Nina Here nor There: My Journey beyond Gender

The next-generation Stone Butch Blues--a contemporary memoir of gender awakening and a classic tale of first love and self-discovery.

Ambitious, sporty, feminine “capital-L lesbians” had been Nina Krieger’s type, for friends that is. She hadn’t dated in seven years, a period of non-stop traveling—searching for what, or avoiding what, she didn’t know. When she lands in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood, her roommates introduce her to a whole new world, full of people who identify as queer, who modify their bodies and blur the line between woman and man, who defy everything Nina thought she knew about gender and identity. Despite herself, Nina is drawn to the people she once considered freaks, and before long, she is forging a path that is neither man nor woman, here nor there. This candid and humorous memoir of gender awakening brings readers into the world of the next generation of transgender warriors and tells a classic tale of first love and self-discovery.

Discussion Guide for Book Clubs, Classrooms, and Group Discussions

What did you know about transgender people before reading this book? How has your perspective changed?

Did reading this book make you think about your own body, gender, and identity? In what ways?

How do you feel about the way Nina treats her parents? How about the way they treat her? How would you react if your child was transgender?

What role does Ramona play inNina’s journey?

How do you envision gender—a binary, spectrum, galaxy…?

What are some of the benefits to our culture of gender? Some of the downfalls? How does the binary (man/woman) system help you? Hurt you?

How do you relate to Nina’s experience? In what ways is her story universal? Specific?

In what parts of your life do you feel you are “privileged”? Have your privileges changed over time? Has this impacted your worldview?

How is this book similar to other memoirs about gender? How is it unique?

How does the diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder and its classification as a mental illness affect trans people?

What do you see as the main challenges for trans people in our society? Are these covered in the book, or are these from other sources and experiences?

What did youlearn through TheBoys? How are their genderexpressions and decisions similar? Different?

Where do lesbian and transmasculine (trans people on the male side of the spectrum like The Boys) communities overlap? Where is there friction?

What defines “women’s spaces” and in what cases, instances, or places should transmasculine people be included? Excluded?

"Travel writer Krieger takes us into his gender transition in this candid if uneven memoir. As a woman, the Nina of the book's title, Krieger enjoys San Francisco lesbian life and a circle of glamorous gay friends. But her growing acquaintance with an unconventional circle, many of whom are experimenting with gender identification, prompts Nina to interrogate her own feelings about gender. Increasingly ambivalent about her large breasts, the author decides to begin masculinizing her appearance — she stops shaving her legs, opts for 'top surgery' to re-form her chest into a more masculine shape, and becomes Nick. Though the early part of Krieger's journey feels like a standard primer on gender identity, didacticism and clunky prose give way to a beautifully rendered and personal account that feels like a fresh addition to trans literature: making a break with the typical transgender narrative, Nick did not feel like she was the trapped inside the 'wrong' body; her discomfort with her female identity came much later and was often at odds with her staunch feminism. The narrative especially gathers confidence and momentum in Kreiger's recounting of his parents' efforts (and at times, inability) to understand his transition. And the final discussions of occupying a place somewhere not quite on either extreme of the gender binary are fascinating: 'When I envision my own gender, it is with my eye to the lens of a kaleidoscope that I spin and spin and spin.' (May)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright PWxyz LLC)

The next-generation Stone Butch Blues--a contemporary memoir of gender awakening and a classic tale of first love and self-discovery.

Ambitious, sporty, femininecapital-L lesbians had been Nina Krieger's type, for friends that is. She hadn't dated in seven years, a period of non-stoptraveling--searching for what, or avoiding what, she didn't know. When she lands in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood, her roommates introduce her to a whole new world, full of people whoidentify as queer, who modify their bodies and blur the line between woman and man, who defy everything Nina thought she knew about gender and identity. Despite herself, Nina is drawn to the people she once consideredfreaks, and before long, she is forging a path that is neither man nor woman, here nor there. This candid and humorous memoir of gender awakening brings readers into the world of the next generation of transgender warriorsand tells a classic tale of first love and self-discovery.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

\A native of New York, Nick Krieger realized at the age of twenty-one that he’d been born on the wrong coast, a malady he corrected by transitioning to San Francisco. His writing has earned several travel-writing awards and has been published in multiple travel guides.

Ta-ta tatas — Home — Binding — Middle ground — Packing — A gender moment — The queer birds and the bees — The other home — Yoga for beginners — The wad — The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria — Mama's boys.