A review by vaporization
Herculine Barbin: Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth-Century French Hermaphrodite by Michel Foucault

The context in which Barbin's "memoirs" have been published is awful. Reading just the "memoirs/memories" portion leaves me a bit confused as to why Barbin is so consistently gendered as female (by Foucault at least, though it doesn't feel that surprising from him) despite showing masculine self-identification even before their condition is publicly revealed, and he/Camille thinks of himself before his transition as "a young man among girls." The incredibly sad final portion of Barbin's story is very much the consequences of the difficulties of socially transitioning and lack of support.

Although Barbin was intersex, he was raised as a woman and later lived as a man, so his experiences, at least socially, very much resemble that of a trans man. The intersection of lesbian and transmasc experiences is still a thing that people don't really seem to get today (cue J.K. Rowling and her band of terfs saying trans men are "lost lesbian sisters"). Although intersex conditions are far better understood today, it feels like there has been a depressing lack of progress for trans people. Camille/Barbin's story seems all too heartbreakingly familiar to contemporary stories of/by trans people.

Won't rate because I can't reconcile my desires to show Barbin respect and show Foucault disrespect.