Jennifer Finney Boylan on the executive order “Two sexes”, Caitlyn Jenner

“I hope people do not think it's a book on breast history,” said Jennifer Finney Boylan via the zoom of her New York apartment before the publication on Tuesday of “cleavage: Men, Women and the space between us”. His latest memoirs arise in the heels of President Trump's decree proclaiming that the United States government will only recognize two sexes – men and women.

“I call the” cleavage “book because, to a certain extent, it is a separation: before and after,” she says. “The cleavage is a wonderful word. This is what linguists call a contonymous because its definition contains its own opposite. This means division, but it also means to meet. It also means space between things. ”

Boylan also played with the titles “The two sides now”, after the song by Joni Mitchell, and “Il’t là”, a “Live Serre” to his first Memoirs on the release of Trans, “She's Not There”, in 2003.

“When I left 25 years ago, no one had yet received official instructions on how to hate me,” she said. “In some ways, things are easier (now). The path which was, for me, therefore obscure is now quite wasted. But in some ways, things are more difficult because with increased visibility is up to an increased reversal.”

Boylan spoke at the time of Caitlyn Jenner, of religious hypocrisy, of her daughter Trans and “Emilia Pérez”.

This interview was slightly modified and condensed for duration and clarity.

How do you feel that your book will be released at the current political moment?

This is the question, isn't it? Is this the best time to publish a book on transgender experience or is it the worst? I hope it's a good time because the subjects are in the news. On the other hand, there are a lot of subjects in the news. I hope people will take a moment to consider the stories I tell because the narration, I believe, is the best method to open the heart and allow people to have empathy.

What is your response to the executive decree of Trump's “two sex”?

I woke up in my own surprise bed to learn that I was again a man and that my wife was back in a heterosexual marriage. What is strange is that nothing seemed to have changed, at least nothing close. It may be the lesson to follow: they can do all the laws and proclamations they want, but nothing will change the truth. It is not for someone who has never met me to declare that he knows my soul better than me. I think I have become a very good expert from whom I am over the years.

It makes me sad because what we face, among other things, is a failure of the imagination. Understanding transgender people requires a certain imagination and the will to understand the lives of people different from ourselves. It makes me a little cross because it does not seem to me to be such a heavy elevator.

The language you use to describe your pre and post-transition lives is quite frank and clear. Are you worried at all he Could be used as ammunition for extremists from the far right who deny the existence of trans people?

They can fold anything out of shape. Everyone knows what I'm talking about when I say pre-transition and post-transition. I recognize that there are many ways to see this. There is no singular transgender experience. What is wonderful is that we have so many different ways of being us.

I am talking about my own experience of the way I see it and the way I think is easier for people who know nothing about the transgender experience to understand. The way I talk about these questions to a general audience could be a little different from the way I discuss it with a group of my peers. My main desire is to tell a story and provide people who have never thought of this thing with a means.

The people of the right will bow everything I say about any healthy context, but in the end, do they understand that conservatism should mean leaving people alone? Do they understand that the command of the Bible is to love each other even if I loved you? Do they understand that Jesus himself said, concerning trans people, that those who can accept what can. “Some are eunuchs because they were born from the eunuchs, some are eunuchs because they were made eunuchs by others, and there were some that have been made in order to better serve God. That all those who can accept what can ”(Matthew 19:12). You want to quote the Scriptures, you want to fold my words – to have. But in the end, all we can do is try to love ourselves and understand ourselves. I will say that I am swept through the prison they have in reserve for me.

On this note, what do you do with bishop Mariann Budde calling for mercy and the counter coupling that followed?

Oh no, not a backlash of mercy! What controversial to say, that we deserve mercy and that the work of the President of the United States is to protect vulnerable and needy in this country. What an incredible controversy, that an episcopal bishop should call us to have mercy and love each other. We have reached a world in which the idea of ​​mercy is political. It's going to be four long years.

It was an excellent sermon and it is a shame that we did not hear more during the campaign because Mr. Trump, in addition to being a deeply put into service, is a cruel person, and his policies are designed to rely on the weak and for everyone to hate himself.

You also write that “people who go out as a trans do not apologize for whom they are. They do not beg forgiveness or understanding. ” Do you think it will back up more anti-trans invoices?

If anything, I think people will have an increased feeling of fury that their desire to be themselves should be someone else's business. I can understand if people pay a little more attention to whom they share this information because we are attacked like never before.

As a mother of a trans daughter, what advice or words of wisdom and comfort do you give you to trans children while growing up now?

When my daughter came out as trans, she didn't want my lawyer. Shouldn't that surprise anyone-Doesn't it look like what your 20-year-old daughter would like to do? (Trans Kids') The experience is quite different from mine so that it may not be me to give advice on people on how to live their lives. When I give advice, it's quite general. I use the acronym True: t means therapy or a conversation. Find someone to talk to. Do not keep everything inside. R means Read. There are now a lot of good books on the Trans experience. I didn't write them all, but most of them wrote. (laughs) You defend yourself. Be the best you can. You shouldn't try to be Jenny Boylan. You shouldn't try to be Caitlyn Jenner, God knows. E means Euphoria. Find your happiness, with the warning to accept that you may not be able to have whatever you want at the moment. Now I look like a parent.

It is not an easy life. Right now, it feels like it's more difficult than ever.

What do you do with Caitlyn Jenner's continuous support to Trump, especially in the light of the “two sex” decree?

I don't understand it. She supports someone who has just declared her man. The ultimate goal is to erase from society. Supporting him only suggests that she is more concerned with problems related to her wealth and personal privileges than in the lives of people like her. Or it may be as stupid as a bag of hammers.

Everyone on (“I am Cait”, the Docuseries E! Who followed the transition from Jenner and played Boylan) put our reputation at stake to open their hearts. As I write in the book, “nobody could accuse him of becoming the Encyclopedia Brown Transgenre.” It's a shame.

And I wanted to ask you questions about Historical appointment of the Oscars of Karla Sofía Gascón For “Emilia Pérez” – Have you seen it?

I didn't do it, but it's on my task list. I wrote a piece For the Washington Post on “Will & Harper“And I was delighted with this film. I saw a lot of transgender documentaries and films and they are almost always horrible so that I can rarely watch them. What is almost as bad, how often these films which, I think, really distorted our experience are loved by a wider audience, (cisgenre). I need to distort myself and watch this film. I heard things.

Boylan will discuss his new novel to Vromoman bookstore in Pasadena on February 25 at 7 p.m.