This year’s Trans Rights Readathon has come to an end, but that doesn’t mean we stop reading work by or about Trans, Nonbinary, or Gender-nonconforming people. It is incredibly important that we keep reading diversely all year long so we can continue to grow our empathy and understanding. It is important that we also read intersectionally. No one exists in a vacuum. We all have fixed and moveable parts to ourselves and many creators, authors, and characters may belong to multiple marginalized communities. Recognizing this and reading intentionally will help to further foster our ability to empathize and understand the challenges and disadvantages others face and, possibly, how we can help.
During this year’s readathon I finished the three books I initially set out to read. I physically read both Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer and Spread Me by Sarah Gailey and listened to the audiobook for Pageboy by Elliot Page. All three were amazing reads. I plan to have individual reviews for each of these books coming up soon but here’s a few quick things about each of them.
I knew I wanted to read Trad Wife as soon as I heard of its existence. I have fevered daydreams of one day being a small-time homesteader but without all the religious indoctrination. And I, of course as a millennial, have existed on social media since I was able to, so naturally this book spoke to me. Trad Wife made me laugh, feel joy and catharsis. I genuinely came away from this elated and so proud of Camille, our protagonist. Trad Wife said a lot, and I was here for it. It was gory and unsettling but also touching and satisfying. I highly recommend this book if you take issue with the patriarchy.
Spread me, where do I even start? Holy shit, what a book! Reading Trad Wife and Spread Me back-to-back was wild because they were both amazing and hit so many of the themes and topics that I look for in horror and they were expressed in a way that I just shouted – Yes! Sarah Gailey is one of my favorite horror writers and I was so glad to have grabbed a copy of Spread Me for my birthday at the end of last year. This book was gory, violent, uncomfortable, but also heartwarming. I loved the team of researchers and the dynamics of their relationships with one another. I loved how as the story unfolded you were still getting these glimpses of their previous interactions with one another, getting to see how they started just as you’re witnessing how they might end. Beautiful. I will say though, if you didn’t get the double entendre in the title then you’re in for a big surprise. This book has a lot of sexual scenarios, some of them are violent, so if that is a trigger for you then I would skip this one. For everyone else – what a hell of a book!
As I said before, I am a millennial, so I grew up watching Elliot Page’s career on the big screen unfold. I enjoyed every movie I saw him in, and The Umbrella Academy is one of my favorite tv series. When his memoir was published, I knew I wanted to read it. This book was eye opening. While I know there is violence against the LGBTQIA+ community and that Hollywood can be quite homophobic and misogynistic, until I was reading the words written by someone who has lived it, I don’t think it settled in how real this is. How prevalent. This is why reading widely and intentionally is so important. Why listening to each other and fostering community is so important. I became desensitized to the violence that so many face every day. Reading Pageboy reminded me that Elliot Page is a person, a human being, not just a figure on a screen or someone you read gossip about in a magazine (or online), or a statistic thrown at you in a headline. His struggles happened and his joy is also very real. I am grateful that he chose to share his story with the world.
Since I finished all three of the books I set out to read I made my donation of $30 to the Transgender Law Center. They are a human rights group that has been “organizing, assisting, informing and empowering thousands of individual community members towards a long-term, national, trans-led movement for liberation” since 2002. To learn more about them or how you can help please visit their website at the bottom of this post.
The official Trans Rights Readathon website and accounts have not yet posted the final turnout on how much money was raised, how many books read, or how many participants. Hopefully they’ll be done compiling the data from the exit surveys soon. In the meantime, there are some great resources and action points available on their website for you to check out.
What did you end up reading for the readathon? Do you have any new favorites? Are you picking up or borrowing any of the books you heard others reading? I know I plan on reading Model Home by Rivers Soloman this year.
I hope you had an amazing time during the readathon, that you are well and taking care of yourself, and as always, I wish you happy reading!
-Sam
Transgender Law Center: https://transgenderlawcenter.org/
Trans Rights Readathon: https://transrightsreadathon.carrd.co/
Words with Sam 