A review by bookobsessedmommy
Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

This world is oddly small. I was quite surprised to learn that Alok grew up in College Station, home of my alma mater Texas A&M University. I have a lot of fond memories of school and my friends, but being black in central Texas, particularly in 2008, was frequently uncomfortable. I can barely imagine growing up brown and queer in that very conservative small town. This book is a combination of memoir and gender freedom pocket reference guide. (See what I did there? lol) This was so short, but it packed a serious punch. There's a collection of mostly brief rebuttals to the most often used prejudiced arguments against gender equality that I would like to commit to memory, and poignant reminders that my personal discomfort with someone's style or gender expression is no one's responsibility but my own. I'm definitely going to pick up another book in the Pocket Change Collection and probably from Alok as well.