My interest in trans issues stems in part from their predominant position is current state politics in various places. A politics that reflects a lack of understanding, a lack that demands learning. Most of my reading so far has focused on male-to-female transitions; I wondered to what extent there was similarity and difference between them and female-to-male transitions. But I learned much more.

Green presents a more nuanced version of gender identity, a more inclusive one, than I have read elsewhere. He pushes against all stereotypes. One analogy I appreciated was to a computer: biological sex as the hard drive, cultural gender as the soft drive, and gender identity as the operating system that mediates the other two. Besides the chapters that emphasize gender theory there are chapters of practical information for one who may be seeking medical intervention; for those with a scholarly interest there are sections of annotated bibliography. Interspersed is a wealth of personal experience, always with the caveat that there is no single way to be a transgendered
person. There is discussion of the efforts to include transness in the LGBTQ umbrella, resolved by seeing each as some form of gender transgression. Readers can focus on the parts that are relevant to them and skim/skip the rest. But for any who are ready to drop the whole somewhere in the middle, I'd encourage reading the chapter, "Willful Destiny" near the end before quitting. It contains a couple vivid vignettes and a discussion of intersexuality that is important.

(I read the 2020 edition.)