2014 Lambda Literary Award Finalist: LGBT Nonfiction
“You Can Tell Just By Looking” and 20 Other Myths about LGBT Life and People
Co-Authored with Michael Bronski and Michael Amico
October 1, 2013
Breaks down the most commonly held misconceptions about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their lives
In “You Can Tell Just by Looking” three scholars and activists come together to unpack enduring, popular, and deeply held myths about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, culture, and life in America. Myths, such as “All Religions Condemn Homosexuality” and “Transgender People Are Mentally Ill,” have been used to justify discrimination and oppression of LGBT people. Others, such as “Homosexuals Are Born That Way,” have been embraced by LGBT communities and their allies. In discussing and dispelling these myths—including gay-positive ones—the authors challenge readers to question their own beliefs and to grapple with the complexities of what it means to be queer in the broadest social, political, and cultural sense.
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Praise
Dispelling common myths, stereotypes, and false assumptions is just part of the ambitious goals set by established gender-studies experts [Michael] Bronski, Ann Pellegrini, and Michael Amico. Exposing the claims and myths LGBT people accept is another key aspect of their other mission. Beginning with the observation that LGBT as a single, clearly defined cultural entity is itself a myth, the authors classify myths and the social compromises they enforce by upholding existing norms, erasing complex differences, encouraging secrecy, and inhibiting logical discussion. This impressive undertaking covers the struggles associated with coming out, sexual abuse, gay identity, and homophobia, subtle and aggressive. This groundbreaking book is rich in smart, stirring, and forthright examinations of myths, negative and positive, and in clarifying examples, and holds to scholarly standards while compellingly and revealingly addressing the curiosity and concerns of mainstream readers.
Whitney Scott, Booklist
This powerful book demands that we look more closely at the ways we move in and structure our society, and asks vital questions that will steer the culture toward justice and equality.
Publishers Weekly, starred review
One of the most complete sourcebooks about science, sociology and LGBT life out there.
PopMatters