Meg-John Barker

Alex Iantaffi

This helpful guide presents ways we can all better understand gender, and how people can change and express their gender identity. Considering biological and cultural understandings of gender, gender expression, and relationships and sexuality, this is an excellent starting point for anybody thinking about what gender means to them.

A Practical Guide for Exploring who You are

How to Understand Your Gender

Midori Kobayashi

this is the kind of book you take your time reading, taking it in one page at a time. understanding, sitting on it, thinking and then reading some more. it was fairly accessible,, even my dumbass managed to finish it (after forever but still???) and it does help understand things for those who are questioning. would highly recommend!

Flavia Louise

This book is a great resource for lots of people in my opinion. Maybe the most useful for people starting to question their gender for the first time.
But also as a tool for people trying to understand their gender journey.

As someone who has thought about their gender for a while and still fitting into their assigned one quite well, I don't really think I was the person this book was written for. 
Anyways i still took a few things from it and would very much recommend it.

Enfys J. Book

How to Understand Your Gender: A Practical Guide to Exploring Who You Are by Alex Iantaffi and Meg-John Barker was not what I expected it to be. Never before have I had a book so gently and lovingly take me by the hand and explain, in the most nonthreatening and accessible way possible, a difficult concept.

What I expected was for a little intro on the concept of gender and then, I don’t know, a bunch of quizzes to try and figure out a gender label for myself. Instead, the authors slowly, carefully, delicately unpack the concept of gender and its implications on our lives, acknowledging that it’s a charged and emotional subject and sprinkling mindfulness breaks throughout the book. They include several exercises to help define the impact your gender identity has on your life, and how to explore your relationship to gender. There are plenty of quotes from people of diverse gender identities, showing a wide range of experiences. And the authors are careful to note the ways in which sexuality, culture, race and class intersect with and influence people’s expectations around gender.

I expected this book to be aimed solely at people who are questioning their gender identity, based on the title. Instead, as I was reading, I kept thinking, “I want literally everybody to read this.” Of course, I want my trans, nonbinary, and questioning friends to read this book, but I also want my parents to read this book. I want my partner to read this book. I want every cis straight person in the world to read this book. This book is the most incredible resource to help guide people through the concept of gender and gender identity, and get them to think about what their gender means to them, even if they’re totally comfortable in their gender identity. I rather wish the title were a little different, because unfortunately I think the likelihood of my cis/hetero relatives picking this up is pretty low. (Maybe the authors could create a subterfuge release of the book with a cover that says 101 Great Touchdowns in Football or something.)

Go get this book. Seriously. It is 1,000% worth your time. Whether you’ve never thought about your gender at all or have a degree in Gender Studies, whether you’ve always been comfortable with your gender or have no idea what the heck to call your gender identity, there’s a lot to be gleaned from this marvelous text.

How to Understand Your Gender A Practical Guide for Exploring who You are

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