Summary

Chapter 7, “Paradoxical Effects (Jane),” shifts focus back to Jane as she recounts parts of her life to an adult Adam. She recalls the rise of Reverend Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. The church was located in Topeka. Phelps and his followers bore extreme hatred towards homosexuality and towards all feminist ideas. They picketed the Kansas Association of Women Conference, at which Jane gave a keynote address one year. Adam was about ten years old at the time. When Jane and Adam passed the picketers, Adam yelled obscenities at them, and Jane then admonished him. Adam was often anxious as a child. For example, when his parents offered to send him to space camp one summer, Adam found the idea terrifying. When Jane once told Adam a fond memory from her childhood, Adam fixated only on the fact that Jane grew up in...