My big question is this: why isn't the main character just a trans girl? It feels like all the groundwork for that choice is there. In spite of a few imperfections, Eon's portrayal of the transgender experience is both functional and sincere. And the pain of living at odds with herself combines with the main character's other struggles, such as her disability and internalized sexism, to create a tortured but realistic inner world. The experience almost destroys her in the same way that being forced to live contrary to one's gender often destroys the lives of trans people. Her crossdressing ruse is not merely a physical inconvenience, but also mentally taxing and spiritually painful. Most powerfully, the main character's arc echoes the emotional experiences of many trans people. In addition, transgender experiences are acknowledged in the rules of the world's story: Eon has its main character perform a setting-appropriate equivalent of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), imbibing a substance that will help her emulate maleness in the same way that testosterone is used by real life trans men.*
The book does this in several ways: first, transgender experiences are acknowledged by having the main character discuss gender issues with a transgender woman. This is a damn shame.Įon bucks the trend by accepting transgender experiences as central to its discussion of gender. While a lot of crossdressing adventure stories deal with issues of gender and sexism in some way, very few acknowledge transgender people, let alone engage with the trans perspective on gender.
0 kommentar(er)
