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A review by eliwray
Loving Blue in Red States: Sweetwater Texas by Anne Hagan
1.0
No.
This story got the details of surgeries correct. But research appears to have ended there. Every single other element of being trans is handled poorly, ringing false, entirely unrelated to what every trans person I know wants out of stories about us. This is not how we want loved ones discussing us or interacting with our personal lives.
It's not appropriate to believe you know anything about the personal details of our bodies or transition. Its not appropriate to toss your assumptions about us around like gossip or talk of the weather. It is not appropriate to casually out us to or discuss our medical history with others. We do not not owe ANYONE any details about any transitioning we choose, and Sam framing it as "manning up" to disclose to someone he's not even dating yet is probably the most offensive part of the story.
Don't write about trans disclosure if you don't understand what it means to actual trans folks.
This story doesn't feel like it bears any relationship to the lived experiences of trans folks I know. CW for trans folks btw: there's PILES of casual transphobia in every direction, really murky use of a nonbinary identity, and there's a constant use of "back when he was a female" language. This "trans rep" really just feels like exploitation. It feels like using parts of us as salicious secrets to twist narrative tension around. Our existence is not a plot device. Im really frustrated that something like this is still getting circulated as trans rep in 2020.
(And this is setting aside the fact that wrapping this story up with a marriage proposal instead of simply a commitment to finally date each other feels way, way too fast.)
This story got the details of surgeries correct. But research appears to have ended there. Every single other element of being trans is handled poorly, ringing false, entirely unrelated to what every trans person I know wants out of stories about us. This is not how we want loved ones discussing us or interacting with our personal lives.
It's not appropriate to believe you know anything about the personal details of our bodies or transition. Its not appropriate to toss your assumptions about us around like gossip or talk of the weather. It is not appropriate to casually out us to or discuss our medical history with others. We do not not owe ANYONE any details about any transitioning we choose, and Sam framing it as "manning up" to disclose to someone he's not even dating yet is probably the most offensive part of the story.
Don't write about trans disclosure if you don't understand what it means to actual trans folks.
This story doesn't feel like it bears any relationship to the lived experiences of trans folks I know. CW for trans folks btw: there's PILES of casual transphobia in every direction, really murky use of a nonbinary identity, and there's a constant use of "back when he was a female" language. This "trans rep" really just feels like exploitation. It feels like using parts of us as salicious secrets to twist narrative tension around. Our existence is not a plot device. Im really frustrated that something like this is still getting circulated as trans rep in 2020.
(And this is setting aside the fact that wrapping this story up with a marriage proposal instead of simply a commitment to finally date each other feels way, way too fast.)