Genderqueer is a fantastic anthology of queer and lgbt reflection on gender and sexuality.It looks back at the stories of those who come from earlier points of the lgbt movement to people in recent years.It looks at love,trauma,hate and acceptance.It is a fantastic book.Each contribution differs ,but all of them have insightful interesting points to make.To review the book I will now focus on two of the best examples in the text.
One I relate to deeply is by Aaron Link and called Scars.It discusses how the scars on his body as a transgender man have helped establish ties with his family.He has noticeable scars from top surgery while his brother has a scar in the same place due to a disability while his mother lost a breast to cancer.cancer. I’m non-binary and intend to have breast surgery one day and have a mother with multiple autoimmune disorders.She recently lost a breast to the earliest stage of cancer and is hopefully healthy now.My mother’s recovery has been long and difficult.Sometimes she feels incredibly uncomfortable and cries due to a piece of herself that should be there not being so.She has a fake breast insert for her bra and when she wears it her mood lifts as no one can tell she only has one breast.She is incredibly strong and will one day grow to be comfortable with her body again ,but it will be a long journey to that point.My mum’s experiences with dysphoria have tied her to me more than ever before due to my own experiences with this albeit in a different way.Together we are trying to heal and grow whilst finding joint hope.Aaron’s piece matters to me as its something I am also living.
Another fantastic piece is by the Stonewall veteran and transgender activist Sylvia Rivera.In the piece she discusses her life as a gender divergent person in the mid 20th century.She discusses the difficulties in her early life such as her mother’s death and the need in latino spaces for men to be extremely masculine.She discusses how she gradually got pulled into prostitution and how the drag scene and support of older drag queens helped her survive.Sylvia notes how the lgbt scene at this point was wholly nocturnal and that many hid during the day for safety. She considers her close relationship with Martha Johnson as well and how they developed a strong sistershood. She discusses stonewall and how the fight continued after.The city of New York where three gendered pieces of clothing were needed to prove one’s gender or risk arrest did not change overnight and instead more work was needed and accomplished by individuals like Sylvia and Martha.The section about Martha’s death and Sylvia’s difficulty dealing with the uncertainty of how she died is deeply affecting and sad.The piece finishes with Sylvia saying she wished to die with the knowledge that queer people especially transgender and gender divergent people were respected.Its over ten years since Sylvia’s death and although same sex marriage is now legal on both sides of the pond and more famous transgender celebrities are being accepted by the mainstream public this does not help many queer people.There are still many transgender women who deal with homelessness,the need to do sex work and transmisogny on a daily basis.There are countless hate crimes against transgender people every year.The speech Sylvia delivered to the 1973 pride march after attempts to stop her still has resonance today.She attacked mainstream queer culture for rejecting those who didn’t fit cis or heteronormative standards and excluded people who had fought next to them for rights.Radical feminists views on transgender people still exist today even if movements like intersectional feminism and womanism are challenging the prejudiced views of groups like these.Biphobia,Transphobia and similar are still a problem and so is the exclusion of POC,the disabled and other groups in lgbt culture.The battle is not over. We are not even half way through it and in our quest for the true equality,autonomy and safety of all queer people we should be looking at the tales of those who came before us and should attempt to embody their passion and spirit.
There are many more pieces in Genderqueer with varying but importance comments on gender,sexuality and life for lgbt people today.I highly recommend the book and hope you read it and enjoy it as much as myself.
