<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>In Lisowski, we get to delve into the very deep and personal experience of a trans person, from the vulgar remarks in public to the transition in testosterone. Unfortunately many women have fallen victim to Lisowski’s feeling “I was used to being an object of fixation/rage for men” (para. 3) because we are constantly being treated as property that men want to put claims on. Although I am not trans, I know the feeling all too well of not feeling like your body is your own, but rather victim to a stranger/predator. Nelson brings a much broader aspect of love into The Argonauts. It eventually gets into her falling and love and dealing with her pregnancy and all the perspectives that come with queer women having kids. Both these writers open up about the spectrum of gender. Lisowski says, “I’m in love with the idea of gender as a thing that’s ghostly, swampy, sepulchral” and in The Argonauts we see “Gender does share with color certain ontological indeterminacy: it isn’t quite right to say that an object is a color, nor that the object has a color. Context also changes it: all cats are gray, etc. Nor is color voluntary, precisely. But none of these formulations means that the object in question is colorless” (p. 15) Both these authors are emphasizing that it is a concept and there isn’t one specific box someone needs to be in. Lisowski explains their journey “was about finding home, too” (para. 5) and both the figurative and literal meaning of their body being shaped by their experiences. Similarly, Nelson handles a pregnancy which not only changes her on the outside, but opens up a new door for her in terms of love. Each writer empowers their audience and puts out the message that if they can do it, so can you. It’s important to know there’s things in life worth living for, and our experiences shape us into the people we are today. I really loved both the writings and it was heartwarming and heartbreaking to read about the kinds of situations they were in and got over.</span>
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