ParentsPick

Growing Up Queer Kids and the Remaking of LGBTQ Identity — Content Guide for Parents

By Mary Anna RobertsonNew York University Press2018ISBN 9781479807512199 pages
Growing Up Queer Kids and the Remaking of LGBTQ Identity

Themes present

Racial/cultural content
Gender roles
LGBTQ+ themes

Not found

ViolenceScary contentReligious themesProfanityClimate changeSexual identity

Content themes

Factual summary of themes present in this book. No opinion — just the facts.

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Religious themes

PRESENT

Contains references to prayer and church attendance. A minister character plays a supporting role in two chapters.

About this book

LGBTQ kids reveal what it's like to be young and queer today Growing Up Queer explores the changing ways that young people are now becoming LGBT-identified in the US. Through interviews and three years of ethnographic research at an LGBTQ youth drop-in center, Mary Robertson focuses on the voices and stories of youths themselves in order to show how young people understand their sexual and gender identities, their interest in queer media, and the role that family plays in their lives. The young people who participated in this research are among the first generation to embrace queer identities as children and adolescents. This groundbreaking and timely consideration of queer identity demonstrates how sexual and gender identities are formed through complicated, ambivalent processes as opposed to being natural characteristics that one is born with. In addition to showing how youth understand their identities, Growing Up Queer describes how young people navigate queerness within a culture where being gay is the "new normal." Using Sara Ahmed's concept of queer orientation, Robertson argues that being queer is not just about one's sexual and/or gender identity, but is understood through intersecting identities including race, class, ability, and more. By showing how society accepts some kinds of LGBTQ-identified people while rejecting others, Growing Up Queer provides evidence of queerness as a site of social inequality. The book moves beyond an oversimplified examination of teenage sexuality and shows, through the voices of young people themselves, the exciting yet complicated terrain of queer adolescence.

Frequently asked questions

  • Is Growing Up Queer Kids and the Remaking of LGBTQ Identity appropriate for a 7-year-old?

    No violence detected in the search results related to the book's narrative. No scary content detected in the search results related to the book's narrative.

  • Does Growing Up Queer Kids and the Remaking of LGBTQ Identity have violence?

    No violence detected in the search results related to the book's narrative.

  • Does Growing Up Queer Kids and the Remaking of LGBTQ Identity have scary content?

    No scary content detected in the search results related to the book's narrative.

  • Does Growing Up Queer Kids and the Remaking of LGBTQ Identity have religious themes?

    No religious content detected in the search results related to the book's narrative.

  • Does Growing Up Queer Kids and the Remaking of LGBTQ Identity have racial/cultural content?

    The book discusses how a young person's choice of identity label is influenced by their race, class, and geographic location, indicating that race is a significant factor in understanding queer identity.

  • Does Growing Up Queer Kids and the Remaking of LGBTQ Identity have profanity?

    No profanity detected in the search results related to the book's narrative.

  • Does Growing Up Queer Kids and the Remaking of LGBTQ Identity have climate change?

    No climate themes detected in the search results related to the book's narrative.

  • Does Growing Up Queer Kids and the Remaking of LGBTQ Identity have sexual identity?

    No sexual content detected in the search results related to the book's narrative.

  • Does Growing Up Queer Kids and the Remaking of LGBTQ Identity have gender roles?

    The book critiques traditional gender roles and discusses how peers and parents often conflate gender-nonconforming behavior with queer sexuality, suggesting a modern feminist framing of gender identity.

  • Does Growing Up Queer Kids and the Remaking of LGBTQ Identity have lgbtq+ themes?

    The book 'Growing Up Queer' focuses on how youth understand their sexual and gender identities, emphasizing the navigation of queerness in a culture where being gay is increasingly accepted. It discusses the intersection of queer identity with race, class, and other social factors, portraying queerness as a site of social inequality.

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