Gender Studies and "Yabo"

In the past, I have taken many Women and Gender study courses.  I find the topic very interesting and I was excited when I realized we had a whole section on gender and sexuality.  I saw many similarities in some of the readings to a book that I read called “Yabo” by Alexis De Veaux.

            “Yabo” is one of the most interesting books I have ever read.  De Veaux does a wonderful job portraying her characters throughout the novel.  Her characters are also amazingly developed.  The book focuses a lot on sexuality.  One of the main characters of the novel, Zen, is a lesbian, while the other main character, Jules, is an intersex character.

            Growing up, Jules’ parents are unsure how to raise Jules.  They came to calling Jules “bn,” or “bothneither.” 

But Both was only half true, for the child was neither of the two acceptable sexes; and as time went on, first Ruby and then Ramses slowly began to refer to Jules with a new pronoun:

bothneither,

which, whenever Jules was around they shortened to bn.  To the child’s ears, the Southern accent of the parents made the new pronoun sounds like “be in.” (De Veaux 28)

This section of the novel I found very interesting.  Because Jules’ parents, Ruby and Ramses, are unsure of what gender to call Jules, they use “bn.”  This word, because of the parents’ southern accents sounds a lot like “bein.”  This is a great line in the book, and it shows no matter what gender or sexuality a person is, they are still a human being.  This really spoke volumes to me.  We later see the way that Jules describes them self to Zen later on in the novel.

Listen to what I call myself.

I mean—

I know what you mean, Jules interrupted, then took a breath.  I have my own pronoun.

I’m bn.  Jules pronounced the word the way Ruby and Ramses always did.

To Zen it sounded like “being.”  (De Veaux 105)

It really shows Jules comfortableness with their sexuality and it really is an awesome part of the novel.

            According to the anthology, “The Contingencies of Gender” by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan, “Those guilty of daring to challenge this social and cultural regime – Oscar Wilde comes to mind – would be the objects of calumny, if not overt violence.  And all of this would be called “normality” while all of “that” would be stigmatized as “perversion” (885).  This quote was referring to men questioning their sexuality – however, I find this quote can very much relate to Jules.  At one point in the novel, Jules is attacked on the street by a gang.  Jules was subjected to violence just for “being.”  These men attacked Jules completely out of the blue, to these men Jules was not seen as “normal” and was therefore was seen as a target to them.

            Overall, I believe Alexis De Veaux’s novel, “Yabo” could truly relate to sexuality or gender theory.  She is able to break many boundaries with her writing style as well as the content she writes about.  “Yabo” is a great novel, and people should read it if they find this topic interesting!