What happens when your gender doesn’t fit neatly into the categories of male or female? Even mundane interactions like filling out a form or using a public bathroom can be a struggle when these designations prove inadequate. In this groundbreaking book, thirty authors highlight how our experiences are shaped by a deeply entrenched gender binary.
Every single story in this collection approaches a different side of being nonbinary, each with their own understanding and history with the term itself and gender at large. Each story has its criticisms of society and the strict binarism that it enforces on people, while many offer a very personal insight into their own journey.
As the last writer criticises the central focus on masculine androgyny of the nb community, this collection represents of AMAB people, a celebration of the feminine aspects of nonbinary, and the voices of nonbinary people of colour. And many of these stories assist in the understanding that the term itself is reductive, by highlighting the concept that ‘nonbinary’ must be in exact opposition to the binary, that it is considered some otherness to the cisnormative structure of pretty much everything. It addresses race, transmisogyny and the value placed on being passing (and ultimately still adhering to the binary).
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Nonbinary is a term I struggle with, even as I apply it to myself. These stories were a big help though but despite that, I probably would never have picked this up myself. Reading a bunch of ARC’s is definitely one way to get you to read outside your element, and find the stuff that won’t be every second suggestion on bookstagram. I’m not going to do the super personal stuff here, but will definitely do a more personal post in the near future.
I would suggest this book to people struggling with their identity, absolutely, but also to the allies who may feel disillusioned by the various narratives of nonbinary people. This book is honest proof of how different ‘nonbinary’ is, and also covers a lot of the questioning that nonbinary people won’t share, for fear of being condemned as ‘not really trans/queer/nonbinary’ because their narrative doesn’t (shockingly) fit perfectly into cisnormative society.
Nonbinary releases April 9, 2019.
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