Reviewer
Phuong Tseng

Piece:
Transgender Youth: http://www.prx.org/pieces/57225-transgender-youth#description

Text:
The producer, Shayan Ahmad, who created Transgender Youth became interested in this topic about transgender youth and struggles because of a New York Times article in 2010. This article implied that the year of 2010 might be the year of the transsexual.

Shayan Ahmad further explores this topic by interviewing and learning about the life of two Indianapolis transgender youth. Transgender Youth goes into the life of a 16-year-old youth named Will, his struggle with his biological body, and his process with transitioning. Although Will is not taking any medical measures to support him with his transition, he is transcending his biological body and outer appearance by wearing ambiguous clothing and styling his hair short. Transgender Youth continues to discuss people’s lack of understanding about transgender youth’s struggle with employment and gender pronouns because society could not break away from traditional gender norms and ideologies.

Rating
****

Adjectives
Genuine. Personal. Deconstructive.

Some things to notice:
First, the narrator did a very good job guiding its listeners from one story to another using some very detailed narrations. I think the piece flow very well throughout; yet, I wish the producer would slow down a bit while narrating because I think the pace is a bit too fast and not too consistent with the other pieces.

The lack of music in the background allowed me to stay focused. However, I wish there were at least some music in the beginning and end to help me dive into the audio and give me an idea of when it will start or end.

The introduction grabs my attention by speaking about how hard it is to be a teenager, especially a transgender teen. Throughout the piece, the narrator provides several visual descriptions about what the storyteller is wearing and describes how Will dresses as a gender ambiguous individual and the “gendered” toys such as dolls for girls and trucks for boys.

In addition, the tone of this mood is quite serious since the narration touches on a sensitive and controversial topic; yet, at some point in the audio, some storytellers were trying to be humorous with their stories. I would love to hear more of that. Last, I think the producer could conclude the audio piece by talking about why 2010 is the year of the transsexual. It would give us listeners an idea why the New York Times article suggested it. Overall, this is a very detailed piece considering that it is only a bit over 3 minutes. The introduction and ending as well as the narration were nicely put together by the producer. Transgender Youth successfully reports on some of the basic struggles and issues that transgender youth face in this gender binary society.