More than a trans pregnancy memoir, this essay collection is the story of a writer trying to puzzle out, in real time, just what the narrative of a pregnancy is or could become.
Reworking, rethinking, and reweaving existing narratives, There Are No Rules offers both a window into one trans man’s pregnancy experience and a powerful example of reshaping conventional stories as a means of liberation.
Feeling unprepared is not a problem to be solved.
There are hidden ideas within “journey.” Where does this metaphor serve us, and where does it break down?
On learning to be a pregnant man in public.
The shapes we give our stories matter.
My writing is about stories. The stories we tell ourselves about who we are, who we aren't, where we're going, and what it will look like when we've gotten there.
I've come to believe that stories are how we save ourselves. Not just in terms of the idea that we need to be visible—in fact, visibility itself is a story that I'd like to complicate—but that we need narrative shapes to hold us, like shells. That it becomes very difficult to contain our lives without these narrative shells.
But stories are also how we get ourselves into trouble. We find ourselves stuck in narratives that don’t serve us. As a trans person, I spent years describing my gender as something that “doesn’t match” my sex assigned at birth—until one day I started to wonder what metaphors were contained in the idea of “not matching.”As a pregnant person, I was led to believe that my body would grow and grow until I (metaphorically) popped, but that narrative frame sounded too much like a cis male orgasm, so I challenged myself to find another shape for the story of a pregnancy.
I am constantly looking at the shapes we give our stories. I am constantly in search of better metaphors.
"In this lyrical collection, Finn Schubert explores the liminal spaces between urban and rural, past and present, maleness and menstrual blood, erasures and taking up space. An invitation to consider what about each of us is essential, and what is culturally imposed. A near-perfect gem from an exciting new voice in trans literature. Read it and keep it in your heart."
—Ariel Gore, author of Rehearsals for Dying and We Were Witches
The first print run of this book sold out and it it currently unavailable for purchase.
