Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kulkin
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verymuchmeg
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Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kulkin
I honestly don't know if I would've pulled this book from the shelf whilst browsing, as I'm not transgender, nor do I know anyone well who is (though I used to). Also, despite not being transgender and not being in a close friendship with anyone who is, I feel that I understand the complexity of this topic and the related issues well enough that I don't "need" to read it. And, yet, I was drawn in by one of the most hilarious and poignant quotations I've ever heard: "While everyone else my age is saving up to buy a car or a house, I'm saving up for a vagina." It was hilarious: I burst out laughing. It was quotable: I Tweeted it and it got re-Tweeted and favorited. I remembered it for days. But... it was also sad. It took me a while to get past the candor, the humor, and the strangeness of it and dig down deep into my understanding: there is a person out there who so badly wants to be in a female body that saving up for a vagina is in priority above saving up for a house. Doesn't that say it all?
I appreciated the way in which Susan Kulkin approached this project. She clearly wanted to give people who don't fit into our society's neat little categorized gender/sex boxes a voice. She felt comfortable enough with herself as a writer (and a person, for that matter) to allow this mission to take whatever form her six interviewees wanted, whether it be creative retellings of the stories most important to them, poetry, photography, or question/answer sessions. She let their voices shape the manuscript, rather than forcing them to fit within the rigid confines of her preconceptions.
The main message of the Male-to-Female, Female-to-Male, pansexual (often referred to as androgynous), and intersex (often referred to as hermaphrodite) teens is simple: we're people too. And, though many heterosexual readers who fit nicely into traditional gender roles may not understand "why someone would choose to be a gender or sex other than the one in which they were born," by the time those readers take the time to fully read the chapter by and about the one intersex teen represented, they might understand how it isn't always a choice when someone is born with ovatestes (a combination of male and female reproductive organs) and a body constantly populated with a confusing combination of male and female hormones. If such a person "chooses" either gender and undergoes the surgery and hormone therapy required to exercise that choice, isn't that person technically a transgender individual? Readers might also be surprised to learn that some such people "choose" to live life straddling gender lines, as they were born. Is that, too, really a choice?
If you want to become empathetic to transexual, pansexual, and intersex teens, I highly recommend this book. If you fall into any of those categories yourself, you have probably already heard about it, but, if not, I suspect you might feel a kinship with some of the six teens whose profiles are shared within its pages. If you are a teen, you might want to take a look at this book since, chances are, you will probably meet and befriend someone like the six teens interviewed herein. If you are a parent of teens, a teacher of teens, a social worker who works with teens, or any other adult who interacts with teens on a regular basis, I would encourage you to read this book. It would be a wonderful addition to any young adult library, high school classroom library, or teen center book collection.
I appreciated the way in which Susan Kulkin approached this project. She clearly wanted to give people who don't fit into our society's neat little categorized gender/sex boxes a voice. She felt comfortable enough with herself as a writer (and a person, for that matter) to allow this mission to take whatever form her six interviewees wanted, whether it be creative retellings of the stories most important to them, poetry, photography, or question/answer sessions. She let their voices shape the manuscript, rather than forcing them to fit within the rigid confines of her preconceptions.
The main message of the Male-to-Female, Female-to-Male, pansexual (often referred to as androgynous), and intersex (often referred to as hermaphrodite) teens is simple: we're people too. And, though many heterosexual readers who fit nicely into traditional gender roles may not understand "why someone would choose to be a gender or sex other than the one in which they were born," by the time those readers take the time to fully read the chapter by and about the one intersex teen represented, they might understand how it isn't always a choice when someone is born with ovatestes (a combination of male and female reproductive organs) and a body constantly populated with a confusing combination of male and female hormones. If such a person "chooses" either gender and undergoes the surgery and hormone therapy required to exercise that choice, isn't that person technically a transgender individual? Readers might also be surprised to learn that some such people "choose" to live life straddling gender lines, as they were born. Is that, too, really a choice?
If you want to become empathetic to transexual, pansexual, and intersex teens, I highly recommend this book. If you fall into any of those categories yourself, you have probably already heard about it, but, if not, I suspect you might feel a kinship with some of the six teens whose profiles are shared within its pages. If you are a teen, you might want to take a look at this book since, chances are, you will probably meet and befriend someone like the six teens interviewed herein. If you are a parent of teens, a teacher of teens, a social worker who works with teens, or any other adult who interacts with teens on a regular basis, I would encourage you to read this book. It would be a wonderful addition to any young adult library, high school classroom library, or teen center book collection.
