The title for Krys Malcolm Belc’s memoir comes from the legal designation assigned to him as a nonbinary transmasculine parent. The book begins with Belc’s experience as a pregnant transmasculine person, something that broadened his sense of identity. His memoir is comprised of interconnected essays that do not always follow a linear timeline but, when pieced together, paint a picture both of Belc’s developing sense of self throughout his life and the pivotal moments that showed him that he did not fit into the rigid lines of the gender binary. Punctuated by personal photos and documents, Belc’s poetic writing renders his depictions of day-to-day family life and mundane domestic tasks compelling. His raw honesty is heartbreaking and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny.
This is an absorbing book that challenges preconceived notions about what it means to be transgender and what it means to be a parent. By reading it, one is sure to embark on their own inner journey—considering the pieces of one’s life that have impacted their own sense of identity.
The Natural Mother of the Child
By Krys Malcolm Belc
(Counterpoint Press)
By Adrienne Urbanski
This article originally appeared in the Summer 2021 print edition of BUST Magazine. Subscribe today!
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