'Discover what it means to be a young transgender or non-binary person in the twenty-first century in this frank and funny guide for 14+ teens, from the author of This Book Is Gay. What's the T?, Stonewall ambassador, bestselling trans author and former PSHE teacher Juno Dawson defines a myriad of labels and identities and offers uncensored advice on coming out, sex and relationships with her trademark humour and lightness of touch. Juno has also invited her trans and non-binary friends to make contributions, ensuring this inclusive book reflects as many experiences as possible, and features the likes of Travis Alabanza and Jay Hulme.
'The companion title to the groundbreaking This Book Is Gay, What's the T? tackles the complex realities of growing up trans with honesty and humour, and is joyfully illustrated by gender non-conforming artist Soofiya.'
Unfortunately, trans 'issues' are a big thing at the moment. I say unfortunately because this isn't really that good a thing. Yes, some things are getting easier for trans people, but on a whole we're having to watch our rights, our legality, and our very existence debated, debased, and dissected on an almost daily basis. The Independent Press Standards Organisation has found that there has been an over 400% increase in articles talking about trans people in the last decade.
Sadly, most of this coverage comes from people who hold negative, and often incorrect and ill informed, views on the trans community. These articles, presented as thing pieces, often contain very open and obvious transphobia, and help to spread this by not challenging these lies, or featuring trans voices to oppose them. Just this month the BBC has stated that it doesn't feel it needs to include trans voices on programmes such as Newsnight to counter negative views on trans people.
Because of all of this negativity and the sheer amount of information out there it can be hard to know what to think, to know what information you should be listening to. And is especially daunting and scary for people just discovering their trans identity, and the families of those who come out as trans, especially young trans people. Luckily, Juno Dawson has presented a new book that aims to provide some clear info to help educate in these dark times.
What's The T? covers a wide variety of topics, all of which play a part in the trans experience. These range from things like realising that you're trans and what to do next, to the trials of dating and romance whilst trans, and even information and resources for parents and loved ones of trans people who want to be more supportive and accommodating.
With this being such a big, and often scary subject, it needs a very special kind of writing style to make it not seem overwhelming or overly complex; this is after all one of the more rare and varied things a person can go through, and no two trans people or their journeys are going to be exactly the same. Thankfully, Dawson manages to make the topic feel very easy to get a handle on, thanks in large part to her very conversational style of writing. Most of the time reading this book it felt like I was sitting down with Juno, simply talking to her. She made these big concepts and issues feel more manageable, and broke them down in ways that a complete layman would be able to grasp.
What's The T? isn't just filled with breakdowns of different medical treatments, or guides on how to navigate a world where it feels like most people hate you because of how you were born, it also has stories about trans people who have survived and thrived. This 'Transgender Hall of Fame' is scattered throughout the book, and features names that will be familiar, as well as people you've probably never heard of. It features writers, artists, filmmaker, politicians, and icons. These are the people who've put themselves in the spotlight, in the cross-hairs of transphobes and bigot, yet have succeeded and found happiness. These small stories show those people in the trans community who might be afraid of what the future could hold, or if they could even have a future, that they're just as capable of succeeding, and that anything is possible.
As someone who's been out as trans for almost a decade, who's gone through the long and arduous process of pursuing treatment and help on the NHS, who's been attacked in the street, fired from jobs, and abused online, yet managed to find a loving relationship, to have surrounded myself with friends and family who accept and love me for who I am I don't think this book is really for me. I knew most of what was in here before I read it, with only the exception of a few featured people or stats being new information to me, yet I still found it to be an amazing read. Because it's the kind of book I'd have loved to have read when I first realised I was trans.
For me, and so many thousands of other trans people, we've had to piece together information and advice from internet forums and chatroom's, from helpful people at LGBTQ+ centres, kind doctors, and trans elders as to what we could do, how we could navigate this world, and how we would survive. We didn't have something like this, but I am so grateful others will. I'm so happy that this book exists out in the world now, that it will be able to help trans people and their allies, and that it can help to combat the deluge of transphobia that's taking over the world; particularly my home country.
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