Like Other Girls | 
pickMara is dying to find a new sport to love after she was kicked off of the basketball team. She is a lifelong football fan and so she decides to try it out. By joining the team she sets off a chain of events in her town and family. Mara is lumped in as one of the girls who can't throw or kick and knows nothing about football. The story follows Mara as she battles the hardships that she faces surrounding gender, sports, sexuality, and friendship.
It was a joy to write this full length review of Bitta Lundin's excellent YA novel from last year! It's about football, teen butch lesbian identity, internalized misogyny, feminist solidarity, and more. If you read my Litsy review last week you know already that I loved it!
Check out my review: https://www.autostraddle.com/this-sporty-queer-ya-novel-is-the-best-book-ive-rea...
🏈🏳️🌈💘💋🤾♀️
pickI ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK! There is a lot going on in Like Other Girls – effortlessly and deftly balanced, by the way – but at its core it's a story about a closeted butch lesbian teen struggling with and overcoming internalized misogyny. Also: lots of football, female friendship and solidarity, swoony romance, intergenerational queer mentorship, masculine of centre gender expression, anger management, and a whole lot of personal growth.
Fuck her mom and her blackmailing her kid into wearing a dress she doesn't want to so that she can play a sport she wants to play. I was just listening to a podcast about gender affirming parenting and this is the exact opposite!!
panThis book just made me mad. It was extremely hypocritical the entire time. The entire purpose of this writing was 1) dismantling gender norms, and yet all of the characters are continually using phrases like “girly” and “tomboy” which just induces gender stereotypes and 2) proving that feminine girls aren‘t inherently weaker than boys. Yet the MC thinks that the volleyball team doesn‘t take the sport seriously because they wear make up to ⬇️
Mara's excitement and wonder when she sees an adult who's a butch lesbian 😭
Queer kids seeing queer adults thriving is so important
#QueerBooks #LGBTQBooks #LGBTQ #GayYA #QueerYA
2y