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Just Add Hormones: An Insider's Guide to the Transsexual Experience [Hardcover]

Matt Kailey
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

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Book Description

June 15, 2005
Matt Kailey lived as a straight woman for the first forty-two years of his life. Though happy as a social worker and teacher, he knew something wasn't right. Then he made some changes. With the help of a good therapist, chest surgery, and some strong doses of testosterone, Kailey began his journey toward becoming a man.

As his body morphed and his voice dropped, Kailey began noticing subtle shifts in the way he was treated. Men suddenly stopped offering to change flat tires for him but insisted on talking to him about women and bodily functions. Women got nervous when he baby-talked to their infants but routinely asked him to move heavy things around the office. In these everyday exchanges, Kailey recognized the many ways we define what it means to be male. He also realized that, with few role models, he had to learn to accept himself as a person between two genders.

As he writes about his transition from female to male, Kailey answers all the questions you've ever had about what it's like to live as a transsexual. From the fear of public restrooms to deciding whether to "pack" his pants, Kailey explains what the world looks like from his new vantage point-a position more people are discovering as gender transitions become increasingly common.

More than a memoir, Just Add Hormones is full of sound advice for those who may be questioning their gender. And through his story, Kailey offers valuable insights to the families and friends of those who have started a transition.

Funny, fresh, and incredibly candid, Just Add Hormones can help us all consider-and even laugh at-our own notions of what it means to be a man or a woman.

Frequently Bought Together

Just Add Hormones: An Insider's Guide to the Transsexual Experience + Becoming a Visible Man + The Testosterone Files: My Hormonal and Social Transformation from Female to Male
Price for all three: $52.30

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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Alas, it ain't that simple--that is, just adding hormones, stirring, then coming out on the other side of gender. Fortunately, Kailey explores the complexities of the female-to-male (ftm) transition he, then 42, started in 1997. Raised in a traditional two-parent home with a stay-at-home mom, he recounts the details of his change, including chest surgery, and options open to male-to-females (mtfs) as well as the more complicated, expensive surgeries now available to ftms (whose numbers, he notes, approximately equal those of mtfs). The self-proclaimed "transman" also explores the internal changes as he deals with gender resocialization, "passing" in the initial stages of transition, blending masculine and feminine personality traits in the new persona, and navigating postchange medical care (Kailey raised some eyebrows in his gynecologist's office when arriving for his pap smear). Including a list of definitions helpful for negotiating the world of trans-speak, this book is a natural for the gender issues shelves. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Parts of Just Add Hormones dwell, wittily, on the author's own experiences . . . other chapters offer a cheeky insider's discussion of pesky pronouns, pants-packing, bathroom blues, and on-the-job jitters. But the real worth of Just Add Hormones stems from its thoughtful analysis-at times philosophical, at times political, and at times polemical-of a life-changing decision.--Richard Labonte, Q Syndicate

"A heartfelt plea for mainstream American society to understand, accept and support gender diversity . . . Kailey describes all with frankness, engaging his reader with honesty and a touch of humor."
-Kirkus Reviews

"This book is a natural for the gender issues shelves."
-Booklist

"Anyone who has ever contemplated, is just curious about, or finds him or herself in the midst of gender transformation will appreciate and applaud this extraordinary, comprehensive journal. Both informative and quite fascinating, Kailey delivers his life story with a compassionate eye and a true heart."--Jim Piechota, Bay Area Reporter

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 184 pages
  • Publisher: Beacon Press (June 15, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0807079588
  • ISBN-13: 978-0807079584
  • Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 0.8 x 8.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,193,650 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Matt Kailey is an award-winning author, blogger, professor, and transgender community activist. He began his transition from female to male in 1997, and since then, he has educated, enlightened, and entertained audiences across the United States and the world through his writing and presentations focusing on transgender issues. He has appeared in five documentary films and is the recipient of four community awards for activism. His book "Just Add Hormones: An Insider's Guide to the Transsexual Experience" was a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and his short story "Cam's Decision" was the recipient of the Poets & Writers Inc. Writers Exchange Award for fiction.

Matt's latest book, "Teeny Weenies and Other Short Subjects," is a collection of humorous essays about his life before and after transition. He is also working on a series of short books offering "10 Tips" for those involved with trans people. The first of these, "My Child is Transgender - 10 Tips for Parents of Adult Trans Children," is available now on Kindle.

Matt is also a part-time college-level psychology instructor and teaches his own class, "Writing Your Gender," offering college students a chance to explore their own gender through the art of personal essay.

Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
(13)
4.7 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Trans-cendent July 25, 2005
Format:Hardcover
So often booka written about a lived experience can frustate and even alienate. The reader is made to feel like an outsider.

I am pleased to say that JUST ADD HORMONES does't only reach out, it embraces. All the awkward and intimate questions about what it means to be trans are answered. It's an INSIDER guide but it is not cliquey. It is personal but it is not embarrassing. It is funny and smart and warm.

Recommonded reading for anyone of any gender. So says this man.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Informative, Yet Easy to Read July 11, 2006
By CaptLex
Format:Paperback
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a better understanding of the trangendered and transsexual (particularly transmen). As a man in transition, I feel as if Matt Kailey has been reading my mind (or my journal), and he also gave me an idea of what's ahead for me. I have recommended it to all my friends who want to learn more about this part of my life. Good job, Matt.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book for FTM or any type of gender bending. April 6, 2008
Format:Hardcover
This is a good read. Overall a decent source of information on FTM and gender reassignment in general. The writer is very unique. Very interesting life story. It's somewhat of a page turner. It talks about how to tell your family and the phases the family will go through as you transition. I read this book and then gave it to my Mom to read with the hopes it would give her some understanding of gender transition. Not what I expected but overall a great book on the topic of transition. I would recommend this book to all FTM, anyone transitioning, or anyone that wants a look into the wonderful world of gender bending. Details the difference between changing gender in general and how the word "sex" is misconceived when the word transsexual is used. I would recommend this book for anyone's library.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Good general information
I've had great admiration for author Matt Kailey ever since stumbling onto his incredibly informative blog, Tranifesto. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Editing_Gal
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book for newly FTM folks
I was able to read this book in about an hour and a half. It is a good book for those who know nothing about transexuals, especially the FTM experience. Read more
Published 6 months ago by K. BYFORD
3.0 out of 5 stars More like a blog.
I bought and read this a few years ago, and frankly I have forgotten about everything in it. It wasn't very memorable and certainly didn't stick with me over the years. Read more
Published 11 months ago by shadowmib
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
I have not finished the book yet, but I am already a huge fan of Matt's writing. I have thoroughly enjoyed his persepctive and his story so far. . .
Published on November 30, 2010 by J. Solms
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource.
This book is great for anyone who wants to get a first-person perspective on female-to-make gender transition - obviously Matt Kailey doesn't speak for everyone, but his experience... Read more
Published on October 5, 2009 by Seth
5.0 out of 5 stars great book
This was a really good book. He talked alot about his journey into "transmanhood". He also mentioned the way society is and how we may be perceived by the world. Read more
Published on March 28, 2009 by Tanisha Thorpe
5.0 out of 5 stars Must Have
This is a perfect book for anyone who is trans or knows someone who is.
Published on December 16, 2008 by Sarah Dechick
5.0 out of 5 stars Just Add Hormones: An Insider's Guide to the Transsexual Experience
Outstanding reference. Although fearing that this would be an FTM dissertation, Matt provides a very neutral synopsis of what is reality for the transgendered -- clouding the... Read more
Published on September 23, 2008 by Gwen S. Walcott
5.0 out of 5 stars "Do You Feel Like A Man Now? I Don't Know."
Denver transman Matt Kailey and I must be about the same age, but we came to this space of manhood by such different paths. Read more
Published on December 12, 2005 by Kevin Killian
5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read for Any Persuasion
This book was a great help in understanding transgenderism. In addition, it is a compelling read, humorous, touching and engrossing.
Published on August 13, 2005 by Sybillea
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