One of the greatest things about reading nonfiction is the way it can open your eyes to the world around you–no plane ticket required. What nonfiction book or books have impacted the way you see the world in a powerful way? Is there one book that made you rethink everything? Is there a book that, if everyone read it, you think the world would be a better place?

Sporting Gender: The History, Science, and Stories of Transgender and Intersex Athletes Joanna Harper

Last year for this topic I wrote about women in sports. As part of that, I mentioned a book called Sporting Gender that discussed the history of trans women and women with differences of sexual development in sports. This book focuses on elite sports, particularly running events.

I didn’t know when I started reading about this topic that I was prepping myself for slapping down people who were going to want to spout a lot of stupidity about things they didn’t understand during the Olympics this summer.  

For a more personal look at Intersex identity, XOXY is a good starting point. This book was frustrating to read at times because of the medical ignorance that the author and her parents showed until she really came to terms with her condition. She refused to let her doctor talk to her about it and then blamed her doctor for not talking to her about it, for example. But it also points out the issues of bad interactions between families of intersex children and doctors. Doctors often have wanted to “fix” the children and parents have went along with surgeries on infants that turned out to not be in the patients’ best interests. Hopefully, that is changing as awareness grows.

I haven’t read these next two memoirs but they are also written by intersex people.

Each of them also had “corrective” surgeries as infants. That seemed/seems to be the practice in Western countries more than in the global south. That’s part of the reason why a lot of intersex athletes come from African or Asian countries. So you get to mix a good dose of racism in with your prejudice about what a “real woman” is when looking at major sporting events.

the race to be myself

On last year’s post I was excited to read this book. Caster Semenya has been one of the most prominent athletes affected by bans on women with suspected differences in sexual development. Her memoir shows how she went from never questioning that she was female in a conservative home in South Africa to having a forced gender inspection with internal ultrasound as an 18 year old virgin at her first international competition. She was forced to medicate herself to decrease her naturally occurring testosterone levels to below the levels of her competitors. Every time she met the standards set for her and started to win despite them, the standards were shifted again. She had to learn how to stand up for herself and other women like her because no one else was going to defend her.

I think the world would be a better place if everyone who ever said, “There are only two genders” or who has asked someone running for office to “Define a woman” as a gotcha question would read these books.  Human biology is not that simple.  I think it is fascinating.  

There is a movie out now that features an intersex character.  I won’t name the movie because the intersex “reveal” would be a spoiler.  (There is definitely a discussion to be had around the ethics of that choice.)  There are so many conservative reviews of this movie going on about the “sexually confused” character.  Do they not know that sexuality and gender are different or do they just not care? There are commenters on review sites screaming that there is no way that a human person could not know that they were intersex until they were an adult. Maybe they should read these books and then they wouldn’t have to sound dumb on the internet. That doesn’t even begin to address all the people who have no idea that there is a difference between trans and intersex people.

Have you read any nonfiction books about intersex/differences of sexual development issues?