I dunno if Imogen Binnie is actually a cool person or not? Sometimes she seems it, sometimes she seems crabby, but Nevada was foundational to my entire worldview. It taught me that Blanchard's typology is a load of horseshit, that having gender-related kinks doesn't make you less trans, that the medical establishment is not always right (more often, it's wrong and run by fuckers) regarding trans matters, and also that trans people are not exotic creatures, but just people who are every day, and are messy like everyone else.

Shit that was really important to me at age 15. Nevada's not really a super lefty book, but it probably instilled a left leaning in me just as a result of all of the above, just by taking the stance that "people are valid because they say so".

Plus, Nevada has a ton of other cool books referenced in it that I'm still poking through. I'm reading Gender Outlaw because I first heard of Kate Bornstein through Nevada, which has been awesome for my wife and I. Relatedly it instilled a love for trans fiction into me, which I'm still following to this day and frequently leads me to neat works.

Otros Valles might exist as the yin to Nevada's yang, but I'll never not be a Maria Griffiths enjoyer. Such an excellent book that is personally important to me.