The Art of Being Normal claims to be a book about the experience of transgender children, and the author worked in the Gender Identity Development Service with many people struggling with their gender identity. From the way that the novel is written, it seems like she has a baseline knowledge of transgender experiences, but it is clear that her knowledge is all second hand.
The book overall tells a good story, even from a representational perspective, but it contains many flawed ideas surrounding trans people and these can be harmful to those who don't already know that they are harmful. The two main characters are a trans guy called Leo and a trans girl called Kate, but both of these characters misgender one another and reference one another using transphobic language at several points. Kate comes out to Leo in the middle of the book, but he continues to deadname her and use he/him pronouns for her up until the very last chapter, even though at one point he says that "I even start to feel a bit guilty about continuing to think of him as "he" at all.". Since Leo begins his transition before the start of the book, Kate always refers to him properly but it is clear that the character has a lot of internalized transphobia that doesn't serve the plot and was most likely a projection of the author's own hidden transphobia. That being said, her immediate reaction to him coming out is to say "You're a girl?" to which his reaction explains that "I actually prefer the term "natal female"".
The entire book, whether intentionally or not, implies that trans people want to be their gender rather than already being it. Quite a common theme throughout the book is the idea that Leo isn't who people think he is because he is trans, and the fact that he's trans is used as a plot twist. Here's an extract of his first coming out scene, where he is hesitant to get to fourth base with his girlfriend, Alicia.
>"Alicia squeezes my hand as if to say go on, and I know I can't put it off any longer. Suddenly I feel dizzy, like if I opened my eyes Alicia's room would be spinning at a hundred miles per hour. I take a deep breath.
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>"OK, the reason I've been acting so weird is because I'm not who you think I am."
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>I feel Alicia's grip on my hand slacken ever so slightly.
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>I need to say it now, quickly, like ripping off a plaster, before I can change my mind.
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>"I wasn't born Leo," I say, my voice growing quieter and quieter, so I'm almost whispering.
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>Ella Fitzgerald has stopped singing. The room is silent.
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>"I was born a girl."
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>I keep my eyes closed as Alicia's hand shoots from mine."
The idea that trans people aren't who they say they are is incredibly transphobic, and this scene in particular places too much emphasis on I used to be a girl when most trans people wouldn't reference themselves like that. I, as a trans girl, would never say that I was born a boy as a way of coming out, because it implies that I wasn't always a girl, and if I don't actively come out as trans that doesn't mean that I'm pretending to be someone else. He was pretending to be a girl before he came out, just as Kate was pretending to be a boy. The whole book phrases moments where she is talking about being trans as though she is a boy who wants to be a girl, and not already a girl living in a masculine body.
Kate's private moments before she comes out would have been good if it wasn't painfully obvious that the book was written by a cis person. It contains the (almost) cliché of it being difficult to look in the mirror, which is a real problem for some trans people with major dysphoria but it feels shoehorned in. She does a weekly inspection of herself - things like hair length, foot size, penis size and similar masculinizing features - and writes it all down in a notebook that she... brings to school for some reason???? A lot of trans people will do these kinds of inspections, as it can be like an addiction, but it's not realistic for them to write it down and bring the book into school. It's clear that this element was only written in to be a part of her (well written but poorly worded) hate crime where she meets Leo. She also has a dress-up box (this is how it's referenced and presented in the book), which a lot of particularly transfeminine people may have but the way it's written, again, presents her as if she is pretending and wishing to be a girl but isn't actually.
There are many more points that I'm not going to get into right now, but I would love to talk with others who have read this book about it. As a trans girl with some shared experience with Kate, I loved the story but the representation of trans people was awful.
Disastrous_Use_7353 t1_irwmne3 wrote
I think I understand your point, but could it be that they’re just expressing a different outlook on trans experiences. As you state, the author is not a trans person, but I would think that they had conducted some kind of research before writing this text. Additionally, I’m not sure how something can be “well-written, but poorly worded.” Finally, doesn’t it seem a bit unfair to accuse an author who is actively trying to help trans people of transphobia? Can’t anyone just have a difference of opinion, even if we strongly disagree with said opinion? This type of thinking is exactly why skilled people are running from the non-profit sector. You try to help and invariably wind up painted as some kind of villain. It’s a wild world we call our home.