breathedout | (Reply)

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I would say... yes and no. Allen's strengths are definitely more in the anecdotal/qualitative than the statistical/quantitative, and when she is, for example, visiting a given place, she does give a portrait of the specifics of what it's like (college town, mid-sized & gentrifying city, small town, etc.). That said, the places she chooses to profile could be a lot more diverse. She doesn't address truly rural life at all, only glances extremely fleetingly over suburban life, and basically tends to gravitate toward small and mid-sized "oasis" cities in red states. So that felt a bit disingenuous: it's not, by any means, a balanced look at queer life "in red states"; more a profile of specific people in the more liberal islands in those states. I still felt it was a worthwhile read, but I'd have liked more diversity on that count (among others).