Whipping Girl

[Guest laeta_lacrima]

I recently came across "Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity" at my local library and I decided to buy it while I was reading "Trans Woman Manifesto" which precedes chapter one. Julia Serano has a very unique approach in writing this book. It's half autobiography and half observation and explanation. It's not entirely one or the other. It's an unusual way to write a book, but Julia uses it to perfection. She brought to my attention how a lot of feminist organizations discriminate against transsexuals. She discusses how transsexuality and femininity in general is portrayed in the media and how it's viewed by mainstream society. It's really hard to describe the book in a way that really shows how good it is. Julia Serano is a biologist and her observations are razor-sharp, and she really does not hold back. It's very empowering read and very informative. Julia brought up ideas about transsexuality, being transsexual, and living in a misogynistic, transphobic, and homophobic world that I never thought of in all of my own personal contemplations.

Although Julia Serano does discuss her own experiences on HRT and compares how she was treated differently when she was perceived male and female, she makes clear that she wasn't going to make a book entirely about her experience of transitioning and her feelings before and after. She does this because she's seen how the media uses these kinds of books as a way of exploiting transsexuals and it keeps transsexuality "exotic" and "strange" in the eyes of most readers. Julia wanted to make sure she was able to relate her views and her feelings in a way that would be different and written in a way that could not be exploited, and she did so perfectly. Not only did she put this much thought into the delivery and structure of the book, but she puts this much thought in pretty much every sentence in the entire book. I might be hyping up the book, but that's pretty much what the entire book felt like to me.

This book is a must read for everyone.

[Guest Cyndi]

Thanks Laeta, I'll have to pick that one up and read it soon. Sounds like a very interesting read.

Cyndi

[Guest ChloëC]

Thank you for the review and comments. I really appreciate you adding the following

She does this because she's seen how the media uses these kinds of books as a way of exploiting transsexuals and it keeps transsexuality "exotic" and "strange" in the eyes of most readers.

It's what I have felt since I first started reading autobios and other stories, expecially in the 70's and 80's. Nice to see it in print.

Hugs

Chloë

[Guest ShannonA23]

I loved whipping girl, highly recommend it.

[Guest Jessie M]

from moving mine is still packed and read most of it so far but sure i will go back and look at it again. it has been a great book and have enjoyed it alot.

Luv

Jessie

[Guest Lacey Lynne]

Hon, this is arguably the best book to date on the matter, IMHO. The media? Mainstream society? Both are utterly insane. Anyway, yes, you are so right about this book! Definitely, it's a keeper and any thinking person would do well to read it and discuss it with anybody willing to actually listen. Great thread and recommendation you've made here. Thanks!

Lacey

[Guest Mina89]

Dealing with social stuff as I do, I've found "utterly insane" applies to every identifiable society, institution, culture, subculture, counterculture, group, and association. The outliers are even weirder. Maybe this whole "sanity" thing needs to be re-evaluated?

Whipping Girl is excellent. My therapist recommended it and I finished it in a week.

-Valerie

[Guest Risu]

What is it about? o.o

[Guest Risu]

Nevermind my phone decided to scroll to the very bottom and all I saw was the last post. Sorry >< I guess I need to stop posting from my phone...

[Guest someone or other]

This book is amazing. I'm only half-way through right now, but holy crap.

[Guest Nikki_R]

Bought this book within a week of coming out to myself. A must read. It cleared a lot of things up fast and allowed me to utilize the web more. I do have a little bit left because I've been too busy with classes, but as soon as I'm finished I'm letting the family read it. Also I have been considering buying a bunch to hand out to certain people in my circles for when I come out to them and give them a list of pages/chapters that I think they must read.

[Guest AngelSO]

Oh wow - we just picked this up at our local bookstore. Szenzie's reading it first then we're swapping books. We'll be sure to comment on it when we're finished.

[Guest Szenzie]

I finished Whipping Girl a while ago and I've been meaning to write my own thoughts but I haven't gotten to it yet. The only value I can add for a review is that this is probably the best book I've ever read in my life. Seriously. At least non-fiction. By far. I've never agreed with a book so much in my life. I was constantly, page by page jumping up out of my chair and being like "YEAH! That's exactly what has been bothering me about _insert aspect of society here_. I usually write in my books and I found my self underlining the entire darn thing (kind of defeated the purpose, amirite?).

Natalie Reed, the woman who authored a couple of the popular "Misconceptions about Trans Women" articles that were posted here also thinks so

and listed it as her top read today. I'm not surprised she's a Julia Serano fan too since I'm a fan of her blogging.

One final plug... if anyone is in the Atlanta area, check out Charis Books & More. They're located at Little 5 and have an excellent feminist collection, free hot tea, and a trans section that let me find this book without having been told in advance that it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. When checking out, the cashier explained to me that it was an awesome book and was recently on thier bookclub list.