For the queer community, the late 1980s and early 2020s are remarkably similar in many ways. We can see our current world, but when it comes to comparing the two, we would need a true and honest depiction to refer back to. Enter We Speak For Ourselves.
We Speak For Ourselves is a cross between a guide for therapists (which is its primary purpose) but also a self-help guide, for homosexual men and women in the late 1980s. It addresses many topical issues, including coming out to those around you, accepting a world that isn’t accepting of you, as well as the HIV/AIDS epidemic that was widely sweeping the LGBTQ+ communities of the late 1980s.
Going into this, I wasn’t aware of the purpose of this book, and whilst the slightly unusual, repetitive structure threw me, for its time this was an incredibly well-written book. It was clear, concise, and very understanding of the realities of being a queer person in a world less accepting than our own. From the anecdotes and experiences of real people, both gay men and lesbians, that the author spoke to, to even his own opinion and life at times, the author weaves together personal stories with advice and tips in a way that is incredibly informative but doesn’t feel overly clinical. You can read this book without it feeling like an outdated lecture.
There are two points that particularly stuck out that readers need to be mindful of when reading this book, however, both relating to its outdatedness. The first is that some of the equivalences drawn up at one key point in particular, but in other places, makes an equivalence between gay men and lesbians, and another group of people to whom the LGBTQ+ community are often compared. Whilst the comparison never occurred outrightly, there was a point in which it came across as if they were moral equivalents, which was not pleasant.
Secondly, as well as the outdated language, the book was published in 1988. That year is very significant for LGBTQ+ people in the U.K., and not for the right reasons. The book was clearly published before it was introduced or widely known, as no reference is made to its impacts. This isn’t an issue with the book at all, but I do think several parts of it would have been written very differently if published even a year or two later.
It’s fascinating to have such a clear window into the past, especially into an area of time that mimics our own in terms of policy and discrimination so well, and this guide does a good job at communicating realities many can only imagine. Outdated? Very. But insightful? Definitely.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
We Speak For Ourselves (ISBN: 0-281-04349-3) was published in 1988. A copy is available to borrow from the LGBTQ+ Lending Library in the LGBTQ+ Lounge
