Rethinking Normal Chapter Summary

I chose this book because as I was going through the list of Corollary Readings the title caught my eye. I want to understand more about transgender people because I have friend that at age 30 has decided to transition from female to male (FTM). I have asked a few questions but don’t want to get too personal and make “him” uncomfortable, so I decided to read this book to see if any of my questions could get answered. Surprisingly enough a lot of my questions have been answered and now I want to research more and read more books about transgender people. Growing up some children have to endure bullying because they are different from other kids and they would do anything to make the bullying stop or wish they were invisible. Katie Hill went
Katie never felt comfortable being a boy. She realized very young she was a girl that had been born in the body of a boy. Suffocating under her peers' bullying and the mounting pressure to be "normal," Katie tried to take her life at the age of eight years old. After several other failed attempts, she finally understood that "Katie"--the girl trapped within her--was determined to live.
Katie reflects on her pain-filled childhood and the events leading up to the life-changing decision to undergo gender reassignment as a 15 year old teenager. She reveals the unique challenges she faced at school, within the dating world and experiencing heartbreak for the first time in a body that matched her gender
Being so open-and openly imperfect-makes Katie relatable on a human level, not just as a spokesperson.
I finished reading this book in a single day- which really is to say that Katie is an incredibly interesting writer. Katie goes through some very dark and obscure moments in her life. She does not shy away from these moments in the book, nor does she present those moments in an overly gratuitous manner. The more difficult truths of her life simply are exposed at the precise moments in order to fuel our understanding of her challenges, her motivations, and her actions.
If I had to put just one word to Katie Rain Hill’s writing, I would describe it as “appealing”. She wants to be accepted as she is- a girl who is, herself, growing and learning. So, although she tries her best to be informative and patient, Katie does not hide the moments that reveal her to be distressed or impatient herself. Whether it is dealing with a difficult breakup, or coming to the realization that the LGBTQ community is not exactly a paradise in itself, Katie not only narrates with integrity but also with optimism and