Julie Anne Peters: Luna

Julie Anne Peters: Luna


Luna is a beautiful and quite dark novel for young adults. Luna is the name the main character Regan's transgender sister has chosen for herself, "Appropriate, wouldn't you say? A girl who can only be seen by moonlight?".

Regan as a characters seems to work only as a way of telling the story of a transgender person without going too close, without using their point of view. I think the narrative decision works quite well, specially since this is a novel meant for young adults. Luna's feelings are almost too dark and strong for a YA book even when they are narrated through another character. I don't know if I'm being too protective, but I wouldn't recommend this book to my children until they were 17 or 18 years old, Luna's suicidal thoughts and the pressure a young transgender girl faces in everyday life come through so strongly. I'm not saying young people don't know about pain or that the pain transgender people feel should somehow specially be kept away from the eyes of children. I'm saying that this book left me, a 23-year-old slightly genderqueer person with aloving and supporting family, feeling that the world is such a bad place it is wonder more people don't commit suicide. And that's not a feeling I want to pass on to (my future, possible) children. Of course books like this are very important for suicidal teens who find comfort in knowing other (if fictional) characters feel the way they do.

The novel itself is very good. It is well written, the characters feel real and they change during the story. Regan was left wuite flat, but this book was about Luna, who is portrayed as mysterious and complex. The feelings of the characters, their hopelessness seem real, the reader can feel them. I haven't read any YA books handling gende identity before, so I can't compare this to those, but it is definitely a good YA book. I think it is also a good novel, and that adult readers should read it, too.

GLBT Challenge, Gender Identity and Expression Challenge.

Julia Serano: Whipping Girl

Julia Serano: Whipping Girl - A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity


Serano's book is an excellent comment on modern-day feminism. It is defined as a manifesto and who am I to argue that it isn't. Her experience is that of a trans woman and she discusses for example male priviledge, trans-misogyny, and the sexualization of trans women. Before going into detail, I have to apologize for not writing a review good enough to complement her book, but it has been several weeks since I read it and much has passed through my head since (perhaps some of it has even stayed there, who knows....).

To me, two important new terms I learned from this book were traditional sexism and oppositional sexism. Simplifying a bit, traditional sexism describes the view that feminine things and women are worth less than masculine things and men, while oppositional sexism means that women and men are thought to be two totally different groups, "complementing each other" and that once you are born in to one of the two categories, you stay there regardless of your identity. This view of sexisim might not be new, but it is new to me, and I enjoy how it makes my thinking clearer.

Serano also tells the reader about her own transition, how her feelings and her view of the world changed because of it. She traces some of these changes to the hormones and some to being perceived as a woman. She doesn't agree with the statement that gender is a social construction. In her opinion, the existance of transsexual people proves this; if gender were something that society forces upon us, how do MAAB-people [male assigned at birth] become to identify as women (or the other way around), since society's message to them is that they should identify as men. Serano takes the old gender-sex distinction further and argues that there are three significant parts that form a person's gender/sex and/or affect it. These are subconscious sex, gender identity and gender expression. I have to say I can't remember if she includes physical sex in this model. It is of importance to her, and she argues that at least hormones do affect a person and their experience of their sex/gender. All I can say is please read the book, this model is explained very well although it at first glance can seem a bit confusing.

Personally, the part I identified with perhpas the most, was Serano's discussion on how at first she didn't identify with the word 'woman'.

"Hell, at the time, I didn't even dare call myself a woman. That word, like the word 'man', seemed to have way too much baggage associated with it. At the time, I preferred the word 'girl', which seemed more playful and open to interpretation. [...] But I completely avoided the word 'woman' bacause it seemed to be too weighed down with other people's expectations - expectations that I wasn't sure I was interested in, or capable of, meeting." (Serano, 2007, 217)

That is exactly how I feel about the word 'woman'. I'm female bodied, my gender expression is feminine and I like to identify as a lesbian, but still, 'woman' feels somehow limiting. Strange for a feminist, but I feel that if I identified as a woman, I would put myself out there for anyone to judge whether I'm being womanly enough.


Later, Serano's views change, and she becomes to identify as a woman.

"I used to fear that embracing that identity [a woman's identity] would be tantamount to cramming myself into some predetermined box, restricting my possibilities and potential. But I now realize that no matter how I act or what I do or say, I remain a woman - both in the eyes of the world and, more importantly, in the way that I experience myself. While I used to view the word 'woman' as limiting, I now find it both empowering and limitless." (Serano, 2007, 224)

I'm not sure if the answer for me is to identify as genderqueer or to see the identity of a woman in a different light, but it feels good to know others have felt the same.

The one thing I haven't discussed in this review, but which played an important role in the book, was the role of femininity in feminism. One of the titles of the chapters is "Putting the Feminine Back into Feminism". Serano feels that feminist theory has not embraced femininity, but made it seem artificial, fake. While she definitely does not argue that all women should be feminine, she hopes that more feminists would recognize the empowering power of femininity, and not exclude feminine women from feminist circles.

All in all, I enjoyed the book very much. The only thing I didn't like was a chapter on art, especially literature. Serano seems to have a similar view of art as Kate Millett, and I disagree with turning art only into a way of making politics. That aside, Serano is extreamly intelligent and has justifiable arguments  behind her theories and views on things. The book was coherent while addressing many different issues and themes, and when reading it, I had the personal feeling that someone was talking to me, explaining her views to me, even though at some points the book was quite heavy on theory. It was enjoyable to read and it certainly changed my way of thinking.

Gender Expression and Identity Challenge and GLBT Challenge: This book discusses what gender is, how it shapes the way we see the world, how we are treated differently because of our gender and what does it feel like (or felt like for one person) to transition from male to female. It also addresses sexism, cissexism, transphobia and trans-misogyny, as well as introduces the writer's own theory on sex and gender. I think I couldn's ask for more of a book belonging to these two challenges.

Jackie Kay: Trumpet

Jackie Kay: Trumpet


This is the first novel I have read by Kay, but after this, I'm definitely going to search all the nearby libraries for more. A touching, powerful novel, it's no wonder it has won the Guardian Fiction Prize. Kay is a Scottish author, who has herself been adopted and has lived as a coloured person in the UK. Well, she still does, but what I meant to say is that she seems to have taken many of the themes of this book from her own life.

Trumpet is mostly set in London in 1997. It has several narrators, and they all think about their relationship with Joss Moody, a jazz trumpeter. Moody has been living all his adul life as a man, but was born as a girl in Scotland. His parents (as Kay's in real life) were a black man and a white woman, and he identifies as a Scott, but seems to also have passed on to his son a certain feeling of non-belonging because of their colour of skin. The novel handles the "race" issue mainly through the narration of Moody's son, Colman. He is adopted, but apparently his biological parents were also a black person and a white person. For Colman, the prejudiges of people seem to act as a reason to be angry at the world.

Gender and gender identity are the main themes of the book. The novel starts when Joss Moody has died, and his body is discovered to be female by a doctor and an undertaker. Moody has been a popular musician, so the issue becomes widely discussed in the media. There is a book being written, too many reporters for Moody's wife to stay at home, and visits to old school friends who knew Moody as a girl.

The characters each take their own view of Moody, his life and his gender. His wife, Millie Moody, mostly tells the story of their past; how they met, fell in love, lived their lives together. To her, Joss Moody just had a body that was in some ways different from other men's bodies. Perhaps the only thing I would critizise about the novel is the way Millie and Joss's relationship is portrayed as perfect. On the other hand, the novel handles so much negative emotions, that the happines of their relationship is needed to balance it out. Millie's narration is beautiful and her saddness feels very real.

Millie and Joss's son, Coleman doesn't know about his father's sex before the funeral director tells him. Colmans narration is full of memories, but usually they appear to him in a different light than before his father's death. He has (as many boys, I believe) partly constructed his masculinity, manliness, on the image of his father as a man, and the revelation that he was born as a girl, isn't an easy one to handle. Colman is in dialogue with himself, his memories, a reporter, and the image of his father, and tries to find his place as a black man, son of Joss Moody, in the society.

An interesting thing to a foreign reader was how the use of pronouns could betray so much of how people thought. When speaking about Joss, Millie and Colman say "he", but the reporter (who is portrayed as the "evil person" in the novel) says "she". This would be very hard to translate into Finnish, because we only have one pronoun for all humans, it is not gender specific. The repetition of words "man" and "woman" would seem comical, it would make the text very pointing and stiff.

I loved this novel. It was beautiful, came close to the reader emotionally and introduced several characters whose thoughts I really wanted to read, and could.

British Book Challenge: The novel was set in Britain, London and Scotland mostly. I think the society it described was more Western than only British, the attitudes towards sex and gender seem to me similar to those in the Finnish society in the late 1990s.

GLBT Challenge: Gender was definitely a major theme in this novel. In the Wikipedia article of Trumpet the writer suggests that "Joss Moody's trumpet serves as an equalizer of identity. The character Joss Moody is not a man or a woman, or a husband or a father. He is a trumpet player. The title of the novel gives his identity the opportunity to be that simple." (So sorry for refering to Wikipedia, but that caught my eye.) I disagree with the writer, and because we are talking about a fictional character, I feel I can, as a reader, make interpretations of his gender identity. Joss Moody definitely wanted to "pass" as a man. Nothing in the book suggests that he questioned his identity as a man, or that he practiced gender fuck/blending/bending/call-it-what-you-will. It might be due to the society he lived in, but in the novel his wife states that he never did anything feminine expect comb her hair. (I will find the excact quote if someone insists.) Although femininity and masculinity do not equal to woman and man, Joss Moody lived his life as a man, and because of that I disagree with the honourable Wikipedia writer and call Joss Moody a man.

Gender Identity & Expression Challenge

Gender Identity & Expression Reading Challenge

What: "The definition of 'Gender Identity & Expression' is intentionally a broad one. It can include MtF or FtM transsexuals; transvestites or cross-dressers; intersex or hermaphrodites; futanari or newhalf (crude terms, but common in erotica/manga); alternative gender models (including third genders and neuter genders); ambiguity or androgyny; or just gender role reveral. There are really no limits here, other than that there be something positive in how the subject is dealt with."
When: Year 2011.
Why: I know I have already signed up for the GLBT-reading challenge (and that I have enough challenges to start with), but I just couldn't resist this one. Gender is a fascinating subject and to be honest I haven't read that many book that focus on gender identity. Plus, now I have a good reason to browse through Sally's GoodReads and Bibrary to find more interesting books on gender and sexuality. I think that without this challenge, my GLBT-reading would be somehow limited to the L-part.
My Goal: I chose the Pink Level, so I'm aiming to read five books on five different categories. The categories are Biography/Memoir, Genre Fiction (Sci-fi, Fantasy, or Horror), Young Adult (YA) Fiction, Romance, Erotica, Non-fiction and Anime/Manga.
Reviews: I think I have started to enjoy blogging. Using English somehow slightly distances from myself the things I write, so I don't feel so vulnerable writing about my reactions to books, which I think is a very personal and intimate thing to share. I won't promise anything, but I think there will be more reviews here than I originally planned, and this applies to all the challenges. Also, the books I will read for this challenge will probably mostly be written in English or translated into English (let's face it: there is almost no genderqueer Finnish literature) and that usually encourages me to write reviews in English.
Prize: If I finish this challenge, I can buy My Gender Workbook. It is expensive, but I can save some money if I get a job for the summer. Also, the entry for the challenge promised that there will be prizes, so if there is a drawing of some sort, I will probably enter.
List: No list yet, much depends on what books I can find in the public libraries of Tampere and Helsinki.
1. Non-fiction. Julia Serano: Whipping Girl (~6.5.)
2. Young Adult Fiction: Julie Anne Peters: Luna (~30.7.)
3. Genre Fiction: Ursula Le Guin: Pimeyden vasen käsi (The Left Hand of Darkness)
4. Biography: Cris Owen: Valheellinen elämäni
5. Erotica: Giselle Renarde:  Future Histories. Transgendered Sci-fi erotica