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A review by christinecasey
Nonbinary: Memoirs of Gender and Identity by Scott Duane, Micah Rajunov
4.0
I didn’t quite understand how the author grouped the book into 5 themes. The themes didn’t stand out, but the stories together did. Thirty representations of diverse nonbinary experiences.
I’ve always thought gender norms were bullshit, but this book really has me thinking further about why gender binary construct has such an important role in society. So many times (in real life) I’ve thought, why? Why does it matter if one is assigned female at birth (AFAB) or AMAB? But naively I never quite considered how different the non-binary experience was from the transgender experience.
Despite hating gender norms, I am conditioned by a “check a box” society, and during these stories I found my mind wandering through the various journeys of the individuals’ transition and gender and tying it back to where they started. I think having so many stories in a row, enabled my brain to finally stop doing this and just accept the story as it unfolded; hear the author for who they were in that moment.
I learned a lot from reading these stories, and I think it puts me in a position to be a better ally when called upon.
I’ve always thought gender norms were bullshit, but this book really has me thinking further about why gender binary construct has such an important role in society. So many times (in real life) I’ve thought, why? Why does it matter if one is assigned female at birth (AFAB) or AMAB? But naively I never quite considered how different the non-binary experience was from the transgender experience.
Despite hating gender norms, I am conditioned by a “check a box” society, and during these stories I found my mind wandering through the various journeys of the individuals’ transition and gender and tying it back to where they started. I think having so many stories in a row, enabled my brain to finally stop doing this and just accept the story as it unfolded; hear the author for who they were in that moment.
I learned a lot from reading these stories, and I think it puts me in a position to be a better ally when called upon.