Inverse Cowgirl

A Memoir

By: Alicia Roth Weigel

Narrated by: Alicia Roth Weigel, Jonathan Van Ness

""One of the most brilliant thought leaders I have been able to share space with.""—Jonathan van Ness, from the foreword

""The must-read memoir of fall 2023.""—Them

""Powerful and vital.""—Madeline Miller, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Song of Achilles

From a celebrated activist on the forefront of fighting for intersex representation and rights—and a subject of the forthcoming documentary Every Body, from the filmmakers behind RBG—a funny, thought-provoking collection of essays about owning your identity and living your truth.

Two percent of the world’s population—the same percentage of humans who have naturally red hair—is born intersex. Yet many people aren’t even familiar with the word.

Intersex individuals are born with both male and female reproductive organs, yet many are stripped of their identity at birth when a parent designates M or F on a birth certificate. That subjective choice is often followed by invasive, life-changing surgeries, performed without the individual’s consent. Intersex people have become a target of politicians, attacked for who they are and threatened by legislation that attempts to categorize and define them.

Alicia Weigel is fighting back against the hate and fearmongering to protect the rights and lives of everyone. In this book, she boldly speaks out about working as a change agent in a state that actively attempts to pass legislation that would erase her existence, explores how we can reclaim bodily autonomy, and encourages us to amplify our voices to be heard.

Disarming, funny, charming, and powerful, this is a vital account of personal accomplishment that will open eyes and change minds.

Great read!

This book was eye opening for me. As a cis white woman trying my best to breakdown my prejudices and be the best ally to all oppressed peoples I feel like this book was a major in advancing my knowledge. I knew very little of intersex people before this book and now having a small understanding of their struggles I am ready to learn more about the intersex population and help break the oppression facing them. Great storytelling that is real and raw make this book an excellent jump off point for those looking to learn about intersex folks while also being entertained.

Humbled and Enlightened

BRAVA to Alicia’s honesty and bravery to educate those of us who are unaware of this gender identity.

Voice of a Movement

Alicia is a brilliant hottie who has lived a lot in her relatively short life. This book is revelatory and heralds the arrival of a Major Voice. Very worth your time. Can’t wait to see what she does next.

Important Memoir

The book started out as a stereotypical “cool girl” memoir— the beautiful, smart, athletic young woman, who seems to “have it all.” She hangs out with the popular girls at school, has an ample dating and party life, studies at top universities, and does study abroad. Unfortunately, a few traumatic incidents strain her memories of these times, but there seemed to be more of an emphasis on the good than the bad.
For me, the book started to become more interesting when she, at 27, finally discovered she was intersex, a fact her parents hid from her under terms like “androgen insensitivity syndrome.” She began a shift in her political advocacy work from focusing on abortion issues to the intersex community. She came out publicly to colleagues when protesting a Texas bathroom bill, challenged views on binary gender, protested against intersex surgeries performed on infants and young children, and managed a campaign for the first openly transgender person to run for public office in Texas.
I would definitely recommend this book. It was not only overall engaging but was also an important memoir from a voice from the intersex community—an unfortunately under represented group in the political spectrum, literature and entertainment, and many other spectrums of public life, a group of people that have been so silenced many do not even know they exist.

Raw and Powerful

Alicia Roth Weigel peels back her life and puts it out there to help us understand how lives are impacted by our society that struggles to see beyond a binary world, both from an intersex view, but also from a bi-polar viewpoint. She makes this journey thought provoking, engaging, and inspirational. I can’t wait to see how her future unfolds.