 | |
| Author | Abigail Tarttelin |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel, family saga |
| Publisher | W&N |
Publication date | May 9, 2013 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback and Hardback) and E-book |
| Pages | 416 |
| ISBN | 0297870947 |
| OCLC | 826526529 |
Golden Boy is the second novel by Abigail Tarttelin, published in 2013 about an intersex teenager, Max, and his family. It was described as a "dazzling debut" by Oprah's Book Club. [1]
Tarttelin has described how she explores intersex to look at gender roles, expressing the view that, "I don't particularly think men and women are very different". [2] In discussion with Interview Magazine, Tarttelin comments that gender is arbitrary, but "a lot of it is socially constructed". She is concerned that some mainstream analysis of trans children exhibits a narrow world view and limited expectations of gender roles. Nevertheless, she argues that gender determines "whether you are physically intimidating vs. being physically intimidated". [3] Interviewed at Goodreads, Tarttelin says, "I could explore gender through the eyes of someone who had no need to define themselves as either male or female, but was pressured to do so by their family and community". She deliberately placed her protagonist within an "'average' community and a loving family", saying, "I often feel characters with alternative genders and sexualities are treated as outsiders in art, when in fact they are us, and they belong inside our communities. I wanted Golden Boy to take place in a town that readers could see as their own town". [4]
Tarttelin describes Lianne Simon's Confessions of a Teenage Hermaphrodite, and discussions with gender fluid people on Tumblr, as important influences. [2]
Max Walker is a golden boy: athletic, attractive and intelligent, from a well to do family. A family with secrets, because Max is intersex. When a childhood friend abuses his trust in a horrific way, the family starts to unravel and, ultimately, seek to try to come to terms with its secrets. [5]
The book has been well received by most reviewers, particularly for young adult audiences: "A warmly human coming-of-age story... An important novel, which gives an appealing face to a seldom-seen minority. [Max's] desperate search for identity is gripping, emotionally engaging, and genuinely unforgettable, as, indeed, is this accomplished first novel. [6] Clare Calvet of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Nightlife radio program chose Golden Boy as Book of the Week, "Golden Boy" is an amazing coming of age story. Unique. A dramatic, emotional read. And teachers, please read this powerful page turner." [7] Writing in the Austin Chronicle, Jeanne Thornton writes how the "mainstream" character dealing with problems of secrecy, rather than anatomy, is "way better than some meditation on a mysterious shamanistic figure who has lots to teach us all about gender". [8]
Golden Boy has also been well received by intersex audiences. Hida Viloria, director of Intersex Campaign for Equality, describes the book as a "thoroughly engrossing novel with a pioneering perspective ... The novel explores heavy, complex these with a disarming wholesomeness that elicits nostalgia for the novels of adolescence, making it a perfect fit for teen readers as well as adults. [9] Morgan Carpenter at Organisation Intersex International Australia wrote that the story is "realistically and eloquently described"; it "accurately portrays the difficulties in negotiating issues of conformity and autonomy, and the very human need to be true to one’s self" but also, "it’s arguably “intersex lite”, the easily comprehended, mainstream, middle-class introduction to intersex that maybe we need it to be." [10]
The Evening Standard has reported that Tarttelin is in discussion over film rights. [11] In 2013, the book has also been published in Chinese, [12] Spanish [13] and Portuguese. [14]
The book was a winner in the 2014 Alex Awards, [15] and one of School Library Journal's best books of 2013. [16]
A cisgender person is a person whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth. For example, someone who identifies as a woman and was identified as female at birth is a cisgender woman. The word cisgender is the antonym of transgender. The prefix cis- is not an acronym or abbreviation of another word; it is derived from Latin and the word cissexual was invented in the 1990s from the German zissexuell.
Middlesex is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Jeffrey Eugenides published in 2002. The book is a bestseller, with more than four million copies sold since its publication. Its characters and events are loosely based on aspects of Eugenides' life and observations of his Greek heritage. It is not an autobiography; unlike the protagonist, Eugenides is not intersex. The author decided to write Middlesex after reading the 1980 memoir Herculine Barbin and was dissatisfied with its discussion of intersex anatomy and emotions.
A book discussion club is a group of people who meet to discuss a book or books that they have read and express their opinions, likes, dislikes, etc. It is more often called simply a book club, a term that is also used to describe a book sales club, which can cause confusion. Other frequently used terms to describe a book discussion club include reading group, book group, and book discussion group. Book discussion clubs may meet in private homes, libraries, bookstores, online forums, pubs, and in cafés or restaurants over meals or drinks.
Golden Boy or The Golden Boy may refer to:
The Organisation Intersex International (OII) is a global advocacy and support group for people with intersex traits. According to Milton Diamond, it is the world's largest organization of intersex persons. A decentralised network, OII was founded in 2003 by Curtis Hinkle. Upon Hinkle's retirement, American intersex activist Hida Viloria served as Chairperson/President elect from April 2011 through November 2017, when they resigned in order to focus on OII's American affiliate, OII-USA's transition into the independent American non-profit, the Intersex Campaign for Equality.
Abigail Jane Kathryn Tarttelin is an English novelist and actress. Her second book, Golden Boy, was described as a "dazzling debut" by Oprah's Book Club. Published in 2013, the book was translated into several languages and on the Evening Standard's 2013 "25 people under 25" list. She is a 2014 recipient of the Alex Awards.
Gendernauts: A Journey Through Shifting Identities is a 1999 film by Monika Treut featuring Sandy Stone, Texas Tomboy, Susan Stryker, and Hida Viloria. It shows us a group of artists in San Francisco who live between the poles of conventional gender identities.
2312 is a hard science fiction novel by American writer Kim Stanley Robinson, published in 2012. It is set in the year 2312 when society has spread out across the Solar System. The novel won the 2013 Nebula Award for Best Novel.
The Intersex Campaign for Equality (IC4E) is a non-governmental organization that advocates for the human rights of intersex people. It was formerly the US affiliate of Organisation Intersex International.
Hida Viloria is a Latinx American writer, author, producer, and human rights activist. Viloria is intersex, non-binary, and gender nonconforming, using they/them pronouns.
Intersexion (2012) is a documentary about intersex people. The film was researched and presented by activist Mani Mitchell, New Zealand's first "out" intersex person. It was written, directed and edited by Grant Lahood and produced by John Keir.
The International Intersex Forum is an annual event organised, then later supported, by the ILGA and ILGA-Europe that and organisations from multiple regions of the world, and it is believed to be the first and only such intersex event.
Intersex people are born with sex characteristics, such as genitals, gonads and chromosome patterns, "that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies". Literary descriptions may use older or different language for intersex traits, including describing intersex people as hermaphrodites, neither wholly male or female, or a combination of male and female. This page examines intersex characters in fictional works as a whole, focusing on characters and tropes over time.
Tiger Devore, previously known as Howard Devore and Tiger Howard Devore, is a clinical psychologist, sex therapist, and spokesperson on intersex issues. He is a former member of the now defunct Intersex Society of North America. The historian Alice Dreger credits him with starting the work of the intersex movement.
Intersex UK is an organisation by and for intersex people in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Intersex UK works to protect the bodily autonomy and civil rights of intersex children, adolescents, and their families through government lobbying and educational outreach.
Intersex, in humans and other animals, describes variations in sex characteristics including chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies".
Intersex people in the United States have some of the same rights as other people, but with significant gaps, particularly in protection from non-consensual cosmetic medical interventions and violence, and protection from discrimination. Actions by intersex civil society organizations aim to eliminate harmful practices, promote social acceptance, and equality. In recent years, intersex activists have also secured some forms of legal recognition.
The Malta declaration is the statement of the Third International Intersex Forum, which took place in Valletta, Malta, in 2013. The event was supported by the ILGA and ILGA-Europe and brought together 34 people representing 30 organisations from multiple regions of the world.