Transgressive

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for my honest book review!

I would like to note that this book is out of my normal wheelhouse of books. This is a book of essays written by Rachel Anne Williams, a transgender woman, taken from her blog she writes. I am not normally a fan of essays, but this book intrigued me and I was excited to be approved for the advance copy.

The author prefaces this book with letting you know to read the book however you want. Since this was an ebook for myself, it was easiest to read it straight through. She also asks for feedback and requests it come in the form of a “shit sandwich.” What this means is you say something that wasn’t so great, add in a part or something you loved, and end with something else that needs a little work. I appreciate this author and her quest for honest, constructive feedback.

The essays are categorized in similar groups and so they begin. I had to Google a lot of things in this book. As someone who does not know any trans gendered people, this was my first real introduction in to this world. Suddenly terms appeared in the essays and I was clueless at what they meant. This became frustrating to have to read with my phone nearby so I could look up new terms. I did find that as I read and finished the book, many of the terms were explained in detail that I had to originally look up. It would have been great to have those essays at the beginning of the book or at least an extra preface to terminology that someone outside of the transgendered world would not be familiar with.

Williams is a well-educated woman with a clear background in philosophy. The way she writes is stunning and remarkable. You can tell she thought about how she wanted to articulate herself. I also appreciated that she made sure to clarify that this book is about HER experience, and her experience only, and that everyone’s experience is different. I will say it was eye opening to learn about the process and what transgendered people go through. If you are looking for an insight and are overall just curious, I must steer you in the direction of Rachel and this book.

I wanted to like this book more than I did, but, I found myself skipping over a few essays as they just went above my head. It also frustrated me to have unfamiliar terms explained at the end of the book. I know this also probably goes with the nature of an advance copy, but, there were footnotes that were all at the end of the book. That made it difficult to read the footnotes, so I just gave up on trying, it would have been helpful to have them at the end of each essay instead.

I am giving Transgressive a 3.5 star rating. It held my interest and I feel much better informed and understanding of issues and the process that surrounds transgendered people. I also see the potential in the book to be very controversial. You won’t be sorry if you pick this book up to read and you really can skip around and read essays in whatever order (my recommendation is start with the last category of essays first). I hope to read more work from Williams in the future.

Reading feminist works written by minorities that I'm not a part of is important to me, and this book definitely did make me think. However, I felt that Williams was often so philosophical and tried so hard to be neutral that it felt like she had no real POV to center the book. It felt a bit like "here's a whole bunch of essays I wrote about transgender philosophy and my experiences and they're kind of organized but I am mostly just sharing my musings and there is no consistent thesis here." There was also a lot of repetition from one essay to the next.

It also struck me that she barely mentioned intersex individuals in this book, which is a group I feel should be brought into the conversation when you're discussing sex/gender systems.

Transgressive is a really fascinating collection of essays written by Rachel Anne Williams. This book underlines the need for more transgender voices to be published/highlighted, especially given the Trump administration's October 2018 memo re: a sex-specific definition of gender at birth. While her writing is a form of transgender activism (as it's written on behalf of her community), Williams makes it clear that her point of view is drawn from her own personal experiences, and that you can't claim a universal transgender experience, as every person is an individual. This is a hugely important statement which serves as a reminder (that we sadly still constantly need) that the transgender community is as diverse and worthy of respect as literally any other group of human beings.

Given our current political discourse, Transgressive is an engaging and important read, and I look forward to seeing it published!

Thank you to Jessica Kingsley Publishers for sending me an advance copy!

I received an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for feedback, in which I happily oblige.

I want to preface this by saying that I read this on my Kindle and I accidentally skipped to chapter 27 without realizing it. As you can imagine, I was quite surprised as to how (I thought) the book was beginning. That chapter, "Sacred bullshit: A rebuttal to Dan Harris" refuted a number of ignorant comments by a transphobe. I liked the essay but I thought that was a rather aggressive way to begin the book (whoops, it doesn't actually start that way!) After going back to read the first 27 chapters/essays, I saw that the book does a great job addressing misconceptions within the transgender, written by the thoughtful and dynamic Rachel Anne Williams.
As a cisgender, heterosexual, Caucasian female, I know I am in a place of privilege. (Side note: I loved the chapter where Williams also discusses the privileges she had before she transitioned). As such, I want to do everything I can to support my sisters, no matter what sex they were given at birth. I personally did not know much about the fetishization of transgenders, nor did I know much about the dating scene as a transgender (or even homosexual, for that matter). Now more than ever is a time where we should understand what our marginalized peers are growing through, so we can support them. Williams and her book are not just a testament to those transitioning/have transitioned, but this type of literature is what we NEED as a society so that we can lovingly accept others.

This book is an ok read. It is a collection of essays- which come from the authors blog.
Thank you to both NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishing for my eARC in exchange for my honest unbiased review

What an essay collection! I really enjoyed this, not only because of the content but also because of how Williams' wrote this. There were a wide range of essays covering many topics relating to trans life and culture. I feel like this helped me understand certain aspects and view points better. I point i did appreciate was Williams stating that the opinions and views that she holds come from her pre-trans life as well and that her experience is not the only trans experience out there, just one of many different kinds.

As an advocate of civil rights for all, I always seek out information and books to hear people's stories in their own words. I was hoping Transgressive would help me understand the transgender narrative from actual experiences.
Rachel Anne Williams combines essays from her website as well as adds new material for this collection about her life as a transgender woman. I learned a lot but mostly about gender theory and less on her own experiences.
I like that she made sure that the reader understand these were her experiences and opinions and that she does not speak on the transgender population as a whole. As I learned reading the book, gender is so varied and experiences of living gender is very personal and different for everyone.
The biggest issue I had with the book was the tone. At the beginning, she states she always wants to hear other thoughts and questions about the topic she writes about. As I got into the book, it became clear that she didn't really want to answer questions or have discussions about topics from cis people. I can understand this to a point; many people are rude and just want to argue. I honestly want to understand what she goes through and truly understand the concepts she presents in the book.
Overall, this book is great in discussing gender theory (though it gets above my head on a scholarly level). I learned a lot and have a lot to mull over in my head.

A true, honest voice addressing a wide range of topics that cis people may feel uncomfortable asking. I found it a freeing read.

This book was a great mix of informative and engaging. The essays were never difficult to read, but they did bring up a lot of points I hadn't considered before, so I think it's a great intro collection to ownvoices trans activism.

Williams has done a good job with this collection of essays. Her ideas and arguments are interesting, important, and well developed. However, I do think it comes from a far more academic place than the average person is able to easily grasp. Williams' educational background is evident in her writing style. This is not a bad thing, but it doesn't make it a very approachable book for many people.

This is a really interesting and well written book of essays and blog pieces about being a transgender woman. It is something I am ignorant of, and also the vitriolic debate on the subject in social media meant I was looking forward to understanding the view of someone living the situation and writing as a philosopher. However, I did find the book a little disjointed and I don't feel I "knew" the writer much better after I'd finished. I did learn interesting things about the general topics of gender and feminism. I feel the author wanted to be dispassionate and argue the case as an academic but I wanted more passion or something to show how this mattered to her. The ability to dip in and out of this will make me come back to reread some of the pieces and do some further research. It is well worth the time invested to read a view from the heart of the debate.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Really interesting read on being a trans woman. It was very informative and eye-opening, and should be required reading for everyone

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

Some people have said that this is too academic and with too much difficult terminology. I don't see it that way. English isn't my native language, and I'm a graduate of the Finnish equivalent of a high school. That's it. I didn't find the book particularly difficult to read, challenging, yes, but not difficult, per se. Sure, there are terms and abbreviations that I wasn't familiar with – like t4t – but Williams did explain those terms and abbreviations.

Of course the author's philosophical and (sometimes excessively) theoretical approach to things can make things difficult for people who didn't start reading Nietzsche at the mature age of thirteen, but I digress (and am probably also humblebragging).

I found myself disagreeing on some parts. I don't, for an example, think gender dysphoria is an absolutely necessary part of the trans experience. (Gender euphoria is an option, too!)

I liked the book. The essays sometimes made my head ache, in a good way. Like the way your muscles ache after a very good workout. Some essays made me question my views on stuff. Some essays made me throw my fist in the air and yell, "Yes!" Some essays made me want to cry (it's difficult for me to cry, so I never did).

This book will challenge your views. This book will make you uncomfortable. In a good way!

Read this!