Fictional account “Mad Honey” Adds to Understanding of Transgender Experience
“Mad Honey” helps to explain the transgender experience.
I read Mad Honey, the fictional story of a young transgender woman who is murdered not because she's transgender, but because she’s a woman in a love triangle.
She was accepted as a woman, In fact, she was accepted as the “other woman.”
The story, by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan, who is transgender, really highlighted the transgender experience. They really did a nice job in helping people understand what it is to be transgender.
They did that through a doctor who is called to testify to the jury in the murder case. Lotuswritingtherapy.com and nyjournalofbooks.com offer great summaries of those passages.
Here are excerpts:
At one point, the doctor looks at the jury and gives examples of how to understand transgender:
Everyone has a dominant gender identity. It’s not a preference, it’s not something you can change just because you feel like it—it’s just how you’re wired.
Most people who are assigned male or female at birth feel their gender identity matches that label—they’re called cisgender.
But transgender people know that being in the body they are in feels not quite right.
Some know this when they’re very young. Some spend years feeling uncomfortable without really knowing why. Some avoid talking about gender identity because they’re ashamed or afraid.
The doctor also explains what it means to transition: That it’s the period during which a trans person starts to live according to their gender identity. The doctor tells the jury:
It’s important to point out that you can be transgender and never transition. It’s not a one-size-fits-all, and gender expression looks different for every person.
For one, it may mean certain clothing or growing your hair long, or using makeup. For someone else, it could be changing your name or the pronouns you use to refer to yourself. Some people change their driver’s license or passport to reflect their correct gender.
Others undergo hormone therapy, or a surgical procedure, so that their bodies reflect their correct gender.
I got the book from a friend who is a business executive and working on diversity, equity and inclusion in her workplace. I think the key points made by the doctor’s testimony could be used for DEI programs to help explain clearly the transgender experience. The doc said: It’s the way people feel, it’s a part of them and it’s not a passing fad. People feel a high level of stress and anxiety over what they call their authentic selves.
She frames it in medical terms that are understandable rather than being dismissive.
If you read her testimony, it makes perfect sense. People often say, “Well, I don't understand this.” With the key points from the doc’s testimony, if you read in an unbiased way, it will help you understand.