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A review by toreytibbs
Found in Transition: A Mother's Evolution During Her Child's Gender Change by Paria Hassouri
1.0
I don't even know where to begin with this book. I guess my deepest sentiment after reading it is that no parent of a transgender child should ever use this book to guide their view on how to support their child through coming out and transition. This seems harsh, but in the face of a book this exploitative, I don't really know how else to word it.
The author claims that she is now evolved and has learned so much about the trans community but still chose to dead name her daughter and refer to her with male pronouns throughout the entire book even though she addresses in the prologue that it is something she knows to be inappropriate and she doesn't do in her day to day life. Now I understand some may argue her daughter consented to this and I would counter by following the chronology of the book her daughter was only barely 17 (depending on where her birthday falls) when this was published so that consent is invalid, she was a child.
I will never be able to understand the desire to immortalize all of the worst thoughts you have ever had about your child and about the trans community at large, and I sincerely hope that the author understands that although she says that she has changed, she still wrote what she wrote.
Writing a book about intimate details of your child's life is always tricky and questions of consent are always present, and I worry deeply that one day her daughter may feel differently about this quantity of deeply personal information being out in the world.
This book is not a guide on how to support your child through transition, and I don't believe it is helpful for close-minded parents. It contains many outdated stereotypes and validates those thoughts in others by seeing them in print. This book is damaging to the very cause the author is trying to further, and it breaks my heart that she does not recognize that.
The author claims that she is now evolved and has learned so much about the trans community but still chose to dead name her daughter and refer to her with male pronouns throughout the entire book even though she addresses in the prologue that it is something she knows to be inappropriate and she doesn't do in her day to day life. Now I understand some may argue her daughter consented to this and I would counter by following the chronology of the book her daughter was only barely 17 (depending on where her birthday falls) when this was published so that consent is invalid, she was a child.
I will never be able to understand the desire to immortalize all of the worst thoughts you have ever had about your child and about the trans community at large, and I sincerely hope that the author understands that although she says that she has changed, she still wrote what she wrote.
Writing a book about intimate details of your child's life is always tricky and questions of consent are always present, and I worry deeply that one day her daughter may feel differently about this quantity of deeply personal information being out in the world.
This book is not a guide on how to support your child through transition, and I don't believe it is helpful for close-minded parents. It contains many outdated stereotypes and validates those thoughts in others by seeing them in print. This book is damaging to the very cause the author is trying to further, and it breaks my heart that she does not recognize that.