Media & ArtsKids’ TQ+ Book Review: Too Bright to See

submitted by julesburm1891 from self.LGBDropTheT

I have to read a lot of YA and middle grave books for…reasons. In the past three years, I’ve noticed a massive uptick in “queer” kids’ literature. After giving you guys the rundown of Felix, Ever After, I figured I might as well update you on what I have to read as I go.

Book: Too Bright to See

Author: Kyle Lukoff. Unsurprisingly, she’s a transman. Here is a super delightful interview with her. (I 100% recommend you listen to an audio clip of her if you think she passes.)

Synopsis: 11-year-old Bug lives with her mom in a rickety old house in Vermont. Bug thinks the house is haunted. Her gay uncle recently passed away and she’s quite upset by it. Because she’s a tomboy, socially awkward, and not boy crazy, Bug decides she’s actually a boy.

Salient Points

  1. Makeup is horrible and makes you feel gross. Unless you’re a drag queen. Then it’s super empowering.
  2. If your friend says you dress like a boy for wearing only jeans and t-shirts you should feel horrible and wonder if you are a boy.
  3. Being a girl means being good at all the things in teen magazines.
  4. Being a girl means being obsessed with cute boys.
  5. If you like being friends with boys more than girls it’s because you’re actually a boy.
  6. Of course, the ghost of your gay uncle is the one telling you you’re trans.
  7. Being trans has nothing to do with your body and everything to do with “not feeling right.”
  8. Ope, your gay uncle was really a transwoman because God forbid gay men be men.
  9. Your friend’s dog will bark at you even though she normally only barks at boys. The dog sees your true gender identity.
  10. The ghost of your uncle will shave your head while you sleep because you’re a boy and should have a boy’s haircut.
  11. If you don’t conform to girly stereotypes, you’re a boy.
  12. Transitioning will fix all of your problems.
  13. Everyone will cheer you on without question in your transition because if they don’t they’re a monster.
  14. There’s an author’s note at the end where she lectures literal children about pronoun usage because they “know better.”

Verdict: Honestly, this was just sad. The author transitioned in her early 20s and is in her 30s now. The entire novel reads both as a very personal account of her teenage feelings and as a textbook case of dissociation. There are clear mental health issues, internalized misogyny, and self-hatred for being GNC on practically every page. Naturally, this book is being cheered as “progressive” and “empowering” by the woke. It’s sad, but also incredibly fucked that someone’s need of therapy is being put in front of kids as something to emulate.

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[–]JulienMayfair 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's amazing to me how more people don't recognize how the whole gender movement reinforces conservative stereotypes about what's gender-appropriate.

[–]Q-Continuum-kin 9 insightful - 2 fun9 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

You should do this as an Amazon book review lol...

[–]julesburm1891[S] 4 insightful - 4 fun4 insightful - 3 fun5 insightful - 4 fun -  (1 child)

“We regret to inform you your Prime membership fee will not be refunded but your services will be revoked. You have violated the terms and services of our woke smokescreen which we use to distract from our monopolistic business practices.”

[–]Q-Continuum-kin 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Your review actually wouldn't necessarily be perceived as phobic to the true believers. Those are actual arguments some of them make. To the unindoctrinated it will sound insane but it also sounds like an average TRA on Twitter.

[–]Femaleisnthateful 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Honestly, if these people are so comfortable with their gender identity, why do they need to invest so much time convincing others? I used to roll by eyes when conservatives back in the day would talk about The Gays trying to 'convert' kids, or whatever, but back then the discussion about homosexuality was limited to the acknowledgement that homosexuality existed and that some adults were gay. No one was trying to claim that toddlers were gay.

These people are literally trying to push this belief system on young kids.

[–]julesburm1891[S] 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

What I found extremely concerning about the book is that the entire story is set up as Bug feeling awkward because doesn’t fit in with a girly girl friend, is shy, is a little lonely, isn’t interested in boys, and doesn’t yet know how to navigate the world. (You know, normal symptoms of being eleven.) At the end, Bug announces she’s a transboy, there is a literally a line about all of her anxiety going away because she’s transitioning. (I listened to it on audio, so I unfortunately can’t give a page number.) Positing normal adolescent feelings as problems that need to be fixed with a social and medical decision no eleven-year-old can fully comprehend is beyond irresponsible. It’s downright dangerous.

[–]Femaleisnthateful 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The more I read about gender ideology and how it's marketed to kids like this (and especially on Reddit) the more sure I am that I would have jumped in to this headfirst as a kid.

[–]wafflegaffWoman. SuperBi. 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

Voice (no comment about the content, as I haven't reviewed it): https://youtu.be/1NAndt-l8YE?t=24

Pretty standard trans man sound.

Thank you for the rundown, this is obviously a concerning trend. The only people who should be approaching children about their mental health are trained, screened, licensed professionals in a one-on-one setting, not the Pied Piper.

[–]xanditAGAB (Assigned Gay at Birth) 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (5 children)

That bald girl has a beard

[–]wafflegaffWoman. SuperBi. 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Not unusual for a trans man to have a beard.

[–]xanditAGAB (Assigned Gay at Birth) 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

I was joking, her voice sounds just like a woman’s.

[–]wafflegaffWoman. SuperBi. 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

She sounds like she's been on T. It's that in-between, reedy, voice-cracking sound with a little more resonance. Doesn't quite sound like anything else; sounds a bit like a male who inhaled a little helium before talking. Fairly easy to clock, though I've heard a gay man or two sound pretty similar. They still don't have that hint of helium, though.

A FTM friend who started T experienced the same transformation. It does unfortunately tend to make them sound like teenage boys.

For comparison, here's Buck Angel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD5g8_IEWpw

[–]xanditAGAB (Assigned Gay at Birth) 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

see i agree they usually have that helium sound but this one for some reason all I hear is a woman talking. Maybe she had a very high voice to begin with.

[–]wafflegaffWoman. SuperBi. 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah, that could be, I wondered that as well.

[–]BellaBlue 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thanks, I hate it. This is too close to my childhood. I outgrew it, and so will Bug. Feckin names nowadays.....