nobody is born with anti-LGBTQ+ biases, yet some people have a hard time owning their identity for internal or external reasons. Dawson attributes all these reasons to “homophobia” and “transphobia,” which she defines as “an irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against” LGBTQ+ people (68). Dawson explains that there are two kinds of anti-LGBTQ+ biases: explicit and institutional. Explicit biases happen on a person-to-person basis, such as using slurs or using “gay” as an insult.
Institutional bias is the set of circumstances across a society that reinforce dominant cultural narratives. Institutional bias is maintained in many ways. For example, in terms of education, LGBTQ+ information is excluded from sex ed classes. There is a lack of representation in media, and couples in advertisements and entertainment are almost always straight. LGBTQ+ people also experience institutional bias in healthcare, like when trans men are not offered gender-affirming gynecological care. These institutional biases create the idea that being cisgender and heterosexual is normal, while everything else is abnormal.
Dawson explains that modern anti-LGBTQ+ biases were affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic that began in 1981. It was assumed that only LGBTQ+ people could get HIV/AIDS, and this untrue assumption stigmatized LGBTQ+ identity.
Dawson confronts bullying in the last half of the chapter. A survey respondent named Douglas tells a story about being bullied out of school for being gay. Irene, a trans woman, was bullied into leaving her job for being transgender. Dawson suggests that when dealing with school or workplace bullies, one should rely on the authorities and report anti-LGBTQ+ behavior.
Chapter 6 Summary: “Haterz Gon’ Hate”
Chapter 6 is an extension of the topics of Chapter 5. Dawson looks at how anti-LGBTQ+ individuals come to their discriminatory beliefs and how to counter their arguments. Dawson takes a global approach to anti-LGBTQ+ politics and lists countries that, as of 2015, have anti-LGBTQ+ laws in their legal systems. She advises readers to not travel to these places and lists charities that help advance LGBTQ+ rights across the globe.
Dawson addresses the religious basis for some people’s anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. Dawson explains that religions are not innately anti-LGBTQ+, but some people use religion to validate their anti-LGBTQ+ stances. Dawson covers what she calls the “main religions,” their stances on LGBTQ+ people, and how to counteract a practitioner’s anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. These religions are Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Dawson explains that for Christians, it’s an issue of translation: Direct references to LGBTQ+ people and sins were added in much later translations.
She concludes the chapter by noting that anybody determined to express anti-LGBTQ+ hate will find a way to do so, and arguing is not always productive. She assures readers that no matter how one identifies, any of the religions she has covered are open to them.
Chapters 4-6 Analysis
Chapters 4 through 6 confront many of the negative stigmas and myths around LGBTQ+ identity. Dawson chooses to address anti-LGBTQ+ biases before exploring LGBTQ+ identities further because she is deconstructing preexisting biases readers might have encountered before introducing new, positive information. Because anti-LGBTQ+ biases are so prominent, readers might be resistant to learning about LGBTQ+ community spaces or the processes of coming out; they might have been the target of such biases, or they may have internalized anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. Uprooting anti-LGBTQ+ biases is necessary before a person can consider coming out or learning about coming out.
Dawson employs pathos to uproot culturally-inspired shame in this section, paying particular attention to the ways institutional bias harms LGBTQ+ people. However, in drawing from personal experience and expertise, Dawson’s identity as a white LGBTQ+ person limits the book’s examination of institutional bias. For example, This Book Is Gay does not address the intersection between race and LGBTQ+ identity. The term intersectionality was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a Black woman, to discuss how people can experience different types of intersecting oppression based on race, gender, and other factors. For example, an intersectional analysis of intimate partner violence—a problem for people of all genders and sexualities—shows that transgender people experience intimate partner violence at a higher rate than cisgender men or women. Acknowledging the differences in lived experiences allows for more accurate and inclusive solutions to issues. In primarily focusing on the white LGBTQ+ experience, Dawson’s book tends to overlook the different experiences of non-white LGBTQ+ people.
Intersectional analysis also acknowledges that biases exist between and within oppressed groups. This shows up in Dawson’s discussions of LGBTQ+ safety and policy in other countries. Dawson always uses countries and places inhabited by people of color (PoC) as examples of places that are dangerous for LGBTQ+ people. For example, she compares a “liberal, accepting family” in the United States to a “strict Muslim family in Yemen” to describe how one’s culture affects one’s ability to come out (42). There are spaces in the UK and the United States that are unsafe for LGBTQ+ people, including Christian conversion camps in the United States, but they are not used as examples. Likewise, in Chapter 6, Dawson lists many countries that have anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Nearly every country she lists is in Africa, the Middle East, or Asia. This ignores the anti-LGBTQ+ laws and policies that still exist in many places in Europe and North America. For example, the “gay panic defense,” which argues that killing someone over unwanted same-sex advances does not constitute murder, is admissible in US federal courts and most state courts. Additionally, Dawson lumps Hinduism and Buddhism together in her discussion of religion, two religions with completely different belief systems. She also provides reductive explanations about these religions, flattening their complex histories, cultural contexts, and current political situations.
Dawson’s target audience is English-speaking, yet her examples of places that are dangerous for LGBTQ+ people are generally places English speakers do not live in or travel to. With this, her examples are often not relevant to her target audience and reinforce biased ideas that countries inhabited primarily by people of color are somehow more dangerous. This is an example of institutional racism, similar to the institutional anti-LGBTQ+ biases Dawson does raise. This strategy also does a disservice to LGBTQ+ people by downplaying the anti-LGBTQ+ biases they might encounter traveling in the US or Europe.
