This Book Is Gay

This Book Is Gay is a 2014 young adult self-help book written by Juno Dawson to help teenagers understand the world of LGBTQ+ identities. Dawson is a prolific author, writing both fiction and nonfiction for a young-adult audience. This Book Is Gay also addresses parents and cisgender heterosexual teenagers with LGBTQ+ friends and loved ones, providing support with a variety of resources. The book faced censorship in Alaska in 2015 for its sexual education material. Dawson came out as a transgender woman in 2015 and wrote a follow-up book about her experiences as a transgender woman. This book is titled What’s the T? and serves as a companion piece to This Book Is Gay that explores gender identity.
Dawson uses humor in This Book Is Gay to communicate complex and stigmatized ideas to people who don’t fully understand what it means to be LGBTQ+. Illustrations by Spike Gerrell convey complex information through infographics and support Dawson’s humorous tone. Each chapter is interspersed with survey responses from LGBTQ+ people across the globe; these anecdotes and testimony give a wider view into each topic than one person could achieve on their own.
Dawson stresses self-acceptance as a key factor in coming of age as an LGBTQ+ person. Dawson uses anatomical illustrations and anecdotes to educate and give transparency to topics that are often hidden from adolescents. Her goal is to help future generations protect their sexual health and combat stigma by providing resources that older generations of LGBTQ+ people did not have at a young age.