Burn the Binary!

This book is composed of a series of essays on gender issues with a strong grounding in personal experience. Most are quite short and I would have preferred them to be a little longer and more substantial but they're all interesting and passionate.

This is a really wonderful collection of essays by a transgender activist. This should be required reading for all who are ignorant or scared or confused about transgender people. Riki Wilchins does a fantastic job of explaining what it means to be transgender and the particular issues and problems they face. This book is a little bit history, sociology, memoir and activism all told through a positive, hopeful and often funny manner.

This collection of writings by Riki Wilchins is provocative and thought-provoking. I felt like everything I thought I believed was being turned inside out and back again. Also, Wilchins seems to be speaking to the queer community rather than cis people, so that felt like a big hug. I recently read Serano's WHIPPING GIRL, so this was a perfect follow-up book for working through concepts that were still spinning their wheels in my mind. Love the hopefulness of this book, too!

Burn the Binary is an anthology of subversive writings by Riki Wilchins, and it is divided into three segments. The first segment and the longest one is comprised of selected Articles written on The Advocate and other outlets, and serves as an introduction to Wilchins' writing style for those unfamiliar with is, as well as setting the tone and themes for the rest of the book. In "Where Have All the Butches Gone?", "We Happy Trans: Undoing Gender" and "Fucking Cis-People" we first become acquainted with the different sides of Wilchins' story and views, and this writing that combines memoir with theory and opinions. The rest of the articles on this part react to specific events, expose points of views and critique the world we are living in.

Part two is comprised of extracts from Wilchins' previous work Read My Lips: Sexual Subversion and the End of Gender and this is where the memoir aspect of the book truly shines. There is not a single writing in here I did not enjoy or felt within my bones. "Video Tape" has to be my favorite one because of the style and content. In Wilchins' words Read My Lips (the full work) exists because she wanted to write a book that wasn't targeted to cisgender readers but to trans and genderqueer people to "give them the tools to articulate the anger they already felt, hopefully in a way that would help radicalize them into realizing that the oppressions they faced were political, they were the fault of a binary system, and not that they didn't "pas" well enough or were born transsexual."

Part three are writings from Genderqueer: Voices from Beyond the Sexual Binary and works as a perfect closing for the book. This part focuses more on theory than memoir, and the "hard" aspects of gender and queer theory and politics.

I overall really enjoy the book and felt like it was very well organized since there is a clear progression or escalation from "Creating Child Bodies of Convenience" to "Deconstructing Trans" that helped pull the reader along, as well as going deeper and deeper into meanings and theory.

I was unable to review this book because of a conflict in my schedule. Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused the publisher or the author of the work. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review for you and I look forward to reviewing for you in the future.

Fantastic set of essays that talk about the author's experiences of transness and genderqueer expression over the course of time, and an interesting perspective of trans activism over time.

I read this book in one sitting last night and as someone who is non-binary and still figuring out what it means to not be cisgender, this book is powerful. Our stories are so important and finding so many of them in one collection made my heart sing, my soul feel a little safer and my mind a whole lot happier to know that this book exists. It’s not just powerful for me, but for the people coming into bookstores, libraries and other places where books live. This book is a great addition to a list of books to recommend to people looking to learn more, or know that there are spaces in the world to see and be seen for who they are. Great read!

I thought it was good. There were some parts that I got a little bored, but I understand that I am not going to have the same level of understanding as everyone else reading this book.

It did a really good job of explaining and making people think outside of the box. From the cover to the subject matter.

Beautifully curated collection of essays by Riki Wilchins. This should serve as a primer for those ignorant, confused, or just curious about transgender people. Wilchins does an excellent job explaining the basics, while each part (there are three) escalates in intensity.

Thank you to Riverdale Avenue Books and NetGalley for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

It’s been a while since I’ve read something by Riki Wilchins, but she certainly knows how to leave a lasting impression. Between her wide experience and knowledge base to pull from and her “Suck it!” attitude toward injustice, it’s hard not to stand out. This collection, Burn The Binary! just continues to prove that she’s not here to take cis bull shit and never has been.

I typically have a tough time reading anthologies and collections. Once one part is over, my ADHD mind thinks the whole book should be over. So starting a new story/essay every few pages is rather frustrating, unlike chapters which are constantly building off of each other. However, this book is just one of the few topics that will keep my attention in just about any format! Reading this felt more like a biography that a collection of essay, which one could argue it is. A lot of these essays are just so personal. Even the ones that don’t focus on her own life show enough of her personality for anyone familiar with her work to pick it out in a stack.

The collection is organized by where the piece was first published instead of chronologically or by topic. Yet the jumping around didn’t get too confusing for me. It felt natural to go from a recount of a specific moment in the transgender rights movement to a piece admiring Leslie Feinberg to a narrative about Wilchin’s bottom surgery experience. It definitely is a book full of her greatest hits.

Final thought: Wilchins was one of the loudest voices in the transgender rights movement when it first started, and, although she might not be the first name we think of anymore, she certainly hasn’t slowed her efforts. Filled with history, passion, and first-hand accounts of the queer experience, Burn the Binary!

Wilchins gives us not just a course in gender issues, but context for the concept of nonbinary gender, which may be new to some readers. As one of the earliest proponents of the word, “Genderqueer,” Wilchins takes us by the hand and explains, yes, this is a valid identity, and here, look at the different ways gender can work for people, and yes, don’t we see this is common sense to be accepting of other people. But they are never impatient as they explain in different ways and from different angles how this concept works in real life.

Their writing is tight and concise, at times angry, poignant and vulnerable the next. I felt more of historical context than other memoirs by transgender writers. It’s as if they are saying, look at us, we are here, we are beautiful, and we are deeply human. Wilchins isn’t afraid to share stories of their own missteps on their journey towards acceptance of others or the missteps of those in the queer community—many of whom were resistant to recognize the transgender community. Wilchins is aware of the intersectionality of gender politics and race and doesn’t shy away from the conversation.

Part Two is more memoir than newspaper article, the vulnerability more poignant after the fierce tone of part one. This is where Wilchins lets us in to the personal behind the political. The why. Heartbreakingly for me, so much pain and rejection came at the hands of the queer community. Heart-breaking but not-surprising, sadly, because I have witnessed transphobia and trans-hatred in the queer community up close. Wilchins writes openly about the pain of their childhood and the insensitivity of their transition team at Cleveland Clinic. We see how they emerged phoenix-like in a world that actively despised them, and went on to develop that loud, clear, voice we saw in the first section. How activism healed.

The reader will leave with all their questions answered—from transition to name changes to what their genitals look like or how they function. Wilchins shares it all, with strength and eroticism. Wilchins makes it clear-they are not one to be pitied, nor restrained to any one container or label.

DISCLAIMER: an Arc is provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

TRIGGER WARNING: This is a non-fiction book which contains of the notion and stories of genderqueer, LGBTIQ, transphobia, and non-binary issues. Some words like F* word is explicitly written there.

“But what happens when a genderqueer individual who genuinely looks and sounds profoundly non-binary, and/or masculine, declares in a binary world s/he would be most comfortable accessing the girl’s restroom? To say the least, the optics would no longer work. Nor would appeals to practicality. What really needs to be contested here is not just our right to use bathrooms with dignity (which would, personally, be very welcome), but the entire underlying hetero-binary structuring of the world that queers must inhabit."

I would recommend this book to those who share an interest on LGBTIQ and gender arena. The book does not only cover the gender theories but also some personal experiences related to the problems faced by most LGBTIQ especially the trans.

Full review: https://literatureisliving.wordpress.com/2019/02/01/burn-the-binary-by-riki-anne-wilchins/