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cassianlamb 's review for:
I received this free arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was excited to read this book but must admit it's quite disappointing. As a trans person, I was a bit hesitant when I saw it was written by a cis person, as in my experience cis people writing about trans people tend to not know as much as they think they do. Sadly, this book may be another example of that.
The author makes several errors, including explaining how a particular pronoun works and failing to follow his own advice mentioned towards the beginning of the book on how to use respectful language. While it is acknowledged and most of these incidents are quotes, there are ways of editing that would still remain true to source material and the message.
Furthermore, there are several places that misgender trans people. Whether due to lack of knowledge on the individual or poor editing, this is not something that can be ignored. This includes Ho’onani, who the book refers to with they/them, though her teacher refers to with she/her. Having heard of her before, I looked her up and confirmed that she uses she/her. If Ho’onani uses they/them this does not appear to be public information. I found this information at the provided links:
https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S126C2189496
https://aplaceinthemiddle.org/blog/details/14838/a-beautiful-look-into-hawaiian-culture-and-living-outside-the-gender-binary-afterellencom
There is also a section on eunuchs and castrati as nonbinary gender categories. To preface this, I am not any kind of historian, and cannot speak on if overall they count as genders, but the examples given for these categories often had no choice and were forced into this situation, and (again, as a trans person) it is pretty harmful to suggest that a person can be forced into a gender category. Quite honestly, I would go so far as to call these practices conversion therapy, given many of these subjects were essentially forced to change gender.
While small in the relative scheme of the book, I must also take a moment to note the section on reproductive rights, and calling it “women’s right to choose.” This book is literally about trans people, and mentions people who are not women who are also capable of getting pregnant. This is not just a women’s rights issue, and considering the subject of this book I must admit it is incredibly hurtful that the author leaves everyone who is not a woman but could be impacted out of it.
Overall, I must wonder if the author included any trans people in the writing process. This feels strongly like a book on gender identity written by a cis person for other cis people.
I was excited to read this book but must admit it's quite disappointing. As a trans person, I was a bit hesitant when I saw it was written by a cis person, as in my experience cis people writing about trans people tend to not know as much as they think they do. Sadly, this book may be another example of that.
The author makes several errors, including explaining how a particular pronoun works and failing to follow his own advice mentioned towards the beginning of the book on how to use respectful language. While it is acknowledged and most of these incidents are quotes, there are ways of editing that would still remain true to source material and the message.
Furthermore, there are several places that misgender trans people. Whether due to lack of knowledge on the individual or poor editing, this is not something that can be ignored. This includes Ho’onani, who the book refers to with they/them, though her teacher refers to with she/her. Having heard of her before, I looked her up and confirmed that she uses she/her. If Ho’onani uses they/them this does not appear to be public information. I found this information at the provided links:
https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S126C2189496
https://aplaceinthemiddle.org/blog/details/14838/a-beautiful-look-into-hawaiian-culture-and-living-outside-the-gender-binary-afterellencom
There is also a section on eunuchs and castrati as nonbinary gender categories. To preface this, I am not any kind of historian, and cannot speak on if overall they count as genders, but the examples given for these categories often had no choice and were forced into this situation, and (again, as a trans person) it is pretty harmful to suggest that a person can be forced into a gender category. Quite honestly, I would go so far as to call these practices conversion therapy, given many of these subjects were essentially forced to change gender.
While small in the relative scheme of the book, I must also take a moment to note the section on reproductive rights, and calling it “women’s right to choose.” This book is literally about trans people, and mentions people who are not women who are also capable of getting pregnant. This is not just a women’s rights issue, and considering the subject of this book I must admit it is incredibly hurtful that the author leaves everyone who is not a woman but could be impacted out of it.
Overall, I must wonder if the author included any trans people in the writing process. This feels strongly like a book on gender identity written by a cis person for other cis people.