The Queeriodic Table
Harriet Dyer
Review ★★★☆☆
This book is a light and swift read for just about any reader, and serves as a bit of a crash course in Queer terminology, history, and culture. This would perhaps be suitable as a first foray into the Queer literature, but by no means should it be the last.
That being said, this book comes across as a bit superficial, even for something intended to be a shallow dive. Although the book presents information in digestible chunks, it fails to capture detail and nuance in each entry of this book.
Perhaps most damning, despite this book presenting itself as an informational resource, it features no listed sources of its own.
Notable Quotes
Quotes in italics appear in the book, but are attributed to someone other than the author.
"... we've chosen to call ourselves queer. Using 'queer' is way of reminding us how we are perceived by the rest of the world. It's a way of telling ourselves we don't care to be witty and charming people who keep our lives discreet and marginalized in the straight world." —Queer Nation literature (7)
"Queer theory particularly scrutinised* gender roles and how society's enforcement of binary gender roles limited the lives of gay, straight, intersex, trans and cis men and women— so... everyone." (7)
"I declare that later on, even in an age unlike our own, someone will remember who we are." —Sappho (39)
"To deny one's own experiences is to put a lie into the lips of one's own life. It is no less than a denial of the soul." —Oscar Wilde (41)
"Under this mask, another mask. I will never be finished removing all the faces." —Claude Cahun (43)
"I became a prototype of the effeminate man, because I was conspicuously effeminate. But camp is not something I do, it is something I am." —Quentin Crisp (45)
"You have to join every other movement for the freedom of people." —Bayard Rustin (46)
"We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done." —Alan Turing (47)
"Hope will never be silent." —Harvey Milk (51)
"I have come to believe that caring for myself is not self-indulgent. Caring for myself is an act of survival." —Audre Lorde (53)
"As long as we are living in a culture where one has to prove their womanhood or manhood, we are not living in a free culture." —Laverne Cox (77)
"Queer culture is not one defined thing but a great, shifting mass of astounding creation, as varied as humanity itself. It can be experienced in our clubs and on our streets but also on our bookshelves and through our speakers." (120)
*Note: This book was originally published in the United Kingdom, as such, the author uses spellings consistent with those used in the United Kingdom.