Gender Queer
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabeby Maia Kobabe
Shares rank 4 of 9 graphic novels by recommenders
Recommended as an honest memoir of sexuality and identity that gives readers accurate information and portrays a lived experience. Critics most often say it is sexually explicit and unsuitable for young children.
Recommended as an honest memoir of sexuality and identity that gives readers accurate information and portrays a lived experience. Critics most often say it is sexually explicit and unsuitable for young children.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 4
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 57%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 4 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Helpful for kids exploring sexuality
“Sexuality is not pornography. It's certainly more extreme than anything I was ever exposed to in my youth, but i'm sure this could have been massively helpful to a few kids in my high school”
Comment from 27 Feb 2026 in “A Nationwide Book Ban Bill Has Been Introduced in the House of Representatives” “Kids were searching it out because they were curious about sexuality and trying to understand their feelings”
Comment from 27 Feb 2026 in “A Nationwide Book Ban Bill Has Been Introduced in the House of Representatives” Accurate information rather than misinformation
“Id rather them get the correct knowledge, rather than slop, misinformation, or worse.”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Banned Book Library in a Wi-Fi Smart Light Bulb” Portrays a lived experience
“it's meant to portray a lived experience”
Comment from 27 Feb 2026 in “A Nationwide Book Ban Bill Has Been Introduced in the House of Representatives”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Too explicit for young children
“It's solely focused on sexuality, is quite crude, illustrated, targeted towards young children”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “History LLMs: Models trained exclusively on pre-1913 texts” “sexually explicit and graphically depicted books such as Gender Queer is not appropriate”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “The most banned books in U.S. schools” Sexually explicit, graphic content
“sexually explicit and graphically depicted books such as Gender Queer is not appropriate”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “The most banned books in U.S. schools” “it would, at the absolute bare minimum, be R rated”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “History LLMs: Models trained exclusively on pre-1913 texts” “And it is pornographic, check page 168.”
Comment from 27 Feb 2026 in “A Nationwide Book Ban Bill Has Been Introduced in the House of Representatives” Called pornographic by critics
“And it is pornographic, check page 168.”
Comment from 27 Feb 2026 in “A Nationwide Book Ban Bill Has Been Introduced in the House of Representatives”
Other graphic novels people recommend
The four most recommended other graphic novels, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Persepolisby Marjane Satrapi | 16 | 1 | 94% | 1 | — | — |
| Transmetropolitanby Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson | 5 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Logicomixby Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou | 5 | 1 | 83% | 1 | — | — |
| Gender Queerby Maia KobabeThis page | 4 | 3 | 57% | 2 | — | — |
| Frontierby Guillaume Singelin | 4 | 1 | 80% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
All 8 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Id rather them get the correct knowledge, rather than slop, misinformation, or worse.”
“Kids were searching it out because they were curious about sexuality and trying to understand their feelings”
“it's meant to portray a lived experience”
“Sexuality is not pornography. It's certainly more extreme than anything I was ever exposed to in my youth, but i'm sure this could have been massively helpful to a few kids in my high school”
“And it is pornographic, check page 168.”
“it would, at the absolute bare minimum, be R rated”
“It's solely focused on sexuality, is quite crude, illustrated, targeted towards young children”
“sexually explicit and graphically depicted books such as Gender Queer is not appropriate”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.