Hello Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks and Other Outlaws

by Kate Bornstein

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Psychology. Sociology. Nonfiction. HTML: Celebrated transsexual trailblazer Kate Bornstein has, with more humor and spunk than any other, ushered us into a world of limitless possibility through a daring re-envisionment of the gender system as we know it. Here, Bornstein bravely and wittily shares personal and unorthodox methods of survival in an often cruel world. A one-of-a-kind guide to staying alive outside the box, Hello, Cruel World is a much-needed unconventional approach to life for those who want to stay on the edge, but alive. Hello, Cruel World features a catalog of 101 alternatives to suicide that range from the playful (moisturize!), to the irreverent (shatter some family values), to the highly controversial. Designed to encourage readers to give themselves permission to unleash their hearts' harmless desires, the book has only one directive: "Don't be mean." It is this guiding principle that brings its reader on a self-validating journey, which forges wholly new paths toward a resounding decision to choose life. Tenderly intimate and unapologetically edgy, Kate Bornstein is the radical role model, the affectionate best friend, and the guiding mentor all in one. .… (more)

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Everything was related back to sex, which would have been fine if the book's intentions had been clearly stated to be this focused on sex. But it was not, so the constant metaphor and reference was uncomfortable and distracting.

EmberMantles | Jan 1, 2024 |

Any book that can suggest both moisturizing (number 22) and making a deal with the devil (number 17) is okay by me. (

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bookbrig | Aug 5, 2020 |

Has some really amazing content but also, some dangerous content. I would not just give this to a student but instead, introduce them to aspects of the content. It puts suicide in front of readers as a viable option, which may not be great for some at-risk readers. (

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GuidanceCounsellor | Sep 12, 2018 |

I love the idea of this book, and found it generally sensitive to the diversity of its intended readership. Where Bornstein seemed to have blindspots were with sex and religion. She recommends sex as a solution in quite a few of her alternatives, and when addressing people whose expression of sexuality is a cause of their oppression I get that, but it leaves behind those who identify as asexual, or who just aren't interested in it for now. While promoting the diversity of religious expression available over any "one true faith", Bornstein had no word to say for those who hold an atheistic position. It's a shame, as with just a few tweeks these omissions could have been easily rectified. However, I'm focusing on the lapses in an otherwise thoughtful and amusingly written book about being kind to yourself, giving yourself a break, and not putting up with any shit, others' or your own. (

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Michael.Rimmer | May 13, 2018 |

Not just for teens, freaks, and other outlaws - I think this book could be life-saving for anyone thinking about suicide. Even if you don't need it now, read it anyways: you or someone you know might need it later. Unlike a lot of other suicide prevention, this book really takes a harm reduction approach in that its list of alternatives considers anything that isn't suicide and isn't "being mean" to be better than suicide. Its setup as a numbered list of alternatives makes it especially useful, as opposed to something like a list of reasons to live, these are all literally things you can do, right now, instead of killing yourself. This book saved my life, so I can definitely say it worked for me. (

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locriian | Oct 27, 2014 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Kate Bornstein	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Quin, Sara	Foreword	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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Lambda Literary Award (Nominee – Nonfiction – 2006)

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Psychology. Sociology. Nonfiction. HTML:

Celebrated transsexual trailblazer Kate Bornstein has, with more humor and spunk than any other, ushered us into a world of limitless possibility through a daring re-envisionment of the gender system as we know it.
Here, Bornstein bravely and wittily shares personal and unorthodox methods of survival in an often cruel world. A one-of-a-kind guide to staying alive outside the box, Hello, Cruel World is a much-needed unconventional approach to life for those who want to stay on the edge, but alive.
Hello, Cruel World features a catalog of 101 alternatives to suicide that range from the playful (moisturize!), to the irreverent (shatter some family values), to the highly controversial. Designed to encourage readers to give themselves permission to unleash their hearts' harmless desires, the book has only one directive: "Don't be mean." It is this guiding principle that brings its reader on a self-validating journey, which forges wholly new paths toward a resounding decision to choose life.
Tenderly intimate and unapologetically edgy, Kate Bornstein is the radical role model, the affectionate best friend, and the guiding mentor all in one.

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Celebrated transsexual trailblazer Kate Bornstein has, with more humor and spunk than any other, ushered us into a world of limitless possibility through a daring re-envisionment of the gender system as we know it.
Here, Kate bravely and wittily shares personal and unorthodox methods of survival for navigating an often cruel world. A one-of-a-kind guide to staying alive outside the box, Hello, Cruel World is a much-needed unconventional approach to teenage suicide prevention for marginalized youth who want to stay on the edge, but alive.
Hello, Cruel World features a catalog of 101 Alternatives to Suicide that range from the playful (Moisturize), to the irreverent (Disbelieve the Binary), to the highly controversial (Get Laid. Please). Designed to encourage readers to give themselves permission to unleash their hearts’ harmless desires, the book has only one directive: "Don’t be mean." It is this guiding principle that brings its reader on a self-validating journey, which forges wholly new paths toward a resounding decision to choose life.
Tenderly intimate and unapologetically edgy, Kate is the radical role model, the affectionate best friend, and the guiding mentor all in one kind and spirited package.
A celebrated pioneer for the LGBTQI community, transsexual author and performance artist, Kate Bornstein is the author of the wildly successful books My Gender Workbook and Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and The Rest of Us.

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