What I'm Reading...

I am currently reading this really interesting book, reminding me of my days of reading choose-your-own-adventures and reminding me also of my days as a Anthropology/Women's Studies major.  It's called "She He They Me: For The Sisters, Misters and Binary Resisters."  I have, in the last few years, come to know about a sizeable group of young people--brilliant and caring and working toward a better future, mind you--who are not apparently interested in accepting the heteronormative/gender normative ("being gay is bad/identifying your gender as something other than your sex parts is bad/do not question the labels and the prejudice and the repression our mainstream culture supports") culture around us.  The more I know them, the more I admire their courage in the face of teasers, disbelievers and fearers.  Some people apparently can't yet (grit, you can get there, people!) accept that the world is changing. people are empowering themselves to be MORE themselves.  Anyway, inspired by those young people, I found and am reading (after my daughter devoured it) "She He They Me" and it's so well-laid out, with answers to all the important questions that people who care enough to have an open mind are wondering, whether they are asking them out loud.  What if a person is called a girl but feels like a boy/knows they are a boy?  Is gender construction the same across cultures?  Where did "queer" come from and why did it used to be a bad term and now it's an empowering term? What happens if someone wants to change their bodies to mirror their sense of themselves inside (ie "I am really a woman with a man's body")?  And even, "what's a drag queen?"  This book does a lot to give great information, to increase our understanding and hopefully, to lessen ignorance which so often feeds hate.  DId you know that lesbian, gay and bisexual youth are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual youth?  Check out: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/preventing-suicide/facts-about-suicide/ for more vital information.  This is a crisis and the more we understand, the better we will be to help this crisis disappear.  
People:  Even if you "don't believe in" some of the concepts you'll read about in this book, then at least you should know that you are going to be left behind, because THEY EXIST for people and if you do anything with people--have neighbors, tak to children, work in a store, watch sports, cook food for others, ride a bus with others, go to church with others, or--take a breath, Amy--teach our youth or provide physical or mental health care for them, YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND WHAT OTHERS ARE EXPERIENCING.  
Thanks to Robyn Ryle for this enlightening and comprehensive book.  Yes, it is an adventure, this whole gender and sexuality discussion, so let's choose to be on it with open hearts as we meet those who might be having a bit of a more terrifying adventure!