Customer Reviews

Do What I Say: Ms. Behavior's Guide to Gay and Lesbian Etiquette

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This book is a witty and engaging look at life in the 90's from a gay and lesbian perspective. Meryl Cohn tells us how to handle all sorts of situations with her unique blend of compassion and distain for the modern tribulations of every-queer.

A must read for straight and gay alike.

I was blown away by this book. Ms. Cohn has an enjoyable writing style and sense of humor, it has no typos that I recall (a pet peeve of mine), and it is very entertaining. I laughed out loud many times. Some of the stories have stuck with me and I pull them out when I need a laugh. If you like David Sedaris, you will like this book. I passed it on to someone who is a very devout Christian and also a closet bisexual (the makings of a great inner struggle for her). I worried that she might see it solely as a GBLT book and so it wouldn't interest her, but I hoped she would read it with an open mind, and I directed her to my favorite chapter. Many months later, she still hasn't returned it to me. When asked, I was told that I can "borrow" it on a short-term basis. Outrageously funny on its own, and not merely a parody of Ms. Manners, Dear Abby, Martha Stewart and the like. I want more!!! Please, please, please publish another book or let me know where I can get more of these delightful stories. Not for children. Not just for GBLT, but a homophobe will not enjoy it.

This book was hilarious and kept me reading and laughing. You will love this book if you can keep in mind that by playing up the tired old stereotypes, Cohn pokes fun at gays and lesbians in a smart and witty "inside the crowd" kind of way. This book isn't made to be representative of the gay community to outsiders who need to understand the stereotypes aren't real, it's great comedy that you'll find yourself nodding to every once in a while saying "my god, I KNOW someone who is ACTUALLY like that!" I'd recommend it as well as "Who's Cares if It's A Choice" to any person without "Irony deficiency".

You'd think that by the mid 1990s, the apex of lesbian chic, Meryl Cohn would have realized that not all lesbians are walking stereotypes (or gay men either), but she obviously hasn't. In her view, ALL lesbians are baby-worshiping, butch/femme obsessed drones who don't have fun or pay any attention to fashion (oh, except for those stupid femmes who are supposedly all just dying to date butches, who are considered by Cohn to be the popular kids of lesbian society as long as they are man enough), all eat vegetarian, and are basically politically correct robots "in recovery" for whom fun is un-pc. Gay men, on the other hand, are glamorous, fashionable epicures who love sex, drugs, and interior decorating. Basically, this book is every single liberal straight person's stereotypes of gays vs. lesbians. Obviously the writer doesn't get out much, or maybe she only knows people who fall into these stereotypes. As a fashionable, partying, beauty-loving lesbian who could care less about monogamy, "recovery", babies and turkey basters, I was appalled. Her book should have been called "Butch and Femme and Baby Makes Three for Lesbians, and Fashion and Fun for Fags, AKA Women are Boring and Men (and Butches) are cool: A Guide To Lame Gay Life".