Exploring Dawn

Finished reading: Dandelion Daughter by Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay, translated by Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch 📚

I gave this 4.5 stars. A moving story told in almost snippet fashion. I really enjoyed it, especially reading a first person narrative! Beautiful prose and a fast read.

All along, I was thinking an easy 5 stars until the ending that was just too nicely tied up.

Finished reading: Whipping Girl by Julia Serano 📚

A powerful read that was at times depressing and demoralizing, but overall was uplifting, affirming, and empowering. Well worth the investment of time.

Three great quotes:

• In a male-centered gender hierarchy, where it is assumed that men are better than women and that masculinity is superior to femininity, there is no greater perceived threat than the existence of trans women, who despite being born male and inheriting male privilege “choose” to be female instead. By embracing our own femaleness and femininity, we, in a sense, cast a shadow of doubt over the supposed supremacy of maleness and masculinity. (p. 15)
• There is no right way to be trans. Each of us simply needs to figure out what works best for us and what allows us to best express who we feel we are. (p. 28)
• It’s time we replace the existing gatekeeper model with one that’s centered on the needs of trans people themselves. This begins with the public acknowledgment that all people have the right to self-identify (even if that identity falls outside of the male/female binary), and that one’s self-identified gender is necessarily more legitimate than the one that is rather naively assigned to them by others. (p. 158)

And finally, this thought really struck me. When asked by a friend what she found attractive in trans women, the author replied, “… it is almost always their eyes. When I look into them, I see both endless strength and inconsolable sadness. I see someone who has overcome humiliation and abuses that would flatten the average person. I see a woman who was made to feel shame for her desires and yet had the courage to pursue them anyway.” (p. 279)

After my last post, I’ve been down. I heard the opening of the following on a podcast and spent a little time digging up the original post. This enlivened my day, my mood, and my life. I’ve been saying something like this in my head these past few months, but it’s wonderful to see it so concise and powerful.

This is an excerpt of the beginning of a post “The Seam of Skin and Scales” by Elena Rose (posting as Little Lake). I was pointed to this by the goddess writer Casey Plett. She was speaking with her fellow publisher/goddess/poet Cat Fitzpatrick on a LitHub podcast.

The seam of skin and scales

I am not a woman trapped in a man’s body. This body is no man’s; it is mine, it is me, and there is no man in that equation. And I am not trapped in it. There are a million and one ways out of this body, and I have clung to it, tooth and claw, despite an endless line of people and institutions who would rather I vacate the premises, and have sometimes been willing to make me bleed to convince me they’re right.

This body is mine, and I claim it and its bruises, and it is not a man’s, and I am not trapped here.

You can find the entire post online. I’ve saved a copy in case this site ever goes down.