Rating: 3/5, average
This book is in the same vein as My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, in fact, Amazon recommended it to me right after I added that book to my cart, so I got this as well. My spouse is undergoing gender transition right now and I thought it might have some helpful tips and information.
This book is about the author, Chii, who transitions from male to female. It covers the period from when she was growing up and thought she was a gay man to when she started living as a woman, met her husband, changed her name, went to Thailand for gender confirmation surgery, to changing her legal gender, and ends with her getting married to her husband.
It’s very personal but it’s always upbeat. The illustrations are cute and cheerful and it’s easy to read. I think this would be a good book to give family who don’t know much about gender transition to help them understand the feelings behind it and what the steps are.
There are some things that are more specific to Chii’s transition, like the laws in Japan regarding legal gender, name changes, and marital status, and the way she surgically transitions quickly after socially transitioning. The notes about Japanese legal transition are interesting, but not applicable to the situation of people transitioning in the U.S. If I were giving this to family as a kind of handbook to help them understand gender transition, I would make a note that not all trans people consider gender confirmation surgery necessary (Chii might have noted this, I don’t remember, but since a lot of the book focuses on her medical transition it kinda gives off that impression).
A lot of the information presented in this book is pretty basic if you’re knowledgeable about LGBTQIA+ issues, so you could probably skip this book and not miss too much, but it is a really sweet story and a fun way to pass the time.
It is interesting to note that gay marriage is not currently legal in Japan. This causes some problems for married couples in Japan if one partner wants to undergo gender transition, because if the relationship becomes male-male or female-female they would have to divorce. A lot of couples choose not to transition legally for this reason. It seems unfair that trans people in Japan have to choose between their marriage and being themselves.
Homosexuality is not illegal in Japan, but gay marriage has not been legalized either. It’s kind of in an odd in-between state. Hopefully gay marriage gets legalized in Japan soon!
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