Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Inverse Cowgirl: A Memoir by Alicia Roth Weigel

9 reviews

stine_0's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Body shaming, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Rape, Homophobia, Infertility, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Violence

finnthehuman217's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I started following Alicia on IG after seeing the trailer for “Every Body.” Her work is so influential and I think she one of those people who is going to be a lawmaker or president someday. She has such a beautiful story and her life is spelled out in such delicate terms! Alicia is a badass and she deserves everything! The format of telling her story by her different tattoos 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Minor: Sexual assault and Mental illness

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Body shaming, Medical content, Body horror, Child abuse, Outing, Transphobia, Medical trauma, Drug use, Dysphoria, Infertility, Bullying, and Mental illness

scarletcoat's review

hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia and Medical trauma

Minor: Alcoholism, Infertility, and Mental illness

spuriousdiphthongs's review

adventurous challenging funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Transphobia, Sexual assault, Rape, Medical content, Drug use, Body shaming, Sexual content, Blood, Alcohol, and Mental illness

bookclubbitches's review against another edition

3.0

I appreciated Alicia's story and sharing her truth must have been so gratifying. I am glad more Intersex voices are speaking up and being highlighted. 

HOWEVER, at times this book felt very preachy, like there were no room for other ideas or opinions and that it was her way or the highway. Especially the bit about cancel culture after quoting Harry Potter. It's uncalled for in this day and age no matter what caveat you add the end of the statement. Stop bringing up HP in 2024. Unacceptable. 

The other thing I didn't quite relate to or enjoy was the fact that her white, pretty privilege wasn't acknowledged as much as I felt it needed to me. The amount of dates, hook ups, and propositions mentioned felt like a weird humble brag instead of whatever she was trying to get across. A lot of people do not experience that in any way shape or form and so it felt a little much. 

Good for her for getting a book deal and speaking her truth, this just won't be a new favorite non fic for me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Transphobia

wy_woman's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Medical content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Transphobia, Rape, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use, Homophobia, Infertility, and Infidelity

lettuce_read's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Transphobia, and Infertility

Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, and Rape

Minor: Bullying

mothreadsbookssometimes's review

hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

Inverse Cowgirl is a must-read memoir for LGBTQIA+ (especially the “I”) folks and allies. Inverse Cowgirl is Weigel’s memoir of being an activist around the world, coming out as intersex, and working in the Texas political world. Weigel writes about travel, spirituality, mental health, politics, and a thousand other things, and she masterfully ties being intersex into every anecdote (it’s not a bad thing, I promise).

The first half of the book was thoroughly interesting. Weigel brilliantly combines her personal experiences with scientific facts and psycho-sociological observations about society’s view of intersex people (and of minorities in general). Weigel’s anecdotes vary so broadly in topics: bullying in adolescence, studying abroad in Brazil, working in politics, and coming out as intersex. 

Weigel does an excellent job at raising the voices of minorities throughout the book, always crediting the people who helped her while she was both struggling and succeeding. 

Also, Inverse Cowgirl covers the topic of trauma in a fantastic way. It is not necessarily a book about trauma, but trauma is interwoven into the major experiences of Weigel’s life (that she writes about, at least). They write optimistically, acknowledging that these traumatic events and feelings happened and shaped her life, but never going into extreme detail.

My one complaint is that in the final few chapters, the story started to drag and I found it more challenging to stay engaged with the book. I appreciated the chapter for being an overview of where Weigel’s life is now, but there were several sections that I felt could have been dispersed throughout the rest of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Infertility, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Alcohol, Medical content, Addiction, and Mental illness

Minor: Sexual assault, Bullying, and Panic attacks/disorders