Description
By: Kenji Yoshino
A lyrical memoir that identifies the pressure to conform as a hidden threat to our civil rights, drawing on the author’s life as a gay Asian American man and his career as an acclaimed legal scholar.
“[Kenji] Yoshino offers his personal search for authenticity as an encouragement for everyone to think deeply about the ways in which all of us have covered our true selves. . . . We really do feel newly inspired.”—The New York Times Book Review
Everyone covers. To cover is to downplay a disfavored trait so as to blend into the mainstream. Because all of us possess stigmatized attributes, we all encounter pressure to cover in our daily lives. Racial minorities are pressed to “act white” by changing their names, languages, or cultural practices. Women are told to “play like men” at work. Gays are asked not to engage in public displays of same-sex affection. The devout are instructed to minimize expressions of faith, and individuals with disabilities are urged to conceal the paraphernalia that permit them to function. Given its pervasiveness, we may experience this pressure to be a simple fact of social life.
Against conventional understanding, Kenji Yoshino argues that the work of American civil rights law will not be complete until it attends to the harms of coerced conformity. Though we have come to some consensus against penalizing people for differences based on race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, and disability, we still routinely deny equal treatment to people who refuse to downplay differences along these lines.
At the same time, Yoshino is responsive to the American exasperation with identity politics, which often seems like an endless parade of groups asking for state and social solicitude. He observes that the ubiquity of covering provides an opportunity to lift civil rights into a higher, more universal register. Since we all experience the covering demand, we can all make common cause around a new civil rights paradigm based on our desire for authenticity—a desire that brings us together rather than driving us apart.
Praise for Covering
“Yoshino argues convincingly in this book, part luminous, moving memoir, part cogent, level-headed treatise, that covering is going to become more and more a civil rights issue as the nation (and the nation’s courts) struggle with an increasingly multiethnic America.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“[A] remarkable debut . . . [Yoshino’s] sense of justice is pragmatic and infectious.”—Time Out New York
A lyrical memoir that identifies the pressure to conform as a hidden threat to our civil rights, drawing on the author’s life as a gay Asian American man and his career as an acclaimed legal scholar.
“[Kenji] Yoshino offers his personal search for authenticity as an encouragement for everyone to think deeply about the ways in which all of us have covered our true selves. . . . We really do feel newly inspired.”—The New York Times Book Review
Everyone covers. To cover is to downplay a disfavored trait so as to blend into the mainstream. Because all of us possess stigmatized attributes, we all encounter pressure to cover in our daily lives. Racial minorities are pressed to “act white” by changing their names, languages, or cultural practices. Women are told to “play like men” at work. Gays are asked not to engage in public displays of same-sex affection. The devout are instructed to minimize expressions of faith, and individuals with disabilities are urged to conceal the paraphernalia that permit them to function. Given its pervasiveness, we may experience this pressure to be a simple fact of social life.
Against conventional understanding, Kenji Yoshino argues that the work of American civil rights law will not be complete until it attends to the harms of coerced conformity. Though we have come to some consensus against penalizing people for differences based on race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, and disability, we still routinely deny equal treatment to people who refuse to downplay differences along these lines.
At the same time, Yoshino is responsive to the American exasperation with identity politics, which often seems like an endless parade of groups asking for state and social solicitude. He observes that the ubiquity of covering provides an opportunity to lift civil rights into a higher, more universal register. Since we all experience the covering demand, we can all make common cause around a new civil rights paradigm based on our desire for authenticity—a desire that brings us together rather than driving us apart.
Praise for Covering
“Yoshino argues convincingly in this book, part luminous, moving memoir, part cogent, level-headed treatise, that covering is going to become more and more a civil rights issue as the nation (and the nation’s courts) struggle with an increasingly multiethnic America.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“[A] remarkable debut . . . [Yoshino’s] sense of justice is pragmatic and infectious.”—Time Out New York
You may also like
熱銷中 Top Trending
![Kensuke's Kingdom - Egmont Modern Classics (Paperback) (Michael Morpurgo) Harpercollins (UK)](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/products/Kensuke_sKingdom-EgmontModernClassics_Paperback_{width}x.jpg?v=1633790093)
Kensuke's Kingdom - Egmont Modern Classics (Paperback) (Michael Morpurgo)
Sale priceHK$60.00
Regular priceHK$104.00
In stock![Disney Pixar Inside Out 2 Ultimate Sticker Book](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/Disney_Pixar_Inside_Out_2_Ultimate_Sticker_Book_{width}x.webp?v=1719485214)
Disney Pixar Inside Out 2 Ultimate Sticker Book
Sale priceFrom HK$44.00
Regular priceHK$65.00
In stock![Diary of a Roblox Pro #1: Monster Escape (Ari Avatar)](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/products/DiaryofaRobloxPro_1_MonsterEscape_AriAvatar_{width}x.jpg?v=1677462026)
![Diary of a Roblox Pro #1: Monster Escape (Ari Avatar)](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/products/DiaryofaRobloxPro_1_MonsterEscape_AriAvatar_1_{width}x.jpg?v=1677462026)
Diary of a Roblox Pro #1: Monster Escape (Ari Avatar)
Sale priceHK$48.00
Regular priceHK$71.90
In stock![Diary of a Roblox Pro #2: Dragon Pet (Ari Avatar)-Fiction: 歷險科幻 Adventure & Science Fiction-買書書 BuyBookBook](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/products/DiaryofaRobloxPro_2DragonPet_AriAvatar_{width}x.jpg?v=1699221600)
Diary of a Roblox Pro #2: Dragon Pet (Ari Avatar)
Sale priceFrom HK$43.00
Regular priceHK$70.00
In stock![Diary of a Roblox Pro #3: Obby Challenge (Ari Avatar)-Fiction: 歷險科幻 Adventure & Science Fiction-買書書 BuyBookBook](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/DiaryofaRobloxPro_3ObbyChallenge_{width}x.jpg?v=1699229226)
Diary of a Roblox Pro #3: Obby Challenge (Ari Avatar)
Sale priceFrom HK$43.00
Regular priceHK$70.00
In stock![Burt the Beetle #02 Burt the Beetle Lives Here! (Ashley Spires)](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/9781525310119_1_{width}x.jpg?v=1717229304)
![Burt the Beetle #02 Burt the Beetle Lives Here! (Ashley Spires)](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/9781525310119_2_{width}x.jpg?v=1717792217)
Burt the Beetle #02 Burt the Beetle Lives Here! (Ashley Spires)
Sale priceHK$101.00
Regular priceHK$150.00
In stock![Pearson Longman Level-up! English Test Papers (with Online diagnostic assessment^破解常犯錯誤)-Supplemental: 英文科 English-買書書 BuyBookBook](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/e1a_{width}x.webp?v=1712704159)
![Pearson Longman Level-up! English Test Papers (with Online diagnostic assessment^破解常犯錯誤)-Supplemental: 英文科 English-買書書 BuyBookBook](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/e1b_{width}x.webp?v=1712704165)
Pearson Longman Level-up! English Test Papers (with Online diagnostic assessment^破解常犯錯誤)
Sale priceHK$63.00
Regular priceHK$73.00
In stock![Percy Jackson and the Olympians #6 The Chalice of the Gods (Rick Riordan)-Fiction: 神話傳說 Myth and Legend-買書書 BuyBookBook](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/PercyJacksonandtheOlympians_6TheChaliceoftheGods_RickRiordan_{width}x.jpg?v=1714881796)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Chalice of the Gods (International paperback edition)
Sale priceHK$89.00
Regular priceHK$140.00
In stock