Intersexion: A Story of Faith, Identity, and Authenticity

Description

Cynthia Vacca Davis's Intersexion is a profoundly eye opening, challenging, and ultimately inspiring exploration of the journey of an intersex individual and what it means to be a true ally to this often misunderstood and severely marginalized community. -Rev. Brandan Robertson, Dry Bones and Holy Wars: A Call for Social and Spiritual RenewalWhat happens when a teenage girl hits puberty, drops a testicle, grows a penis, develops breasts, gets a period and tells no one? What if years later this person finally confides in an insecure ally who has her own secret: a life-changing promotion with a catch-her signature on a document labeling sexual minorities as "repugnant" and "offensive"?Intersexion is a life-giving true story that plays out at the tense and tenuous intersection of identity and religion. Cynthia, an adjunct professor with a trunk full of ungraded papers and snack wrappers, has been an LGBTQIA+ ally for years-in convenient ways. She enjoys the company of her queer friends-but her support isn't risky; it hasn't cost her anything. Until she meets Dani. The youngest child in a conservative evangelical family, Dani knows that playing the role of dutiful daughter is safer than jeopardizing faith and family with a norm-defying body that seems an affront to both. Born visibly female, yet desperate to be seen as the boy he truly is, Dani relies on prayer and magical thinking, until his life depends on one thing: the truth. A middle ground was no longer an option for either of them.Told in both Dani's and Cynthia's voices, Intersexion is a harrowing, hopeful exploration of the cost of coming out-as an intersex minority, ally of a minority, or asker of difficult questions-and what it means to come into one's own. It's a book for anyone craving a more authentic life, and a story about the intersections we find ourselves in by no choice of our own.