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Biography & Autobiography. LGBTQIA+ (Nonfiction.) Sociology. Nonfiction. HTML:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER �?� The inspiring true story of transgender actor and activist Nicole Maines, whose identical twin brother, Jonas, and ordinary American family join her on an extraordinary journey to understand, nurture, and celebrate the uniqueness in us all. Nicole appears as TV�??s first transgender superhero on CW�??s Supergirl When Wayne and Kelly Maines adopted identical twin boys, they thought their lives were complete. But by the time Jonas and Wyatt were toddlers, confusion over Wyatt�??s insistence that he was female began to tear the family apart. In the years that followed, the Maineses came to question their long-held views on gender and identity, to accept Wyatt�??s transition to Nicole, and to undergo a wrenching transformation of their own, the effects of which would reverberate through their entire community. Pulitzer Prize�??winning journalist Amy Ellis Nutt spent almost four years reporting this story and tells it with unflinching honesty, intimacy, and empathy. In her hands, Becoming Nicole is more than an account of a courageous girl and her extraordinary family. It�??s a powerful portrait of a slowly but surely changing nation, and one that will inspire all of us to see the world with a little more humanity and understanding. Named One of the Ten Best Books of the Year by People �?� One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times Book Review and Men�??s Journal �?� A Stonewall Honor Book in Nonfiction �?� Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction �??Fascinating and enlightening.�?��??Cheryl Strayed �??If you aren�??t moved by Becoming Nicole, I�??d suggest there�??s a lump of dark matter where your heart should be.�?��??The New York Times �??Exceptional . . . �??Stories move the walls that need to be moved,�?? Nicole told her father last year. In telling Nicole�??s story and those of her brother and parents luminously, and with great compassion and intelligence, that is exactly what Amy Ellis Nutt has done here.�?��??The Washington Post �??A profoundly moving true story about one remarkable family�??s evolution.�?��??People �??Becoming Nicole is a miracle. It�??s the story of a family struggling with�??and embracing�??a transgender child. But more than that, it�??s about accepting one another, and ourselves, in all our messy, contradictory glory.�?��??Jennifer… (more)
User reviews
Since I've recently become interested in genetics, I was curious about how identical twins could have different gender identities and was especially intrigued with the chapter on brain science. The author explains that while sexual anatomy is determined by hormones at about six weeks, gender identity is "a function of the interplay between the sex hormones and the developing brain and because it is a process that takes place over time, in utero, it can be influenced by any number of environmental effects". She goes on to explain the various processes that can effect gender identity and that gender is not binary. All human brains are comprised of varying degrees of both male and female features.
While the book did end on a happy note with Nicole on her way to becoming a young woman, I would love to know how she is coping now and into the future. I hope that someday she will write her own book.
I loved this book. It is very enlightening and would be so helpful to the people that are full of hatred toward transgender people to help them realize how fluid gender is. Being Transgender as the book explains so well has nothing to do with a
"But the lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height...The lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the lord looks at the heart"
~1 Samuel 16:7 (from the book)
The writing itself was excellent. The narrator moved from person to person to try to show how everything affected all the members of the family.
The word "transgender" can be scary for some folks, and I think a lot of that revolves around
This should be a good discussion book for book club. The only thing that would've made this story better was a more personal approach. The format of the book was fairly objective -- written from an outsider's view. Both Nicole and her brother Jonas appear to be very intellectual and well-spoken young people and you can easily find clips of them online. Had this book not already been written, It would be interesting to one day read this same story from their point of view.
While this book is an excellent primer on the science and politics of transgender individuals, it is generally focused on the details of the events surrounding the legal case and not as much on Nicole. The writing style was distant and basic and it seemed written at a 6th grade level. While it was a great book for our book club to discuss, I would have preferred an autobiography written by Nicole rather than a 3rd person account by a journalist who interviewed the family after the fact. Our book club discussion was enriched by the numerous online clips about Nicole and her family, which are readily available on Youtube. Overall, a great primer for individuals struggling to understand transgender individuals but not a particularly insightful glimpse into what it feels like to be transgender in American society.
This book artfully tells the story of how Wyatt's family
From a supportive elementary school to an non-supportive middle school, through a move where they kept Nicole's history a secret, to a lawsuit about appropriate accommodation. Through Kelly doing most of the heavy lifting of educating community members while Wayne tried to come to terms with the reality that he had a son and a daughter, not two sons, the family pushed on, finding that they at times had to fight just for Nicole to have the same basic access to things that all students have. Like a toilet.
Bathroom access is a very serious issue for transgender individuals. We're seeing this bullshit in places like North Carolina, where they are couching their bigotry and hatred in the 'protection of women.' Those legislators should all have to read this book, which explains in really great detail how gender identity, sexual orientation, and genitals are all different things. Just because most of us find our gender matches the one assigned us at birth doesn't mean that's always the case, or that there is anything wrong with those where that isn't the case. We all just REALLY need to stop being so concerned with what is in peoples' pants.