Get in the Car, Loser! (2021)
Jun. 28th, 2025 12:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pauraqueConcluding Pride Month media, I played Get in the Car, Loser! which is a queer road trip fantasy RPG. The lead developer Christine Love is a trans woman, and I'm not sure if everyone who worked on the game is trans but it looks like it's at least a high proportion.
The story primarily focuses on Sam, an anxious goth trans girl who's studying magic in college. Her classmate Grace steals a mystical sword and then recruits Sam to be her party's healer on a quest to defeat the evil Machine Devil (who, disappointingly, isn't this guy). It's going to be a bit of a drive to the Machine Devil's lair, but fortunately Grace's nonbinary partner Valentin has a car, and also serves as the party's tank. The contemporary-fantasy worldbuilding is only lightly sketched but that's all that's needed; the quest to beat the Machine Devil just provides a framework for the characters to talk to each other, build connections, and grapple with their own insecurities and inner conflicts.
( Read more... )
Get in the Car, Loser! is normally $24.99 USD on Steam, but is currently on sale for $17.49 USD, so this would be a good time to pick it up if it sounds like your thing!
The story primarily focuses on Sam, an anxious goth trans girl who's studying magic in college. Her classmate Grace steals a mystical sword and then recruits Sam to be her party's healer on a quest to defeat the evil Machine Devil (who, disappointingly, isn't this guy). It's going to be a bit of a drive to the Machine Devil's lair, but fortunately Grace's nonbinary partner Valentin has a car, and also serves as the party's tank. The contemporary-fantasy worldbuilding is only lightly sketched but that's all that's needed; the quest to beat the Machine Devil just provides a framework for the characters to talk to each other, build connections, and grapple with their own insecurities and inner conflicts.
( Read more... )
Get in the Car, Loser! is normally $24.99 USD on Steam, but is currently on sale for $17.49 USD, so this would be a good time to pick it up if it sounds like your thing!
half an hour earlier tomorrow
Jun. 26th, 2025 10:30 pmmusesfoolTodd Zeile: Pete's been chasing breaking balls
My brain: don't go chasing breaking balls, stick to the sliders and the fastballs you're used to
*facepalm*
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My brain: don't go chasing breaking balls, stick to the sliders and the fastballs you're used to
*facepalm*
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what the mama saw, it was against the law
Jun. 25th, 2025 05:15 pmmusesfoolIn addition to various Spider-Man and Captain America-themed items, I ordered a Batman shirt and a Robin shirt for Baby Miss L and then I was like, but does she know who Batman and Robin even are??? So I went looking for toddler-friendly Bat-stuff, and lo and behold, there is a show called Batwheels on Cartoon Network (and HBO Max) about the Batmobile and other Bat vehicles (the Redbird, Batgirl's bike) coming to life like the toys in Toy Story! With DUKE as ROBIN and CASS as BATGIRL!!! I love this!!! (mainly because I was afraid it was going to be Damian as Robin and Babs as Batgirl and that's just weird.) I don't know if any of the other kids exist, but there is a Batplane they call Wing, so maybe Nightwing is around? I didn't watch it, just read the wiki, but I mentioned it to my niece, so maybe Baby Miss L can get started early on loving Robin, and she can enjoy Tiny Titans when she's a little bit older. (I am still sad and bitter that Tiny Titans was cancelled so unceremoniously because it was the best.)
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Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi (2018)
Jun. 25th, 2025 03:34 pmpauraqueNote: Emezi is nonbinary and started using they/them pronouns after this book was published, so earlier reviews may misgender them, as does the jacket bio.
This autobiographical novel follows Ada, a young Nigerian who is inhabited by multiple spirits. In Igbo the word for this is ọgbanje, which seems to sometimes refer to the spirits and sometimes the host (or maybe trying to distinguish the two is a failure of cultural literacy on my part). From birth, Ada knows she's different, and sometimes living with the spirits is a struggle. At other times they're a source of comfort and protection as she deals with unsettled family relationships, a move to an entirely new culture in the US, and intimate partner abuse. A lot of the time it's both.
Like Stone Butch Blues, this book is so memoir-shaped and episodic that it's hard to parse it as a novel, but it does have novelistic prose which is quite strong and evocative, and there's a satisfying arc. The use of alternating POVs among the different spirits is effective at establishing them as their own voices with their own motivations and interiority. Ada isn't really the main character—we get the spirits' perspectives on entering her body, being born from her trauma, and making decisions about how to deal with her, long before we ever get Ada's own POV. So it's more of an ensemble piece. Conversations between Ada and the spirits take place in an internal mind palace where each entity has a physical form, which helps it feel more vividly concrete rather than an abstract dialogue among inner voices.
The book takes an eclectic perspective on spirituality and mental health. Western psych concepts of dissociative identity are fluidly interwoven with Igbo religious traditions, as well as with Christian spirituality. (Jesus is an occasional visitor to the mind palace.) This feels very honest and unafraid to hold diverse truths, which is refreshing as well as thematically resonant.
Though the character Ada goes by she/her, she does have gender stuff going on, which is presented in the context of one of the inhabiting spirits being male. It was a little startling to me to have this portrayed so frankly, because it's one of those things we talk about in the trans community but not necessarily outside it, and it made me feel a strange mix of comfortable familiarity and high anxiety. Like, yes, there are trans/nb/genderfluid people who experience their gender(s) in whole or in part as plural identity, but you're not supposed to say that in public. But when I take a breath and look past that initial reaction, of course I realize that we can't get where we need to go by sanding the rough edges off our reality in the name of not scaring the straights.
I plan to check out some of Emezi's other books. Since this one is obviously a lightly fictionalized recounting of things that really happened, I'll be interested to see what they come up with when they write outside of their specific personal experiences.
Content notes for the book include: Rape, self-injury, disordered eating, and attempted suicide.
This autobiographical novel follows Ada, a young Nigerian who is inhabited by multiple spirits. In Igbo the word for this is ọgbanje, which seems to sometimes refer to the spirits and sometimes the host (or maybe trying to distinguish the two is a failure of cultural literacy on my part). From birth, Ada knows she's different, and sometimes living with the spirits is a struggle. At other times they're a source of comfort and protection as she deals with unsettled family relationships, a move to an entirely new culture in the US, and intimate partner abuse. A lot of the time it's both.
Like Stone Butch Blues, this book is so memoir-shaped and episodic that it's hard to parse it as a novel, but it does have novelistic prose which is quite strong and evocative, and there's a satisfying arc. The use of alternating POVs among the different spirits is effective at establishing them as their own voices with their own motivations and interiority. Ada isn't really the main character—we get the spirits' perspectives on entering her body, being born from her trauma, and making decisions about how to deal with her, long before we ever get Ada's own POV. So it's more of an ensemble piece. Conversations between Ada and the spirits take place in an internal mind palace where each entity has a physical form, which helps it feel more vividly concrete rather than an abstract dialogue among inner voices.
The book takes an eclectic perspective on spirituality and mental health. Western psych concepts of dissociative identity are fluidly interwoven with Igbo religious traditions, as well as with Christian spirituality. (Jesus is an occasional visitor to the mind palace.) This feels very honest and unafraid to hold diverse truths, which is refreshing as well as thematically resonant.
Though the character Ada goes by she/her, she does have gender stuff going on, which is presented in the context of one of the inhabiting spirits being male. It was a little startling to me to have this portrayed so frankly, because it's one of those things we talk about in the trans community but not necessarily outside it, and it made me feel a strange mix of comfortable familiarity and high anxiety. Like, yes, there are trans/nb/genderfluid people who experience their gender(s) in whole or in part as plural identity, but you're not supposed to say that in public. But when I take a breath and look past that initial reaction, of course I realize that we can't get where we need to go by sanding the rough edges off our reality in the name of not scaring the straights.
I plan to check out some of Emezi's other books. Since this one is obviously a lightly fictionalized recounting of things that really happened, I'll be interested to see what they come up with when they write outside of their specific personal experiences.
Content notes for the book include: Rape, self-injury, disordered eating, and attempted suicide.
Tags:
- books,
- books: author: akwaeke emezi,
- books: genre: literary fiction,
- books: genre: memoir,
- books: theme: abuse,
- books: theme: coming of age,
- books: theme: gender & feminism,
- books: theme: mental health,
- books: theme: mythology & folklore,
- books: theme: queer,
- books: theme: religion,
- books: type: novel,
- books: year: 2018
too many large crooked numbers
Jun. 24th, 2025 09:10 pmmusesfoolSo this morning I updated the board chair on expected attendance at today's board meeting, and she replied, should we just switch the meeting to zoom entirely, due to the weather? So that is what we did! And as much as I would have liked to have had dinner with Friend L this evening, I was much happier not having to schlep into the city in 101°F heat. The meeting went well, and now I can relax for a few weeks.
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i will lay me down
Jun. 23rd, 2025 05:37 pmmusesfoolMets just signed a guy named Dicky Lovelady! I am not making this up! Apparently he asked to be called Dicky instead of Richard. I am here for it! (Unless he's a truly terrible pitcher.)
In work news, after a while where I thought I might have to spend tonight baking cupcakes to bring to my board meeting tomorrow, I do not. Whew. I would have done it! But luckily someone else was like, "lol no, I'm buying a cake!" so whew. 😅 But this is the kind of last minute, half-assed nonsense our C suite does. If they had told me last week, I could have added a cake to our catering order, but nope! (Meanwhile, my boss: "Now I'm disappointed we don't get your cupcakes!" Me: "maybe next time I come to the office...")
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In work news, after a while where I thought I might have to spend tonight baking cupcakes to bring to my board meeting tomorrow, I do not. Whew. I would have done it! But luckily someone else was like, "lol no, I'm buying a cake!" so whew. 😅 But this is the kind of last minute, half-assed nonsense our C suite does. If they had told me last week, I could have added a cake to our catering order, but nope! (Meanwhile, my boss: "Now I'm disappointed we don't get your cupcakes!" Me: "maybe next time I come to the office...")
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Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg (1993)
Jun. 23rd, 2025 12:56 pmpauraqueFlashing forward 75 years from The Autobiography of an Androgyne...
Stone Butch Blues is an autobiographical novel following Jess Goldberg, a queer working-class Jewish kid from upstate New York. It covers her 1950s childhood in which she is punished and rejected by her parents for not conforming to gender norms, her coming-of-age and finding a place as a butch in the lesbian community despite relentless police brutality, her decision to pursue medical transition, her partial detransition when she realizes she's neither a man nor a woman, her loves and losses, and her political awakening as a union organizer.
So, I came out as trans in the late 1990s, and two questions I soon grew to hate hearing were "Have you seen Boys Don't Cry?" and "Have you read Stone Butch Blues?" No, I hadn't, because I was already having a difficult time and I did not think I would find it helpful to consume media about people like me being raped and murdered, thanks. Well, I still haven't seen Boys Don't Cry (not planning to!) but now I have read Stone Butch Blues and I think I was right that reading it back then wouldn't have helped, except in that it would have given me more context for what some of the older people in the queer community had been through and why some of them treated me the way they did.
( Cut for length and content: hate crimes (in the book) and in-community hostility towards nonbinary people (in my own life). This post is more about me than about the book. )
Stone Butch Blues is available for free on Feinberg's website.
Stone Butch Blues is an autobiographical novel following Jess Goldberg, a queer working-class Jewish kid from upstate New York. It covers her 1950s childhood in which she is punished and rejected by her parents for not conforming to gender norms, her coming-of-age and finding a place as a butch in the lesbian community despite relentless police brutality, her decision to pursue medical transition, her partial detransition when she realizes she's neither a man nor a woman, her loves and losses, and her political awakening as a union organizer.
So, I came out as trans in the late 1990s, and two questions I soon grew to hate hearing were "Have you seen Boys Don't Cry?" and "Have you read Stone Butch Blues?" No, I hadn't, because I was already having a difficult time and I did not think I would find it helpful to consume media about people like me being raped and murdered, thanks. Well, I still haven't seen Boys Don't Cry (not planning to!) but now I have read Stone Butch Blues and I think I was right that reading it back then wouldn't have helped, except in that it would have given me more context for what some of the older people in the queer community had been through and why some of them treated me the way they did.
( Cut for length and content: hate crimes (in the book) and in-community hostility towards nonbinary people (in my own life). This post is more about me than about the book. )
Stone Butch Blues is available for free on Feinberg's website.
i kicked and screamed, said, "please, don't go"
Jun. 22nd, 2025 08:50 pmmusesfoolI maybe should have rethought making chicken cutlets today, which was one of the hottest days we've had so far and it only looks like it's going to get hotter this week before it cools down, but I did not - they were on sale and I bought them, so I had to cook them as there is no room in my freezer to freeze them!
I did nope out of the extra steps of making chicken parm, though. No need to put the oven on again - I did enough of that yesterday when I baked chocolate banana bread and then made bacon for lunch for several days during the week. I just need to get through Tuesday - our only in-person board meeting this year and gosh, I wish we had talked the CEO out of it since it's supposed to be 97°F on Tuesday, but we did not. Hopefully people show up! (if they don't, that can be the argument against doing it again, at least until we get a new CEO. Their poor showing last September let us convince everyone that we only needed to do it once this year.) And I am meeting Friend L for dinner afterwards, so that should be fun! Next week I have a 3-day work week and then 2 weeks after that, I'm off for a whole week for my birthday week, so really, it's just getting through Tuesday. *deep breaths*
I did not watch the Mets last night and they mashed, so I decided not to watch them again tonight (also ESPN is the worst), which seems like the right decision, since they are being soundly beaten, at least so far. Sigh. I know it's a long season, but couldn't they have saved some of those runs for tonight?
Sigh.
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I did nope out of the extra steps of making chicken parm, though. No need to put the oven on again - I did enough of that yesterday when I baked chocolate banana bread and then made bacon for lunch for several days during the week. I just need to get through Tuesday - our only in-person board meeting this year and gosh, I wish we had talked the CEO out of it since it's supposed to be 97°F on Tuesday, but we did not. Hopefully people show up! (if they don't, that can be the argument against doing it again, at least until we get a new CEO. Their poor showing last September let us convince everyone that we only needed to do it once this year.) And I am meeting Friend L for dinner afterwards, so that should be fun! Next week I have a 3-day work week and then 2 weeks after that, I'm off for a whole week for my birthday week, so really, it's just getting through Tuesday. *deep breaths*
I did not watch the Mets last night and they mashed, so I decided not to watch them again tonight (also ESPN is the worst), which seems like the right decision, since they are being soundly beaten, at least so far. Sigh. I know it's a long season, but couldn't they have saved some of those runs for tonight?
Sigh.
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The Seventh of the Recced Book Reviews: The Lost Flock
Jun. 22nd, 2025 10:42 ambethbethbethOn May 8th, I offered to read the first five books people recced - assuming they were available (preferably from the library) - and I'd give a short review [https://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/701769.html].
This is the seventh recced book review.
It's been a long time since posting one of these (I had non-recced books to read!), but I just finished:
The Lost Flock (2023), by Jane Cooper (recced by marinarusalka on dreamwidth)
When this was recced to me, marinarusalka wrote, “I’m curious to see if a non-knitter will find it equally interesting.” Because here’s the thing. I know nothing about raising sheep, I’ve never knitted, I’ve never been to the Orkney Islands, and yet this is why I loved reading The Lost Flock. It’s the same reason I like reading science fiction and fantasy; learning about and getting immersed in a world you know nothing about is great.
So…if you want to know about Boreray sheep (a rare, primitive short-tailed breed) or how felting is done or how to spin without a wheel or about sails for Viking ships, this is your book.
This is the seventh recced book review.
It's been a long time since posting one of these (I had non-recced books to read!), but I just finished:
The Lost Flock (2023), by Jane Cooper (recced by marinarusalka on dreamwidth)
When this was recced to me, marinarusalka wrote, “I’m curious to see if a non-knitter will find it equally interesting.” Because here’s the thing. I know nothing about raising sheep, I’ve never knitted, I’ve never been to the Orkney Islands, and yet this is why I loved reading The Lost Flock. It’s the same reason I like reading science fiction and fantasy; learning about and getting immersed in a world you know nothing about is great.
So…if you want to know about Boreray sheep (a rare, primitive short-tailed breed) or how felting is done or how to spin without a wheel or about sails for Viking ships, this is your book.
(no subject)
Jun. 21st, 2025 02:41 pmarcanetriviaTFW in the course of an archaeological dig on LiveJournal you seem to have found yourself, except Norwegian, and wonder whyyyy you never crossed paths back in the day. Other than that I am not into The Mighty Boosh and not really into Red Dwarf slash (just the show in general)... bah! just look at that fannish interests list! even "purple hair" and about my same age!
(kahvi here is an RP journal and not the same person. Well, I assume not the same person.)
eta:![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
kahvi seems to be the same person, though, judging by the list of fandoms their works belong to, and is even likely to be still active (last posted December 2024).
(
kahvi here is an RP journal and not the same person. Well, I assume not the same person.)eta:
thursday reads and things
Jun. 19th, 2025 04:30 pmisisWhat I recently abandoned reading:
I got just over halfway through Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao before deciding that YA mecha is not my thing, even when it's a YA mecha AU of Chinese history. I think I'd rather read an actual historical novel or even nonfiction about Wu Zetian, who seems to have been an impressive-as-hell woman. (I will take recommendations!)
What I'm reading now:
Lamentation, the 6th Shardlake book by C. J. Sansom. (An actual historical novel! 😁)
What I recently finished watching:
S2 of Andor, which as I said, weirdly ironic to be watching as we grapple with our own ascendant Evil Empire. The pacing of this season was strange, big time-skips and characters that had seemed important in S1 (or in early episodes of S2) disappearing completely, or reappearing briefly only to be killed. I was expecting more about Mon Mothma's family, after all the screentime lavished on the wedding and her sort-of-blackmail situation. I was also expecting more of a resolution, though that's probably because I only vaguely remember Rogue One, so a lot of the breadcrumbs were, "wait, who was that again?" instead of, "aha!" for me. But I liked Kleya a whole lot, and also the snarky ex-Empire droid, and some of the spycraft bits were fun.
What I'm watching now:
We are giving American Primeval a try, despite it probably being on the violent/gory side for our tastes. We're two episodes in, and - I immediately recognized Shorty Bowlegs from the most recent season of Dark Winds! (Derek Hinkey, playing Red Feather.) Also, there is a local(ish) woman in it, Nanabah Grace from Cortez just down the road, who plays Kuttaambo'i. An article about her in the local newspaper was the way I first heard of this series, actually.
I'm enjoying the historical stuff; it's set during the Mormon War, which I actually researched a bit for my Yuletide fic, the premise of which was that the main reason that Deseret became an independent republic in the alt-history of Francis Spufford's Cahokia Jazz was that President Buchanan backed down in the face of united Mormons and natives, as both religion and respect for the tribes were stronger in that universe's US. I also like seeing the Old West, even though it was all filmed in New Mexico pretending to be Wyoming, although I'm getting a bit tired of the washed-out sepia filter.
What I recently finished playing:
Okay, not quite finished, but I have completed the last major quest in Mass Effect: Andromeda, so it's basically over. (I mean, the credits rolled! Therefore, it's over!) I know that Andromeda is considered ME's poor stepchild, but - I really enjoyed it. The "major threat to the world as we know it!!1!!one!" of the main trilogy is such a staple plotline of video games like this that I appreciated the "survive, explore, and (hopefully) thrive in a NEW UNIVERSE (and also defeat the major threat to the world as we know it)" plotline for its novelty. I thought the structure of quests opening new planets and objectives in a rough but not strict order worked well, and I really liked that most (maybe all?) decisions are not hugely critical, so you don't doom yourself to a bad ending by choosing X instead of Y. I did check the wiki a few times when I was nervous about things, but pretty much none of these decisions made any real difference, which meant I was free to actually role-play as "what WOULD (me as) Sara Ryder do?" and I find that much more relaxing.
I wasn't quite completionist - I didn't do all the fetch quest type quests, and I didn't do one vault (Elaaden, which I might go back and do), but I did pretty much everything else. I liked the glyph puzzles, and I hated the Architects, ugh. I played mostly as what in the main trilogy would be Infiltrator (combat + tech). I romanced Liam (after a fling with Peebee). It was fun!
What I'm playing next:
I think I will try some shorter games; I got Lorelei and the Laser Eyes a while back because a friend recommended it, and Skabma - Snowfall from a recent deal, because it looked pretty. I might try Baldur's Gate 3 again - I never managed to get into it and found it frustrating and annoying. Eventually I plan to get Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and also probably Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which I've heard good things about.
(Or sell me on your favorite adventure game!)
I got just over halfway through Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao before deciding that YA mecha is not my thing, even when it's a YA mecha AU of Chinese history. I think I'd rather read an actual historical novel or even nonfiction about Wu Zetian, who seems to have been an impressive-as-hell woman. (I will take recommendations!)
What I'm reading now:
Lamentation, the 6th Shardlake book by C. J. Sansom. (An actual historical novel! 😁)
What I recently finished watching:
S2 of Andor, which as I said, weirdly ironic to be watching as we grapple with our own ascendant Evil Empire. The pacing of this season was strange, big time-skips and characters that had seemed important in S1 (or in early episodes of S2) disappearing completely, or reappearing briefly only to be killed. I was expecting more about Mon Mothma's family, after all the screentime lavished on the wedding and her sort-of-blackmail situation. I was also expecting more of a resolution, though that's probably because I only vaguely remember Rogue One, so a lot of the breadcrumbs were, "wait, who was that again?" instead of, "aha!" for me. But I liked Kleya a whole lot, and also the snarky ex-Empire droid, and some of the spycraft bits were fun.
What I'm watching now:
We are giving American Primeval a try, despite it probably being on the violent/gory side for our tastes. We're two episodes in, and - I immediately recognized Shorty Bowlegs from the most recent season of Dark Winds! (Derek Hinkey, playing Red Feather.) Also, there is a local(ish) woman in it, Nanabah Grace from Cortez just down the road, who plays Kuttaambo'i. An article about her in the local newspaper was the way I first heard of this series, actually.
I'm enjoying the historical stuff; it's set during the Mormon War, which I actually researched a bit for my Yuletide fic, the premise of which was that the main reason that Deseret became an independent republic in the alt-history of Francis Spufford's Cahokia Jazz was that President Buchanan backed down in the face of united Mormons and natives, as both religion and respect for the tribes were stronger in that universe's US. I also like seeing the Old West, even though it was all filmed in New Mexico pretending to be Wyoming, although I'm getting a bit tired of the washed-out sepia filter.
What I recently finished playing:
Okay, not quite finished, but I have completed the last major quest in Mass Effect: Andromeda, so it's basically over. (I mean, the credits rolled! Therefore, it's over!) I know that Andromeda is considered ME's poor stepchild, but - I really enjoyed it. The "major threat to the world as we know it!!1!!one!" of the main trilogy is such a staple plotline of video games like this that I appreciated the "survive, explore, and (hopefully) thrive in a NEW UNIVERSE (and also defeat the major threat to the world as we know it)" plotline for its novelty. I thought the structure of quests opening new planets and objectives in a rough but not strict order worked well, and I really liked that most (maybe all?) decisions are not hugely critical, so you don't doom yourself to a bad ending by choosing X instead of Y. I did check the wiki a few times when I was nervous about things, but pretty much none of these decisions made any real difference, which meant I was free to actually role-play as "what WOULD (me as) Sara Ryder do?" and I find that much more relaxing.
I wasn't quite completionist - I didn't do all the fetch quest type quests, and I didn't do one vault (Elaaden, which I might go back and do), but I did pretty much everything else. I liked the glyph puzzles, and I hated the Architects, ugh. I played mostly as what in the main trilogy would be Infiltrator (combat + tech). I romanced Liam (after a fling with Peebee). It was fun!
What I'm playing next:
I think I will try some shorter games; I got Lorelei and the Laser Eyes a while back because a friend recommended it, and Skabma - Snowfall from a recent deal, because it looked pretty. I might try Baldur's Gate 3 again - I never managed to get into it and found it frustrating and annoying. Eventually I plan to get Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and also probably Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which I've heard good things about.
(Or sell me on your favorite adventure game!)
of a runaway American dream
Jun. 18th, 2025 10:56 pmmusesfool*
The Autobiography of an Androgyne by Jennie June (1918)
Jun. 18th, 2025 08:12 pmpauraque"There are thousands of physical females who feel themselves to be men and have the mental traits of men, and there are thousands of physical males who feel themselves to be women and have the mental traits of a woman. Should any blame be attached to such individuals when they conduct themselves according to their psychical [i.e. mental] sex?"This is a pseudonymous autobiography by an American writer sometimes known as Jennie June, and sometimes as Earl Lind, Raphael Werther, or Ralph Werther (none of which were legal names). It describes June's experiences as an AMAB person who felt like a woman, had relationships with men, and eventually had a gender-affirming orchiectomy. The book advocates for kindness towards queer and gender-nonconforming people (or at least the sorts June approved of) and the repeal of sodomy laws. It was published under the imprint of the New York Medico-Legal Journal and its sale was restricted to "members of the learned professions" as June had been unable to find a publisher who would market it to a general readership, so it's framed as a sort of self-narrated medical case study.
I haven't read a lot of queer books of this era and I probably won't make a habit of it, but this was an interesting look at what people were thinking and experiencing not all that long before modern Western conceptions of trans identity and gender transition started to take shape.
I'm going to use he/him pronouns for June because that's how he referred to himself in his writing.
( Cut for length and content (hate crimes, sexual abuse and assault, suicide, period-typical social attitudes) )
The Autobiography of an Androgyne is in the public domain, so you can read it on Project Gutenberg or on the Internet Archive if you like.