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BOOK REVIEW Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers by Cris Beam Harcourt - January 2007
Reviewed by Dr. Jonathan Dolhenty This book deals primarily with transgendered teens, a subject which may make many people uncomfortable. Cris Beam does, however, humanize the entire phenomenon as she tells the story of four teenagers who are intimately involved in the transition from one gender to the opposite. I suggest it is a particularly valuable book for any family who is facing this type of situation as well as any reader who is interested in the "why's" and "wherefores" of transgenderism. This phenomenon is not unknown to history nor to anthropology. It is, in other words, not a uniquely contemporary or American phenomenon; nor is it the result of the so-called "sexual revolution" of the 1960s. It was not unknown in ancient Greek and Roman times and it has been uncovered in studies of other cultures ranging from the Mojave Indians to the natives of Tahiti. Whether or not the transgendered phenomenon is biologically based or psychologically determined, a matter of nature or nurture, or a matter of genetic influences or environmental construction remains, at least in my considered opinion, unknown. I think much of the present controversy over transgenderism is misguided since no definitive and empirically validated evidence exists as to its genesis. To her credit, the author refrains from attempting to explain or justify or rationalize the question. Beam spends the bulk of her time simply describing what these teenagers are experiencing. That, at this point in the discussion at least, is about as much as anyone can do. And one can't help but sympathize with what these teens are going through even if one doesn't exactly relate to the circumstances they face. Can there really be such a thing as a woman's psychological being within a man's physical body? Can nature be so cruel as to give one male genitals but a female psychology? Can a child really "think" that his or her physical gender is a mistake and he or she ought to be of the opposite gender even in spite of physical evidence to the contrary? I have no idea and Beam, in my opinion, doesn't make a solid case regarding any of this. On the other hand, I don't know how to refute someone who says, "I feel like I'm really a female imprisoned in a man's body." Such a mental state is a subjective experience and one which no "outsider" can truly share. Contrary to the assertion of a former U.S. president, I cannot feel your pain. Your pain is yours and yours alone. I may be able to vicariously identify with it to the extent that I've had a similar pain but, no, I cannot feel your pain. Similarly, I cannot say that your thinking that you're a woman (or man) trapped in the wrong physical body is untrue, or disingenuous, or a matter of your "arbitrary choice." There is a point upon which I must disagree with Beam if I understand her correctly: Genitalia are irrelevant to determining a person's sex. This is flatly false. Except in the rare cases where a child may be born with both male and female genitalia, the sex of a child is wholly determined by the presence of either male or female sex organs. However, it could be argued, I think, that "gender" is another matter. Sex organs determine male and female from a strictly physiological perspective but, I think it can reasonably be argued, "gender" describes masculinity and femininity or a degree thereof. Masculinity and femininity tend to be "psychological" or "mental" states and do not necessitate a physical dimension. Thus, one could be transgendered without being a transsexual, I would propose. If this has any efficacy, then the difference between one's "sex" and one's "gender" might be better explained and elucidated. (As a sidebar to the above, it is interesting to note that while most languages seem to allow for only two "sexes," many languages have words categorized into three or four "genders." English is one of the latter and nouns can be designated as masculine, feminine, neutral, or common.) The main difficulty I had with the book, although Beam's prose is fluid and easily read, is with the pronouns "he" and "she" which are ascribed to the transgendering subjects at various stages of their development and can confuse the reader as to who or what is being addressed at any specific time. Our language is obviously deficient when it comes to describing a phenomenon such as this and one can get confused as to the gender of the subject being discussed. Sometimes one of the teens insists on being addressed as "she," only to revert to his original physical gender and be addressed as "he." Sorting it all out and keeping the narrative consistent can be somewhat difficult. Nevertheless, regardless of one's personal opinion or attitude toward transgendered teens (or adults, for that matter), there is a story here to be told and Beam does a fine job of telling it. Besides the personal narratives provided, Beam includes some valuable information about transgenderism from both the psychological and medical perspectives. She also includes some important resources at the end of the book, as well as an informative bibliography. While I cannot pretend to fully understand why anyone, especially a young teenage boy, wants to become a member of the opposite sex or feels the desire to do so, the fact remains that such is the reality regarding some young members of our society and culture. It would seem worthy of us as human beings, therefore, to put aside any qualms about this matter and attempt to try to understand it without resorting -- which is all too common the case -- to moralizing about it or passing premature judgments on it. These young people, as Beam describes them in her book, are facing struggles and challenges of a sometimes horrendous nature and at least deserve a hearing and our empathy as fellow human beings. Furthermore, Beam is to be commended for her compassionate approach to this difficult subject. 
Read an Excerpt from this Book Order at Amazon.com Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers, by Cris Beam Order at Powell's Books Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers, by Cris Beam |
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Enrich your life with a book about politics and current events... Enrich your political & social life with a politics or news magazine... |
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