A review by westerdrumlins
Like a Boy But Not a Boy: Navigating Life, Mental Health, and Parenthood Outside the Gender Binary by Andrea Bennett

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I found the exploration of parenthood outside the gender binary to be especially interesting, but I was really intrigued by all aspects of this - as one of the first non-fiction books/collection of essays I've read about the experiences of other non-binary people, I really appreciated the variety of accounts included from across Canada between each of andrea's essays. I also don't tend to tab/mark passages or quotes but felt the need to do so as I read this as I know I'll refer back to it, and will definitely be rereading it at different points in my life (the section on carving out an alternative name for 'mom' or 'dad' has been a topic that I am regularly thinking of and it was so validating to see that from someone else's perspective). 

I'll be looking for some of andrea's other work and I'd definitely recommend this to people wanting to explore what living beyond the gender binary can look like. 

Content warnings include: misgendering, homophobia, transphobia (these tend to occur in the accounts of other gender non-conforming people between andrea's essays), discussions of pregnancy (especially anxiety surrounding risks while pregnant and new-parent anxieties about infant survival), exploration of lactating as a masculine-presenting person (in conjunction with comments on 'top'/breast reduction surgery), discussions of and fixations on death, depression, mentions of rape and dissociation during, accounts of child neglect and abuse.