Gender Queer: A Memoir

Kobabe enters college and realizes that when eir mom and dad met one another in college, at ages 19 and 21 respectively, they were “babies” (102). E goes to college to study art. College “glow[s] with potential” for the first few weeks but quickly loses its sparkle (104). Kobabe joins the drama club, which casts em in male roles, requiring em to bind eir chest with ace bandages to flatten it. E experiences gender euphoria but feels ashamed of using ace bandages to bind offstage. Kobabe is jealous of men and their flat chests and wishes e did not have boobs. E does not know binders exist yet; in retrospect, e wishes e knew about them in college.

Kobabe gets a work-study job at eir school’s library, and e comes out as bisexual to a coworker named Rae. It’s the first time e has come out to a coworker, and e feels happy that e has the courage to do so. Kobabe is introduced to Autumn at work. She is a student that has been crushing on Kobabe from a distance. Eir coworker tries to set up Kobabe with Autumn. Kobabe flees and tries to talk to Autumn about the possibility of a relationship over Facebook and phone calls; Kobabe, being