Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'

Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyam

8 reviews

hazel_oat's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Sexual assault, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Violence, Slavery, Racism, and Dysphoria

templetoncecelia's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Colonisation, Confinement, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Genocide, Classism, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

the_reading_wren's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Fascinating, challenging and most of all comforting. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Transphobia, Colonisation, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, Biphobia, Sexism, Outing, and Misogyny

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Medical content, Genocide, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Slavery, War, Medical trauma, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, Blood, Misogyny, Genocide, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Death, Religious bigotry, Child death, Murder, Colonisation, Sexual content, Transphobia, Torture, Child abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Medical content, Deadnaming, and Police brutality

Moderate: Infidelity, Infertility, Slavery, Confinement, Dysphoria, and Kidnapping

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Cursing, Lesbophobia, War, Biphobia, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia

Eugenics, Intersexism, Incarceration

lbelow's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

5.0

This is the kind of book that for years I have been looking for. It looks at the past with an openness that reflects the breadth of the trans experience. Rather than pointing to a list of people who meet certain criteria, the author expounds on the trends and situations of the past and the multi-layered reasons for acting in gender-nonconforming ways—from the economic and social/political in Western/European history to reasons intrinsically tied with sexuality, (non-white) culture, and spirituality. I may not have finished this book with a laundry list of definitely trans figures, but I'm left with a buoying feeling that people like me have always existed. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Minor: Medical trauma, Genocide, Lesbophobia, Dysphoria, Ableism, Racism, and Homophobia

leweylibrary's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

I DEVOURED this in one sitting so 🙌 As a history major in college, I appreciate this book and how it approaches trans history so much. Obviously the language we have now was not always around, but that doesn't mean trans people were not. I appreciate how the author explains so many of the flaws in how we study history--needing hard proof of someone's queerness and considering them cis by default unless proven otherwise and how hard that is to do. I appreciate that this book really is an exploration of gender nonconformity across many cultures, races, etc. Not only was the research and everything else about the content fantastic, but I loved how it was structured (issue-based more than chronological). This book has me thinking a lot about a recent book I read about women rulers of the past bending gender and their reasons for doing so, and I love it when I can make connections like that. I feel quite strongly that everyone should read this book and hopefully have a better understanding not just of trans people and their history but also of how we have looked at gender in the past, present, and future.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Dysphoria, Colonisation, and Homophobia

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Outing, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, and Hate crime

Minor: Deadnaming, Acephobia/Arophobia, Biphobia, and Lesbophobia

bookmark3brodi's review

informative reflective sad fast-paced

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Dysphoria, Body horror, Homophobia, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Classism, Gaslighting, Outing, Sexual harassment, and War

caseythereader's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical content, Outing, Sexual content, and Violence