Eva Marie L. (babyjulie) -
Helpful Score: 3
Well, I can honestly say I learned a lot from this book. I've had it sitting around ever since I was back on bm.com and just never got to it. I wanted to start whittling away at my hardbacks and this was at the top. (Alphabetical order by author last name, had no A's.) (Yes, I'm a geek.)
Sooo, uh, I had never heard of alyhas. "Alyhas were (and sometimes still are) genetically male tribe members, who wore women's clothing, adopted women's names, and did women's work."
In the Mohave culture, four distinctions are made: male, female, alyhas and hwame (the female-to-male equivalent).
These communities were happy with these people, not ashamed.
Beam really did her research here and not just with what I've mentioned. That chipping at an iceberg. But at the same time the book isn't frustrating, it's too interesting. If the subject of transgender teens interests you this is bound to as well.
Beam doesn't just do the normal research, she got to know these girls and women. She practically adopted at least on with her own partner. These are children whose own parents disowned them. Imagine the burdens, emotional, financial, legal, etc. You don't do that and not care.
I'd have liked to have seen pictures of the major players in the book but I can see why this may not have been possible. Photos would have made the book better for me though.
Beam does some talking about genetics. I've never heard of it before but apparently some one in five hundred to a thousand people (that's a decent number) are born with Klinefelter's syndrome. Basically the person has an extra X to the XY chromosome's. Some people have XXXY and XXXXY. What does this mean? It can't mean nothing.
Swyer syndrome babies look female but their Y chromosome lacks the sex-determining agent. Can't mean nothing.
And there's a lot more to think about. Tyra Hunter. I'd never heard of her before and I almost wish I could still say the same. Tyra Hunter was a transgender woman living in D.C. She died in 1995. How did she die? She died because the EMT's caring for her during an emergency stopped all care once they cut off her clothes and saw she was born a man. She died. She is dead because of this.
The first thing that popped into my head was, "Would these male EMT' refuse treatment to any man? Or just a transgender?" What about someone else's sex life makes YOU feel uncomfortable? I couldn't care less about anyone else's sex life but MY OWN.
I'm sure this doesn't reflect on the average EMT - I sure as hell hope not - but this is outrageous. This is someones life lost. Were these people charged? Don't they take an oath? Can a racist person just not care for a person he "hates" based on skin color? What about sexists? Are they included here? This enraged me.
All in all Transparent taught me more than any other book I've read lately. And I'm glad. I was already very open to transgender people, because basically unless I'm having sex with you, your sex life doesn't effect me. Most people who know me would call me conservative and I guess I am in a lot of ways, but I have no right to deny someone else their life. If that means I'm ______ or ______, that's fine. I'll take that.
But these are children. Children whose families have totally denied them in many instances. Children who are ridiculed at school and in public. Who can't find jobs. Who can't get the surgeries and other things they need to help them feel complete. That's what we need to remember IMO.
I will say this - I am glad a young teen can't hope up and have surgery. Teens are notorious for exploring and that's not something to arrange and go through with on a whim. I think the waiting period and counseling is a fabulous idea. If may put some out but that's worth it if it keeps some from ruining their lives.
Sooo, uh, I had never heard of alyhas. "Alyhas were (and sometimes still are) genetically male tribe members, who wore women's clothing, adopted women's names, and did women's work."
In the Mohave culture, four distinctions are made: male, female, alyhas and hwame (the female-to-male equivalent).
These communities were happy with these people, not ashamed.
Beam really did her research here and not just with what I've mentioned. That chipping at an iceberg. But at the same time the book isn't frustrating, it's too interesting. If the subject of transgender teens interests you this is bound to as well.
Beam doesn't just do the normal research, she got to know these girls and women. She practically adopted at least on with her own partner. These are children whose own parents disowned them. Imagine the burdens, emotional, financial, legal, etc. You don't do that and not care.
I'd have liked to have seen pictures of the major players in the book but I can see why this may not have been possible. Photos would have made the book better for me though.
Beam does some talking about genetics. I've never heard of it before but apparently some one in five hundred to a thousand people (that's a decent number) are born with Klinefelter's syndrome. Basically the person has an extra X to the XY chromosome's. Some people have XXXY and XXXXY. What does this mean? It can't mean nothing.
Swyer syndrome babies look female but their Y chromosome lacks the sex-determining agent. Can't mean nothing.
And there's a lot more to think about. Tyra Hunter. I'd never heard of her before and I almost wish I could still say the same. Tyra Hunter was a transgender woman living in D.C. She died in 1995. How did she die? She died because the EMT's caring for her during an emergency stopped all care once they cut off her clothes and saw she was born a man. She died. She is dead because of this.
The first thing that popped into my head was, "Would these male EMT' refuse treatment to any man? Or just a transgender?" What about someone else's sex life makes YOU feel uncomfortable? I couldn't care less about anyone else's sex life but MY OWN.
I'm sure this doesn't reflect on the average EMT - I sure as hell hope not - but this is outrageous. This is someones life lost. Were these people charged? Don't they take an oath? Can a racist person just not care for a person he "hates" based on skin color? What about sexists? Are they included here? This enraged me.
All in all Transparent taught me more than any other book I've read lately. And I'm glad. I was already very open to transgender people, because basically unless I'm having sex with you, your sex life doesn't effect me. Most people who know me would call me conservative and I guess I am in a lot of ways, but I have no right to deny someone else their life. If that means I'm ______ or ______, that's fine. I'll take that.
But these are children. Children whose families have totally denied them in many instances. Children who are ridiculed at school and in public. Who can't find jobs. Who can't get the surgeries and other things they need to help them feel complete. That's what we need to remember IMO.
I will say this - I am glad a young teen can't hope up and have surgery. Teens are notorious for exploring and that's not something to arrange and go through with on a whim. I think the waiting period and counseling is a fabulous idea. If may put some out but that's worth it if it keeps some from ruining their lives.
Nancy P. (gingerdaisy) reviewed Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers on
Helpful Score: 1
Interesting book, but the title made me think it was going to be about PARENTING transgender people-it is not. The author is a woman who became a kind of surrogate parent to some transgender MTF kids, but did not speak to my experience.
