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Gender Pioneers: A Celebration of Transgender, Non-Binary and Intersex Icons
This inspiring collection of illustrated portraits celebrates the lives of influential transgender, non-binary and intersex figures both past and present.
Showcasing the diversity of gender identities and expressions that have existed in all cultures throughout history alongside developments from recent years, the extraordinary stories in this book highlight the achievements and legacies of those who have fought to be themselves, whatever their gender. From activists, soldiers and historical leaders through to musicians, actors and global superstars, this book explores the life and times of over a hundred trans and intersex trailblazers in their fight for equality, acceptance and change.
Poignant, educational and empowering, these are the gender pioneers everyone needs to know about.
Showcasing the diversity of gender identities and expressions that have existed in all cultures throughout history alongside developments from recent years, the extraordinary stories in this book highlight the achievements and legacies of those who have fought to be themselves, whatever their gender. From activists, soldiers and historical leaders through to musicians, actors and global superstars, this book explores the life and times of over a hundred trans and intersex trailblazers in their fight for equality, acceptance and change.
Poignant, educational and empowering, these are the gender pioneers everyone needs to know about.
200 pages, Hardcover
Published August 18, 2022
6 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
March 28, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley and JKP for an advanced copy of this book.
It breaks my heart to give this a one star rating. It's both my first ARC and a book I had such high hopes for.
My first point of contention with the book is that the title is extremely misleading. It says it is a celebration of trans, nb, and intersex icons. I thought the entries would be about trans, nb, and intersex people who have done something of note. I was quickly disillusioned of that expectation.
There are some in here who many would consider gender pioneering icons, such as Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, Lili Elbe, Anne Lister, and Alan Hart, but there are also those in here who are rapists and murderers. I surely hope that Punchard isn't actually celebrating them. Judging by the introduction, I would assume not, as it sets up the book to tackle the claim that trans and non-binary people are a fad of a modern era. A simple look at gender non-conforming people through history is a perfectly fine concept for a book, but is not what was marketed.
This would be enough to knock the book down a star or two, but it was the actual content that had the rating plummeting. The book is all over the place. The entries are not organized in order of when they lived, there are several spelling and grammar errors (though I tried to ignore this as this is an ARC), the writing reads as if someone was just jotting down a list of notes or facts they picked up on google, and— most egregious of all—I lost track of how often people were being misgendered in this book.
Not only was there misgendering, but insensitive and sometimes offensive language being used many times throughout the book, such as saying that a trans person's "true" gender was discovered. It was not their true gender. It was the sex they were assigned at birth. Please do better.
All of these aspects compounded to make a very unenjoyable read, and I even read aloud a few passages to my (trans) mom to hear her thoughts, to which end she agreed with me completely. Many times I questioned if the book had seen an editor or simply was pushed through as a first draft. Very disappointing and harmful. I urge any allies that read this book to please pick up something better if you'd like to educate yourself in the topic.
It breaks my heart to give this a one star rating. It's both my first ARC and a book I had such high hopes for.
My first point of contention with the book is that the title is extremely misleading. It says it is a celebration of trans, nb, and intersex icons. I thought the entries would be about trans, nb, and intersex people who have done something of note. I was quickly disillusioned of that expectation.
There are some in here who many would consider gender pioneering icons, such as Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, Lili Elbe, Anne Lister, and Alan Hart, but there are also those in here who are rapists and murderers. I surely hope that Punchard isn't actually celebrating them. Judging by the introduction, I would assume not, as it sets up the book to tackle the claim that trans and non-binary people are a fad of a modern era. A simple look at gender non-conforming people through history is a perfectly fine concept for a book, but is not what was marketed.
This would be enough to knock the book down a star or two, but it was the actual content that had the rating plummeting. The book is all over the place. The entries are not organized in order of when they lived, there are several spelling and grammar errors (though I tried to ignore this as this is an ARC), the writing reads as if someone was just jotting down a list of notes or facts they picked up on google, and— most egregious of all—I lost track of how often people were being misgendered in this book.
Not only was there misgendering, but insensitive and sometimes offensive language being used many times throughout the book, such as saying that a trans person's "true" gender was discovered. It was not their true gender. It was the sex they were assigned at birth. Please do better.
All of these aspects compounded to make a very unenjoyable read, and I even read aloud a few passages to my (trans) mom to hear her thoughts, to which end she agreed with me completely. Many times I questioned if the book had seen an editor or simply was pushed through as a first draft. Very disappointing and harmful. I urge any allies that read this book to please pick up something better if you'd like to educate yourself in the topic.
February 24, 2022
[Review by a non-binary reader]
Well, that was something I read. I don't have much to say that hasn't been justifiably screeched about in reviews prior to mine, however...
Let me first say that I'm concerned at the amount of allies in the reviews who think they read a good, helpful book, because they didn't. This book can and will likely do more harm than good.
Let's start with the bones of it. The author has chosen to arrange this book as an alphabetized directory of as many people as they could find who ?might? fit under the terms on the cover. This choice just so happens to put a murderer's entry just before that of a murder victim. Optics! To add to that, something like sorting them by loose era would have at least been mildly constructive from a sociological standpoint, make it easier to perhaps compare their lives and treatment by society.
On the dubious inclusion of a murderer - one reviewer is right, queers are not by default paragons of virtue nor should they be portrayed as such - but this book calls itself a Celebration of people. To include a murderer in that specific wording is weird. Perhaps presenting, highlighting, something else would be better suited.
The inclusion of a couple who escaped from enslavement, Ellen and William Craft, was baffling, because as far as the manuscript tells it and I can find on google, Ellen only crossdressed for a specific 4-day window to allow their escape. There is no mention of her living as a man or otherwise indicating she'd identify with any of the groups in this book?
And then there is the frequent mistaken conflation of gender identity with sex organs at birth. At one point the wording "true gender" was used, and what? Similar harmful wording happens several times, and just as numerous others have noted, this book is also uncomfortably fixated on the genitalia of the individuals it covers.
Lastly, treatment of pronouns in this book oscillates wildly, something that should be a priority in such a book. They change within the same article, reflecting to me shoddy inattention by the writer and editor, if indeed an editor has even seen this yet. I highly doubt it, as poor Martha P. Johnson's page was full of cut-off sentences, typos and grammatical errors.
This is not a book I would recommend to someone identifying as any of the groups it covers, nor a youth trying to figure things out for themself, nor potential allies. No.
Thanks to Netgalley for a copy to review, but I hope this book undergoes an overhaul before it's pushed as a resource for the queer community and its allies.
Well, that was something I read. I don't have much to say that hasn't been justifiably screeched about in reviews prior to mine, however...
Let me first say that I'm concerned at the amount of allies in the reviews who think they read a good, helpful book, because they didn't. This book can and will likely do more harm than good.
Let's start with the bones of it. The author has chosen to arrange this book as an alphabetized directory of as many people as they could find who ?might? fit under the terms on the cover. This choice just so happens to put a murderer's entry just before that of a murder victim. Optics! To add to that, something like sorting them by loose era would have at least been mildly constructive from a sociological standpoint, make it easier to perhaps compare their lives and treatment by society.
On the dubious inclusion of a murderer - one reviewer is right, queers are not by default paragons of virtue nor should they be portrayed as such - but this book calls itself a Celebration of people. To include a murderer in that specific wording is weird. Perhaps presenting, highlighting, something else would be better suited.
The inclusion of a couple who escaped from enslavement, Ellen and William Craft, was baffling, because as far as the manuscript tells it and I can find on google, Ellen only crossdressed for a specific 4-day window to allow their escape. There is no mention of her living as a man or otherwise indicating she'd identify with any of the groups in this book?
And then there is the frequent mistaken conflation of gender identity with sex organs at birth. At one point the wording "true gender" was used, and what? Similar harmful wording happens several times, and just as numerous others have noted, this book is also uncomfortably fixated on the genitalia of the individuals it covers.
Lastly, treatment of pronouns in this book oscillates wildly, something that should be a priority in such a book. They change within the same article, reflecting to me shoddy inattention by the writer and editor, if indeed an editor has even seen this yet. I highly doubt it, as poor Martha P. Johnson's page was full of cut-off sentences, typos and grammatical errors.
This is not a book I would recommend to someone identifying as any of the groups it covers, nor a youth trying to figure things out for themself, nor potential allies. No.
Thanks to Netgalley for a copy to review, but I hope this book undergoes an overhaul before it's pushed as a resource for the queer community and its allies.
July 23, 2022
DNF @ 32%
I will try to keep this as short as posible, but this book elicited a lot of thoughts and emotions, and not in a good way, so this will definitely be longer then my average review. I hate not finishing a book and I almost never DNF, but I had to stop reading this one at 32%. I was so disappointed because the concept of this book: highlighting queer people specifically trans, nonbinary, and intersex people is something that’s an instant buy for me. I love the stories of marginalized people who are often forgotten, or purposefully erased from history. I didn’t realize it already had so many low ratings, and had I known I wouldn’t have even picked this one up.
The issues started immediately in the forward where they say people can’t relate, or aren’t interested in historical figures the further you go back. That confused me because was that not the entire purpose of the book? Would that not be why someone would pick up the book? But this was honestly the least of the issues, but I felt important for me to mention because if you don’t fully believe in the subject you’re writing about, why are you even writing about it, endorsing it, or attaching your name to it?
In a book about trans people you’d think the language used would reflect the complexities of gender expression by avoiding the gender binary as much as possible, but that wasn’t the case. This book uses out dated, and offensive terminology to the point that I was convinced the author wasn’t actually serious. In the forward, before the book even actually started the author refers to genitalia as “male genitalia” and “female genitalia” even when referring to specific people saying “female genitalia” in reference to a trans man. When the book actually starts in chapter 1, one of the first things the author says is that they may misgender people, and they do. A lot. At least they warned us. There was constant misgendering and dead naming. The author uses terms like “true gender” and phrasing like “it was discovered” or “they were exposed as female” and saying they were “born female” and started dressing “as a man” in reference to people the author had identified as trans. As focused as the author was on the genitals of the subjects they wrote about it was weird they couldn’t just say vagina.
They also made a distasteful joke, at least in my opinion, about “literally dead naming” someone because their dead name was on their head stone, and next to everything else this ‘joke’ felt especially tone deaf. This was all in the first 32% of a 200 page book I can’t imagine how bad the rest was. I made it to the part where the author put a murderer who bludgeoned their neighbor to death, immediately followed by a story of a murder victim which, again, was not only tone deaf, but it was weird to include a murderer in a “celebration of trans trailblazers” at all. I think this book could have greatly benefited from a trans editer, maybe a couple, and trans, nonbinary, and intersex beta readers; but I also don’t know why the author set out to write a book about something they were clearly not educated in. This book wasn’t just a bad book, it is actually very harmful. It will do a lot of harm trying to portray itself as an educational tool. I would hope people would immediately see how problematic this book is, but that’s just not the case based on some 4 and 5 star reviews of this book.
*a copy of this book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
I will try to keep this as short as posible, but this book elicited a lot of thoughts and emotions, and not in a good way, so this will definitely be longer then my average review. I hate not finishing a book and I almost never DNF, but I had to stop reading this one at 32%. I was so disappointed because the concept of this book: highlighting queer people specifically trans, nonbinary, and intersex people is something that’s an instant buy for me. I love the stories of marginalized people who are often forgotten, or purposefully erased from history. I didn’t realize it already had so many low ratings, and had I known I wouldn’t have even picked this one up.
The issues started immediately in the forward where they say people can’t relate, or aren’t interested in historical figures the further you go back. That confused me because was that not the entire purpose of the book? Would that not be why someone would pick up the book? But this was honestly the least of the issues, but I felt important for me to mention because if you don’t fully believe in the subject you’re writing about, why are you even writing about it, endorsing it, or attaching your name to it?
In a book about trans people you’d think the language used would reflect the complexities of gender expression by avoiding the gender binary as much as possible, but that wasn’t the case. This book uses out dated, and offensive terminology to the point that I was convinced the author wasn’t actually serious. In the forward, before the book even actually started the author refers to genitalia as “male genitalia” and “female genitalia” even when referring to specific people saying “female genitalia” in reference to a trans man. When the book actually starts in chapter 1, one of the first things the author says is that they may misgender people, and they do. A lot. At least they warned us. There was constant misgendering and dead naming. The author uses terms like “true gender” and phrasing like “it was discovered” or “they were exposed as female” and saying they were “born female” and started dressing “as a man” in reference to people the author had identified as trans. As focused as the author was on the genitals of the subjects they wrote about it was weird they couldn’t just say vagina.
They also made a distasteful joke, at least in my opinion, about “literally dead naming” someone because their dead name was on their head stone, and next to everything else this ‘joke’ felt especially tone deaf. This was all in the first 32% of a 200 page book I can’t imagine how bad the rest was. I made it to the part where the author put a murderer who bludgeoned their neighbor to death, immediately followed by a story of a murder victim which, again, was not only tone deaf, but it was weird to include a murderer in a “celebration of trans trailblazers” at all. I think this book could have greatly benefited from a trans editer, maybe a couple, and trans, nonbinary, and intersex beta readers; but I also don’t know why the author set out to write a book about something they were clearly not educated in. This book wasn’t just a bad book, it is actually very harmful. It will do a lot of harm trying to portray itself as an educational tool. I would hope people would immediately see how problematic this book is, but that’s just not the case based on some 4 and 5 star reviews of this book.
*a copy of this book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
January 27, 2022
Gender Pioneers is an admirable project. As a trans, non-binary person who hosts a history podcast about overlooked marginalized people, this book seems as if it would be directly in my sweet spot. And it would have been, if it weren't so offensive and poorly written.
The book is a collection of short biographies of trans, nb, and intersex people, and in the nature of most biography collections, only offers a brief glimpse at the subjects' lives. Without question, the most egregious issue with this book is how often descriptions of physical anatomy and physical exams (particularly of intersex people) make up 1/3 to half of a person's "biography." For example, the biography of Mademoiselle Lefort is three paragraphs long, the longest of which is detailing the anatomy of the person. And when I say detailed, I mean excruciatingly detailed. "An infant-sized small penis was also described, rather than a possible clitoris, with a partial labia and no testes. No urethral opening was seen, and strangely, there were a number of small openings that emitted urine."
I couldn't tell you much about Lefort other than their anatomy. They were once a "bearded lady." So other than the details of their anatomy, I know pretty much nothing else.
In addition to some glaringly offensive portions, the writing itself is often clunky, strange and opaque. This sentence is about two people who were arrested for dressing in women's clothes (this is the only context given prior to this sentence). "They performed, as well as keeping and going about in their women's clothes in a house in Wakefield Street, Bloomsbury, which now has a blue plaque." Or this sentence in the same biography: "They were even at one time bound over to keep the peace after being mistaken for women whilst actually being dressed as the men they were." Not only are these sentences nearly unreadable, the latter one is also making some really big leaps about their gender identities (the men they were???).
I cannot recommend this book to anyone, unfortunately, and I would actually actively caution any libraries from housing the book, as it absolutely does harm to trans, non-binary and intersex people.
The book is a collection of short biographies of trans, nb, and intersex people, and in the nature of most biography collections, only offers a brief glimpse at the subjects' lives. Without question, the most egregious issue with this book is how often descriptions of physical anatomy and physical exams (particularly of intersex people) make up 1/3 to half of a person's "biography." For example, the biography of Mademoiselle Lefort is three paragraphs long, the longest of which is detailing the anatomy of the person. And when I say detailed, I mean excruciatingly detailed. "An infant-sized small penis was also described, rather than a possible clitoris, with a partial labia and no testes. No urethral opening was seen, and strangely, there were a number of small openings that emitted urine."
I couldn't tell you much about Lefort other than their anatomy. They were once a "bearded lady." So other than the details of their anatomy, I know pretty much nothing else.
In addition to some glaringly offensive portions, the writing itself is often clunky, strange and opaque. This sentence is about two people who were arrested for dressing in women's clothes (this is the only context given prior to this sentence). "They performed, as well as keeping and going about in their women's clothes in a house in Wakefield Street, Bloomsbury, which now has a blue plaque." Or this sentence in the same biography: "They were even at one time bound over to keep the peace after being mistaken for women whilst actually being dressed as the men they were." Not only are these sentences nearly unreadable, the latter one is also making some really big leaps about their gender identities (the men they were???).
I cannot recommend this book to anyone, unfortunately, and I would actually actively caution any libraries from housing the book, as it absolutely does harm to trans, non-binary and intersex people.
January 7, 2022
This is one book that was good in concept, but not in execution. Had there not been some major slipups, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more.
For something that claims to be a celebration of transgender, non-binary and intersex icons, it sure as hell focuses a LOT on the genitalia of those it claims to be celebrating, which doesn't sit right with me. It also undermines the identity of a lot of those people it's claiming as icons, by saying they were "found as female". If someone does not identify as female, they are not female. It's entirely inappropriate, and I'm glad I have found that I'm not the only one that has thought as such.
I found that the foreward seemed to imply that trans people were only trans if they desired SRS, which is not the case. I found myself entirely let down by this clunky writing.
Thanks to Net Galley, Phillipa Punchard and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for the eARC.
For something that claims to be a celebration of transgender, non-binary and intersex icons, it sure as hell focuses a LOT on the genitalia of those it claims to be celebrating, which doesn't sit right with me. It also undermines the identity of a lot of those people it's claiming as icons, by saying they were "found as female". If someone does not identify as female, they are not female. It's entirely inappropriate, and I'm glad I have found that I'm not the only one that has thought as such.
I found that the foreward seemed to imply that trans people were only trans if they desired SRS, which is not the case. I found myself entirely let down by this clunky writing.
Thanks to Net Galley, Phillipa Punchard and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for the eARC.
June 19, 2023
This was okay, though very surface level information about the people it included. A great start but there is rampant deadnaming and misgendering. Which is awful by itself, but there's an authors note in the front where the author says they want to respect the peoples' identity in the book, and then they DON'T!?! Like what the fuck.
CWs: Transphobia/transmisia, deadnaming, misgendering, violence, forced outing and outing without consent, body shaming, bullying, death, general queerphobia/queermisia, medical content and trauma. Moderate: mental illness, sexism, sexual violence, suicide, police brutality, religious bigotry, murder, sexual harassment, dysphoria, racism.
CWs: Transphobia/transmisia, deadnaming, misgendering, violence, forced outing and outing without consent, body shaming, bullying, death, general queerphobia/queermisia, medical content and trauma. Moderate: mental illness, sexism, sexual violence, suicide, police brutality, religious bigotry, murder, sexual harassment, dysphoria, racism.
August 13, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, and Philippa Punchard for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Going into to this piece of nonfiction I was very excited based on the title, but overall found the piece to disorganized and missing the message of a celebration at my points. My main issues with the text are:
1. The text is organized alphabetically by icons name, having the text jump around from decades, to centuries, and more, making it jarring to follow.
2. Each entry was 4-6 paragraphs in length, giving the bare bones info, reading like a Wikipedia entry on the icon at times. Some of information felt random, jumping from this is something they did and this is how they died in very quick succession. I think the text could benefit from a second draft to organize the icons into categories whether the century they lived in or areas they impacted.
3. The text is a celebration, but dead names icons for what appears to be no reason. For example, one icon we are told their impact live to death with their name throughout. Then as what feels like a “fun fact tidbit” we’re told their dead name was left on their tombstone and what it was.
4. The icons that are chosen in this book is extremely extensive. However, they needed to be combed down if the text was supposed to be a celebration. For example, one “icon” is a just a trans person that happened to murder their neighbour and got hung…
No celebration and felt unneeded.
Overall, this text felt extremely unfocused and needed another draft of editing for focus. I can’t find an audience I’d recommend this to, except maybe a fake “woke” ally that wanted a book about trans and nonbinary people for a coffee table book, but didn’t want to learn or read it.
Going into to this piece of nonfiction I was very excited based on the title, but overall found the piece to disorganized and missing the message of a celebration at my points. My main issues with the text are:
1. The text is organized alphabetically by icons name, having the text jump around from decades, to centuries, and more, making it jarring to follow.
2. Each entry was 4-6 paragraphs in length, giving the bare bones info, reading like a Wikipedia entry on the icon at times. Some of information felt random, jumping from this is something they did and this is how they died in very quick succession. I think the text could benefit from a second draft to organize the icons into categories whether the century they lived in or areas they impacted.
3. The text is a celebration, but dead names icons for what appears to be no reason. For example, one icon we are told their impact live to death with their name throughout. Then as what feels like a “fun fact tidbit” we’re told their dead name was left on their tombstone and what it was.
4. The icons that are chosen in this book is extremely extensive. However, they needed to be combed down if the text was supposed to be a celebration. For example, one “icon” is a just a trans person that happened to murder their neighbour and got hung…
No celebration and felt unneeded.
Overall, this text felt extremely unfocused and needed another draft of editing for focus. I can’t find an audience I’d recommend this to, except maybe a fake “woke” ally that wanted a book about trans and nonbinary people for a coffee table book, but didn’t want to learn or read it.
January 16, 2022
#bookreview Gender Pioneers by Philippa Punchard
Firstly, I want to say that I am not trans and I don’t usually read much nonfiction, but one of my goals for 2022 was to learn more LGBTQ+ history. That’s why I asked for this ARC.
This book has some definite problems. There’s pronouns misused in simple little ways that I feel like the editors should’ve caught. There’s the confusion around whether people were just cross-dressing or actually trans in a lot of circumstances and it seems like the author only considers them trans if they had sexual reassignment surgery or wanted it. Which is terribly problematic, to my knowledge. There’s no rule book to choosing a person’s gender and it’s an entirely personal decision to do anything involving surgery or hormones or any of those options.
A thing I just found confusing was the way they presented the individual little bios about these people. Alphabetically? Why? I feel this was incredibly confusing when trying to read. If they could’ve separated them by time period if not just sorted them semi-chronologically, it would’ve been a lot less confusing to follow. Absolutely my opinion, but I was confused going from the 20th century and then suddenly back to BCE and then forward again to 1870 or whatever.
A lot of the bios are brief to the point of losing the point. They don’t even seem to tie to anything and then it’s done. Some start with birth and then continue to death and others just start and end within a few years with no explanation of their life outside of that. I understand a lot of their life might be unknown, but I still felt like it would’ve been easier to read if it was stated this is what we know and this we’re not sure about and etc. instead of just skipping to the one and only even that seems to imply they are a cross-dresser or whatever.
There is some good info here, but it’s not an easy read and it’s difficult to get past all of the errors and offensive errors and brevity. I read about 80% of it before I got tired of trying to read the unreadable sentences. Such as “She is what an amazing personality she had.” And “In also reported to have shouted ‘I got my August 2021, a bust of her was unveiled civil rights.’ in Christopher Park near the Stonewall” There’s no end period there, it just continues into another paragraph 🤪😣
rating: ⭐️
Firstly, I want to say that I am not trans and I don’t usually read much nonfiction, but one of my goals for 2022 was to learn more LGBTQ+ history. That’s why I asked for this ARC.
This book has some definite problems. There’s pronouns misused in simple little ways that I feel like the editors should’ve caught. There’s the confusion around whether people were just cross-dressing or actually trans in a lot of circumstances and it seems like the author only considers them trans if they had sexual reassignment surgery or wanted it. Which is terribly problematic, to my knowledge. There’s no rule book to choosing a person’s gender and it’s an entirely personal decision to do anything involving surgery or hormones or any of those options.
A thing I just found confusing was the way they presented the individual little bios about these people. Alphabetically? Why? I feel this was incredibly confusing when trying to read. If they could’ve separated them by time period if not just sorted them semi-chronologically, it would’ve been a lot less confusing to follow. Absolutely my opinion, but I was confused going from the 20th century and then suddenly back to BCE and then forward again to 1870 or whatever.
A lot of the bios are brief to the point of losing the point. They don’t even seem to tie to anything and then it’s done. Some start with birth and then continue to death and others just start and end within a few years with no explanation of their life outside of that. I understand a lot of their life might be unknown, but I still felt like it would’ve been easier to read if it was stated this is what we know and this we’re not sure about and etc. instead of just skipping to the one and only even that seems to imply they are a cross-dresser or whatever.
There is some good info here, but it’s not an easy read and it’s difficult to get past all of the errors and offensive errors and brevity. I read about 80% of it before I got tired of trying to read the unreadable sentences. Such as “She is what an amazing personality she had.” And “In also reported to have shouted ‘I got my August 2021, a bust of her was unveiled civil rights.’ in Christopher Park near the Stonewall” There’s no end period there, it just continues into another paragraph 🤪😣
rating: ⭐️
March 9, 2022
I received this through Netgalley and want to give it an honest review.
I found this book really confusing: is it a book of illustrations with comments? Who is the target audience? Is it aimed at teenagers? Is it pro transgender or a bit TERFy? Is it an A-Z of all the slightly gender non conforming people the author could find? Why is it an A-Z of first names and not arranged chronologically?
Firstly, the illustrations were not for me and in the copy I received (pdf) it was not always obvious who the illustration was a picture of. This is just a question of taste: some may like them.
Secondly, the text needs much tighter editing. There are problems with sentence structure, the text reads like notes that have been rewritten in sentence form, but the paragraphing is confusing. Sometimes it just degenerates into a list of people who led similar lives. There are issues with the pronouns used - both using the correct one and consistency.
However, I wish these were the only two problems with this book. The title attracted me because I feel this is a part of history generally neglected, but I don't think the book does what it sets out to do. Are we really celebrating murderers and transmen who deceive women into marrying them here? Often the description is merely a description of the person's genitals rather than why the author thinks they are an icon. I would also question the inclusion of some of the people in this book as people who temporarily cross dress in order to achieve something in a very gendered society, are not necessarily trans, intersex or non binary. The inclusion of Hapshetsut purely on the grounds she wore the Pharaoh's fake beard is an interesting choice. Often facts about people's lives are left entirely without comment when a bit of depth would have been really interesting.
The simplistic language of the book and its short length makes me think this is aimed at teenagers. However, I would not give this book to a trans, intersex or non binary teen because, while it does go some way to show that it is not a new fad, it says things like "their true gender was revealed" suggesting that the person's transness isn't real. There's too much focus on genitals and the medical side of things rather than who these people were and what makes them iconic or pioneering.
I found this book really confusing: is it a book of illustrations with comments? Who is the target audience? Is it aimed at teenagers? Is it pro transgender or a bit TERFy? Is it an A-Z of all the slightly gender non conforming people the author could find? Why is it an A-Z of first names and not arranged chronologically?
Firstly, the illustrations were not for me and in the copy I received (pdf) it was not always obvious who the illustration was a picture of. This is just a question of taste: some may like them.
Secondly, the text needs much tighter editing. There are problems with sentence structure, the text reads like notes that have been rewritten in sentence form, but the paragraphing is confusing. Sometimes it just degenerates into a list of people who led similar lives. There are issues with the pronouns used - both using the correct one and consistency.
However, I wish these were the only two problems with this book. The title attracted me because I feel this is a part of history generally neglected, but I don't think the book does what it sets out to do. Are we really celebrating murderers and transmen who deceive women into marrying them here? Often the description is merely a description of the person's genitals rather than why the author thinks they are an icon. I would also question the inclusion of some of the people in this book as people who temporarily cross dress in order to achieve something in a very gendered society, are not necessarily trans, intersex or non binary. The inclusion of Hapshetsut purely on the grounds she wore the Pharaoh's fake beard is an interesting choice. Often facts about people's lives are left entirely without comment when a bit of depth would have been really interesting.
The simplistic language of the book and its short length makes me think this is aimed at teenagers. However, I would not give this book to a trans, intersex or non binary teen because, while it does go some way to show that it is not a new fad, it says things like "their true gender was revealed" suggesting that the person's transness isn't real. There's too much focus on genitals and the medical side of things rather than who these people were and what makes them iconic or pioneering.
April 18, 2022
This is a DNF for me and I urge the publishing company and author to consider a major overhaul. This book claims to “celebrate” icons in the LGBTQIA+ community, however it has misgendered language, confuses sex with gender, highlights a murderer and someone who doesn’t even identify as LGBTQIA+. I’m sure it is well intentioned, but it is poorly executed and factually inaccurate.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
December 23, 2021
Thank you to NetGallery and the publisher for the advance copy of this book.
This is a short collection of biographies of influential transgender, non binary and intersex people throughout history containing a wide variety of icons. An informative and engaging read with beautiful illustrations. Due to the short biographies it is a quick read and offers itself to those of all ages. Sometimes history books can exclude certian readers but this book can be accessible to all and has a brilliant introduction on trans history. I loved how it emphasized that trans individuals have always existed within history. I will definitely recommend this book for those who are looking for an introduction on gender pioneers.
This is a short collection of biographies of influential transgender, non binary and intersex people throughout history containing a wide variety of icons. An informative and engaging read with beautiful illustrations. Due to the short biographies it is a quick read and offers itself to those of all ages. Sometimes history books can exclude certian readers but this book can be accessible to all and has a brilliant introduction on trans history. I loved how it emphasized that trans individuals have always existed within history. I will definitely recommend this book for those who are looking for an introduction on gender pioneers.
January 8, 2022
History is getting the re-write that it so desperately needs with books like this. Gender Pioneers is not only for all the people who need to see themselves in history but also for all the people who claim "ALL THIS GENDER STUFF IS JUST SO DANG NEW." Like, no, Aunt Linda, sit down and read this please.
While I loved reading stories that dated back as little as a decade ago to centuries, I did feel like some of the language in the biographies could be problematic. I wasn't sure whether the intent was to portray the biography in the language of the person's time or not, but I'll give you a few examples of the wording I found unfavorable and why:
"She was certainly gender fluid and can be considered as transgender as it was possible to be in her time."
Why I find it problematic:
Being transgender, even today, is a spectrum. You can do as little as socially transition (ex. name and pronouns), or do as much as get every surgery available. In between and still outside of those is a huge spectrum of valid transgender expression. Now, I can *maybe* understand the intent of this sentence being that she was from a different time and therefore would have had to be careful with how she presented her transition, however that's not fully how it came across and the impact, to me, seemed to say that in today's terms she wouldn't be considered "transgender enough."
"...whilst still wearing female clothes."
Why I find it problematic:
I know it's essentially impossible at the moment to get rid of the binary completely BUT sentences like this play into the binary. We could easily edit this sentence to say "..whilst still wearing clothes that were typically reserved for people who identify as female." Or some such and other. And here's the thing, is that nit picky? Probably. But if we change more sentences like that outside of books about gender (think largescale like fiction, other nonfiction, visual media, etc, etc, etc.) maybe we could finally move away from clothes being associated with one gender or the other.
"However, Mary did eventually discover that Charles was female and reported him, which led to his arrest and trial in Taunton."
Why I find it problematic:
If you know anything about gender/transgender terminology this one should be a no-brainer but here we go. In this bio we are learning about Charles Hamilton. And while Charles' pronouns are being respected, his gender is not! An easy edit for this sentence: "However, Mary did eventually discover that Charles had male genitalia, and reported him..." OR "Mary did eventually discover that Charles was assigned female at birth, and reported him..." Either one would remind us that Charles is transgender while respecting the gender he identifies as.
"They said that they were female at birth."
Why I find it problematic:
This one I can maybe let slide, especially if those were in fact Chevalier's words. However, if they were, I feel like they should be in quotes. And if not, again a simple edit would include saying this person was assigned female at birth.
In addition to these problematic wordings, we were also introduced to different people with excellent wording, mostly including the terms "assigned female/male/intersex at birth." So I know the author had it in them to use language like that.
I also want to give a caveat to this entire review that I am a cishet white woman, so I cannot possibly ever fully understand or speak to the transgender experience. These are my thoughts from having transgender and non-binary relatives and friends, learning from multiple creators and educators, and reading whatever I can find on the subject of gender. Maybe my opinions of this book are off-base with the authors particular experience, I'm not sure. All I can speak to is what I've learned as a cis person.
Overall, I think the book comes at an important time in our collective history and I really did enjoy reading of all the people and appreciate the thorough research that went into it!
While I loved reading stories that dated back as little as a decade ago to centuries, I did feel like some of the language in the biographies could be problematic. I wasn't sure whether the intent was to portray the biography in the language of the person's time or not, but I'll give you a few examples of the wording I found unfavorable and why:
"She was certainly gender fluid and can be considered as transgender as it was possible to be in her time."
Why I find it problematic:
Being transgender, even today, is a spectrum. You can do as little as socially transition (ex. name and pronouns), or do as much as get every surgery available. In between and still outside of those is a huge spectrum of valid transgender expression. Now, I can *maybe* understand the intent of this sentence being that she was from a different time and therefore would have had to be careful with how she presented her transition, however that's not fully how it came across and the impact, to me, seemed to say that in today's terms she wouldn't be considered "transgender enough."
"...whilst still wearing female clothes."
Why I find it problematic:
I know it's essentially impossible at the moment to get rid of the binary completely BUT sentences like this play into the binary. We could easily edit this sentence to say "..whilst still wearing clothes that were typically reserved for people who identify as female." Or some such and other. And here's the thing, is that nit picky? Probably. But if we change more sentences like that outside of books about gender (think largescale like fiction, other nonfiction, visual media, etc, etc, etc.) maybe we could finally move away from clothes being associated with one gender or the other.
"However, Mary did eventually discover that Charles was female and reported him, which led to his arrest and trial in Taunton."
Why I find it problematic:
If you know anything about gender/transgender terminology this one should be a no-brainer but here we go. In this bio we are learning about Charles Hamilton. And while Charles' pronouns are being respected, his gender is not! An easy edit for this sentence: "However, Mary did eventually discover that Charles had male genitalia, and reported him..." OR "Mary did eventually discover that Charles was assigned female at birth, and reported him..." Either one would remind us that Charles is transgender while respecting the gender he identifies as.
"They said that they were female at birth."
Why I find it problematic:
This one I can maybe let slide, especially if those were in fact Chevalier's words. However, if they were, I feel like they should be in quotes. And if not, again a simple edit would include saying this person was assigned female at birth.
In addition to these problematic wordings, we were also introduced to different people with excellent wording, mostly including the terms "assigned female/male/intersex at birth." So I know the author had it in them to use language like that.
I also want to give a caveat to this entire review that I am a cishet white woman, so I cannot possibly ever fully understand or speak to the transgender experience. These are my thoughts from having transgender and non-binary relatives and friends, learning from multiple creators and educators, and reading whatever I can find on the subject of gender. Maybe my opinions of this book are off-base with the authors particular experience, I'm not sure. All I can speak to is what I've learned as a cis person.
Overall, I think the book comes at an important time in our collective history and I really did enjoy reading of all the people and appreciate the thorough research that went into it!
February 10, 2022
Many of the reviews disparaging this book harp on the fact that some of the profiles highlight rapists and murderers. Yes, it does - because queer people can be bad, just like straight people can be bad. When we focus on presenting an idyllic image of queerness, we damage the uniqueness of being queer. Carmen Machado speaks of just this by calling queer villainy something that is and must be allowed to be. We are not all sunshine and rainbows and are not homogenous as a community. It's okay for people to know that there are queer murderers. This book takes a huge step in compiling known information about genderqueer, transgender, and non-binary people throughout history. How about we celebrate the act of this knowledge accumulation and publication having a starting place rather than bringing its accomplishments down because it isn't perfect. It is better for this to live in the world than if it did not exist at all.
December 27, 2021
a lovely book, showing us that history was more diverse than we tend to give it credit for. I loved learning about all these people, and the variable people showcased. I also loved the fact that they came with pictures, really allowing to imagine what their lives might have been like (and providing some goals to look like..). I was pleasantly surprised said pictures showed up quite well on my black and white ereader, too.
For me, it felt weirdly liberating and encouraging to look at those who came before, and I think that is important.
The only qualm I have, is that the text sometimes was a bit crude in its wording. I understand that this was to keep it short, when entire novels could be written about these people, but it still irked me from time to time.
For me, it felt weirdly liberating and encouraging to look at those who came before, and I think that is important.
The only qualm I have, is that the text sometimes was a bit crude in its wording. I understand that this was to keep it short, when entire novels could be written about these people, but it still irked me from time to time.
March 14, 2022
A decent reference book about transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people throughout history. While this would be great as a beginners guide to gender diverse history, it is clearly written with cis and binary people in mind. I felt some of the language used to refer to people wasn't very accurate or kind and still felt othering or even denying of their identities. While not misgendering, felt like it was written for people outside the community.
dnf
December 27, 2022DNF @ 60%
I just couldn't bear to keep reading. Author seems to be hyperfocused on genitals and the 'discovery' or 'revealing' of 'real gender' (um, no). The book is poorly laid out and poorly written/edited. Also, I'd possibly call it a history but definitely not a celebration.
As a trans man, I felt deeply uncomfortable whilst reading this book.
I just couldn't bear to keep reading. Author seems to be hyperfocused on genitals and the 'discovery' or 'revealing' of 'real gender' (um, no). The book is poorly laid out and poorly written/edited. Also, I'd possibly call it a history but definitely not a celebration.
As a trans man, I felt deeply uncomfortable whilst reading this book.
January 3, 2022
Thank you to Jessica Kingsley Publishers and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is a great book to sit on your coffee table, end table, or bathroom. It’s easy to read (though clunky sometimes) and the format makes it a real quick read, too.
I do have issues with this book that so far only one other person has addressed. There are phrases that refer to someone who identified as male such as, “...was found to be female.” This type or language isn’t appropriate. Just because the community found out that he had female genitalia, doesn’t mean they found out that he WAS female. If he didn’t identify as female, he wasn’t female.
This particularly incident occurs early on in the book and similar incidents are repeated throughout.
This is a great book to sit on your coffee table, end table, or bathroom. It’s easy to read (though clunky sometimes) and the format makes it a real quick read, too.
I do have issues with this book that so far only one other person has addressed. There are phrases that refer to someone who identified as male such as, “...was found to be female.” This type or language isn’t appropriate. Just because the community found out that he had female genitalia, doesn’t mean they found out that he WAS female. If he didn’t identify as female, he wasn’t female.
This particularly incident occurs early on in the book and similar incidents are repeated throughout.
December 14, 2021
Thanks to Netgalley for the arc
I love this idea. Most of the book I really liked, because it's fun to see how there have literally ALWAYS been trans people, way before people knew that word. My only critiques are that the wording in some places are a bit weird. For example it could say "they didn't find out until his death that he was female". Like, if HE is a trans man then HE is not female. I know what the author is saying, I just feel like it could be better in places. There was also a character who was described as identifying as female, but the pronouns they/them were used instead of she/her. Also, there is a lot of focus on describing genitals for some of these people. I understand that especially for some of the people from really long ago, the records might not show much more than like medical records or such, but I still think there's a bit too much focus on it. If there isn't much to say about a person, then maybe instead write more about another person instead.
Sidenote: I don't know if it was the formatting or something but the chapter on Marsha P. Johnson was unreadable. It simply didn't make sense it was so messy.
I love this idea. Most of the book I really liked, because it's fun to see how there have literally ALWAYS been trans people, way before people knew that word. My only critiques are that the wording in some places are a bit weird. For example it could say "they didn't find out until his death that he was female". Like, if HE is a trans man then HE is not female. I know what the author is saying, I just feel like it could be better in places. There was also a character who was described as identifying as female, but the pronouns they/them were used instead of she/her. Also, there is a lot of focus on describing genitals for some of these people. I understand that especially for some of the people from really long ago, the records might not show much more than like medical records or such, but I still think there's a bit too much focus on it. If there isn't much to say about a person, then maybe instead write more about another person instead.
Sidenote: I don't know if it was the formatting or something but the chapter on Marsha P. Johnson was unreadable. It simply didn't make sense it was so messy.
Read
January 28, 2023I don’t want to give it a star rating. I honestly think the author’s heart was in the right place. I could not get far in this book, mostly because of very poor editing.
I read seven of the profiles in this book. Two of them mis-gendered the subjects with the wrong pronouns. The first was the profile on Albert D. J. Cashier, who Punchard says will be referred to with ‘they/them’. The end of the profile uses ‘his’ instead. The next was the profile on Barbette, who was more open and out living as a woman and personally using ‘she/her’. But the profile slips and uses ‘he/his’. Editing issues, but given the context, it’s very poor.
The profile for Biawacheeitchish was the end for me. The indigenous people of North America were not and are not a monolith- but the last paragraph of this particular essay paints that picture. A few more words could have dispelled the issue.
I wish this book were better. I wish more care had been put into it. Because a book like this is important.
I read seven of the profiles in this book. Two of them mis-gendered the subjects with the wrong pronouns. The first was the profile on Albert D. J. Cashier, who Punchard says will be referred to with ‘they/them’. The end of the profile uses ‘his’ instead. The next was the profile on Barbette, who was more open and out living as a woman and personally using ‘she/her’. But the profile slips and uses ‘he/his’. Editing issues, but given the context, it’s very poor.
The profile for Biawacheeitchish was the end for me. The indigenous people of North America were not and are not a monolith- but the last paragraph of this particular essay paints that picture. A few more words could have dispelled the issue.
I wish this book were better. I wish more care had been put into it. Because a book like this is important.
March 1, 2022
This eARC was provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I’ll be honest: this book was not a celebration of icons. Many of the figures in this book were not pioneers or even remotely good people. I think the best way for me to do this is in what we call the “compliment sandwich.” Good, bad, good again. It’s the secret to writing a good report card or message home to a particularly difficult parent. Let’s see if it’s the secret to explaining how I feel about Punchard’s book.
So, a good: I did learn new information! There were many figures in this book that I had not ever heard of and cultures I’d never researched before.
Gender Pioneers was simply… not a book that drew me in like I expected it to. The first reason was that the content did not match the title or the description. When I see the words “pioneers” and “celebration,” I expect exactly that.
The world is not black-and-white. I know this. There are people of every gender who are incredible and people of every gender who are simply vile people. This book could be an eye-opener to that reality. If so, if that was the intention, this book wouldn’t have been named what it was. It ought to have been called “A Nuanced Look at the History of Transgender, Non-binary, and Intersex Peoples.” I guess my biggest sticking point was truly just that: it was such an incredibly misleading title that led to a disappointing read.
My other biggest issue was that it didn’t feel… fully researched. There were so many moment where the author was clearly misgendering people. It almost went against the very message of the book. The author didn’t seem to know what to do about gender.
Some of the figures are so lost to the sands of time that perhaps we couldn’t have found the information about what pronouns to use exactly… Yet I also just couldn’t keep track of all of the misgendering going on.
I am also currently reading through Racism and the Making of Gay Rights by Laurie Marhoefer. What I have learned through the book is how utterly gray Hirschfeld is when it comes to ethics and trans history. This book isn’t about Hirschfeld, yes, but it mentions him a bit and his influence on the pioneers of the book. Yet there isn’t a single nod to Hirschfeld’s racism or the controversy surrounding him. It could have been a simple line… something to show the reader that the book is well-researched when it comes to the history surrounding the people in it.
The other part that I did love about the book was moments I could say “I KNOW THAT PERSON.” Sometimes it would be a true icon (such as Sylvia Rivera) or a figure from medical history (such as James Barry) that I’d learned about from a different avenue of research.
In summation, this book was a complete flop in my eyes. While I do think it could be an intriguing way to start your own research into a person or a culture, it was in itself not a book that felt well-researched enough in many parts. Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC, I wish I had better things to say about it.
Full review: https://littlesmaug.wordpress.com/202...
So, a good: I did learn new information! There were many figures in this book that I had not ever heard of and cultures I’d never researched before.
Gender Pioneers was simply… not a book that drew me in like I expected it to. The first reason was that the content did not match the title or the description. When I see the words “pioneers” and “celebration,” I expect exactly that.
The world is not black-and-white. I know this. There are people of every gender who are incredible and people of every gender who are simply vile people. This book could be an eye-opener to that reality. If so, if that was the intention, this book wouldn’t have been named what it was. It ought to have been called “A Nuanced Look at the History of Transgender, Non-binary, and Intersex Peoples.” I guess my biggest sticking point was truly just that: it was such an incredibly misleading title that led to a disappointing read.
My other biggest issue was that it didn’t feel… fully researched. There were so many moment where the author was clearly misgendering people. It almost went against the very message of the book. The author didn’t seem to know what to do about gender.
Some of the figures are so lost to the sands of time that perhaps we couldn’t have found the information about what pronouns to use exactly… Yet I also just couldn’t keep track of all of the misgendering going on.
I am also currently reading through Racism and the Making of Gay Rights by Laurie Marhoefer. What I have learned through the book is how utterly gray Hirschfeld is when it comes to ethics and trans history. This book isn’t about Hirschfeld, yes, but it mentions him a bit and his influence on the pioneers of the book. Yet there isn’t a single nod to Hirschfeld’s racism or the controversy surrounding him. It could have been a simple line… something to show the reader that the book is well-researched when it comes to the history surrounding the people in it.
The other part that I did love about the book was moments I could say “I KNOW THAT PERSON.” Sometimes it would be a true icon (such as Sylvia Rivera) or a figure from medical history (such as James Barry) that I’d learned about from a different avenue of research.
In summation, this book was a complete flop in my eyes. While I do think it could be an intriguing way to start your own research into a person or a culture, it was in itself not a book that felt well-researched enough in many parts. Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC, I wish I had better things to say about it.
Full review: https://littlesmaug.wordpress.com/202...
February 5, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley and JKP for an advanced copy of this book.
All the opinions expressed in this reviews are my own however
I feel very upset to give this book a quite a low rating. It's my first src, and I was so excited to read it
I however found many reasons of fault in this book, which is the reasons for this low rating
-------
Firstly, the title is very misleading. Rather than being a celebration of trans, nb and intersex icons, I quickly realised that this wasn't the case.
I do think that there were a lot of people who I would describe a gender pioneer, however there are many people here who did not deserve that stance, and who are rapists and murderers. In a book about gender pioneers, I do not think these people appropriately fit into the title.
This made the book somewhat confusing. It was more of a recount of non-cis people throughout history, rather than what I expected, of gender pioneers.
Secondly, I noticed there was a lot of misgendering, and mis pronoun use. It made this feel like it wasn't checked, edited of seen through before publishing. I also found that there was a default reference to genetilia instead of pronoun use. This made me very confused and wonderous on why anatomy was linked so heavily with gender, as that is an outdated concept, and something I did not expect. Not only were there misgending but outdated language referring to gender. An example was the use of the phrase "true" gender rather than sex assigned at birth. This is a very insensitive and offense phrase.
Another issue I found was the formatting. The entries were not organised by age, and there were spelling and grammatical errors on every page. Most notably was the page on Marsha P. Johnson which I was much excited for. It was very jumbled and did not feel very well written or edited at all. The text did not make sense.
One positive has the variation of time dates from bce to common day which I appreciated.
I do not think I would recommend this book at all, due to all these mistakes which are : inappropriate, untrue and often offensive. If I hand this book to a friend who is trans/nb/intersex, I am worried it will be offensive for them.
A good book in theory but not well in excecution. Very misleading.
All the opinions expressed in this reviews are my own however
I feel very upset to give this book a quite a low rating. It's my first src, and I was so excited to read it
I however found many reasons of fault in this book, which is the reasons for this low rating
-------
Firstly, the title is very misleading. Rather than being a celebration of trans, nb and intersex icons, I quickly realised that this wasn't the case.
I do think that there were a lot of people who I would describe a gender pioneer, however there are many people here who did not deserve that stance, and who are rapists and murderers. In a book about gender pioneers, I do not think these people appropriately fit into the title.
This made the book somewhat confusing. It was more of a recount of non-cis people throughout history, rather than what I expected, of gender pioneers.
Secondly, I noticed there was a lot of misgendering, and mis pronoun use. It made this feel like it wasn't checked, edited of seen through before publishing. I also found that there was a default reference to genetilia instead of pronoun use. This made me very confused and wonderous on why anatomy was linked so heavily with gender, as that is an outdated concept, and something I did not expect. Not only were there misgending but outdated language referring to gender. An example was the use of the phrase "true" gender rather than sex assigned at birth. This is a very insensitive and offense phrase.
Another issue I found was the formatting. The entries were not organised by age, and there were spelling and grammatical errors on every page. Most notably was the page on Marsha P. Johnson which I was much excited for. It was very jumbled and did not feel very well written or edited at all. The text did not make sense.
One positive has the variation of time dates from bce to common day which I appreciated.
I do not think I would recommend this book at all, due to all these mistakes which are : inappropriate, untrue and often offensive. If I hand this book to a friend who is trans/nb/intersex, I am worried it will be offensive for them.
A good book in theory but not well in excecution. Very misleading.
March 11, 2023
*Thank you Netgally for this advanced eARC, in exchange for an honest review*
“TRANS PEOPLE ARE NOT A NEW THING, you may think otherwise, but that says more about you than about us.”
⭐️2,5, rounded up⭐️
The first, maybe fifty pages, were interesting. It taught me something new and I didn’t know a lot of the background of transsexuality and gender fluidness. The first people that were described in the book were also interesting to get to know, but when it just goes on for 200 pages and it describes a lot of new and different person, I will say it gets boring, and too similar to each other.
I would have liked if the author would have chosen fewer people that were more information on, so a person wouldn’t just have a few pages and then skips to a next person. For me it would have been more interesting to read a more in-depth description and backstory about fewer persons, the other way around it just seems superficial. I also think it would have been more well-arranged if the persons were arranged after a timeline, it wouldn’t be so confusing, as it is to jump in time all the time.
On the more positive note I did enjoy reading some of the persons background and it really taught me a lot of new information about the gender transition and how it has developed.
It is not a great book, but it has potential. I’m quite sure that you will learn something new, but it can be a tiring book to finish.
“TRANS PEOPLE ARE NOT A NEW THING, you may think otherwise, but that says more about you than about us.”
⭐️2,5, rounded up⭐️
The first, maybe fifty pages, were interesting. It taught me something new and I didn’t know a lot of the background of transsexuality and gender fluidness. The first people that were described in the book were also interesting to get to know, but when it just goes on for 200 pages and it describes a lot of new and different person, I will say it gets boring, and too similar to each other.
I would have liked if the author would have chosen fewer people that were more information on, so a person wouldn’t just have a few pages and then skips to a next person. For me it would have been more interesting to read a more in-depth description and backstory about fewer persons, the other way around it just seems superficial. I also think it would have been more well-arranged if the persons were arranged after a timeline, it wouldn’t be so confusing, as it is to jump in time all the time.
On the more positive note I did enjoy reading some of the persons background and it really taught me a lot of new information about the gender transition and how it has developed.
It is not a great book, but it has potential. I’m quite sure that you will learn something new, but it can be a tiring book to finish.
March 22, 2022
Well this was a slog.
Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this one at all. I was excited about this book, but the title itself is incredibly misleading. This is a far cry from celebration. Many of the entires misgender the person they are biographizing and spend most of the page-long entry discussing the subject's genetalia and "true" gender (sex assigned at birth), rather than what these indviduals actually did with their lives. When the individuals are discussed--oof. There was a literal murdered included--not things to be celebrated. I understand the author intended to show the long history of trans* people, and I don't think all queer people need to be perfect to be remembered, but it just felt wrong to have this in a book that is supposedly celebratory.
The book itself was extremely disorganized, as the individuals were only listed by alphabetical order rather than eras they lived, which made it difficult to make connections between various people who knew or married each other, and the writing was clunky.
Overall, this needs a major overhaul before publication. I highly recommend checking out reviews from other trans reviewers as well, who echo and expand on my opinions here.
Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for honest review.
Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this one at all. I was excited about this book, but the title itself is incredibly misleading. This is a far cry from celebration. Many of the entires misgender the person they are biographizing and spend most of the page-long entry discussing the subject's genetalia and "true" gender (sex assigned at birth), rather than what these indviduals actually did with their lives. When the individuals are discussed--oof. There was a literal murdered included--not things to be celebrated. I understand the author intended to show the long history of trans* people, and I don't think all queer people need to be perfect to be remembered, but it just felt wrong to have this in a book that is supposedly celebratory.
The book itself was extremely disorganized, as the individuals were only listed by alphabetical order rather than eras they lived, which made it difficult to make connections between various people who knew or married each other, and the writing was clunky.
Overall, this needs a major overhaul before publication. I highly recommend checking out reviews from other trans reviewers as well, who echo and expand on my opinions here.
Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for honest review.
Read
May 16, 2022Gender Pioneers is a record of a variety of gender-diverse people through history. Even though it can be sad to read, it shows how poorly they were usually treated, and what little resources were provided, as many were forced to turn to crime. Despite the often sad tones of the brief biographies, it was still a pleasure to read, as it goes to show that in many cultures it is unusual to limit people to simply two gender categories, and that as long as we have had writing we have had proof of the existence of gender-diverse people. Though, I'm not sure the accuracy of each biography, and the wording often left me confused about the person, I appreciate the attempt the book is trying to make.
Thank you to NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for providing me with an ARC of this title!
Thank you to NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for providing me with an ARC of this title!
Want to read
July 11, 2022This is a short and sweet collection of mini-biographies of various gendery icons throughout history. They’ve included Lili Elbe for the intersex icon, and I think that’s neat! I enjoyed this book, but it was very short. Three and a half stars, rounded up for NetGalley/Goodreads.
April 3, 2022
Let me start off by saying how excited I was to be given access to this book, Gender Pioneers. It encapsulates so much information about something I’m passionate about: LGBTQIA+ advocacy, especially as pertains to gender issues. It is my understanding, through experience and education, that gender is a spectrum. This means that some people are very masculine, some are very feminine, and a whole lot of people fall somewhere between the two extremes. The old-fashioned and unscientific opposing opinion tends to be the belief of the general public, though: that gender is binary and consists of either male or female. So, when I found a book detailing the histories of pioneering men, women, and nonbinary people, I knew it was my kind of book and I was excited to request access.
Gender Pioneers is alphabetized by everyone’s first name, which can make navigating through it a little difficult. The title page does not have the author’s name listed.
The most unfortunate aspect of this eBook (in Kindle-friendly MOBI format, anyway) and the thing I have to take off serious points for, is the formatting. Each pioneer’s entry starts off with the first letter of their first name hovering two lines above the rest of their name, like so:
A
rthur…
I assume the author wrote the first letters on each page in a special font, as some books have that, but for some reason it didn’t carry over to this format. This was visually jarring and distracting, and was immediately evident at the beginning, leaving me with a poor first impression. There continues to be formatting issues throughout the rest of the text.
I was very excited when I came upon Marsha P. Johnson’s entry, but it seems as though someone hacked up the words, cutting and pasting them in a nonsensical array, so that the entry, while readable, makes no sense. To have it make any sense at all, I had to read the first half of a sentence, then continue reading gibberish for 1.5 sentences, where the other half of the first was! Obviously, this is unacceptable.
This is an excerpt to show that issue:
“Marsha P. Johnson’s body was found in the beatings and arrests by the police. In the Hudson River and, despite visible wounds early hours of June 28th 1969, Johnson and reports of her being harassed, her is cited as ignited the Stonewall Riots by death was judged to be suicide.”
Another formatting issue that’s quickly evident is the arrangement of everyone’s name with their photos. I believe their names should show up beneath their visual representation (whether photo or artistic portrait). Instead, the individual’s name shows up on the top page of the next person’s entry, and is spelled out with letters of varying capitalization, making them hard to read and not very accessible. The page for Mary Frith aka Moll Cutpurse started with Marsha P. Johnson’s name written: “mArsHA P. JoHnson”, and I believe it should have been on the previous page, under her photo.
It’s quite possible that this eBook was written and edited for EPUB format, not MOBI, and that could be the cause of some of the issues. However, that should not be an acceptable excuse for a release-ready book. The editors and publishers should have caught this long before it ended up on NetGalley, because this book is not in the least reader-friendly, and I don’t think it’s ready for publishing.
Having said all of that, I do commend the author for their research, which appears to have been extensive. They list many trans, nonbinary, and intersex individuals who I had personally never heard of before, and I’ve been an advocate since 2004. It appears they dug through tons of historical records, including the accounts and biographies of those who knew them. There is a lot of information here I don’t think I’d find elsewhere, at least not all in one spot.
When not jumbled, the entries are written well and concisely, and mostly without judgmental language, leaving the reader to gasp and sigh at their treatment rather than read the author’s opinions and feelings. I appreciate that, partly because I’m highly sensitive and I don’t know if I could handle reading how it devastates the author while feeling my own sense of desolation. That manner of writing is also a good journalistic approach to the book, which fits its format well.
Coming up with a star rating for this book was difficult because every time I thought of something to condemn the book for, I found something worthy of praise. I decided to go with 3/5, because it needs quite a bit of improvement to be print-ready. However, I’d love to purchase my own copy when it gets the formatting kinks worked out of it.
Gender Pioneers is alphabetized by everyone’s first name, which can make navigating through it a little difficult. The title page does not have the author’s name listed.
The most unfortunate aspect of this eBook (in Kindle-friendly MOBI format, anyway) and the thing I have to take off serious points for, is the formatting. Each pioneer’s entry starts off with the first letter of their first name hovering two lines above the rest of their name, like so:
A
rthur…
I assume the author wrote the first letters on each page in a special font, as some books have that, but for some reason it didn’t carry over to this format. This was visually jarring and distracting, and was immediately evident at the beginning, leaving me with a poor first impression. There continues to be formatting issues throughout the rest of the text.
I was very excited when I came upon Marsha P. Johnson’s entry, but it seems as though someone hacked up the words, cutting and pasting them in a nonsensical array, so that the entry, while readable, makes no sense. To have it make any sense at all, I had to read the first half of a sentence, then continue reading gibberish for 1.5 sentences, where the other half of the first was! Obviously, this is unacceptable.
This is an excerpt to show that issue:
“Marsha P. Johnson’s body was found in the beatings and arrests by the police. In the Hudson River and, despite visible wounds early hours of June 28th 1969, Johnson and reports of her being harassed, her is cited as ignited the Stonewall Riots by death was judged to be suicide.”
Another formatting issue that’s quickly evident is the arrangement of everyone’s name with their photos. I believe their names should show up beneath their visual representation (whether photo or artistic portrait). Instead, the individual’s name shows up on the top page of the next person’s entry, and is spelled out with letters of varying capitalization, making them hard to read and not very accessible. The page for Mary Frith aka Moll Cutpurse started with Marsha P. Johnson’s name written: “mArsHA P. JoHnson”, and I believe it should have been on the previous page, under her photo.
It’s quite possible that this eBook was written and edited for EPUB format, not MOBI, and that could be the cause of some of the issues. However, that should not be an acceptable excuse for a release-ready book. The editors and publishers should have caught this long before it ended up on NetGalley, because this book is not in the least reader-friendly, and I don’t think it’s ready for publishing.
Having said all of that, I do commend the author for their research, which appears to have been extensive. They list many trans, nonbinary, and intersex individuals who I had personally never heard of before, and I’ve been an advocate since 2004. It appears they dug through tons of historical records, including the accounts and biographies of those who knew them. There is a lot of information here I don’t think I’d find elsewhere, at least not all in one spot.
When not jumbled, the entries are written well and concisely, and mostly without judgmental language, leaving the reader to gasp and sigh at their treatment rather than read the author’s opinions and feelings. I appreciate that, partly because I’m highly sensitive and I don’t know if I could handle reading how it devastates the author while feeling my own sense of desolation. That manner of writing is also a good journalistic approach to the book, which fits its format well.
Coming up with a star rating for this book was difficult because every time I thought of something to condemn the book for, I found something worthy of praise. I decided to go with 3/5, because it needs quite a bit of improvement to be print-ready. However, I’d love to purchase my own copy when it gets the formatting kinks worked out of it.
August 25, 2022
OK, first the positives... Gender Pioneers is so obviously a labor of love by the author Philippa Punchard. As an LGBTQ+ historian and artist, her heart and passion for documenting this ignored part of history are clearly evident. The illustrations and artwork are beautiful and paint a picture that no words can capture fully. Just from her introduction, Philippa is someone I would love to share a long evening of dinner and drinks with just listening to all the colorful stories she has accumulated. I loved the inclusiveness of multiple ethnicities and cultures and time periods which did very well to highlight that transgender, intersex, and gender dysphoric people have always been a part of society and that gender and sexuality are more fluid than most people are willing to admit and are not either/or and not always correlated with what organs are deemed predominant at birth. It is not a fad or a new thing picked up by the modern generation. It simply has and always will be.
Now the negatives... If someone is picking this book up to learn about the medical or scientific aspects of transgender issues or the appropriate terminology to use, this is NOT the book to do so. While the author clearly states she is trying to do her best and pre-apologizes if she misuses terminology, many of the words are not in alignment with current medical standards or preferences of all those within the community. As the author is a member of the community herself, I give more leniency as she is writing from her own perspective. She has the life experience to have lived through a lot of rapidly changing terminology, and being from the UK, perhaps some terminology may differ from what is used in the US. I do not know those specific differences myself, but as people would look at me as if I grew two heads if I asked where the loo was at the WalMArt information desk, I grant the author grace in this aspect. There are plenty of other reviews who may feel differently, and I refer you to those.. I received a very early ARC, and perhaps it had not been vetted by an editor yet. A lot of the type face was off in my Kindle version, and poor Marsha P. Johnson's bio was just word jumbled. Hopefully these print issues are fixed with the final published version. When I get my eyes on a physical published copy, I may come back and revise my rating based on how gorgeous it turns out in print.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and thoroughly appreciated the included illustrations. I was able to keep my blinders on regarding some terminology use, and enjoyed a somewhat random bounce around through transgender, intersex, and non-binary history. The bios sparked my interest and lead me to read more thoroughly on some of the individuals featured. Yes, there may be some vocal calls to do better with the word choice, but I urge you to give the author a break for the previously mentioned reasons and just appreciate her perspective.
Thank you #NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
Now the negatives... If someone is picking this book up to learn about the medical or scientific aspects of transgender issues or the appropriate terminology to use, this is NOT the book to do so. While the author clearly states she is trying to do her best and pre-apologizes if she misuses terminology, many of the words are not in alignment with current medical standards or preferences of all those within the community. As the author is a member of the community herself, I give more leniency as she is writing from her own perspective. She has the life experience to have lived through a lot of rapidly changing terminology, and being from the UK, perhaps some terminology may differ from what is used in the US. I do not know those specific differences myself, but as people would look at me as if I grew two heads if I asked where the loo was at the WalMArt information desk, I grant the author grace in this aspect. There are plenty of other reviews who may feel differently, and I refer you to those.. I received a very early ARC, and perhaps it had not been vetted by an editor yet. A lot of the type face was off in my Kindle version, and poor Marsha P. Johnson's bio was just word jumbled. Hopefully these print issues are fixed with the final published version. When I get my eyes on a physical published copy, I may come back and revise my rating based on how gorgeous it turns out in print.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and thoroughly appreciated the included illustrations. I was able to keep my blinders on regarding some terminology use, and enjoyed a somewhat random bounce around through transgender, intersex, and non-binary history. The bios sparked my interest and lead me to read more thoroughly on some of the individuals featured. Yes, there may be some vocal calls to do better with the word choice, but I urge you to give the author a break for the previously mentioned reasons and just appreciate her perspective.
Thank you #NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
September 9, 2022
I was really excited to read Gender Pioneers when I first read the book’s description. A collection of historic accounts of trans and intersex icons sounded incredibly interesting, especially in the context of celebrating them. Unfortunately, everything interesting about this book is only interesting said in the tone of restraining yourself from starting an argument at dinner with your conservative family members.
From the very outset, the choice of ‘icons’ is… questionable. They are nearly all from the Western world, with references to other cultures only in what feels like an afterthought in summaries at the very end. Meanwhile, a trans man is included who is only mildly famous for randomly murdering his neighbour and being prone to unprompted outbursts of rage. The book starts with a note of wanting to be careful about not misgendering or deadnaming any of these historical figures, but then proceeds to frequently use both names given at birth and the name that these people actually went by in life frequently. The book also claims to celebrate nonbinary people, but the author seems to equate being nonbinary with being intersex, only acknowledging nonbinary identities as a possibility where the historical figure being described was known to be, or was potentially, intersex. There also seems to be no acknowledgement that trans women who are lesbians and trans men who are gay exist – trans women are said to live ‘within a lesbian lifestyle’ if they were known to have relationships with other women, and people who historically went by only male names and pronouns are misgendered as soon as there is record of them being romantically linked to a cis man, with no acknowledgement as to why they may have reverted to their birth names and female pronouns in these situations.
On top of all of this, the book is riddled with errors in grammar and punctuation that make it difficult to read. Even taking into consideration that my copy was an ARC doesn’t quite excuse the frequency and extent of the errors. The section on Marsha P. Johnson was utterly unintelligible start to finish due to what appears to be sentences being spliced together and mixed around.
I wish I could have written a more positive review of this book, but, unfortunately, this was far from the book that I had hoped to read.
I was given a free eARC of this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
From the very outset, the choice of ‘icons’ is… questionable. They are nearly all from the Western world, with references to other cultures only in what feels like an afterthought in summaries at the very end. Meanwhile, a trans man is included who is only mildly famous for randomly murdering his neighbour and being prone to unprompted outbursts of rage. The book starts with a note of wanting to be careful about not misgendering or deadnaming any of these historical figures, but then proceeds to frequently use both names given at birth and the name that these people actually went by in life frequently. The book also claims to celebrate nonbinary people, but the author seems to equate being nonbinary with being intersex, only acknowledging nonbinary identities as a possibility where the historical figure being described was known to be, or was potentially, intersex. There also seems to be no acknowledgement that trans women who are lesbians and trans men who are gay exist – trans women are said to live ‘within a lesbian lifestyle’ if they were known to have relationships with other women, and people who historically went by only male names and pronouns are misgendered as soon as there is record of them being romantically linked to a cis man, with no acknowledgement as to why they may have reverted to their birth names and female pronouns in these situations.
On top of all of this, the book is riddled with errors in grammar and punctuation that make it difficult to read. Even taking into consideration that my copy was an ARC doesn’t quite excuse the frequency and extent of the errors. The section on Marsha P. Johnson was utterly unintelligible start to finish due to what appears to be sentences being spliced together and mixed around.
I wish I could have written a more positive review of this book, but, unfortunately, this was far from the book that I had hoped to read.
I was given a free eARC of this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
February 11, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for the advance electronic galley of Gender Pioneers in exchange for an honest review.
I was fascinated by the description of this book as a “celebration of trans, non-binary and intersex icons,” and delighted to receive the advance galley. The book, though short, was indeed a celebration, brought to life through both written word and the author’s colorful illustrations.
The purpose of the book seems to be twofold—to educate, and increase awareness of the history of trans, non-binary, and intersex people, and to celebrate the lives of specific people whose lives brought them into the public eye.
The foreword and introduction probably gave the most comprehensive historical overview of the topic, but the individual stories were truly fascinating. That the author was able to find information on non-cisgender people dating back before the common era was impressive! (There was also an appendix which introduced a history of gender diverse cultures—I would like to have seen this better connected to the rest of the book.) I did think the book would have clearer if the stories had been presented chronologically rather than alphabetically, especially since there were a few clusters of stories that referenced others. I also had the sense that a few of the stories were about people who dressed as the opposite gender for convenience, such as to be able to work, rather than because of their gender identification. But some of the stories were particularly eye opening, especially regarding the way some individuals were subject to examination of a particularly humiliating sort to “prove” their gender. I’d like to say we’ve come a long way since then…
Gender Pioneers was educational, and the presentation humanized a group who has often been, and continues to be, dehumanized. Several familiar names and stories appear, but many are probably new to the average reader. There has been some concern noted about the misuse of pronouns in some of the stories—I am hoping that this will be remedied before publication. I do think that there is a place for this book in educating the general public (especially those who believe the transgender is a new thing) about the history of trans, non-binary, and intersex individuals.
I was fascinated by the description of this book as a “celebration of trans, non-binary and intersex icons,” and delighted to receive the advance galley. The book, though short, was indeed a celebration, brought to life through both written word and the author’s colorful illustrations.
The purpose of the book seems to be twofold—to educate, and increase awareness of the history of trans, non-binary, and intersex people, and to celebrate the lives of specific people whose lives brought them into the public eye.
The foreword and introduction probably gave the most comprehensive historical overview of the topic, but the individual stories were truly fascinating. That the author was able to find information on non-cisgender people dating back before the common era was impressive! (There was also an appendix which introduced a history of gender diverse cultures—I would like to have seen this better connected to the rest of the book.) I did think the book would have clearer if the stories had been presented chronologically rather than alphabetically, especially since there were a few clusters of stories that referenced others. I also had the sense that a few of the stories were about people who dressed as the opposite gender for convenience, such as to be able to work, rather than because of their gender identification. But some of the stories were particularly eye opening, especially regarding the way some individuals were subject to examination of a particularly humiliating sort to “prove” their gender. I’d like to say we’ve come a long way since then…
Gender Pioneers was educational, and the presentation humanized a group who has often been, and continues to be, dehumanized. Several familiar names and stories appear, but many are probably new to the average reader. There has been some concern noted about the misuse of pronouns in some of the stories—I am hoping that this will be remedied before publication. I do think that there is a place for this book in educating the general public (especially those who believe the transgender is a new thing) about the history of trans, non-binary, and intersex individuals.
December 10, 2021
If there's one overarching theme of Philippa Punchard's "Gender Pioneers: A Celebration of Transgender, Non-Binary and Intersex Icons" it's that what many consider to be a contemporary "trend" or liberal invention has, in fact, been with us throughout the centuries.
In other words, being transgender, non-binary and/or intersex is very real and "Gender Pioneers" does an excellent job of presenting the simple, straightforward (but far too brief) biographies of icons from throughout the ages. Some of these icons will be familiar while others will be more of a revelation of shorts.
The book is pleasingly illustrated to bring to life these icons and Punchard does a wonderful job of getting to the heart of their stories. "Gender Pioneers" is, in fact, a fairly straightforward book. Punchard largely presents the material in a matter-of-fact manner and "Gender Pioneers" largely reads like the relatively brief, mostly 1-2 pages, bios for a wide variety of transgender, non-binary and intersex icons from past and present.
Punchard also includes near book's end a sort of cultural history and celebration of transgender, non-binary and intersex icons and this alone is worthy of review, research, and further discussion. I found this informative as it provides discussion points for those who wish to call being transgender, non-binary and/or intersex some sort of liberal invention.
Punchard basically says "Nope, it's not" and then provides the proof.
"Gender Pioneers" is a relatively quick, easy read and is educational, engaging, and an important read for those who wish to understand and celebrate the transgender, non-binary and intersex icons of past, present, and most definitely the future.
In other words, being transgender, non-binary and/or intersex is very real and "Gender Pioneers" does an excellent job of presenting the simple, straightforward (but far too brief) biographies of icons from throughout the ages. Some of these icons will be familiar while others will be more of a revelation of shorts.
The book is pleasingly illustrated to bring to life these icons and Punchard does a wonderful job of getting to the heart of their stories. "Gender Pioneers" is, in fact, a fairly straightforward book. Punchard largely presents the material in a matter-of-fact manner and "Gender Pioneers" largely reads like the relatively brief, mostly 1-2 pages, bios for a wide variety of transgender, non-binary and intersex icons from past and present.
Punchard also includes near book's end a sort of cultural history and celebration of transgender, non-binary and intersex icons and this alone is worthy of review, research, and further discussion. I found this informative as it provides discussion points for those who wish to call being transgender, non-binary and/or intersex some sort of liberal invention.
Punchard basically says "Nope, it's not" and then provides the proof.
"Gender Pioneers" is a relatively quick, easy read and is educational, engaging, and an important read for those who wish to understand and celebrate the transgender, non-binary and intersex icons of past, present, and most definitely the future.
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