“Detransition, Baby” offers an alternative look at family

Ames stands there, mouth open, eyes wide, unable to process what he had just heard. Katrina, his girlfriend and his boss, has just told him that he is going to be a father. Now, this would normally be fine except for the fact that Ames was a trans woman. Due to hormone therapy done a few years ago, he should not be able to have kids at all. At this point, Katrina is practically begging Ames to say anything. He has to tell her the truth and he knows it. He can not continue to keep this from her. So, he blurts it out. Now it is Katrina’s turn to stand there dumbfounded. 

Torrey Peter’s novel, “Detransition, Baby,” tells the story of three characters, Ames, Reese, and Katrina, who are in the process of deciding whether or not to raise a baby together. Katrina had just discovered that she is pregnant. Ames agrees to co-parent, but he decides he wants Reese, “his transexual ex-girlfriend,” to help raise the child. 

His relationship with Reese is very different from Katrina. He relies on Reese to keep him grounded and remind him who he is as a detransitioned man. She understands that side of him in a way he knows Katrina never will. His relationship with Katrina is more romantic, but his unresolved feelings for Reese are clear. He often claims to love them both, leading to another obstacle for them to overcome if they hope to remain a family. 

Peters’s book breezily plays with the nuclear idea of a family unit. As it expands the boundaries of what a family could look like, it gives the reader permission to build the community they want and need. Ames, regardless of his faults, pushes past societies expectations to fight for the future he wants.