I have mixed reactions to “All Boys Aren’t Blue.” I’m impressed and happy that young people have a book they can turn to that forthrightly affirms male effeminacy. The author addresses difficult topics, including the importance of adolescent sex education for queer youth, racism, and homophobia in the Black community. His stories of family and friends often had me crying from both happiness and sadness. He clearly and forcefully tells teens that they have a right to their bodies and how others should behave towards them, and to establish boundaries and safe spaces where they can be themselves. He also warns teens to be smart about being safe; life is not a movie, and coming out can have serious, unforeseen consequences.
But at times the book’s tone feels a bit narcissistic and self-involved, a tone that isn’t helped by the odd paragraph lacking in focus or clarity. But, as an adult, I’m not really in the author’s target audience. The one thing that is clear throughout is that Johnson is writing in his own voice saying what he believes is important to say to Black queer kids, and this authenticity may be the quality that young people respond to most (even as they roll their eyes at the author using AOL in the 90’s).
"I didn’t want to stick out so much. I wanted to be able to have this masculine appeal to me, yet also be a gay person. Being so visible as a gay person was the issue."
On the one hand, kids of all kinds need this book and others to de-fang the social taboo against males being effeminate. The clear-eyed message this book gives to effeminate, queer youth is vitally important.
And yet.
Throughout the book Johnson makes a false equivalency between the words ‘gay’ and ‘effeminate,’ almost as if they are interchangeable. The author consistently recounts stories from his past where any effeminate behaviorism is a sure marker of someone being gay or queer. Perhaps this is his experience, but it would be surprising to me if he hasn’t, as an adult, met queer males who aren’t effeminate. In a book that celebrates the varieties of ways a boy or man (or girl or woman) can be in the world, the author’s consistent use of the gender binary - men are masculine, women feminine, and gay men are feminine - comes off as another way of enforcing this very same gender regime that he’s fought against all of life. I’m not sure what the resolution to this apparent paradox might be, but it would be helpful for the author to not employ the cultural assumptions he’s trying to undermine and make more inclusive.
For an adult (or at least this adult), the writing feels choppy and dumbed-down with short, declarative, and at times repetitive sentences. This might be intentional; if Johnson is writing for the broadest possible audience of young people, he’d want to communicate in crystal clear language accessible to all queer kids of color.
Still, I’d have preferred if Johnson had provided notes or citations to support some of his boldest statements, thus showing youth the importance of carefully building their arguments.
At the same time, books like this are desperately needed. The demonizing of those who transgress gender roles - in whatever way a society defines masculinity and femininity - stretches back 2,500+ years, albeit such demonizing is not universal (as demonstrated by various “third gender” traditions across the globe). Dismantling the hegemony of masculine power surely must be part of our ethical and moral evolution.
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Author Q&A
All Boys Aren't Blue is an intensely personal story. What inspired you to start writing this book?
Toni Morrison said "if there is a book you want to read and it hasn't been written yet, you must write it." I've always wished I had a book like this. One where I felt seen on the cover and in every word on the page. I knew there was a story like mine lacking in the world. For years I had been telling my story in bits and pieces throughout magazines in op-ed articles. I knew it was important that I started to put together a body of work that could affect the lives of young LGBTQ people, specifically Black kids who needed guidance and resources. In the telling of my story, I wanted to change the narrative of how people viewed Black families raising LGBTQ Black children. I felt I had a duty to push through my own traumas of my past in order to prevent future generations of LGBTQ kids from having that same experience. The young boy inside me was the inspiration for this book. He can now be free.
Was there any part of the writing process for All Boys Aren’t Blue that surprised you?
The most surprising part of the writing process was how many stories I remembered. Things that I had buried many years ago popped back up and I was like “oh this has to be in the book.” It was tough because I didn’t know how emotionally taxing it would be, but also very liberating at the same time. I had to constantly remind myself who this story was for, but I am better for getting through it.
If you could give one piece of advice to young LGBTQ people today, what would it be?
Be yourself unapologetically. Understand that the world has not been set up for people as strong in their truth and identity as LGBTQ people are. Trust what you feel to be right and not what others are telling you that you should be. Always make sure you are making decisions that keep you safe, because you BEING HERE is what is most important. But never let anyone break your spirit.
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Top reviews from other countries
Allan Hildon
A bit heavy on the manifesto
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 21, 2021
Anish Jalabhay
Heartfelt, honest and engaging read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 12, 2021
