As you'll notice, it's a chess book. It has nothing to do with gender. And yet...
About the author: ‘They have been investigating and writing about opening theory for over 30 years.’
Yes, that's “they have” not “he has”. Right.
Similarly, unless referring to someone specifically gendered, I use neutral pronouns throughout. No “he or she” nonsense. Just “they” and “their”, and even “themself”. Because why the fuck wouldn't I do that?!
Furthermore, the book ‘is based to a large extent on my own investigations and practice’, so I reference a lot of my own games, including those played online – where I mostly use the handle “tsmenace” (and have been doing since I started playing online in 2004). As I explain in the Introduction: ‘Other instances of “tsmenace” online are not me, though the source is likely to be the same, and I still have the t-shirt.’ Readers here, if not there, may already recognize that source...
From Wikipedia: ‘The Transexual Menace (...) was a transgender rights activist organization founded in New York City in 1993. It was the first direct action group of its kind, and grew to be a national organisation with 24 chapters.’ My t-shirt adds the words: “Great British Chapter”. I got it from PFC back in the day.
Damn, that seems a lifetime ago. Do we even use the term “transsexual” any more? It's a long time since I wore the t-shirt too – I keep it in a drawer as a souvenir – but when I did, the reactions were... entertaining. I never, as you might think, got any actual abuse. Instead, I saw people's eyes drift expressionlessly down to my chest and then back up again. I stared expressionlessly back. But that was back then. In the current trans-hostile climate I probably would get abuse. It'll be interesting to see whether there's any response to any of this once the book comes out.
Those last two words are apposite because the book is a sort-of coming out too, in that it puts my gender issues into the public domain. Albeit a tiny part thereof and only incidentally. After all, it is a chess book.
