Last week I finished reading My Husband Betty, a book by Helen Boyd about Love, Sex, and Life with a Crossdresser. I can honestly say that this is the best book I’ve read about the cross-dressing experience. Helen compassionately shares her struggles living with a crossdresser, exposes the hidden truths about cross-dressing that Tri-ESS doesn’t want you to know and shares the real experiences of other woman who live with crossdressers.
My Husband Betty Book
As mentioned in a previous article for women married to a cross-dresser, I still think Peggy Rudd’s book My Husband Wears My Clothes is a valuable resource. Peggy’s book is an excellent guide to cross-dressing 101. Helen’s book is more akin to Transgender 202.
The things I especially appreciated about Helen’s book are her frank and open discussions about cross-dressing and sexuality. This is a topic generally avoided by Tri-ESS, and other books about that discuss cross-dressing purely as a the expression of inner femininity.
I enjoyed Helen’s overview of all members of the transgender community, and discussing the difference between transsexual and transgender. Helen has a keen appreciation for where crossdressers fit into the larger transgender community, as well as some of the conflict that occurs between crossdressers and the same community.
Helen is also not shy to share the “darker side of crossdressing”, very vividly portrayed through the stories of wives and ex-wives of crossdressers. In some sense, the book could be titled “What your husband won’t tell you about crossdressing, but probably should.”
The Crossdressed Husband
My Husband Betty is valuable for the wife of a crossdresser, but I think the crossdressed husband has a duty to read this. An area that we often lack as crossdressers is empathy for our significant other. Resources that help us accept ourselves and share our transgendered nature with others are valuable, but often they don’t prepare us fully for the struggle our loved ones will have.
A highly recommended read – but be warned, My Husband Betty could shatter some of your preconceptions about crossdressers.
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P.S. Have you ever wanted to be a better woman? Learn how to cross dress and pass as a woman
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Vanessa Law
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“My Husband Betty" delivers by the pound what far too many marriages with crossdressing lack: brutal, frank honesty. Even when many crossdresser’s wives “know" they aren’t given the whole story. Sometimes the crossdressing husband doesn’t even realize some things for him/herself! That’s where “My Husband Betty" is so valuable, and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in the subject.
If you have the courage, or have reached a point of no-return, this is a book to share with a wife who is only just getting to know about cross-dressing or TG issues. There is no way forward other than this kind of honesty, but it removes all the road blocks straight away: there shouldn’t be too many surprises left and everything becomes discussable. That doesn’t make it easy. But the book in its honesty reveals that you aren’t the only couple in the world, there are no promises, but there are possibilities of seeing the whole thing differently. But… Read more »
Well said Andie. It doesn’t make it easy, but it makes an honest conversation possible.
My Husband Betty is a good book but I think the most overlooked book for understanding crossdressers was written much earlier by JJ Allen, ‘The Man in the Red Velvet Dress, Inside the World of Crossdressing".
As far as the wives goes, I suggest you read The Wives Speak Out on Sister House for a bit broader view on how the wives think and then read Pandora’s articles for a real session of truth telling by the wives http://www.sisterhouse.net/library/category/transgender-resources/the-wives-speak-out/?numtoshow=3&archive=yes