Aggregated Discontent: Confessions of the Last Normal Woman

What if Anne Hathaway’s character in The Intern was the natural progression of her character in The Devil Wears Prada? How can journalism and criticism move away from simply reacting to gender and towards actively responding to, and including, trans people? Some of these questions are addressed in Walker’s debut essay collection, which elegantly presents, critiques, and resets the contemporary American discourse on the rights, history, and culture of trans people. Grounded in her experience as a white trans woman and acclaimed journalist, Walker pieces together interviews, historical accounts, and cultural ephemera that spotlight her past and present peers. In essays that disentangle the state of trans healthcare, reckon with the art-historical record, and reveal her experiences facing discrimination in the workplace, she writes like in a deep conversation with a trusted friend: serious, loving, generous, and full of care. Through reflection, research, and humor, Walker contextualizes and confronts the sometimes fraught, usually intense, and always nuanced interplay between the self, one’s experience of gender, and the ties that bind communities.