When Hida Viloria was born, the doctor took he/r father
(also a doctor) aside and they had a quiet conversation. Whatever the doctor
told he/r father, he rejected, and Hida was presented to he/r mother as a baby
girl, and that is how s/he was raised. Hida had a rough life; he/r father was
abusive, s/he was drugged and raped at a bar, s/he was a budding lesbian in a
culture that doesn’t take well to that. Along with that, s/he struggled with
he/r gender identity: was s/he really the girl s/he was raised to be, was s/he
male instead, or was s/he somewhere in between?
The answer turned out to be ‘in between’. It took Hida years
to figure that out; s/he’d didn’t hear the word ‘intersex’ until 1995. After
that, things started falling into place. S/he also learned about female genital
mutilation and the common practice in the US of surgically altering intersex
babies so their genitals ‘look like’ girls- depriving them of a source of
sexual pleasure. S/he has become a writer and an activist for the intersex
community, trying to educate the world on gender fluidity and letting babies
grow up as they are born.
I found the first part of the book very interesting, as Hida
told about he/r journey of discovery. The latter part I found less interesting;
it was all about he/r activism and it was very rushed. While I agree he/r
activism is incredibly important, it’s just not as interesting to read about.
Warning to the sensitive: there are graphic descriptions of sex and violence,
as well as liberal use of The Big Swear Word.
Four and a half stars out of five.
I received this book free from the Amazon Vine Program in return for an unbiased review.
This in no way influenced my review.
No link today; Amazon is screwing up.
Not adverse to the subject but probably a pass for me. Too many books too little time.
ReplyDeleteNot adverse to the subject but probably a pass for me. Too many books too little time.
ReplyDelete