Terms found in the text:

·         Sexual development

·         Hormones and chemicals

·         Gender identity

·         Medical “normalization” of intersex people

·         Intersex

·         Made-up gender binary, bi-gender system

·         Genitalia

·         Social construction

·         Gender-variant people

The title of the first chapter: The Social Construction of Biological Facts, accurately portrays the voice of the first chapter.  Readers will get a sense for the complexity and, arguably, socially imposed, labeling of a person as either male or female.  The role of hormones, chromosomes, and chemicals are explored in their influence over gender identity, as opposed to the external genitalia (ex. penis, vagina) of a person.  The book also provides stories of transgender people and their lives, as well as statements as to why living in a binary system, which is a system that divides humans into only two categories: males or females, is oppressive and limits individual expression.  The book’s author interviews 150 consenting individuals aged 17 to 71 who self-identified as being a gender transgressor.  They share their stories intermixed with thought-provoking commentary and references to academic studies. 

The end of Chapter One ends with this thought from one of the interviewees: “It’s just too, too bad that we live in a society where we try to force people into boxes (often successfully) based upon what’s between their legs.”