Thanks to Julia Serano

Recently I wrote a short review and comment about Helen Boyd and her book about her relationship with her husband Betty. It, in my view, is the best book on gender from a personal perspective, not because of her husband or their relationship, but for her ability to write about being human and the diversity of being human. Along that line I read the book "Whipping Girl" by Julia Serano.

And? I have to say, it's easily on par with Helen's book and by itself, again in my view, is the best book on the issue of gender, and it's not because it's written by a trans woman, but by a woman who has, as they say, been there done that. I don't know Julia personally, nor have I been to any of her presentations to hear her, I'm only going by this book. That's obviously not a complete picture of anyone, but it's the only one I have, and I like it.

What I especially like is the way she identifies the flaws in conventional thinking about transpeople. She covers all the perspectives non-transpeople have explained, described, portrayed, and everything else they've done in the name of some agenda or purpose to show the flaw isn't transpeople, but non-transpeople who simply don't understand a transperson's world. When you try to mistakenly marginalize a group of normal people, you only find you fail to see, understand and accept the whole diversity of people.

And while I can talk about it until you fall asleep from boredom, Julia does a whole better job of it. It makes you look at yourself, and discover we're all transgender to some degree, most not enough to recognize the dissonance with their subconscious sex and physical sex, and some far enough to have, feel and know a great dissonance and spend a lifetime trying live as they know and see themselves. And sadly, most of them don't have the support to help them with their life struggle.

On top of that I read a Scientific American article on genes and gender. It seems that ones gender identity isn't what the researchers have been arguing if it's nature (fetal development) or nuture (first few years), or a combination of both, but much is set by one's genes. The genes set the framework and table for the individual, and nature and nuture does the rest. It seems there just are some things we can't really change because it's the age old argument, "We are born that way."

Ok, back to the book. There isn't really much, if anything, in the book I can find any disagreement. But then I'm a fringe person and view the world from the edge, where diversity is the rule and reality just is, nothing more, just there. I hope some day she comes to the Seattle area to hear her, and please read the book. You'll come away wiser and more understanding of people.