Thank you for writing this! I just read that passage in Detransition Baby were Reese describes her desire for violence as a confirmation of her womanhood and it *messed* me up, both because I intimately recognized that dynamic as well, and because I am deeply disinvested in that conflation of womanhood with pain. (I did press on and questions why it felt particularly tough to confront a transwoman character who expressed this, when like, Lana Del Rey sings about the same thing all the time, and I barely bat an eye.) I am reassured to know and trust that Peters' book (which I cannot stop reading!) pushes against those assumptions. And I hadn't read that Bambara quote! Very cool.
I was also told that a boy who bullied me liked me and I never thought until just this minute how messed up that was. Thank you! Going to check out Detransition, Baby after reading that amazing passage.
Thank you for writing this! I just read that passage in Detransition Baby were Reese describes her desire for violence as a confirmation of her womanhood and it *messed* me up, both because I intimately recognized that dynamic as well, and because I am deeply disinvested in that conflation of womanhood with pain. (I did press on and questions why it felt particularly tough to confront a transwoman character who expressed this, when like, Lana Del Rey sings about the same thing all the time, and I barely bat an eye.) I am reassured to know and trust that Peters' book (which I cannot stop reading!) pushes against those assumptions. And I hadn't read that Bambara quote! Very cool.
I was also told that a boy who bullied me liked me and I never thought until just this minute how messed up that was. Thank you! Going to check out Detransition, Baby after reading that amazing passage.