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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
This book is clearly written for cis people, to make cis people feel like they already knew everything about trans people already. The author appears to hop from hot-button topic to hot-button topic, based on her past works.
Tws: child abuse, sexual abuse, deadnaming, misgendering, racism
Tws: child abuse, sexual abuse, deadnaming, misgendering, racism
challenging
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
These teens and young adults are brave to tell their stories in their words. I wish it had been a little longer and more in-depth but the range of experiences is amazing.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
A nonfiction book, with stories of six trans teens/young adults, including pictures of all but one of them. Fascinating and easy to read. The only one who seemed like s/he might be faking the trans status for attention was Cameron.
For book that is meant to be groundbreaking and diverse, this came across as incredibly disjointed. I read this as a part of my lifelong interest in information of any kind (although at the time of reading this I was going through the entire LBGT non-fiction section at my local library), but I do wish there was something better than this about the same topics and issues because this just didn't seem like it was the best presentation it could have been.
Through six short memoirs transcribed from interviews, Beyond Magenta explores what it’s like to come of age as a trans-spectrum teen. A crucial lesson this book teaches is to see gender and sexuality as something with infinite colourful shades. To really know someone’s story, you have to be humble and open-hearted enough to listen to them tell it in their own words.
Beyond Magenta celebrates and raises awareness of trans teen experiences by sharing the stories of six gender diverse young people. Some of their stories are funny and full of positivity for the future; others describe abuse, mental illness, and discrimination from which they are still healing. Some of their stories express self-love and confidence, while others describe how navigating a trans identity can feel like walking blind. A common discovery is that there’s always so much more to learn about themselves.
Although the memoirs are edited transcripts of face-to-face interviews, they sound raw and unfiltered. I love how each speaker’s personality and sense of humour shines through their words. I found it utterly engrossing slipping under the spell of each person’s story, as they led me through both painful and uplifting memories to reveal how they became the person they are today.
The teens tell their stories in roughly chronological order, exploring relationships with family and friends, the ‘coming out’ experience at school and at home, and the self-discovery journey of coming to terms with a non-binary gender identity. They also give insight into the physical and emotional journey of hormone replacement therapy. In this way, Beyond Magenta is extremely insightful and educating.
A common theme across the memoirs is parent-child relationships – how powerfully parents’ opinions and attitudes will impact the child’s journey. In Christina’s story, I loved reading about her mother’s evolving attitude towards gender diversity – gradually growing more open to understanding, and ultimately becoming her daughter’s most passionate supporter.
The language framing gender is crucial in the communication of these stories. The teens explain the nouns and pronouns they want others to use, and how crucial this is to their self-view, even their mental health. It’s eyeopening to realise that something as seemingly harmless as calling a trans woman “he” can be a horrible form of emotional abuse.
The majority of the memoirs feature photographs of the subjects, often to chronicle their physical transformations as they experiment with their self-expression or come closer to outwardly communicating their identity. In Cameron’s story, “Variables”, they pose for a series of photos, showing – regardless of where they currently sit on the gender spectrum – how comfortable they are in their own skin.
I enjoyed how the tone and mood of Beyond Magenta flows from story to story. The memoirs that are difficult to read due to confronting content are bookended by stories with hopeful tones. I felt that this helps the reader to see LGBTQIA issues from a range of perspectives and in several contexts. Overall, my impression was that the teens who speak out in this book have positive futures ahead of them – hopefully futures in which more people will be supportive of their journeys and be humble enough to get to know them before they assume to understand their struggles.
This review can also be found on my blog Paige's Pages.
When I first started my transition, I wanted it to be complete, from one side to the other. But now I’m embracing my in-between-ness. I’m embracing this whole mix that I have inside myself. And I’m happy. So forget the category. Just talk to me. Get to know me – Jessy “The House of my Soul”
Beyond Magenta celebrates and raises awareness of trans teen experiences by sharing the stories of six gender diverse young people. Some of their stories are funny and full of positivity for the future; others describe abuse, mental illness, and discrimination from which they are still healing. Some of their stories express self-love and confidence, while others describe how navigating a trans identity can feel like walking blind. A common discovery is that there’s always so much more to learn about themselves.
Although the memoirs are edited transcripts of face-to-face interviews, they sound raw and unfiltered. I love how each speaker’s personality and sense of humour shines through their words. I found it utterly engrossing slipping under the spell of each person’s story, as they led me through both painful and uplifting memories to reveal how they became the person they are today.
Transition? Everyone goes through one kind of transition or another. We go through transitions every day. Except mine is maybe a little more extreme – Mariah “The Real Deal”
The teens tell their stories in roughly chronological order, exploring relationships with family and friends, the ‘coming out’ experience at school and at home, and the self-discovery journey of coming to terms with a non-binary gender identity. They also give insight into the physical and emotional journey of hormone replacement therapy. In this way, Beyond Magenta is extremely insightful and educating.
A common theme across the memoirs is parent-child relationships – how powerfully parents’ opinions and attitudes will impact the child’s journey. In Christina’s story, I loved reading about her mother’s evolving attitude towards gender diversity – gradually growing more open to understanding, and ultimately becoming her daughter’s most passionate supporter.
I learned through Christina. I didn’t read a book or call anyone for information. I listened to my daughter. And I learned by letting her be – Christina’s mum “Every Girl is Different”
The language framing gender is crucial in the communication of these stories. The teens explain the nouns and pronouns they want others to use, and how crucial this is to their self-view, even their mental health. It’s eyeopening to realise that something as seemingly harmless as calling a trans woman “he” can be a horrible form of emotional abuse.
The majority of the memoirs feature photographs of the subjects, often to chronicle their physical transformations as they experiment with their self-expression or come closer to outwardly communicating their identity. In Cameron’s story, “Variables”, they pose for a series of photos, showing – regardless of where they currently sit on the gender spectrum – how comfortable they are in their own skin.
Gender is more fluid and more complex than society assumes … There are other genders out there that don’t fit on the spectrum range. Gender does not have endpoints; it’s three-dimensional. Males float around somewhere, females float around somewhere else, and some people just don’t float at all – they swim. What I mean is, unlike the floaters, swimmers control where they’re going. The swimmers DO their gender instead of BE their gender – Cameron “Variables”
I enjoyed how the tone and mood of Beyond Magenta flows from story to story. The memoirs that are difficult to read due to confronting content are bookended by stories with hopeful tones. I felt that this helps the reader to see LGBTQIA issues from a range of perspectives and in several contexts. Overall, my impression was that the teens who speak out in this book have positive futures ahead of them – hopefully futures in which more people will be supportive of their journeys and be humble enough to get to know them before they assume to understand their struggles.
This review can also be found on my blog Paige's Pages.
A fascinating, eye-opening study, but the writing itself was sometimes confusing as to who was speaking or dragged.
2.5 stars. Disappointing. The first few narratives had lots of strong gender stereotypes, ones many members of the trans community and world in general are trying to get rid of. Although the later stories were more accessible, the formatting of the entire book seemed slightly...off. I understand that these were interviews, but they read very choppily. This would have done far better as a video series.
i appreciate what this book was trying to achieve, and giving a voice to those from minorities can never really be a bad thing. but the execution was poor. those interviewed often reinforced gender stereotypes, but i can’t fault them for that because they are all teens and so it is to be expected that they don’t understand everything and make mistakes, but recording these mistakes didn’t seem necessary to me. all the stories blended a bit together, with little information from those more experienced and knowledgeable on trans issues than 15 years olds.
also the fact that the author is cis didn’t help the case
also the fact that the author is cis didn’t help the case
Susan Kuklin interviewed six teens who struggled with gender identity in their teens. They explained how they were confused and ultimately realized they were transgender. Each teen focuses on their aha moments and ultimate decision about how to represent themselves and how they would like to be perceived in the world.
Of course, perception is hard to control. I think I would have enjoyed the stories a bit more if I had read them as a teen myself, as it is I felt that Kuklin's book although interesting didn't open my mind to anything of which I wasn't already aware. Even though she mentioned how she worked with each of the teens she interviewed to get their chapters correct, I think it might have been more successful with less prodding/editing by Kuklin.
I was a little bothered too by the fact that even though the teens were dealing with gender dysphoria, they still kept strongly to gender stereotypes. Guy = good a sports, likes sports Girl = likes pink, dressing up & barbies. It's great that people are able to come to some realizations about their gender based on liking/disliking certain things that go along with normative gender expectations, but cisgender people shouldn't all need to follow those rules to be considered male or female. Gender is even more fluid than is explained in this book.
That said, I often sympathized with the stories of those included in this book and reading this back in high school probably would have helped me a lot. Oh well.
Of course, perception is hard to control. I think I would have enjoyed the stories a bit more if I had read them as a teen myself, as it is I felt that Kuklin's book although interesting didn't open my mind to anything of which I wasn't already aware. Even though she mentioned how she worked with each of the teens she interviewed to get their chapters correct, I think it might have been more successful with less prodding/editing by Kuklin.
I was a little bothered too by the fact that even though the teens were dealing with gender dysphoria, they still kept strongly to gender stereotypes. Guy = good a sports, likes sports Girl = likes pink, dressing up & barbies. It's great that people are able to come to some realizations about their gender based on liking/disliking certain things that go along with normative gender expectations, but cisgender people shouldn't all need to follow those rules to be considered male or female. Gender is even more fluid than is explained in this book.
That said, I often sympathized with the stories of those included in this book and reading this back in high school probably would have helped me a lot. Oh well.