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Over the last month I read four biographies of trans women and I have to say that they have really helped me better understand the journey. Although I am not able to progress past CD, it was so revealing to explore their pathways to becoming their true selves and the impact it had on their relationships. The four books are
- She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Boylan
- Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs by Jennifer Boylan
- Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman by Abby Stein
- Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family by Amy Ellis Nutt
An amazing similarity in the stories of these three women was their realization at an early age that they were female despite their male bodies. All three were also pioneers in the sense that there were few role models or mentors to help them. The well researched content on the biological origins of gender dysphoria in Becoming Nicole was particularly helpful to understand that few people are 100% male or 100% female – most are a mix.
Jennifer Boylan is an amazing writer who can bring humor and pain to life for the reader. If you have a chance, I highly recommend starting with She’s Not There.
Close behind that is Becoming Nicole. Her journey started at just a few years old and the biography follows her and her identical twin brother through childhood into adulthood.
Apologies for the long post, but perhaps there is a book club girl in me!
Would love to hear your thoughts on these if you have read them and also any recommendations on other transgender books, especially any books dealing with crossdressing.
– Therese
I have recently read:
- Grayson Perry; Portrait of an artist as a young Girl – Wendy Jones
- Believe Me; a memoir of love, death and jazz chickens – Eddie Izzard
- Gender Outlaw; On men, women, and the rest of us – Kate Bornstein
Currently reading:
- Yes you are trans enough; my transition from self-loathing to self-love – Mia Violet
and next on my list – being delivered today ready for the weekend:
- New Girl; a trans girl tells it like it is – Rhyannon Styles
Yes, I am binge reading right now too after coming out to my wife after we both read Wendy Jones biopic of Grayson Perry.
My wife is currently reading Eddie Izzard’s book
binge reading ongoing
currently awaiting delivery of
- Gender Outlaws, the next generation – Kate Bornstein
Having npw just read
- You and your gender identity, a guide to discovery – Dara Hoffman-Fox
- The gender games, the problem with men and women, from someone who has been both – Juno Dawson
- Trans like me, a journey for all of us – CN Lester
- Trans Britain, our journey from the shadows – Christine Burns
Although I started by reading the celebrity bios, I guess that my preference in books I have read is for those about regular, non celebrities, like Mia Violet who don’t have celebrity, although without people like Eddie Izzard and Grayson Perry paving the way I wouldn’t be here now. I was really interested in everyone’s story, finding out what relates to me and what doesn’t so I can better understand who and what I am not, and then I can hopefully deduce who and what I am. Reading other peoples stories helps us understand the challenges of any social transition we may decide to make, what reactions people have, how regular workplaces and colleagues may treat us. I am still not there yet, so still reading. I now know that I am not male, I originally thought I was gender fluid, but not so fluid if allowed to be myself, so am I female, or am somewhere on the non-binary, I need to explore my gender presentation at home, read more, yes more, and hopefully one day understand myself, at 50 years of age, after having had my first dysphoric episode at 5, hiding in the closet, and not knowing who I am, one day I will hopefully emerge into society as myself.
Sharon …
Glad you have read Christine Burns’ book ‘Trans Britain’ , I contributed to the book in the form of photos and some quotes – so you can peek at the index and find my bits if you like.
Its a great book and glad it was written.
You may know that Chritine was one of the main movers and shakers in the international trans community, and responsible for many of the laws and government guidance that we have now.
hugs
Dawn x
I, too, have been binge reading books downloaded from Amazon. After reading all the comments on this topic, I totalled up my Kindle library and reached 30 books on CD, and transgender, all of which have had good information, insights and each has been helpful to me in struggling to come to terms with who is my true self and how do I want want live my remaining years after hiding for six decades.
I found several books from Australia and New Zealand which others may like to consider in addition to the books written by American or British authors.About A Girl by Rebekah Robertson is about her transgender daughter Georgie Stone who is an amazing young woman as are her family. This a well written and grabs the reader emotionally. I give it five stars.
First Lady by Alison Mau is the story of Liz Roberts who is the first person in New Zealand to have sex reassignment surgery. Another good read.
No Ordinary Man by Nicky Webber is the story of Mick Thompson who fought in the Western Desert campaign in World War Two yet he held a secret that he was a closeted cross dresser. Another moving story about his struggle through life in a time when acceptance of cross dressing didn’t exist. Also worth reading.
And thankyou Sisters for your recommendations,
Gianna
I’m about halfway through “The secrets of my life” by Caitlin Jenner, and i’m kind of disappointed. I think I understand Sharon’s comment below about celebrity books – their reality is just so different from mine. I’ll probably finish the book, but it’s hard to recommend – there is a bit too much of her setting the record straight – which makes it a bit of a yawner.
That said, reading these books is the first time I have really made a personal connection to gender dysphoria, and I am getting something from each, even Caitlin.
Thank you all for the book suggestions, and keep them coming!
– Therese
It’s sort of a shame as some books go out of print, and become hard to find, besides the fact that transgender/crossdressing stories are just never going to be as popular as books by Rowling, Clancy, King, etc.
Working on my feelings about who I was and what it was all about, some 30-50 years ago, there were several books that were published that were sort of autobiographical about transgendered males to females, that I was able to come across, purchase (in an actual store), and read, all of which helped me better understand myself.
Conundrum by Jan Morris
Canary by Canary Conn
Mirror Images by Nancy HuntI lived at the time in the Chicago area and it turned out that Nancy Hunt worked for the Chicago Tribune newspaper(which I often read), and Canary Conn, as Danny O’Conner, won a vocal contest (a very early, almost amateurish, and not particularly well handled version of The Voice) run by a radio station in Chicago. Shortly after that, Danny became Canary and released several records. Jan Morris was an English news reporter and author.
Basically all three now seem to have now faded into (probably well-deserved) obscurity. I hope they all are living decent lives as reading their books provided me a little more peace of mind that I wasn’t mentally unhinged and especially, alone. In the 60’s and 70’s, way before the internet, life was very lonely for trangendered people.
At the time, I did also look for books on cross-dressers but those were maybe just a little rarer than hen’s teeth, so I was thrilled to find the above.
this weekend I read
- The Big Idea – Is Gender Fluid
- Love lives here – Amanda Jette Knox
the layout of Is Gender Fluid is challenging, looks like a school text book, but the information is good, and worth a read.
Love lives here, is a must read written by a mother of a trans child and unbeknown to them wife of a trans partner.
This book should come with a complimentary box of tissues, I don’t think I have ever cried so much.
It is a wonderful book, from the perspective of a mother and wife, written by a non renown Canadian trans advocate about their reactions and relationship to the transitioning of both their daughter and wife.
I think both books have a “look inside” on Amazon, so you can gauge their content.
Ok, it has been a while now, but I have now also read:
- Life Isn’t Binary: On being both, beyond and in-between – Meg-John Barker & Alex Iantaffi
- Gender Explorer: Our stories of growing up trans & the changing world – Juno Roche
- Transgender Health: A Practitioner’s guide to binary and non-binary trans patient care – Ben Vincent
- She’s Not there: A life in 2 genders – Jennifer Finney Boylan
- My Husband Betty – Helen Boyd
- Non-Binary Lives: An anthology of intersecting identities – edited by Twist, Vincent, Barker & Gupta
Transgender health is very good at explaining the options and effects of medical transitioning for all ages, some of it a bit heavy, but helps understand the issues we face, and the issues being misrepresented in the media.She’s not there, as recommended above was a really well written story of Jenny’s coming out, and well worth reading.Helen Boyd’s book is great from a SO’s perspective of crossdressing and being transgender. I thought at first I didn’t like it, but the voice changed as the book went on, and more understanding grew, it was like she was on a journey, was quite uninformed and bitter to start and found understanding as the book went onNon-Binary Lives has lots of different non-binary stories, which I am currently working through and enjoying.I love reading other people’s stories, some I can relate to and some I can’t totally, but then we are all different, we all feel different, have a different story, but some of us have similar feelings and experiences, and it is nice to find snippits where someone else has felt how you feel, you can better understand and accept yourself. Counselling by reading
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