When Jackie "came out" in 2014, right as the Trump era was revving up, she began paying closer attention to the inappropriate questions, uncomfortable reactions, and pointed assumptions about sexuality and gender she was witnessing and now experiencing firsthand. NO OFFENSE: A MEMOIR IN ESSAYS takes a magnifying glass to subtle moments that many people don't recognize as homophobic or transphobic, exploring the impact of microaggressions on LGBTQ+ folks. Blending personal essay and cultural critique, the collection confronts society's reactions to queerness at poignant moments in Jackie's life, from wedding planning to OBGYN appointments to the Pulse Nightclub Massacre, and beyond. Revealing the complex and tender moments that sculpted their identity from a tomboy adolescence to gender exploration as an adult, NO OFFENSE analyzes the loaded conversations queer and trans folks face every day on topics like labels, haircuts, Halloween costumes, and more.

Jackie Domenus (she/they) is a queer writer from New Jersey. Their first book, NO OFFENSE: A MEMOIR IN ESSAYS, will be published with ELJ Editions in 2025. A 2021 Tin House Winter Workshop graduate, Jackie's work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Offing, The Normal School, Pidgeonholes, Foglifter Journal, Variant Lit, Entropy, Bullshit Lit's Second Anthology, and elsewhere. She has formerly served as publishing assistant at Guernica Magazine, associate editor at Glassworks Magazine, and contest coordinator at Philadelphia Stories. You can find Jackie on Twitter @jackiedwrites and on their website www.byjackied.com.

"No Offense is a book about bodies and words—the words used against a body and the words we claim for our own; about finding and defining our place in a world that does its best to control and oppress, often in seemingly innocuous ways. Domenus offers a deeply honest, open-eyed, and at times disarmingly funny exploration of their own journey toward selfhood, and of the language that can harm us and the language that can set us free. I saw myself in these pages, and I know so many other queer people will too." — Melissa Faliveno, author of Tomboyland

"No Offense is a smart and deeply inspiring celebration of queer identity. Jackie Domenus is a delight, masterfully blending clever pop culture references with insightful reflections on gender and the body, coming-of-age, and micro (and macro) aggressions. This book is a gift. Both enlightening and empowering, No Offense offers a heartfelt reminder of the importance of living authentically." — Edgar Gomez, author of Alligator Tears

"No Offense is exactly the book I need right now: beautiful and intimate, at once painful and hopeful. Domenus has written an unflinching look at queer and trans life from the 90s through today. Part coming of age, part cultural criticism, part rally against cishet assumptions, this book is an ode to owning your story, to the fluidness of identity and self-discovery. This book cracked me open." — Marisa Crane, author of I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself

"No Offense catalogues the thousands of small ways that mainstream, heteropatriarchal society can make queer people feel unwanted, surveilled, or even simply annoyed. Jackie Domenus recounts their coming-of-age in New Jersey with equal parts humor and heartbreak, and their honesty about their fluid path of self-discovery is refreshingly frank. This book is an ode to compassion, one that will inspire readers to look inward and find new ways to embrace themselves and others around them." — Sabrina Imbler, author of How Far the Light Reaches