Review: “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Trans” by Brynn Tannehill

This month I’m reviewing another Transgender “answer book.”

This one was written by Brynn Tannehill. The following from GLAAD:

Brynn Tannehill is originally from Phoenix, Ariz. She is a writer and transgender advocate who has written for OutServe magazine, The New Civil Rights Movement, and The Bilerico Project as a blogger and featured columnist.

She graduated from the Naval Academy with a B.S. in computer science in 1997. She earned her Naval Aviator wings in 1999 and flew SH-60B helicopters and P-3C maritime patrol aircraft during three deployments between 2000 and 2004. She served as a campaign analyst while deployed overseas to 5th Fleet Headquarters in Bahrain from 2005 to 2006. In 2008 Brynn earned a M.S. in Operations Research from the Air Force Institute of Technology and transferred from active duty to the Naval Reserves. In 2008 Brynn began working as a senior defense research scientist in private industry.
Brynn left the reserves and began transition in 2010. She and her partner currently live in Xenia, Ohio, with their three children.

Pretty impressive, right? She has written for almost every LGBT site in the English language. But does that make the book any good? I’ll come back to this (duh.)

I’ve heard very differing opinions of Ms. Tannehill. I’ve heard her called a firebrand. I’ve been told she’s constantly “crying wolf.” That she is all gloom and doom.

Disclosure: I’ve never met Ms. Tannehill, but we have communicated via Facialbook.

Well, I have my own opinion of Ms. Tannehill. Objectively, she hasn’t been wrong yet. Everything she’s said would happen, has happened or is enroute to happening. Is she a firebrand? Nope. (I am though. Duh again.)

She researches topics thoroughly, and cites her sources. That brings me to this book.

This book covers all the usual ground. What is transgender, defining terms, the current science behind theories, etc. Where this book differs is that Ms. Tannehill goes into legal, political, and military topics as well. What does she know about law and politics? (Obviously she knows military.) Well, she knowledgeable, but doesn’t know AS much. That’s why she spoke spoke with experts and had them as reviewers. I mentioned research, right? She asks experts, then researches their answers to confirm the sources. We’re talking Citation City here, dear reader. (There are 61 PAGES of citations at the end of the book!)

She also updates what dating/sex for transgender people is like in the era of 45. She discusses current media exposure. Again, heavily cited. She discusses feminism and TERFS.

This is all to be expected if you’ve read her columns and articles before this. Some of this work is based in her previous work. However, she goes deeper into each topic.

Where this book really shines is the last chapter: Where we go from here. In that chapter, Ms. Tannehill ties together all of the previous threads and gives her learned opinion of what is next…and what the transgender AND cisgender communities must do if we are to survive.

Know what? I hope that, before the end of my life, this book will be regarded as a relic of the times. Sort of like Uncle Tom’s Cabin — wow weren’t things horrible then? Aren’t you glad that so many people stepped up and did the decent thing and righted (some of) those wrongs?

But I don’t think that will happen — which means that this book is the definitive guide about being transgender in our time, and will probably remain as such for quite some time. If you, dear reader, are transgender or a loved one of a transgender person, or if you are just a decent human being who knows injustice when they see it…this book is Indispensable.

Kudos, Ms. Tannehill. You “done great,” and I know you’ll continue to fight the good fight.

Brynn Tannehill Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Trans (But were afraid to ask) 9781785928260
Available from Amazon.

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Tags: book review, featured, Identity, Transgender

Category: Product Review