'When Kaya Wilson came out to his parents as transgender, a year after a near-death surfing accident and just weeks before his father's death, he was met with a startling family history of concealed queerness and shame.
'This is a trans story.
'As Beautiful As Any Other weaves this legacy together with intimate examinations of the forces that have shaped Wilson's life, and his body: vulnerability and power, grief and trauma, science and narrative.
'This is also my story.
'In this powerful and lyrical memoir, Wilson makes a case for the strength we find when we confront the complexities of our identity with compassion. As Beautiful As Any Other is a trailblazing debut of remarkable beauty, insight and candour.'
Source : publisher's blurb
'A complex tide of emotions and ideas flows through Wilson’s generous and trusting contribution to individual and collective trans narratives'
'“It seems difficult here for anything to become permissible without becoming compulsory,” wrote child psychologist Martha Wolfenstein in 1951. She was writing about parenting and how softening attitudes towards playtime soon transformed into a new catalogue of duties and demands. The same could be said for the entire field of gender and sexuality: acceptance of any identity or practice seems to inevitably calcify into another set of norms and expectations, a test of authenticity.' (Introduction)
'“It seems difficult here for anything to become permissible without becoming compulsory,” wrote child psychologist Martha Wolfenstein in 1951. She was writing about parenting and how softening attitudes towards playtime soon transformed into a new catalogue of duties and demands. The same could be said for the entire field of gender and sexuality: acceptance of any identity or practice seems to inevitably calcify into another set of norms and expectations, a test of authenticity.' (Introduction)
'A complex tide of emotions and ideas flows through Wilson’s generous and trusting contribution to individual and collective trans narratives'
