The 2000s Made Me Gay, Grace Perry
The 2000s Made Me Gay, Grace Perry
4 Rating(s)
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The 2000s Made Me Gay
Essays on Pop Culture

Author: Grace Perry

Narrator: Grace Perry

Unabridged: 8 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/01/2021


Synopsis

This program is read by the author.

From The Onion and Reductress contributor, this collection of essays is a hilarious nostalgic trip through beloved 2000s media, interweaving cultural criticism and personal narrative to examine how a very straight decade forged a very queer woman.

"Honest, funny, smart, and illuminating.” —Anna Drezen, co-head writer of SNL

"If you came of age at the intersection of Mean Girls and The L Word: Read this book.” —Sarah Pappalardo, editor in chief and co-founder of Reductress

Today’s gay youth have dozens of queer peer heroes, both fictional and real, but former gay teenager Grace Perry did not have that luxury. Instead, she had to search for queerness in the (largely straight) teen cultural phenomena the aughts had to offer: in Lindsay Lohan’s fall from grace, Gossip Girl, Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl,” country-era Taylor Swift, and Seth Cohen jumping on a coffee cart. And, for better or worse, these touch points shaped her adult identity. She came out on the other side like many millennials did: in her words, gay as hell.

Throw on your Von Dutch hats and join Grace on a journey back through the pop culture moments of the aughts with The 2000s Made Me Gay, before the cataclysmic shift in LGBTQ representation and acceptance—a time not so long ago, which many seem to forget.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Griffin

About Grace Perry

GRACE PERRY’s work has been published in a variety of outlets, including The New Yorker, New York magazine’s The Cut, BuzzFeed, Outside, and Eater. She is also a longtime, regular contributor to The Onion and the feminist satire site Reductress. Most of her work, comedy and journalism alike, interrogates the intersection of queerness, pop culture and the internet. She lives in LA.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Chelsea on September 22, 2021

Wow, this validated so many of my baby gay high school experiences and I REALLY enjoyed it. I am also now suddenly desperate to do an OC rewatch lmao......more

Goodreads review by Justin on January 13, 2022

I'm an 'old soul' whose cultural upbringing was shaped as much by 1599 as 1999, but I realize frequently that my queer coming-of-age experience was distinctly millennial. Perry's essays on the cultural artifacts of the late 90s and 00s connected with me deeply, even as her examples come from a lesbi......more

Goodreads review by josie on September 23, 2021

simply baffled by how you write this book without a bend it like beckham essay!......more

Goodreads review by =^._.^= on July 16, 2021

I was excited for this book, but found it lackluster and confused as to who its audience was. If I were to answer instinctively, I would say that this is a good baby-gay book, with its narrative about Perry's queer adolescence/coming out and introductions to LGBT media/cultural touchstones/terms. Ho......more

Goodreads review by Tom the Teacher on September 16, 2023

A collection of essays referencing - among other things - Mean Girls and Moulin Rouge? Yes please! As a gay 'elder' (born 1986, eep!) millennial I found this very relatable in parts. Concocting relationship scenarios with a guy I've spoken to once? Yes. Covertly watching shows with gay references or......more


Quotes

The 2000s Made Me Gay is a gay hike through the media that shaped my little gay life, revisiting all of the big questions of my adolescence (Do I want to f*ck her, or be her?) via every dusty DVD I quietly watched in various finished basements in 2003. If you came of age at the intersection of Mean Girls and The L Word: Read this book.” —Sarah Pappalardo, editor in chief and co-founder of Reductress and author of How to Win at Feminism

“Grace Perry’s debut essay collection is the peak of pop-culture–peppered Millennial reflection. For anyone who recalls the special romance of G-chatting a new love until dawn, or whose “Team Seth” stance during The O.C.’s run was life-defining, this masterful first book will cut deep.” —Joel Meares, editor in chief of Rotten Tomatoes, author of We’re All Going to Die (Especially Me)

“It’s not just that Grace Perry is hilarious—she’s also incredibly particular, and dynamic, and so keen an observer of this demented world. This book is a searchlight. Her essays will explain you to you.” —Claire Luchette, 2020 Pushcart Prize winner and author of Agatha of Little Neon

“It’s impossible to resist the pull of [Perry's] prose and the ease of her humor; Perry specializes in the kind of writing that makes you feel like you’ve known her for years. [W]hip-smart...hilarious and sneakily thought-provoking, The 2000s Made Me Gay is a compelling collection of essays that seamlessly weaves together pop culture references and tales from Perry’s sexual own awakening.” —Morgan Olsen, editor in chief of Time Out Chicago


Awards

  • Buzzfeed Best Books of the Year
  • Lambda Literary Award - Nominee