XY

by Shanta Everington

Fifteen-year-old Jesse lives in a society where babies are born neither male nor female – gender is assigned at birth. Will the secret she closely guards be found out? Boyfriend Zeus, mother Ana's Natural Souls, and new friend Ork, leader of We Are One, pull Jesse in different directions, forcing her to make her own mind up about who she really is.

Genres: Young Adult, Dystopia

152 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 5, 2014

About the author

Shanta Everington is the author of seven books. Her latest Young Adult novel XY is published in June 2014 by Red Telephone Books. She lives in London, UK.

Reviews

[WTF Are You Reading? · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of Jesse, an intersexed, female identifying, person living in a world where living as intersexed is seen as both morally and legally wrong.
So wrong in fact, that parents of intersexed children are mandated by the government to have their children sexually assigned through surgical means at birth.

Jesse, it seems, is one of the lucky few who get to choose. She and her brother Randy have been able to keep the secret of their ambiguous genitalia, until at age 16, after having embraced the gender role of male or female, they undergo the surgery that will allow them to live that choice.

The journey for Jesse seems quite cut and dry, until she meets Ork. As an intersexed person who has not chosen the path of specified gender identity, Ork stands as a beacon of both choice and pain for Jesse.
Choice, because Ork does not treat being intersexed as a malady to be despised or corrected. Fear, because of the specters of societal ignorance and intolerance that are an everyday part of Ork's life.

Though this book is a work of fiction, the plight of the intersexed that is so artfully brought to the forefront within its pages is quite real. There is a large group of the world-wide population living as members of the transgender, intersexed, community, who just want to live lives, love, and be accepted for their true selves.

This book speaks to those desires in an eloquent and powerful voice that deserves to be both heard and understood.

[Ronda Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't really know what I was getting into with this text, but I thought it sounded interesting from the summary. This dystopian society book is unlike others that I have read. Instead of war, famine, or plague making a lot of the world die out, this book actually reveals a morphed population. It points to pollution, chemicals, and other man made environmental issues. These disasters cause babies to be born intersexed, born with both male and females reproductive systems. As a comment on today's society, parents are mandated to have gheir children receive surgery as a baby. Moreover, they can even tell the parent what gender bases on population needs. Being intersexed is deemed illigal and against God from the non percent population (born of one gender). A remark on our society that was noted in this book is that ALL the people of power are 9 percenters. Those who were changed at birth are deemed ok, but they will never have power. The issue of gender identity is so strong in XY that there are separate schools for boys and girls. In fact, the progress that women have made to become strong and independent has been wiped out for the sake of having a clear cut understanding of the genders.

Those like our main character, Jesse, and her brother grew up in a commune where children are raised strictly neutral, no pinks or blues allowed. And who have their ambiguous genetalia. She had time to develop and choose her own identity. It became her choice. However, this is illigal and getting more difficult for parents to do. The idea of letting the child decides comes from those who do not identify with their given gender, often leading to suicide.

Jesse is an intersexed 15 year old who identifies with being a girl and schedules the surgery for the summer. However, she meets Ork. "Phe" is an intersexed person who does not identify with any gender. Ork is a figurehead of the We Are One group who feel people should NOT be assigned a gender. Meeting, and falling in love with Ork, has opened Jesse's mind. Ork hopes that Jesse decides to not get the surgery, but she does. After her surgery, Ork shuns Jesse.

This shows that even those who are fighting for change may be prejudicial as well. Jesse finally explains what she feels. Children should be allowed to choose their own destiny. In other words, they should be brought up with no gender bias and allowed to choose (boy, girl, intersexed) and none should be looked down upon his/hers/phers choice.

There is a lot more that actually happens on the book, but these are main points that show that really comments on today's society;it's uneasiness about change and difference, which causes intolerance. This texted is focused on gender relations and the plight of the intersexed/transgendered community; they want to be accepted for who they are and able to live in peace. The view of society in this book can really be a metophore for any intolerance, but this does a great job of focusing on a more modern issue.

This book is about accepting those who are different from ourselves. A five is for the strong theme and comments on society; the actual plot, although interesting, makes it a four. Plus, the "pher," "poem," "phers" was a little annoying and it was sometimes hard to follow who was being talked about. Even the narrator accidentally gives gender to gender neutral people by saying pronouns like "him."

[Yvonne Walus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important book, one that's not afraid to use a YA science fiction novel to confront the issue of gender fluidity. Not everyone identifies as either or, and it's okay to be happy in-between - that's the message of the book, wrapped in a realistict tale of a mother who did what she thought was right and a daughter who needed something else.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review originally posted on Once Upon A Dream Books.

*Shanta Everington provided for an honest review.*

In Jesse's world, most children with both male and female reproductive parts. But even though these children are the majority new births, their society cannot tolerate these abnormalities. So at birth, following governmental mandates, children become one or the other by forced surgical procedure. XY quickly becomes this mix of dystopian and contemporary vibes, who's main goal seems to be to make you question.

I have to say, this book is really not at all what I thought it was going to be. In my head, I imagined something more science fiction, clonelike beings that "become" one or the other because someone decided it would be so. Not that I was expecting a science fiction story, because I wasn't. I think it was the "born neither male nor female" bit that sent my imagination off on a tangent. Despite my wondering mind, for the most part, I did like this book.

Aside from bio class, the term hermaphrodite never crossed my mind. But even then, I've never really thought about what it would be like to be born one. I was born a girl, and I'll die a girl. I'm a tomboy at times, but I have no desire to become a male. Sure it would be nice to be able to pee standing up and not have to squat over public toilets, but overall I'm quite happy being a girl.

This is who I am.

Yet, there was something about this book, about Jesse's struggle, that made me think new thoughts from the very first page. What if I was both, and yet neither? What if, like Jesse, I had the choice to become the gender of my choosing? Which would I pick? Why?

Then the thoughts became deeper: Is who you are just tied to your sex? What really makes you, you? How do we let society's expectations change us?

The story quickly progresses from there and the questions built rapidly the more we learned about this world. You question your prior opinions about gender rights, religion, relationships, freedom, and much, much more. But there was something about Jesse that wouldn't let me get into her head. I tried, we just didn't connect. Instead I had to enjoy the story from the outside. Normally I'd be like" 'Eh.' But maybe in this case, that was a good thing since I spent most of the book thinking about how things in this book correlated to our world.

Jesse was interesting. She's not sure who she wants to be, so she's spent most of her life playing the role of a daughter and going to school to becoming the girl society wants her to be. But she's not that person, she's trapped in a web and she just cannot continue in this limbo for much longer.

I may not have agreed with some of her later decisions, and the romance in this book really wasn't my thing, but man my heart went out for her when certain motives of a certain family member came to life. It's horrible, but things like that happen in real life.


Shanta Everington does a good job making these fictional characters real.

The real issue I have with this story is the whole "most of the population is born this way." The author may not come out and call them hermaphrodites, but based on the definition, they are. From what I remember of my classes, and a few google searches -not very scientific, I know- I cannot buy that. Everything points to them being, if not sterile, then its' rare for the to successfully reproduce. Maybe the author knows more about the subject than I, but until it can be proven to me otherwise, my stubborn mind keeps coming back to that conclusion. Though the Shanta Everington did her best to come up with a plausible reason for these abnormal births becoming the norm and worked that into the story as we moved along.

To sum it up, XY, was a quick, interesting read. I may not want to live in their world, but I appreciated the lessons I learned from their struggles.

"People are more important than causes."

[Paula Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

Are you a fan of the Dystopian genre ? Loved Thumped and Bumped by Megan McCafferty ? Imagine a world where babies aren't born a specific gender , a world where the gender is assigned to them at birth ? Could you imagine growing up and not knowing whether you were supposed to be a girl or a boy ? There are some households that rebel against this system and are letting their children decide when the time is right to what they want to be. For fifteen year old Jesse, that time is coming up fast and she has to decide whether she will stay a girl or become a boy and she better do it quick as if the government finds out about her , they will come for Jesse and her family. XY held an interesting premise as I wondered how it would work with puberty and hormones and how you would really know what sex you are supposed to be. The book however for me , was a tad slow and hard to get into but if you are fans of Dystopian and also interested in Gender studies as I could see this book becoming a resource for those studying gender studies at University level. Then check out and grab your very own copy of XY by Shanta Everington. This is also one of those novels, that I could perceive that everyone who reads it will have a different view.

[Merisha28 · Rating 4 out of 5]

XY by Shanta Everington
Print Length: 117 pages
Publisher: The Red Telephone (June 15, 2014)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

My Review~~
This is a Dystopian type of book where society governs whats acceptable especially if you are born with both genders. Luckily Jesse and her brother have safeguarded their undecided gender up til 16, now they have to pick. That's when Ork comes on the scene and flips Jesse's perspective and pull her into a different path. Even though this book is a fiction telling, it rings with some modern day constraints of transgendered individuals. This book was interesting concept, story and plot. Fast read that leaves you thinking.

Amazon Book Description~~
Fifteen-year-old Jesse lives in a society where babies are born neither male nor female – gender is assigned at birth. Will the secret she closely guards be found out? Boyfriend Zeus, mother Ana's Natural Souls, and new friend Ork, leader of We Are One, pull Jesse in different directions, forcing her to make her own mind up about who she really is.

[Phil Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing scenario - imagine a dystopian world where we are born without a specific gender - so it has to be assigned at birth. It's an original exploration of sexuality filtered through the eyes of a teenage protagonist living with a secret. At times provocative, at times perhaps overly-sentimental, it's still a book that will leave you wondering what if. . .