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Janet Mock's "Redefining Realness" is the sole pick for the book club this month, and she does us all a huge favor by actually separating her book into three sections herself. So we don't have to fret about page numbers and chapters and instead just go with the natural flow of the book. The book was just released on February 4th, so it might take some of us longer to actually acquire copies of it this month, but for those of us who are on top of it: What are your thoughts so far on Section One?

I'm in the middle of Section Two now. I enjoyed Section One; it's an easy read intellectually and a difficult one emotionally, like a lot of the best memoirs. A lot of the book's teachable moments about gender leave me thinking, "Yeah yeah, I know -- get back to the story," but I appreciate how useful they probably are for people unfamiliar with trans issues.

I just started section two as well. I enjoy the way she has tried to explain how she felt as a child knowing she was a girl. And then also, as a child, knowing that this is in some way wrong according to all the interactions surrounding her life. Briefly going into victim's guilt and other psychologies was helpful, but I think it is more interesting to know what she thought as a child; on that basic, elementary thinking level and perception of a child.
I also kept finding myself slightly horrified by the constant turbulent home life. The actions of her father and mother, abandonment, multiple relocations, drug abuse, poverty; just the overall living environment. It seems to me that any child growing up in such environments would potentially have difficulties to overcome. For a trans child, it seems overwhelming even though her narration seems to, at times, make light of the situations. Pointing out herself, it was the only life she knew.

I'm interested to see how this childhood evolves into her adulthood.

I haven't reached part two yet, but Janet's explanation of gender identity and sexual orientation is awesome. It's succinct and easy to understand while still managing to delve into the complexities of each term.

I can also see how it would be difficult trying to explain how her abuse as a child is not linked to her gender identity, but I think she's done an excellent job relating that her gender identity is just that, a wonderful thing and not the result of what happened to her.

So far, this is very well written, and I'm finding it hard to put down. I look forward to continuing the journey, and at my current pace, it shouldn't take long to finish.