The Bold World

A Memoir of Family and Transformation

Author  Jodie Patterson
The Bold World

Inspired by her transgender son, activist Jodie Patterson explores identity, gender, race, and authenticity to tell the real-life story of a family’s history and transformation.

“A courageous and poetic testimony on family and the self, and the learning and unlearning we must do for those we love.”—Janet Mock
 
In 2009, Jodie Patterson, mother of five and beauty entrepreneur, has her world turned upside down when her determined toddler, Penelope, reveals, “Mama, I’m not a girl. I am a boy.” The Pattersons are a tribe of unapologetic Black matriarchs, scholars, financiers, Southern activists, artists, musicians, and disruptors, but with Penelope’s revelation, Jodie realizes her existing definition of family isn’t wide enough for her child’s needs.
 
In The Bold World, we witness Patterson reshaping her own attitudes,…