{"product_id":"my-name-was-baby-an-intersex-memoir","title":"My Name Was Baby: An Intersex Memoir","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eForeword by Alicia Roth Weigel\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe I Word\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePart I--Childhood\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHappy Birthday\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eButtons\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoyhood\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArnone\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePart II--Adolescence\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSex Education\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFamily Is a Four-Letter Word\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChosen Family\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePart III--Adulthood\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCollege\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTessa\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFinding Direction\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Artist\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOpting Out\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExecutive Order\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHappiness\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eResources\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGlossary to the Intersex Variations\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Arnone's vulnerability impressed even someone like me who exercises that muscle for a living. His bravery will help others understand our struggles more viscerally and his emotional range is a beacon for others who share his gender even if not his intersex traits.\"--\u003cb\u003eAlicia Roth Weigel\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eInverse Cowgirl: A Memoir--A Funny, Vital Account of Intersex Identity, Activism, and Reclaiming Bodily Autonomy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eMy Name Was Baby\u003c\/i\u003e is a brave and intimate exploration of the search for identity, belonging, and the meaning of manhood beyond the narrow rules of masculinity. It's a reflection on what it means to live truthfully--to let go of shame, to question what we've been taught, and to find freedom in being fully ourselves. It is an intersex story filled with honesty and heart that you won't forget.\"--\u003cb\u003eGeorgiann Davis\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eFive Star White Trash: A Memoir of Fraud and Family\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"In Chris Arnone's \u003ci\u003eMy Name Was Baby\u003c\/i\u003e, readers are taken through a buffet of experiences of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Here, we get to feel the summer heat of water balloon fights, navigate divorce, search for ourselves in the faces--and bodies--of others and do that never-ending-American-quest: search for who we really are. Long overdue has been the book from Middle America about what it means to be intersex in our culture, and now, thanks to Arnone's unrelenting drive to get down on the page what one story of being intersex looks like, we have the path laid for others. At a time when so much is at stake in our libraries, our classrooms, and in our everyday conversations, Arnone blows in like a fresh breeze to help remind us what's at the heart of what we're after: being understood, heard, and appreciated for who we are.\"--\u003cb\u003eTaylor Brorby\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eBoys an Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eMy Name Was Baby\u003c\/i\u003e is a rare and necessary intersex memoir told with clarity, tenderness, and moral courage. Chris Arnone offers a clear-eyed account of living in a body that complicates the binary, showing how masculinity can be expansive, reflective, and deeply human. As a fellow intersex memoirist who similarly discovered the truth about her own body later in life, I recognize this as a story that refuses shame, honors complexity, and insists that our lives are not medical footnotes but full human narratives.\"--\u003cb\u003eKimberly M. Zieselman\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eXOXY: A Memoir\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Chris Arnone's honest, heartfelt, empowering memoir about growing up with an intersex trait testifies emphatically that, even when surgeons choose the 'right' gender and surgically shape a child's genitals accordingly, that child has not been 'fixed.' Arnone's difficult journey into adulthood, as he takes charge of his own medical decisions regarding his body and becomes an accomplished novelist, poet, memoirist, and intersex activist, is illuminating and inspiring.\"--\u003cb\u003eElizabeth Reis\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eBodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"From Mormon Church to burlesque stage to married, cyberpunk sci-fi author, Arnone's journey illuminates and celebrates the fact that difference does not equal limitation. A charmingly candid, engaging account of the multifaceted nature of the human experience.\"--\u003cb\u003eHida Viloria\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eBorn Both: An Intersex Life\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom a rising intersex activist in the Midwest, a candid memoir about growing up different and an inspiring story of self-discovery and self-acceptance.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Chris Arnone was born in Independence, Missouri, nobody could tell what sex he was. For the first few days of his life, until a chromosome test confirmed he was a boy, his parents called him Baby. From this first, literal \"coming out,\" it was clear he was different. His life was punctuated by a string of surgeries and trips to the ER, unrecognizable and confusing diagrams in sex ed class, and the need to preface every intimate encounter by explaining his medical history. But it wasn't until he was thirty-seven that he discovered he didn't have \"birth defects\"--he was intersex.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this fresh and affirming memoir, Chris's struggles with anxiety, confusion, and a painful journey toward self-acceptance will be familiar to LGBTQIA+ people everywhere. But he also offers a perspective that is largely untold: that of an intersex man, existing in the toxic masculine culture of the heartland; parents who were open and accepting of his differences; and doctors who (mostly) did no harm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is a deep and wide exploration of religion and politics, gender and sexuality, frat parties, burlesque shows, and \u003ci\u003eMagic: The Gathering\u003c\/i\u003e. Arnone boldly shows how the lives of intersex folks can be so different and yet so familiar to everyone, helping us all take one step closer to understanding and acceptance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith raw vulnerability, emotional range, and a quick wit, \u003ci\u003eMy Name Was Baby\u003c\/i\u003e offers something inspiring for everyone, from self-assured manly men to confused genderqueer kids. It is the story of someone who came to love who he is and hopes everyone else can love themselves, too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eContributor Bio:\u003c\/strong\u003eArnone, Chris M\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChris M. Arnone (he\/him) was weaned on comic books and Hardy Boys novels, finding his first literary love in the \u003ci\u003eX-Men\u003c\/i\u003e, though his longest lasting is a love for Ray Bradbury. He mostly writes science fiction and fantasy, though he's known to dabble in poetry, playwriting, and literary fiction. As an intersex man, he is particularly interested in gender and sexuality in his writing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArnone is author of the cyberpunk heist series, \u003ci\u003eThe Jayu City Chronicles\u003c\/i\u003e. He is a senior contributor for Book Riot and a board member of Whispering Prairie Press. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He also performs on many stages in Kansas City, where he lives with his wife Christy and their cats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Plainspoken Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496053113110,"sku":"9780700643523","price":35.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9780700643523.jpg?v=1783051892","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/my-name-was-baby-an-intersex-memoir","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}