Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out

Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin

13 reviews

stevia333k's review against another edition

5.0

The audiobook didn't have like notes & apprendixes, but it did allow me to read kn less than 2 hours what had taken me 10 years before to read on paper.

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kshertz's review

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challenging emotional informative inspiring sad fast-paced

4.5

I loved learning these real stories of trans people living their lives for the trans readathon. They’re young people too and there’s so much we can learn about them and from them. I think that it would help so many people if they could read these stories and See their friends, students or children in them. It’s a great read.

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the_true_monroe's review against another edition

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fast-paced

1.0

I have had this book for 5-6 years but held off on reading it because many times it is difficult for me to read queer narratives in general, as I often would question my own and feel bad about not realizing it all earlier. That is not what I had to worry about with this book. Most of these chapters focus a lot on very stereotypical gender norms, such as liking action figures more than barbie dolls or even describes girls as more annoying/ less strong. There is a lot of misogyny, and one chapter had what really reads as strong biphobia. The first story was the most painful to read, as while the person’s story is valid, by focusing on how the trans male is okay with how the girlfriend sees him as a girl and hates his physical transition/ never has called him “he”, it can make people reading thinking this is in general acceptable. Also, I think it should be made more clear in the beginning how while the people featured are in many ways diverse, they all were recruited from Callen Lorde, an LGBTQIA+ clinic based in NYC known for helping trans people access gender affirming care; this leaves out people who were unable to access this care, grew up / live in rural areas, etc. I really wanted to be able to give this book a higher rating, and while these are stories that need to be heard, this book reads to me as “look how brave trans teens are for defying gender norms and facing so many challenges” and it “others” them. So while it promotes awareness, it does not promote acceptance as much. I know autism is a completely separate thing, but I think of it how many people are aware of autism and try to be nice to autistic people/ befriend them but they still treat them as “other” and that they are being such a great person for showing kindness to them.

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betweentheshelves's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

This book has really been on my radar since it first came out, but I haven't actually picked it up to read until now. For a banned book club! I appreciate that this is giving a voice to trans teens, and I think the stories included in it are valuable. I also appreciated that the author worked to present a variety of gender identities under the trans umbrella, so that a variety of teens could see themselves in the story.

I noticed that a lot of reviews mentioned that there is a fairly narrow scope for this book, which is true. All of the teens were based in a similar area, and some of the narratives stil enforce gender stereotypes (boys like sports, girls like pretty things, etc.). I think this partially stems from when this book was published. In 2022, LGBTQ+ issues are in the news more than ever (especially as it pertains to the transgender population), and I think people are just more aware of it than before. This book was originally published in 2014, and these issues were being talked about then, but not quite with the awarness that they are now. And I think this is reflected in the stories included in here, 100%.

I honestly wish we could get an updated version of this book, because I think the stories would be sort of similar, but also different. Transgender teens still struggle with a lot of the issues presented in this book, but we might have different vocabulary to talk about it.

This book is a good start and a good foundation, there's just a lot of potential for expansion. Maybe it will happen in the future!

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achay91's review

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emotional sad fast-paced

3.0

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nrogers_1030's review

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libraryfrog's review against another edition

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2.25

Let me start by saying as a trans, queer individual I love that books about trans/non-binary youth exist. However, this book is by and for cis, straight people. I can’t help but feel like these young people’s stories have been exploited. Deadnaming, misgendering, stereotyping, printing photos of youth pretransition, I get that these youth I believe were of consenting age, but it’s uncomfortable that she is making money off their vulnerability. I don’t think this book progresses anything much. I get that it was published in 2014 by a cis woman born in 1941, but seriously there’s a lot of misleading stuff. I would not recommend this to anyone who hasn’t already been educated about gender theory. Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend it at all. But to the youth who bravely shared their stories and thoughts, thank you.

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tlaynejones's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad

2.0

This collection is weirdly sexist. The stories are supposedly the words of people who are Trans, Enby, or Intersex, and they may well be. However it seems odd that so many of them have been through so much to actualise their true gender, and yet have not examined gendered stereotypes and prejudices in any way. Perhaps the author, who is cis, may have filtered which parts of these stories to include, to fit her own unconscious bias?
These are also, for the most part stories of profound trauma. Again, I question the author’s choices, as to which stories to include.
I was uncomfortable for much of this audiobook. I would suggest choosing a book that has been authored by a trans person instead of this one.

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mandi4886's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

3.25

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mmaack24's review

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

2.0

very clearly written for cisgender readers, which would be fine if not for the author’s occasional transphobia and poor choices of commentary. strange and misplaced comments on trans bodies, particularly of trans masculine individuals, and odd choices of interjection sometimes felt as though the subject was being talked over. no effort was made to filter or correct some transphobic or otherwise harmful comments from some subjects. subjects’ stories were mostly very well told, though, and it was lovely to see their perspectives when the author was not the one speaking.

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