An Introduction to the Diversity of the Genderqueer Community: "They/Them/Their" by Eris Young

§ I received a copy of this book via NetGalley to review but I was not financially compensated in any way. The opinions expressed are my own and are based on my observations while reading this novel. §

"They/Them/Their" by Eris Young is a non-fiction book that focuses on non-binary and genderqueer identities and covers the daily and bigger struggles they face. The key-area in focus are: history, wider society, mental health, medicine, and the law.

When discussing these topics, Young goes further than to only share the cold facts and stats. They also interpret and try to explain certain results of studies, so that everyone can understand them.

In addition to cold facts, Young looks at society from a genderqueer point of view and shares this insight. This is very often, some people struggle because one person can't represent a whole community. Instead of simply explaining that this is only their experience, Young sensed this problem and decided to go the extra mile:

They conducted a number of interviews with other genderqueer and non-binary people. Thus, various views are established without having to rely on stats alone. These are opinions and experiences from real people, and I really enjoyed getting an insight from various point of views.

"They/Them/Their" remains a book that mostly focuses on gender in the US and the UK - especially Scotland. This is something you are "warned" about at the beginning of the book, so you are aware that the book is not inclusive of all countries.

Nevertheless, Young still touches on semantics in different countries - especially linguistic differences, pointing out that a gender neutral language is not even possible is most Romance languages (Spanish, Italien, French, German, etc.). Those comparisons are not use to shed more light on those countries but rather to highlight the differences and challenges faces by NB/GQ people around the globe before returning into an UK/US-centric perspective.

Gender identity; noun: a person's internal sense of being male, female, some combination of male and female, or neither male nor female"

- Merriam-Webster

There is only one real critic I have: Young states that their goal is to bring these issues closer to a cis-identifying person who wants to learn more but starts below zero. I can't help but wonder, if this book doesn't appear too heavy for them, since it contains a L O T of information, it could get over-whelming.

Overall, "They/Them/Their" gives a great overview of the diversity of the genderqueer community, the different problems one may face, and it also breaks down stereotypes in always offering different perspectives within the group. Most of the time, it is written in a way that it is easy to read. It has a similar feeling to a well written tumblr post that contains facts: the writing is informal but the information given to you is crucial. I feel that "They/Them/Their" is a great book and there is no better time to read it than now.