Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - None of the Above: Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

None of the Above: Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary by Travis Alabanza

6 reviews

fynn_jls's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

4.5

Very very heavy & intense to read. Most of the book focuses on the hurt that we as nonbinary/gender nonconforming people experience in society

I wonder [...] If the reason I never see older gender-non-conforming people on the streets is because we eventually get tired of being the freaks everyone looks at? That eventually, we know in order to live peacefully, we must choose one or the other?

They mention that it feels like their choices are either to change medically and be seen as a woman, or to quit and allow people to misgender them for the peace of not fighting. They talk about how it feels like there is just one option or the other, despite feeling and knowing they are between things.

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feelingpeachygreen's review

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braggsy's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective

4.5

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

None of the Above is a series of seven essays, exploring the realities of being Black and existing outside the gender binary. Each is based around a phrase that someone has said to thee author about their gender identity. I found the essays to be honest, intimate and vulnerable and I really appreciated the author sharing their uncertainties about their gender identity. Things like believing they were not trans from birth but made trans in reaction to society’s strict gender binaries and being uncertain whether they were a woman or just wanted to present as one due to the difficulties of existing as clearly non-binary and gender non-conforming. This book really expanded my knowledge and understanding of gender, and particularly the nuances and realities, the sometimes messy uncertainties, of life beyond the binary. For those readers who are unsure of their gender identity, its message that gender identity is not necessarily set in stone or known from a young age, that it can evolve and change, will be an especially valuable and important one.

“I do not know what I will look like in ten years. Even if I decided now what I wanted to do with my body, I still would not know. Surgery and hormones are not magic wands, they are unpredictable and changeable. What I do know is that I do not want to be led by fear, or by sacrifice, or by others’ projections. I want to be led by my own desires, my choices, and my ability to carve my own rules.”

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sophtruepenny's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.75

Intricate and deliberate. A difficult read, but in a good way. Challenged my thoughts about myself. Said what I needed to hear. First long form content I’ve read/seen about being trans non binary and black.

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bootlegfrank's review

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

There’s an underlying sadness to this book which given the anti trans rhetoric in the UK is to be expected. Travis’ is so reflective and honest in the way they write, the book exposes many thoughts I myself have had but have never vocalised and that last chapter in particular is brilliantly written and I believe we could all learn something from it.

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