Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story

Everyone should read this memoir. The author eviscerates the lazy way many of us who imagine we are enlightened look at gender nonconforming and trans people: born into the wrong body, have surgery, live happily ever after. The tone is light for the most part, but the message is heavy and important.

2.5

I was excited to read a memoir from a person that identified as non-binary. I was hoping to read something a bit more enlightening, but what I got was an ear/eye full of self-aggrandizement. Tobia had some occasional bits of wisdom to offer (his take on the hidden meaning behind "dress

Show More

professionally" was a gem!). However, I truly don't think this memoir had much to offer other than a very rare nugget of wisdom sprinkled here and there.

In this memoir, Tobia comes off as incredibly self-absorbed. Any perceived slight, oversight or lost opportunity seemed to be blamed on a gender-based injustice, when instead what deserved a hard look was the authors own sense of entitlement. I do not say this to belittle some of Tobia's more difficult experiences trying to be themselves while facing suppression. Certainly, those instances existed. Unfortunately, that message could not be heard over the loud sound of them tooting their own horn.

Show Less

A memoir/coming-of-age story from a non-binary author that was assigned male at birth but from their earliest memories knew that wasn't accurate. There are chapters covering their futile attempts to fit in at multiple stages of young life, with a lot of focus on high school, college, and being part

Show More

of a relatively liberal but still typically American suburban Christian church. I loved it, and finished the whole thing in a few days. It's a great read if you or someone in your life has a gender identity that doesn't fit with the world around them, if a bit more in the venting category than having The Answer to make it all work.

Otherwise, chances are that this won't necessarily resonate as much with you if you didn't share something with Tobia that I do: we both went to college at Duke, and less than ten years apart. Prime example: one of the many strange intricacies of being a Duke student is that as a graduating senior you can apply to be a (non-voting and non-really mattering, but still) member of the Board of Trustees. One undergrad and one grad student per year get to do this, with finalists chosen by a student vote. I applied back in 2005, and it was a super interesting if all-consuming process. Tobia got much closer than I ever did, so I relished their stories of the interviewing and campaigning processes, and especially what that was like for an out queer candidate.

Show Less

Jacob tells the story of growing up knowing that the world is wrong about who they are and the compromises that they must make and the contradictions of their situation. So many aspects of gender identity and individuality are explored or touched on with the only absolute being that accepting an

Show More

individual as who they say they are is the compassionate action. And the repeated admonitions that gender is messy the questions I have about trans identity will remain at best partially answered.

Show Less

Made it about halfway through in a couple hours. A little awkward and... young? juvenile? something... but a very quick read. Will work on getting it from the library to finish.

...

Done. Still think it's juvenile and lacking in perspective, but that's the kind of memoir any mid-20s kid would write.

Show More

(Which is why it's generally advisable to wait a bit....) Tobia is occasionally insightful, especially about their gender and working through their internalized homo- and transphobia, but also very focused on status and achievement, and very impressed with themself for what amounts to a bunch of college-kid resume fillers they'll hardly remember in five years. Someone who mythologizes themself as the life of the party and loves being the center of attention can be a lot of fun at a bar, but in a book it's tiresome.

Show Less

Jacob Tobia always knew that he was different than other little boys. He preferred the company of little girls as friends and his most cherished possession was a Barbie doll. In conservative Raleigh, North Carolina, he stood out at an early age.

That however is where this memoir fugues off from

Show More

other memoirs of non-gender-conforming stories you may have read. There is none of the “I always knew I was a girl trapped in a boy’s body” of the ‘common’ trans story, or that “I always knew that I loved members of the same sex.”

Instead this memoir is complicated and often surprising.

I was so proud of the United Methodist Church youth leader when Jacob was in sixth grade and confessed to her that he thought he (when do you change pronouns?) was gay. I was also proud of the church as they let Jacob be authentic within his high school youth group. But, like Jacob, I was disappointed in the church when, as a high schooler, they refused to let Jacob tell his story to the middle school group talking about sexuality and refused to let Jacob to speak to the wider audience of adult congregants.

Jacob received a full scholarship to Duke University, where slowly they (now his preferred pronoun is the singular 'they' - and as they have changed pronouns, I will, too) claimed their authentic self ; first confronting harassment from individuals in a common setting and then becoming an organizer and leader of both the alternative gender group and the campus as a whole. As a top scholar as well as a student leader they and many of their friends and mentors believed they would be a shoo-in for top opportunities such as the Fulbright Scholarship. Disappointingly and surprisingly they were turned down for all of them. They came to believe that this was because they refused to live less authentically and the world outside a prestigious college was less accepting of people doing so.

Nor can I agree with all of Jacob’s choices – such as wearing a men’s business suit with high bling high heels at a conservate political setting when his boss was out of town. Are any of us ever allowed to be truly authentic at every minute of the day?

Nevertheless, Jacob continues to find their way in the world. As an under 30 writer, his memoir is not even at its half way point. According to Wikipedia, they now are “an American LGBT rights activist, writer, producer, television host, and actor.” In their memoir, Jacob states they continuously check their Wikipedia entry to keep it accurate – so if you want to know more, it’s a good place to start.

This memoir exploded much of what I thought I knew about genderqueer individuals and opened my eyes to the reality of the spectrum of people that make up ‘genderqueer.’

Show Less

This book was amazing!!! Jacob is a wonderful writer and I laughed and cried right along with them. I read this while I listened to the audiobook and that was incredible, as it's narrated by Jacob. 10/10 would recommend!