"Middlesex"--new book

[JenniferR771]

"Middlesex" by Jeff Eugenides. A novel based on certain facts. It is about an FtoM hermodphrodite.
Here is link to interview of author on Fresh Air on National Public Radio.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12485470

[Di]

It is Oprahs book club book for the summer.....my copy is on its way:D I heard it is very good.




Info about the book...
DISCOVER MIDDLESEX
As a child, Calliope Stephanides never felt like other girls her age. On her road to self-discovery, family secrets are exposed and an astonishing genetic history is uncovered. Oprah's Book Club Summer Read.

[CaptLex]

It sounds interesting, but a couple of things concern me. First of all, I can't believe people still use the term "hermaphrodyte" in this day and age. Second, the author talks about the main character's condition being caused by interbreeding and also about Callie/Cal choosing a male identity because it would be "easier" due to male physical characteristics. I think those two things can give people who don't know differently the wrong idea about us - they may think that all transpeople are "mutations" due to interbreeding and that some of us base our gender identities on how our hormones make us look (or the chromosomes we're born with), rather than on who we are internally. Could be confusing for the uninformed.

[AllieSF]

I read it and enjoyed her journey. Being from the Detroit area brought back memories of familar places. I thought it was an interesting and detailed approach to her situation and how it was dealt with and botched up by a so called expert. Recommended read. Trying now to find a used copy of Trans Sister Radio.

[Dasein9]

It's not a new book; it's been out for a while. And the Cap'n's right; it's not about a CD or a TG, but an intersex individual.

It is a well-researched book, though, and has a wonderful passage I underlined and bookmarked:

"I was beginning to understand something about normality. Normality wasn't normal. It couldn't be. If normality were normal, everybody could leave it alone. They could sit back and let normality manifest itself. But people -- and especially doctors -- had doubts about normality. They weren't sure normality was up to the job. And so they felt inclined to give it a boost." (p. 446)

[privateperks]

Being someone who is intersexed, I do find the term hermaphrodite somewhat misleading. Technically a hermaphrodite is a person with complete sets of both male and female genitals - and according to most doctors this is not a condition that actually exists. Most intersexed individuals either have a genetic condition which causes them to produce the secondary sex characteristics of both sexes, one opposite their birth sex, or in the case of one rare disorder - no secondary sex characteristics at all. Incomplete genitalia, such as testicular tissue found in what is an otherwise female appearing body, is also a possibility - or female genitalia that appear to be masculine, or even masculine genitalia that appear to be female - but not two complete sets. The term hermaphrodite has a kind of circus freak sensationalism to it as well, and as such is generally not used by intersexed individuals.

:2c: