Calling My Deadname Home

In this extraordinarily compelling trans memoir, Avi, a bearish trans man and Psychology Professor, navigates sex and dating in a phallic-centric universe of men who love men. But something is missing. To become the man he aspires to be, he needs to reconnect with Talia, his hyper-feminine straight female past, and invite her back in.

Growing up in a working-class right-wing Israeli family and barely finishing high school, he became involved in pro-Palestinian activism and escaped compulsory military service by faking madness. Despite poor schooling, Avi went on to attain a PhD from Yale and change his life entirely. This memoir is the story of that journey and explores what it means to come home to oneself with brutal honesty, humour, and self-compassion.

Told in three episodes—early transition, later transition, and Talia’s story—this memoir tackles contemporary gender and social issues. At its heart is a universal theme: to become who we already are, we must integrate the past into the present.