The book Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin is available in the Lakeshore Middle School and Grand Haven High School libraries in the Grand Haven Area Public School system. The book is a Stonewall Honor Book which is an award given by the American Library Association. Here is a review of the book by a GHAPS parent followed by a review from GHAPS representatives and a short explanation of the Stonewall Honor.
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin narrates the stories of six different transgender teenagers in their own words. It goes into great detail on their thought process, and experiences before and during their transition to the opposite sex.
Although Jessy, Christina, Mariah, Cameron, Nat and Luke each felt out of place in their body and a desire to be someone different, their stories are very different. Some of these children suffered through abusive and neglectful childhoods, whereas others had supportive parents. The children are from different races, went to different schools and had different support systems. The book contains graphic sexual content, violence, and vulgar language, but more importantly, this books creates confusion on the topic of gender. Adults that read this book are confused. Can you imagine how children respond to this content?
Of the six characters in the book, Jessy had a supportive family and transitioned relatively well. Christina had a violent temper and often got into fights. Mariah was abused, disturbed and unstable. She spent time in a plethora of group homes and institutional facilities. Cameron had a supportive family but seemed highly influenced by woke society. Cameron presented gender fluidity as factual information. Nat was intersex and seemed to suffer from a learning disability or mental illness in conjunction with his gender issues. Luke had supportive parents and a supportive theatre community. Together, these are real children with real issues who are questioning their gender.
Changing gender is a confusing adult issue that a small number of children start to explore during their adolescent years. When a child begins to question their gender, there is no question that they need support, but this book is not a great resource. The people in this book have real issues. They need help themselves. They should not be the people our children turn to for help or information. Children need help from stable, supportive, and caring adults, not confused, abused, immature teenagers with mental illnesses.
Gaining an understanding into people who are different from ourselves can be beneficial, but it can also be disturbing. When children are exposed to confusing topics with adult themes they can be harmed, and this book is harmful to unsuspecting children who stumble across it while browsing the library. In my opinion, if GHAPS feels this book is necessary to serve the small population of students questioning their gender, it should be reserved for struggling children and given to them only by a trained councilor.
Here are some specific examples from the book which demonstrate abuse and mental illness, contribute to gender confusion, normalize violence, and normalize child and teenage sexuality.
Gender Confusion
p. 95 – I’m dressing gender fuck…”What’s that?” “Gender fuck is blending stuff. Having something girl and something boy and something neither.”
p. 96 – “You can be gay, bi, pan, homo flexible (mostly gay), heteroflexible (mostly straight), or just queer.”
p.116 – Male Privilege – “Because I’m perceived as male, I get male privileges… Male privilege means I don’t have to prove myself for my opinion to have weight. People assume that I’m intelligent. By being male, I’m automatically given some kind of validity.”
Violence
The violence in this book is presented as normal. Although it may have been normal to the children who shared it, it should not be normalized for the majority of children.
p. 32 – “You better shut the fuck up before I fuck you up!”
p. 64 – “Dude”, “I put my hands around his neck and started backing him up against the wall.”
p. 84 – I actually pushed her to the floor – and she was pregnant.
p. 88 – “I got into another fight with my grandma. I became very aggressive and severely depressed… I also got into a fight with some kid and broke a beer bottle on his head. I got charged. I went to a juvenile detention center, then back to Mercy First.”
Sexual Content
p. 55 – “I was a very horny boy. Before I went on hormones, I was able to get an erection and maintain one. Whenever I saw a boy I liked in the hallway or in gym class – the locker room is the best place to get my eyes on flesh – I’d get it.”
p. 78 – “We started kissing. I picked up her skirt and looked in her underwear. ‘Where’s your dick?’”
p. 80 – “I was sexually mature. What I mean by sexually mature is that I knew about sex.” From six up, I used to kiss other guys in my neighborhood, make out with them and perform oral sex on them. I liked it. I used to love oral. And I touched their you-know-whats. We were really young, but that’s what we did.”
p. 82 – At night he used to get in bed with me and we’d kiss and hug each other.
p. 85 – If I had a big dick, I’d be with a girl.
p. 86 – This guy got me to perform oral sex on him…. Other kids tried to have sex with me.
p. 87 – “I’m told that you’re really good at head.”… “Well, why don’t you do that to me?”
Mental Illness
p. 123 – “My parents told me that I didn’t speak until I was seven.”
p. 125 – From Kindergarten to second grade Nat was in special ed.
p. 126 – “I wet my pants in school.”
p. 138 – “I started to physically hurt myself. I started to cut. I heard that lots of people do this and it wasn’t a big deal, so I tried to do even more. I started to burn myself.”
Abuse
p. 123 – “My mom was forced to marry my father by her mother, my grandmother.”
p. 139 – According to this social worker, I was suffering from emotional neglect and my brother was suffering from educational neglect.
p. 140 – I attempted suicide twice.
This book also was reviewed by Grand Haven High School and Central High School librarian Dana Rider, Lakeshore and White Pines librarian Sarah McElrath and Instructional Services Educational Director Mary Jane Evink who determined it is appropriate reading material for children ages 12-18 in Lakeshore Middle School and the Grand Haven High School. Here is their review.
The book is a series of short memoirs explaining how these teens became aware of themselves as transgender. It explains personal background, experiences, sharing, and often transitioning to a different gender. Each story is told objectively with no tone to persuade or proselytize. One child shares he was sexually assaulted.
The GHAPS reviewers determined that they will take no action on this book as they believe it is appropriate for the school library.
The book Beyond Magenta was a Stonewall Honor Book which is an award given by the American Library Association. Part of the American Library Association’s strategic plan is to promote equity, diversity and inclusion which is another way of saying they promote Critical Race Theory. The Stonewall Award is given to books that contain exceptional merit regarding the LGBTQIA+ experience.
Beyond Magenta contains the stories of six teenagers questioning their gender. These children have issues and should not be seen as a source of reliable information for our children. Their stories will only serve to confuse our stable children and contribute to a larger breakdown of society. The book should not be offered to 12-18 year old children as a reading option. It contains confusing adult topics that will harm healthy children. The motives of the American Library Association giving books Stonewall Honors should be questioned and this book should be removed from the Lakeshore Middle School and Grand Haven High School libraries.