Buck Angel

International sex researcher, neuroscientist, and columnistDebra Soh debunks popular gender myths in this research-based, scientific examination of the many facets of gender identity. Is our gender something we’re born with, or are we conditioned by society? In The End of Gender, neuroscientist and sexologist Dr. Debra Soh uses a research-based approach to address this hot-button topic, unmasking popular misconceptions about the nature vs. nurture debate and exploring what it means to be a woman or a man in today’s society. Both scientific and objective, and drawing on original research and carefully conducted interviews, Soh tackles a wide range of issues, such as gender-neutral parenting, gender dysphoric children, and the neuroscience of being transgender. She debates today’s accepted notion that gender is a social construct and a spectrum, and challenges the idea that there is no difference between how male and female brains operate. The End of Gender is a conversation-starting work that will challenge what you thought you knew about gender, identity, and everything in between. Timely, informative, and provocative, it will arm you with the facts you need to come to your own conclusions about gender identity and its place in the world today.

Through Sarah Wong's beautiful, moving photographs and Ellen Visser's poignant writing, this book provides the first insight into what it really feels like to be born in the wrong body, both for cross gender children and their families. "Despite the unimaginable problem they have been faced with since a very young age, we see fun, confident, strong children, committed families and proud parents and grandparents who deal with the situation very openheartedly. Some are symbolically mounted atop a powerful horse while others shyly touch the breasts of a mannequin." Over the course of seven years, Sarah Wong and Ellen de Visser followed girls who feel they are boys, and vice versa. They were invited into homes, schools, hospitals and sporting events. These aren't gratuitous images, but portraits of their daily lives; proving that they are regular children that have managed to live the life they have always wanted. Occasionally, Sarah Wong uses the poetic metaphor of butterflies and caterpillars, who are also 'born twice'. The accompanying text tells each child's moving story.