THE QUEENS' ENGLISH

A compendium of LGBTQ+ definitions for younger readers adapted from the 2021 adult original.

Using a standard A-to-Z format interspersed with lessons, charts, and tables, this dictionary attempts to explain “over eight hundred terms used to describe our collective gay and queer experience.” A note on appropriation acknowledges the origin of many terms in ballroom, drag, working-class lesbian, and/or Black cultures, yet this book also introduces readers to what may otherwise be unfamiliar vocabulary words without sufficient context or advice on their use. Confusingly, tame entries, such as allosexual and closet case, are labeled “mature,” while explicitly sexual terms (for example, spaghetti, stone butch, and fish) are given desexualized—and often misleading—definitions. Some inaccurate claims (defining pup as a “slender… baby gay” man instead of as someone who’s into puppy play) are given without citation. Controversial descriptions (like the statement that AFAB and AMAB are preferable to FTM and MTF, because they acknowledge “the binding nature of being assigned a specific gender at birth”) are presented as facts. Most entries include additional information, but it’s frequently an unhelpful or tautological description (the “bear community” definition, which follows the entry for bear, is contextualized as “those who celebrate the bear necessities during P-Town Bear Week,” with no further explanation of “bear necessities” or “P-Town”), and painfully corny dialogue provides contextual usage. Additionally, the author deadnames Joey Soloway and mistakenly identifies Tom Phelan as a trans man.

Riddled with inaccuracies; not recommended.