Dignity is almost universally viewed as something to aspire to. However, dignity can often be an isolating concept that drives people apart, negatively affecting societies as a whole. Stephen M. Engel and Timothy S. Lyle’s Disrupting Dignity: Rethinking Power and Progress in LGBTQ Lives offers readers a better and more nuanced understanding of the concept of dignity and the role that it plays in the day-to-day life of our world’s LGBTQ+ citizens. This book is centered around the concept of dignity and how it is not always a good thing. Moreover, the book demonstrates that, in many cases, dignity is a tool of the state that is used to shame and disempower members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Disrupting Dignity is divided into two parts: part one focuses on the power of dignity to affect the lives of people living in the United States from the perspective of public health, while part two focuses on the promotion of sameness and also the embracing of difference in popular culture representations. This work gives ample examples of politicians, policymakers, media leaders, and people within the LGBTQ community who invoke the concept of dignity in a harmful manner.
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