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A review by nadia
Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyam
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
While I was generally intrigued by the individual stories shared in this book — ranging from the 16th Century to the present day and spanning a wide variety of cultures — and I appreciated the new perspective that Heyam was trying to bring to how we look at trans people and gender nonconformity throughout history, I really struggled to stay focused while listening to this.
I was hoping for much more of a structured argument that introduced the case studies as a means to support points made, as opposed to them being used as a range of examples of the experiences of trans people throughout history. Because of the way the book jumped around in history, having finished it a couple days ago, I'm left with rough memories of snatches of stories, but the details and timeline are all jumbled up in my head. I'm also left with a few high-level points of how we might want to think about trans history going forward, but was hoping to have taken away a more solid thesis.
Still, if you're interested in learning more about trans history, I'd class this as a must-read! My rating mainly reflects how my personal enjoyment was hampered by mismatched expectations!
(I also skipped a few minutes towards the end [around the 97% mark] after Heyam says: "At the climax of [Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness]..." — a book I've wanted to read for a long time. I don't know how spoiler-y this comment ended up being but I'm not a fan of fictional novel plot points being referenced in nonfiction/academic work in general and will do my best to avoid them in case!)
I was hoping for much more of a structured argument that introduced the case studies as a means to support points made, as opposed to them being used as a range of examples of the experiences of trans people throughout history. Because of the way the book jumped around in history, having finished it a couple days ago, I'm left with rough memories of snatches of stories, but the details and timeline are all jumbled up in my head. I'm also left with a few high-level points of how we might want to think about trans history going forward, but was hoping to have taken away a more solid thesis.
Still, if you're interested in learning more about trans history, I'd class this as a must-read! My rating mainly reflects how my personal enjoyment was hampered by mismatched expectations!
(I also skipped a few minutes towards the end [around the 97% mark] after Heyam says: "At the climax of [Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness]..." — a book I've wanted to read for a long time. I don't know how spoiler-y this comment ended up being but I'm not a fan of fictional novel plot points being referenced in nonfiction/academic work in general and will do my best to avoid them in case!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Transphobia