Summary

Violence – The author describes how the relationship between Foxx and Fernando (Part Two, Chapter 6) deteriorated into violence - initially light hitting, then an assault that left Fernando in jail for a year, and then an all-out attack that left Foxx so battered, physically and emotionally, that she had to leave their home and all her belongings. With the author’s help, she took refuge in a safe-house for young trans people. As the author describes it, Foxx’s perspective on her experience continually shifted, moving back and forth between loving forgiveness and an awareness that her own vulnerabilities and insecurities led her to staying in the relationship longer than she should have.

At one point in her consideration of Foxx’s situation, the author interjects an example of how violence also disrupted the life of Christina, who had made a dangerous but...