42 pages • 1 hour read
Juno DawsonThis Book is Gay
Nonfiction | Book | YA | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 10-Back MatterChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary: “Nesting”
Chapter 10 focuses on navigating long-term partnerships in the LGBTQ+ community. Dawson opens the chapter with a comparison of monogamy and promiscuity, the act of having multiple casual sexual partners. Dawson uses a table to list the pros and cons of both kinds of relationship structures, giving an equal number of pros and cons for both. Some people have open relationships in which they have sexual partners outside of the relationship, which Dawson uses testimony from her survey to describe. Some survey respondents do not like the idea of open relationships because of the risks they pose, both to their relationship and their sexual health. Dawson concludes that open relationships are not for everybody but uses an anecdote from her survey to show that they can be fulfilling when done with open communication between partners.
After addressing relationship structures, Dawson turns to marriage and childrearing. Marriage equality, as of 2015, was gaining wider acceptance and legal recognition in the United States. Dawson urges her readers to lean on the legal protection afforded to them through these recent changes. Due to technological advancements, LGBTQ+ couples who could not have children on their own are now able to. Dawson uses the example of surrogate mothers, people who carry a child for a couple that cannot carry their own child. The chapter ends with an anecdote by a survey respondent whose ability to raise children with his husband was made possible by a surrogate mother.
Chapter 11 Summary: “Hats”
In Chapter 11, Dawson reinforces her desire to make the reader proud of their LGBTQ+ identity. Dawson uses the term intersectionality to explain how LGBTQ+ identities, while significant, are still a tiny aspect of a person’s whole identity. She uses metaphor to describe these intersectional identities like the strings on a harp or the tentacles on a squid: important, but small and numerous. Intersectionality helps explain the many strings (or tentacles) that make up a whole person, with LGBTQ+ identity being just another string. In another metaphor, Dawson likens identities to hats: They can be swapped on and off to find the ones that fit us best.
Dawson ends the chapter by calling the reader to action. She lists several organizations, such as GLAAD and The Trevor Project, in which readers can get involved to help further LGBTQ+ acceptance and advocacy. Dawson wants her readers to be proud of who they are and hopes that one day, they might be able to introduce themselves by their other “hats” instead of always having to be LGBTQ+ first.
Chapter 12 Summary: “A Guide to Recognizing your Gay Saints”
Chapter 12 is a short, alphabetized list of iconic LGBTQ+ people and media. Dawson provides this list for readers to connect with broader LBTQ+ culture beyond the contents of her book. She introduces an interactive element by leaving a blank space for readers to write in their own LGBTQ+ icons.
Back Matter Summary: “Build a Bridge,” “The Cheat Sheet,” “Helpful Numbers and Websites and Stuff”
The Back Matter beyond Chapter 12 contains odds and ends that reinforce the material presented in the main chapters. “Build a Bridge” is a short guide for parents of LGBTQ+ children who may be reading This Book Is Gay. This section contains helpful advice for talking to their children and understanding what they might be going through. Dawson asked her survey respondents to write down the advice they wish they could have given their parents before coming out. Dawson provides these responses in this section so that parents can see what other LGBTQ+ people wanted their own parents to know.
“The Cheat Sheet” is a helpful collection of terminology and definitions for words that Dawson uses throughout the book, along with several terms that were not addressed. These added terms are included because an LGBTQ+ teenager might see them elsewhere and may not understand what they mean.
“Helpful Numbers” is a collection of contact information for some of the largest LGBTQ+ organizations in the world, such as The Trevor Project. These resources help LGBTQ+ young people educate themselves, seek help, and connect to the wider LGBTQ+ community.
Chapter 10-Back Matter Analysis
This final section of chapters looks to the future, examining long-term LGBTQ+ partnerships, reiterating Dawson’s main ideas, and providing resources to connect with wider LGBTQ+ culture and organizations. Chapter 10 educates on long-term LGBTQ+ lives by dispelling stereotypes and misconceptions around LGBTQ+ partnerships. Dawson works to combat the idea that LGBTQ+ families are somehow lesser or cannot have children like cisgender, heterosexual couples. Dawson uses Education as a Cure for Culturally-Inspired Shame around LGBTQ+ identity, which is often treated as a youthful phase that cannot lead to a long-term happy and functional life. Matthew’s story of having children with his husband shows that LGBTQ+ families function despite this misconception. This anecdote evokes ethos and invites the reader to identify with Matthew’s happiness and imagine their own fulfilling romantic partnerships.
Chapter 11 reiterates that Self-Acceptance and Pride go hand-in-hand. Dawson writes, “When you first come out or go public with a new identity […] there’s a novelty and […] a desire to shout it from the rooftops. And you should, because, eventually, you’ll be proud of who you are. I’m already proud of you” (228). Self-acceptance leads to pride for LGBTQ+ people, largely because of the struggles that make self-acceptance so difficult. Chapter 11 adds nuance to these ideas of pride and self-acceptance by asserting that identity is fluid. Dawson says that LGBTQ+ identity is “not a definition” but just another facet of who somebody is. Because LGBTQ+ identity is not the core of a person, it allows two things to happen: An LGBTQ+ person can center other aspects of their identity (being a writer, for example), and their LGBTQ+ identities can change over time like any other aspect of identity. Dawson frames LGBTQ+ identity as a fun aspect of self-discovery, something we can play with and swap out as we see fit. Her tone when describing her hat theory of identity is hopeful, indicating a belief that the world is progressing toward a more accepting society for LGBTQ+ people.
Dawson’s conclusion ends with a call to action to support LGBTQ+ futures. Dawson writes that today is an exciting time to be openly LGBTQ+ and that action is needed to make sure the world stays this way (and gets even better). Dawson lists many of the advocacy organizations that appear in the back matter and encourages readers to find ways to contribute. Chapter 12 helps direct readers to concrete names, media, and art connected with Dawson’s call to action, while “Helpful Numbers” gives contact information for the organizations Dawson lists in Chapter 11. The inclusion of these organizations adds levity to Dawson’s argument, looping in their advocacy work to support her arguments, and citing LGBTQ+ media and icons situates Dawson’s work within a vibrant canon.
