4.5 stars. Thank you to Net Galley and MIT Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This an informative and entertaining guide to gender and identity from a European perspective. The author starts at the beginning and provides an inclusive definition of terms and how to be respectful to others especially as this space is constantly changing and discovering. My ebook had issues and I was not able to read several pages yet the message was still clear for those sections. The author also includes illustrations that lighten the mood and represent the different ways people may express their gender. I learned alot and recommend it to others if you're interested in learning more about topic.

Thank you MIT Press and Netgalley for this ARC!

As someone who's trans nonbinary, I really loved this book. The explanations were simple, yet still nuanced and educational. There wasn't a time where the author put down the reader for not knowing something or for not understanding. This was a gentle guide for all. I will use what I learned from this to help explain and educate those who don't know in a kind and compassionate way.

Also the cat was SUPER CUTE.

The illustrations and descriptions depicted in this book make gender something that is easier to conceive of. It allows the reader to think critically about the various aspects of gender.

Rethinking Gender is a book which explores different questions regarding sex and gender. The explanations are clear and they sometimes come accompanied by illustrations and historical background. I think the book manages to reach the reader and make them feel comfortable exploring their identity.

*Thank you NetGalley for sending me an early digital copy of Rethinking Gender in exchange for an honest review

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to expand their knowledge about gender in our modern age. Rethinking Gender is a simple, illustrated book that gives easy to understand explanations about moving beyond the binary and learning how we all live on a spectrum. The illustrations make this book interesting and lively. This would be great for classrooms.

This is a really insightful exploration of gender- the many dynamics and misconceptions of gender due to societal norms. I really appreciate the workbook space throughout the book to encourage engaging with and reflecting on the content

This was a great intro to gender, providing excellent detail and personal stories, without reading too scholarly. I was expecting more or a graphic novel, but this contains fun illustrations and serves as a workbook of sorts for the reader!

Thank you NetGalley and MIT Press for giving me access to an eARC of this wonderful graphic novel, Rethinking Gender by Louie Läuger.

This is an excellent graphic novel/workbook full of knowledge about gender. I went in thinking I knew a lot already and came away realizing I still have so much to learn. And I was delighted to find this out because of the way Läuger writes about gender and how it’s okay not to know everything. The general vibe of the book is hey look at all these genders; isn’t it neat that there are so many ways to be a person? (Yes! It really is neat! And I loved getting to learn about it from this book!)

Läuger breaks everything down into easy to understand bites. There are also a lot of illustrations and specific examples to explain terms readers might not be super familiar with. I would recommend this book to anyone wishing to learn more about the wide spectrum of gender. Reading this book feels like a friend holding your hand and taking you through each new term and then giving you space to reflect.

Some cool text features include the wonderful illustrations, but also after each section, there’s a space for reflection so readers can doodle and write out their thoughts on what they’ve just learned.

This is an excellent tool for people who would like to broaden their understanding of gender.

5 out of 5 stars.

I LOVE THIS BOOK!

The format wasnt that easy to read on my kindle app but i understood what was going on. I have a nonbinary child so i really appreciate this book..

Thank you for this book- I am using it as a reference in raising my child!

Louie Läuger's illustrated book on gender is a fantastic entry into gender questions. The book starts with the assumption that the reader is unfamiliar with gender theory. It does a great job at walking the reader through different concepts, terminology, and ongoing debates without loss of complexity. The illustrations are beautiful and feature diverse characters, including the author themselves. Personal statements and explanations from different people add specificity to the broader themes, helping the reader understand gender in real-life terms.
This book is on my list of resources to give to people when they want to learn more about gender but are not ready to read academic material.

A very detailed introducti0n to ideas of sex, intersex, gender identity, and gender expression. I feel like I learned some new things from this book, although it did feel a little textbooky at times. The perspectives from people the author included were perhaps the most interesting parts.

Rethinking Gender is a great graphic guide to challenge our perceptions of gender and explain not just trans identities but also to get the reader to reflect on how gender roles have been created and forced upon us. There are many great quotes from people all across the gender spectrum and I love that the author gave people space to talk about their identities rather than stepping over them. It's a great collection for teenagers and young adults, whether they're questioning their identity or not. It's easy to read and well organized. There were a few typos that I hope will be fixed at the time of publishing, but it didn't impact the reading experience very much. Overall, I highly recommend.

An in-depth graphic novel about how we see and can learn to re-think gender in today's society.
The art is charming and a great aid to the text and Lauger is very informative with the information presented. I think this will be great in libraries and classrooms for high school ages and above, though with guided reading can be used for middle grade as a great teaching aide for health and sex ed!

At times it can be a bit overly "text" heavy for a graphic novel as well as a bit US centric but nonetheless it is incredibly well written and well researched.

I wish there was more about fat bodies (specifically the hardships that plus sized people deal with in the trans community as well as how skinny has historically always been the default for androgyny) and I also wanted to see more info on other cultures takes on gender roles and identity.

Last year I read Mae Martin’s Can Everyone Please Calm Down? which was my favourite non-fiction read of 2021. It was a great introduction to rethinking gender beyond the binary and so much new language in sexualities.

Enter Rethinking Gender in 2022 which pushes the conversation on gender and sexuality even further. I’m even more confused and enlightended at the same time. What I love about this book is that where Martin’s book discusses the topic through their lens, Lauger has researched and interviewed the a variety of people representing the spectrum of genders and sexualities and shares their voices wtih us.

Lauger starts at the beginning to consider how did we end up with only 2 genders when we just as easily could have had 4 or 20 gender types? Someone (either a doctor / academic / scientist type person) made up the gender binary and we just ran with it and this book questions, what if we opened our thought to rethink what it could possibly be? The illustrations and plain language make this an accessible and easy read for anyone interested in learning more about this topic. Many people have shared their lived experiences for this book and while I still don't understand all of it, it's definitely a good start for the conversation.


Pub Date: 11 November 2022

Thank you NetGalley and MIT Press for letting me read this insightful ARC

I loved this book. I'm generally not one for non-fiction, but Lauger has taken a really important discussion and made it both approachable and incredibly interesting.

Rethinking Gender is a primer/exploration of gender with an absolutely charming art style and illustrations throughout. Peppered with some history, numerous quotes and experiences from the entire gender spectrum, Lauger herself acts as our trusty narrator throughout the book. (Along with her absolutely charming cat, Cat, who I am now in love with).

The book also acts a bit of a notebook for the reader's own thoughts and experiences, with each section ending with a prompt and place to keep notes.

I think this book is a really helpful toolkit/exploration of gender and is a really important read for anyone and everyone (whether questioning gender or just wanting to be a human who better understands other humans). The only criticism I have is that some genders are really quickly introduced and left me with further questions, but this is more of a primer, so that can't really be avoided.

I enjoyed "Rethinking Gender". It was very well written and it was also made in an interesting way, though I fear that there's to many questions and not a lot of simple answers in this book. I identify as bisexual and queer and I feel that I'm quite informed about the LGBTQIA+ community, but even I was confused at a few points in this book.

However, the book does do a great job with describing different gender identities and other things that come with it, which is really good. Though I can see how it might be a bit difficult to understand what gender is through this book.

Regardless, it was a good book and well written, so if anyone is questioning their gender or wants to learn more about it, I would definitely recommend this.

It is almost impossible to read because of the formatting errors in the eBook. I found some items I wasn’t thrilled with. For example, the “Black” characters and saying they were from the “ghetto”, just rubbed me the wrong way. While the author admits to some cultural ignorance, I just don’t think this counts as that. As I understand it, this is the author's master thesis, and it should be just that. Not a book for people to consume because not only the stuff I already stated, but there are many ideas that aren’t properly thought through or just plain wrong.

<i>Thank you to Louie Läuger and MITPress for the digital ARC of Redefining Gender through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.<i>

#RedefiningGender #LouieLäuger #MITPress #NetGalley #ARC #eARC

Rethinking Gender is an illustrated non-fiction book about gender as a whole, so like gender identity, gender expression, etc.

I enjoyed this book. It had some interesting points in it. I quite liked the illustrations. I liked the different parts and how the author invited us to write in the book. However, I felt like it sometimes was a bit too much information at once, and it kind of lost me.
Still, this was a very good and pretty informative book. I liked that we had people of many gender identities speaking for themselves. I would definitely recommend this to someone interested in the subject.

I read this book from the perspective of a white, cisgender, straight woman. I was interested in reading this book because one of my teenage children is transgender/non-binary, and I was hoping to gain more insight about my child's experience so I can be a better ally.

This book was packed with information. It's not my first book to read about gender but I still felt like I was learning things I didn't know. At times it did feel a little overwhelming, but the author validates this feeling on more than one occasion. The many illustrations throughout the book help break up the content and make it feel more inviting and interactive. The book stresses the fact that gender is a very complicated topic.

The book talks about many of the social constructs that define gender in our society, especially in a very binary way. At times I felt like maybe I'm not a good enough ally, but then the book would feel validating, stressing that these kinds of changes are not easy to make and take time. I think one of the biggest lessons that I learned was that gender is very personal, and the only person who can define one's gender is themself.

Throughout the book, there were parts that challenged you to reflect on the topics, with space for your own notes provided. While I read the book in a digital format, I think it would be a great book to have in print.

There was a large part of the book that looked at various gender identities, providing quotes from real people who have those identities. Sometimes the opinions would conflict with each other, but I think it provided a very well-rounded outlook from a diversity of people (and could be really helpful for those who are still questioning their gender). Speaking of diversity, I loved that the illustrations depicted diverse people. It seemed like a book anyone could find a piece of themself in.

My overall impression is that this book is impowering and validating, both for cis-het people who want to learn more about gender, and LGBTQ people who are exploring their gender. A lot of great information is provided, and the end of the book includes lists of even more resources.

this was really good. very informative for if you dont know alot or are not a part of the community. i liked the interactive parts wehre people can write in themselves