Our Marginalized Relations discussion

I connected with Abigail Tarttelin via Instagram and thought I would send her my questions about the book.

Do you guys have any questions for her?

I would collect all till October 17th and send them to her :)
EDIT: Ignore the Date, we will wait some more weeks, so all of us had the chance to read the book.

Happy reading

Nadine wrote: "I connected with Abigail Tarttelin via Instagram and thought I would send her my questions about the book.

Do you guys have any questions for her?

I would collect all till October 17th and send ..."

You lucky one!

Seriously, for now I can only think of one question:
What made her write the book? It's not a very well-known and written-about topic - what made her pick it up?

A second question that I have:
How much research did Ms. Tarttelin put into the book, especially the intersex variation of Max?

I just read that many members haven't started reading yet, because they wait for their copy.
Let's wait a little bit longer for the questions.

Maybe you want to send a message to all, letting them know that they can pop their questions here :)

Any more questions? If not I'll send the ones we have so far to Abigail Tarttelin this evening :)

Nadine wrote: "Any more questions? If not I'll send the ones we have so far to Abigail Tarttelin this evening :)"

I have one more!:D
How much research went into the book? (and maybe: Where did she find the information that she packed into it? - it's very elaborate in many ways...)

I'm curious about her decision to have so many different POV. This could have easily remained Max's singular PoC from the beginning, why be inclusive to the other perspectives?

And why was Steven's POV kept until the third chapter?

Hello everybody,
Abigail replied to our questions :)
I'll post them here in a minute.

1) What made you write the book? It's not a very well-known and written-about topic - what made you pick it up?

I had seen a film called XXY about being intersex, but felt I could approach the topic in a different way. Most intersex people grow up in communities and not outside them, and I wanted to tell a story about an individual who has to deal with how intersex is addressed culturally today.

2) How much research went into the book? (and maybe: Where did you find the information that she packed into it? - it's very elaborate in many ways...)

I research medical treatment of intersex people and intersex activism online and in books. I think I bought every book possible at the time. There are many more now. It was difficult for me to reach intersex people and I didn’t want to
intrude, so I read some blogs by intersex people, and approached the character of Max as I would approach a human being who didn’t necessarily identify with either gender (which was very much me when younger—not truly conceptualising myself as girl or boy).

3) What are your thoughts on Trump's recent pursuit of legally redefining gender as only male or female, something that cannot be changed after birth? How can those who are trans or agender or genderfluid or intersex retain their gender identity?

Trump is reprehensible and his ideas aren’t worthy of discussion.

4) Why so many different POV? This could have easily remained Max's singular PoC from the beginning, why be inclusive to the other perspectives?

I wanted to explore how people of different ages, sexes, and backgrounds might approach this issue, and to explain that our differences and difficulties often don’t come from places of hate, but from what we have previously been exposed to, and what beliefs have developed over the course of our lives. Sometimes in loving someone, we can accidentally make a decision that adversely effects them.

5) and why was Stephens POV kept until the third part?

I wanted to show how many fathers stay out of family life because of old ideas about men being in the workplace and women being with the family, and how that isolates the father and lays far too much strain and responsibility at the door of the mother.

6) what is the best way to support?

Go to interact’s website and read about intersex people. Talk about the topic so your friends who may be intersex know it’s okay. Make sure you know the difference between intersex and trans. Be an ally! :)

Thank you so much for reaching out to Abigail Tarttelin, Nadine!

It's always interesting to see the author answer questions!