Hello, has life started to get normal for you ? What are you currently reading? I just finished I Am Afraid Of Men by Vivek Shraya and the themes or issues this author is trying to address seems so powerful and well done especially keeping in mind it is less than 100 pages
SYNOPSIS
A trans artist explores how masculinity was imposed on her as a boy and continues to haunt her as a girl–and how we might re-imagine gender for the twenty-first century.
THOUGHTS
Misogyny, Homophobia, and Transphobia
Misogynistic mindsets led her to be afraid of men and the idea of feminism seems even more utopian to me after reading this. As a women, her fears seem genuine and rational and I could agree to most of the things she had to say about men.
Then again this isn’t some hate speech for men. It’s a hate speech for a society that shapes men to believe they have power over a women. It’s the misogynistic mindset of society that makes women believe what she should or shouldnt be or just what a good man is and is not.
Why can’t society let people be who they say they are.? Why do you have to have muscles to be a man and makeup to be a women? Why does who they identify as need justification from their physical body parts. That’s the kind of mindset that the author challenges and I found it so timely especially with JK Rowling’s transphobic tweets that came on recently.
Trans Person Of Color
It was my personal goal to read at least one book that had a trans person of color when I stumbled upon this book on Goodreads. I feel Asian Trans People have it much harder especially because it’s even more taboo and unacceptable in Asia than the west.
Even though she is from Canada, I do feel this was a person that imbibed atmospheres that are common in India specifically. The hijra community is looked down upon massively and don’t even enjoy basic human rights and have to beg their way to survival.
“I’m afraid of men because it was men who taught me to fear. I’m afraid of men because it was men who taught me to fear the word girl by turning it into a weapon they used to hurt me. I’m afraid of men because it was men who taught me to hate and eventually destroy my femininity. I’m afraid of men because it was men who taught me to fear the extraordinary parts of myself”
Vivek Shraya
A Memoir
It’s always harder to rate a memoir, it’s somebody’s life and I am no one to judge what they interpret from life. The least I can do is learn and this book taught me to reflect on mindless things I do as a woman and take for granted being a gender that’s identified by the world on a major level and can enjoy basic human rights without asking for it.
Nevertheless, I loved this book and highly recommend it.
DETAILS
Published: August 28th 2018
Genre: LGBT, Memoir
Pages: 96
Publisher: Penguin Books Canada
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