Personal Autobiography
Personal narratives are one of the most important ways that social issues can be brought to a person’s attention. While academic writing, articles, and studies are great at analyzing the experiences and histories of marginalized identities, they are often unable to humanize the issues in the same way the a personal narrative does. Books such as memoirs and autobiographies allow for the reader to see the real, complex experiences in a person’s life, as well as giving the reader the potential ability to identify with, and better understand, an unique individual’s life. Up to this point in my Women’s Studies education, I have not read very many memoirs as a point of study in the major, and I would enjoy having the ability to look at memoirs in
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I decided to look at memoirs Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation by Eli Clare from the class reading list, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & so Much More by Janet Mock, and Whipping Girl: a Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano. The reason that I chose these memoirs is that they both address transgender identity alongside other oppressed identities, which will easily bring the element of intersectionality to the forefront of the essay. Clare wrote about his experiences as a trans man and being queer in a small American town, and he discusses his identity as disabled from a cultural, historical and personal perspective. His memoir was eye-opening, intersectional, and well writen, but it lacked analysis of the intersection of race with these identities. In fact, Clare himself addressed his lack of analysis of race in a footnote where he writes, “Reading this story now in 2009, I'm struck by the ways I've downplayed racism and my own white privilege (34).” This footnote called attention to the fact that much of Eli Clare’s writing was done before he had the ability to critically think about race and racism, and it is subsequently missing from his narrative. This is to be somewhat expected, however, considering that Clare wrote Exile and Pride from an experience of a white person. Clare’s footnote on white privilege is part of what guided me to choose the next memoir on my list, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & so Much
I decided to look at memoirs Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation by Eli Clare from the class reading list, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & so Much More by Janet Mock, and Whipping Girl: a Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano. The reason that I chose these memoirs is that they both address transgender identity alongside other oppressed identities, which will easily bring the element of intersectionality to the forefront of the essay. Clare wrote about his experiences as a trans man and being queer in a small American town, and he discusses his identity as disabled from a cultural, historical and personal perspective. His memoir was eye-opening, intersectional, and well writen, but it lacked analysis of the intersection of race with these identities. In fact, Clare himself addressed his lack of analysis of race in a footnote where he writes, “Reading this story now in 2009, I'm struck by the ways I've downplayed racism and my own white privilege (34).” This footnote called attention to the fact that much of Eli Clare’s writing was done before he had the ability to critically think about race and racism, and it is subsequently missing from his narrative. This is to be somewhat expected, however, considering that Clare wrote Exile and Pride from an experience of a white person. Clare’s footnote on white privilege is part of what guided me to choose the next memoir on my list, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & so Much