I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Boy, this isn’t easy to review, as I am definitely worried I may step on some toes. 😐 Yes, I got this book from Netgalley so I knew that I would need to write a review, but I mostly got this book out of interest and curiosity. I was curious what the authors would tell us about their experience and give us a guide to gender neutrality. Which I already use on the internet for most, they/them or using their names instead. As for real life, well, my main language is Dutch, and using zij/ze/hen/hun just doesn’t feel as right as they/them.

While I did think this book was amazing, it did feel kind of like you have to do this or else you are a bad human. You can get fired if you don’t do it. You are lazy. You are x, you are y. Now I hear people say that I am one of those bad humans, pfa, no. I have been misgendered more than enough in life, even with my body clearly screaming woman (I have had some very hurtful comments). But I do think forcing people to do stuff is also not going to help. Pushing it down people’s throat will only give struggle.

I still think this guide was a pretty good one, if you remove the kind of forceful attitude it gives me, it is informative and instructive, and I think that people may benefit from reading it. But only if they want.

I liked the format. Instead of dry text this one is told through comics. We see two sides of the story, two people telling us how they feel about the situation giving a more in-depth look in it.

I also liked the art, it was quite a nice style.

Now my review could be much longer, but I have edited and deleted a whole lot of my text because I know the internet, and I know that it can be quite harsh. Plus I don’t feel comfortable giving more insight in my private life. I am already worried how much burn I will get for saying that it felt a bit forced at times and also how it may make people feel like they are bad for not doing it.