Cross Dressing

Book Description

Big-shot ad exec Dan Steele feels entitled to the best life has to offer -- even if he has to live way beyond his means to acquire it. But there's hope on the horizon. Dan has just stolen what's sure to be an award-winning idea for a multimillion-dollar account. If he can keep the creditors at bay long enough, he'll get the keys to the executive restroom and all his problems will be solved.

Unfortunately, that's when his brother, a Catholic priest, shows up at Dan's door in need of a loan to pay for some essential medical attention. Being both financially and morally challenged, Dan hands over his insurance card instead of his credit card. But it's too late. After running up a bill for $300,000, Father Michael goes the way of all flesh.

Now Dan has a choice: go to prison for insurance fraud or take a vow of poverty and become a man of the cloth. Before he can say "God bless," Dan finds himself pursued by a relentless insurance investigator, the psychopathic copywriter whose idea he stole, and a deadly killer from his brother's mysterious past. And, as if that wasn't enough, Dan finds himself falling in love with a gun-toting nun. Let us pray.

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant!.......2006-07-02

Cross Dressing is one of the best novels I have read in a long time. If you are a fan of Carl Hiaasen, Max Barry, Dave Barry and other surreal humorous authors then you won't be disappointed with Bill Fitzhugh's Cross Dressing which is up there with those authors' masterpieces.

In Cross Dressing twins Michael and Dan couldn't be more different. Michael is a priest living in the poorest areas of Africa devoted to his faith and helping his fellow man. Dan gave up the church a long time ago along with morals and as for caring for his fellow man, well he couldn't care less. Dan is a highly successful advertising agent who thinks nothing of stealing one of his employee's ideas to further his career. Dan's life seems to be about to get even better with Michael returning to America and telling him he will take their eccentric mother off Dan's hands which will lift a huge financial burden from Dan's shoulders. Only thing is Michael keeps annoying him wanting to borrow money to see a doctor but he never paid back the money he borrowed a long time ago so that is out of the question. Michael is obviously getting worse so Dan tells him to impersonate him and use his insurance for the morphine injection or whatever he needs. Next thing Dan knows is Michael who the hospital assumes is him is dead and if he lets on with the truth will be doing some serious jail time for fraud and also lumped with the $300 000 plus hospital bill which he can't afford. With everyone thinking he is dead and repossessing his car, apartment and everything else Dan has no choice but to become Michael the priest until he figures out what to do. He soon learns that the life of a priest is even more cutthroat and unethical than the world of advertising and that he fits right in.

It may interest you to know, and save you money if you were going to purchase them, that Fitzhugh's novels McJesus or Cross + Dress are in fact the exact same novel as Cross Dressing, just published under different titles in these overseas market places.

Finest kind and the some.......2005-02-10

I'm a Bill Fitzhugh fan in general but I totally love this novel which covers quite a lot of ground. It's also one of my fave romantice novels and so deliciously bizarre. Fitzhugh has not only a distinct voice but an irrevent wit that I worship, bless his pahtooties. And, the man can write ... very well indeed. Did I say he can write? Woohoo, finest kind!

A fun, great read!.......2004-12-29

This is my second Fitzhugh novel and boy, am I glad I stumbled across this irreverant novelist. This sometimes sad, sometimes slapstick novel was an absolute joy to read. Was the ending a bit too 'Hollywood?' Sure - what else would you expect out of this L.A. story?

Other reviewers have expressed concern over the perceived 'anti-church' bias in the book. While I am not a Catholic, I am a devout Christian and I had no problem with the jabs and pokes at the Church bureaucracy. Every denomination and organization has people that forget what the goal is and are more concerned with maintaining power and status and control than with the mission. I have no problem with anyone gently reminding (or in this case, not-so-gently reminding) everyone to keep themselves focused.

Holy Satire with Fun Results.......2004-04-01

Bill Fitzhugh will make fun of anything. Whether it's the smarmy world of organ transplants, the political system, industry, technology, and even pest control, and Cross Dressing isn't any different, except this time his target is slightly higher. Fitzhugh tackles another controversial subject with his satirical spanking of organized religion. Dan Steele is a bit of a jerk. He lives the life of a highly paid and successful ad exec, except he's run out of ideas. But that's not a problem when you can just steal one. Dan's twin brother is a priest, but a priest with his own problems, and they are literally eating away at him from the inside. When Dan's brother needs medical attention and is lacking medical insurance, the ethically challenge Dan has no problems switching identities. The his brother dies, and takes Dan's identity with him. Now having to take over his brother's more saintly life, which holds it's own secrets, leads Dan into the path of hitman, disgruntled former coworkers and a very attractive nun, also with secrets. Where would good fiction be without secrets?
So once again Fitzhugh handles a touchy subject with humor and disrespect. If you are highly sensitive about the reputation of the Catholic Church, this may not be you best bet. If you could look past this little problem, this is a crazy, fun book with lots of twisty, turny fun that only this master of satire can write.

Mr. Fitzhugh is One Of A Kind!.......2004-02-10

If you're looking for the outrageous, eccentric, with a laugh in at least every paragraph, you just can't beat Bill Fitzhugh! Plus , his books are great satires on contempary America. CROSS DRESSING is perhaps his most realistic, with no sci- fi overtones such as those found in PEST CONTROL, an even wilder ride! Here we have a socially aware nun with an unusual past, meeting up with an ad huckster in some of the funniest scenes ever written, yet everything here is certainly very possible, if not likely. His barbs at organized religion, and the huckster consumer society are all too real! Truly, Mr Fitzhugh strikes a solid punch, and one wishes for more success for this unique, zanily- inspired author!

Vested Interests: Cross-dressing and Cultural Anxiety

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crossdressing & acadamic insight

Vested Interests: Cross-dressing and Cultural Anxiety
Marjorie Garber
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0415919517

Book Description

Beginning with the bold claim, "There can be no culture without the transvestite," Marjorie Garber explores the nature and significance of cross-dressing and of the West's recurring fascination with it.

Vested Interests is a tour de force of cultural criticism: its investigations range across history, literature, film, photography, and popular and mass culture, from Shakespeare to Mark Twain, from Oscar Wilde to Peter Pan, from transsexual surgery and transvestite "sororities" to Madonna, Flip Wilson, Rudolph Valentino and Elvis Presley. What, Garber asks, does clothing have to do with sexuality? How do dress codes contribute to the organization of society? How is passing as a man or a woman related to racial passing? Is transvestitism a sign of homosexuality? What are the politics of drag? Why are cross-dressing rituals so commonly a part of the male power elite? How do transvestites appear--and disappear--in detective fiction? Is religious costume a kind of cross-dressing? Why is Peter Pan played by a woman?

The books fifteen chapters include "Cross-Dressing for Success," "Fetish Envy," The Chic of Araby," "Phantoms of the Opera," "Black and White TV" (on transvestitism in African-American literature and culture), Spare Parts" (on transsexual surgery, the surgical construction of gender) and "Red Riding Hood and the Wolf in Bed."

Rich in anecdote and insight, Vested Interests offers a provocative and entertaining view of our ongoing obsession with dressing up--and with the power of clothes.

Customer Reviews:

crossdressing & acadamic insight.......2000-04-26

first off, i can't say i would recommend this book to someone who doesn't have a more academic background, flitting as it does from foucault to freud & back again, but i have to say that it's critique & thesis are well-reasoned, well-argued, & definitely well-referenced! it's like a cross dressing field guide in some ways... i found myself making up a list of movies/books to check out. even moreso, it's a great book for anyone wanting to study gender construction in general... as it gets at that shadowy figure inbetween the genders, who belies/affirms all the constructs...

Product Description

An autobiography of a male-to-female transsexual from birth, to returning home from the final gender reassignment surgery. This book is meant to assist in mentoring a transsexual through the sometimes difficult time of transition, helping you to be aware of the many things that need to be done along the way to the final goal of becoming a woman. It is also a means of support for your decision to transition.

Customer Reviews:

Ignorant.......2007-04-25

As most transsexual woman know, they don't "become" women, they just gain the visible ability to be seen as the women they felt themselves to be inside. Anatomy does not define a woman. This book is offensive because it invalidates the fact that trans women are already women, not just men who "want to be" women. Part of transsexual women's struggle is gaining the basic respect they deserve from other people regarding their identities as women. Also, there are many kinds of women with diverse cultural, racial, ethnic, religious, and geographical influences, including women from extremely diverse personalities. Transsexual women need to be the kind of women that fit with their diverse personalities- there is no one way to be a non-trans woman, so why would anyone try to caim there is one way to be a woman of trans experience? Buy another book that is less essentialist and dogmatic.

A Guide to What?.......2005-11-26

I agree with the previous reviewer. I found the book to be something wholly different than the title encouraged the reader to believe that it was. It was more a memoir and truly a very personal memoir - certainly valuable as a journey to the writer - but of little value to the reader, more a chatty diary than a guide to transsexualism. Plus, it was very poorly edited. I felt like I was reading a first draft of a book, something that the editor had failed to review before publishing. In fact, I wonder if the Trafford publishers act as editors at all. Are they simply publishers of texts submitted to them without any sort of review before publication? Many of the spelling errors could have been identified with a decent spell-checker program, and the book was rife with grammatical errors, which weighed down the reader with having to add letters to a text which was already fairly indecipherable.

As a "guide for transsexuals" it was of minimal value. There are many personal memoirs in the marketplace about transition to womanhood, many of them written in a manner which draws the reader into the story with much more verve, such as Jennifer Boylan's "She's Not There: A Life of Two Genders", Deirdre McCloskey's "Crossing: A Memoir", or Erica Zander's "TransActions". All of those memoirs are not only written in a far more interesting style, but give good information about "the transition" to a reader interested in such information. Ms. Sly, the author of "So You Want To Be A Woman" would have done herself and her readers a favor to coauthor the book with a ghost writer, who knew HOW to write and who was a good editor.

There are several books on transsexualism which are far better "Guides" than this one, and which give the information they purport to give. "Trans-X-U-All: The Naked Difference" by Tracie O'Keefe and Katrina Fox; "The Univited Dilemma: A Question of Gender" by Kim Elizabeth Stuart; and "In Search of Eve: Transsexual Rites of Passage" are far better texts on this subject and much more intelligently written. Ms. Sly's little book is a waste of time to any person who is interested in information about "the process of transition". It is personal to her alone and should have remained so, to be shared, at most, with close friends, as the 'first draft' that it is.

Like the previous reviewer, after reading this book, I also felt "ripped off" by the purchase.

The Guide that Fails to Guide.......2005-07-17

I honestly feel cheated having bought this little book. The title is misleading, for it is not so much a guide as a poorly written memoir. I was looking for information and found nothing useful here. If you're looking for a thoughtful and eloquently written memoir see Jan Morris's classic "Conundrum." If you're looking for a source of information for potential transsexuals - well, I haven't found one yet. You'd do well to just skip this one.

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A Fascinating Voyage
Collison - Unmemorable but well-written
It was a good book
Gritty realism, eighteenth-century history, and fast-paced adventure on the sea
This book screams for a sequel! So great, I want MORE!

Star-Crossed
Linda Collison
Manufacturer: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0375833633
Release Date: 2006-11-14

Book Description

Patricia Kelley has been raised a proper British lady--but she's become a stowaway. Her father is dead, and her future in peril. To claim the estate that is rightfully hers, she must travel across the seas to Barbados, hidden in the belly of merchant ship.

It is a daring escapade, and the plan works--for a time. But before she knows it, Patricia's secret is revealed, and she is torn between two worlds. During the day, she wears petticoats, inhabits the dignified realm of ship's officers, and trains as a surgeon's mate with the gentle Aeneas MacPherson; at night she dons pants and climbs the rigging in the rough company of sailors. And it is there, alongside boson's mate John Dalton, that she feels stunningly alive.

In this mesmerizing novel of daring, adventure, tragedy, and romance, Patricia must cross the threshold between night and day, lady and surgeon, and even woman and man. She must be bold in ways beyond her wildest dreams and take risks she never imagined possible. And she must fight for her life--and her love.

Customer Reviews:

A Fascinating Voyage.......2007-10-07

The essence of a good novel is its ability to whisk you away to a place where you would not normally go. Linda Collison does such a thing wonderfully in her debut novel, Star-Crossed. Patricia Kelley sets out in 1760 from her paupered but privileged place in English society to claim her dead father's only estate asset, a sugar plantation in Barbados. Stowing away on a boat, she is first moonstruck by a bosun's mate, Brian Dalton, but then faces the dilemma of choosing Dalton's love or marriage's security with a more sensible choice to marry the ship's doctor, MacPherson. The entire story swings many times like a pendulum between this two contrary choices.

Along the cruise, readers are exposed to life on several English navy ships are Patricia travels with Dalton and/or MacPherson to various Caribbean locales in changing circumstances. As she literally rides the staterooms by day and the yardarms by night, her life takes equally polar changes that can be sensually experienced by those wishing to join her on the page. Her final destination satisfies both her heart and her head.

A thoroughly enjoyable story.

Collison - Unmemorable but well-written.......2007-08-07

I bought this book on a whim simply because the cover of the book looked so entrancing and even the title caught me. Even though the pile of books I've yet to read was getting too high, I put this at the top and read it once I could.

Patricia Kelly is ther heroine of this story and it's told in her voice as she takes readers through the troubling strife of living as a woman in a man's world. As she struggles to make it to her father's Barbados manor by smuggling herself onto a ship, she meets an endearing doctor and a young and dashing sailor. But chance is not kind to the young and once she finds out she's no true place to go she takes the doctor's proposal and marries him for protection even though her heart already belongs to the young sailor. After the surprising death of her husband she hides herself in men's clothing and becomes a sailor on the seas until she meet back up with her true love in the end.

I could not like Patricia as much as other readers doubtedly had, I found her too picky by far despite her harsh living. I also was sad for her since she didn't like the doctor as well as she should have - he deserved more than her reticence and that set me against her even in the beginning. But the book entertained even if I lost interest once the doctor's untimely death occured and the writing was well done but it's not a book I would go back to and not one of my favorites.

Three stars for a mediocre book with a mediocre heroine.

It was a good book.......2007-07-31

I really liked this book it had sailing and romance and action...But there were some points in the story where i just did not feel like finishing the book. I felt like this would have been an even better novel if the author put more depth and speech into her characters and maybe a few more twists...something that we never thought would happen..because i felt that the story was very predictable...but i still enjoyed the book very much and encourage the people to read it...if you like historical fiction or the navy..or maybe even a quick romance novel.

Gritty realism, eighteenth-century history, and fast-paced adventure on the sea.......2007-07-25

Linda Collison's first novel "for young readers" is a historical tale that never underestimates the intelligence and the worldliness of her audience; set in the eighteenth century, the author conveys the excitement of sea life as seen through the eyes of its unique heroine, but still frankly depicts the saltiness and the seediness of the era.

In the course of her trans-Atlantic and Caribbean adventure, stowaway Patricia Kelley undergoes a virtual encyclopedia of what can go wrong for seafarers on a merchant vessel, a hospital ship, and a frigate: windless days, terrifying squalls, shipwreck, amputations, a yellow fever epidemic, warfare, piracy--even childbirth in desperate conditions. Also absorbing is the book's gritty social realism: the randy exploits of sailors in port, and the trollops who ply their trade; the social position of women (Patricia marries not for love, but from necessity); the desperate condition and appalling treatment of slaves; the ready availability of alcohol and the dangers of illicitly produced liquor.

The author's research informs some of my favorite portions of the book: the state of medical knowledge three centuries ago, the siege of Havana and Morro Castle, the childhood of Alexander Hamilton and the social opprobrium faced by his parents, and the rare but real occurrence of women who, disguised as men, found employment as sailors. Collison also infuses her work with the idiom of the trade, but she never strays from the story--although there are a few pages, particularly in the first quarter of the book, that may have especially young readers furtively flipping back to the book's glossary. ("Dalton made me stay in the ship's waist by the cannon while he went aft to the quarterdeck to check the mizzen rigging.")

Although the book's age-appropriate prose never whitewashes the era's horrors and squalor and vice, the overall tone is triumphant, and Patricia becomes accustomed to the limitations of her new life and gradually begins to enjoy its perks and its freedoms. The fast-paced opening and the subsequent series of unfortunate events are themselves compelling enough, but the heart of the book belongs to Collison's protagonist who, while initially immature and haughty, overcomes the odds and ultimately wins over the affections of her shipmates--and of her readers.

This book screams for a sequel! So great, I want MORE!.......2007-07-22

Although I don't generally read historical novels, this one intrigued me because I'd had some contact with the author whose background is so interesting I just HAD to read her first novel.

And Linda Collison doesn't disappoint! Her personal knowledge of boating and sailing shine throughout, as does her detailed research ... from her vivid descriptions of the seafaring life to the authentic jargon of seafaring people of those days. These characters and settings came alive for me; I felt Patricia Kelley's pain, her fear, her yearning ... admired her bravery.

STAR-CROSSED is a fascinating story of a young, eighteenth century, proper British schoolgirl whose father dies, leaving her in dire circumstances. Her father promised her a plantation in Barbados, but how is she to get there ... with no one to help? What is a poor, helpless girl to do?

Helpless? Well, this bold, inventive young woman proves to be anything but helpless. Wise-beyond-her-years, Patricia uses her wits to get aboard a ship sailing for Barbados. It's a daring escapade as she sets sail on the greatest adventure of her life.

You'll have to read the book to see how truly inventive our heroine is ... to learn of her relationship with bosun's mate Brian Dalton and other fascinating characters. Can a proper British lady find love and happiness with a bosun's mate? With a ship's surgeon? Could this be the meaning of Star-Crossed in the book's title?

Does our heroine ever regain her rightful estate? Or is her destiny, her happiness elsewhere? Well, you'll have to RFY (read for yourself) to find out. I promise you an exciting reading adventure with many unexpected twists and turns.

Bravo, Ms. Collison. This is a brilliant debut novel, as bold and full of passion as your memorable heroine. I hope you write a sequel; I want to know more of Patricia and Brian. (My hat's off to the cover designer, also. It's not only aesthetic, it's very creative and colorful.) - Betty Dravis, August 2007

The Lord Cornbury Scandal: The Politics of Reputation in British America (Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture)

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Admirably lucid
Maybe, Maybe Not
Some Flaws, but Still a Good Work

The Lord Cornbury Scandal: The Politics of Reputation in British America (Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture)
Patricia U. Bonomi
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0807848697
Release Date: 2000-02-02

Book Description

For more than two centuries, Edward Hyde, Viscount Cornbury—royal governor of New York and New Jersey from 1702 to 1708—has been a despised figure, whose alleged transgressions ranged from raiding the public treasury to scandalizing his subjects by parading through the streets of New York City dressed as a woman.

Now, Patricia Bonomi offers a challenging reassessment of Cornbury. She explores his life and experiences to illuminate such topics as imperial political culture; gossip, Grub Street, and the climate of slander; early modern sexual culture; and constitutional perceptions in an era of reform. In a tour de force of scholarly detective work, Bonomi also reappraises the most "conclusive" piece of evidence used to indict Cornbury—a celebrated portrait, said to represent the governor in female dress, that hangs today in the New York Historical Society.

Stripping away the many layers of "the Cornbury myth," this innovative work brings to life a fascinating man and reveals the conflicting emotions and loyalties that shaped the politics of the First British Empire.

Customer Reviews:

Admirably lucid.......2005-10-22

The writer does indeed show how easily stories get garbled and tales get passed on as history. A great deal of scepticism or, at least, critical awareness is needed when looking at the past. This is a very readable and lucid book.

Maybe, Maybe Not.......2001-10-12

The author argues convincingly that stories of Lord Cornbury's cross-dressing were only rumors. She offers some explanations as to why such rumors might have started but fails to consider one plausible explanation-- they were true. As evidence that the charges were untrue, the author cites the four letters which described Cornbury's behavior. Each was written by someone who disliked the colonial governor. Cornbury probably did not attend public functions in women's clothes. Rumors do tend to be embellished with each re-telling. The fact that someone has enemies, however, does not mean he can not also be a transvestite, consider J. Edgar Hoover. The fact that his enemies would be more likely to comment than his friends seems hardly surprising.

Some Flaws, but Still a Good Work.......2000-05-17

The support community for heterosexual male transvestites in Vancouver, British Columbia, calls itself The Cornbury Society. The organization, like New York's famous Hyde Park, has taken upon itself the name of the third Earl of Clarendon, Edward Hyde, the Lord Cornbury, royal governor of New Jersey and New York from 1702 to 1708. These men, like most historians from the mid-19th century forward, believe that Governor Hyde was an exhibitionistic cross-dresser, who attended his own wife's funeral dressed in women's clothing, and cavorted about in society dressed as a woman, to the horror and condemnation of hundreds of spectators. This has been the historical legacy of Hyde for over 150 years, and it is Patricia Bonomi's task to not only refute these (and other) rumors, but illuminate the condition of politics and political discourse in the 18th century, and expose a long-standing bias in American history against royalists in general, and Tory governors in particular. She does this all in an engaging and descriptive manner, though with perhaps an insufficient degree of explanation of basic terminology and concepts (for example, she does not explain what she means by "Grub Street Press," a fundamental concept used from the first chapter forward, until page 102), and a organizational structure that seems to lack both organization and structure. There are three areas from which criticism of Governor Hyde has always stemmed. The most infamous is a portrait said to be of him, dressed in women's attire, now hanging in the halls of the New-York Historical Society, a portrait with which there is no connection to the Governor until many decades after his death. The second, and in many ways weakest, is a series of 5 letters containing rumor-mongering of the Governor's supposed cross-dressing habits. The final, and most serious, is a large group of more or less contemporary charges (primarily propagated by Lewis Morris, the man who was in line to become the royal governor of New Jersey until Hyde's father and uncle interceded) of fiscal misconduct, including accepting of bribes, mismanagement of colonial finances, and living far in excess of his position and means. Bonomi places each of these pieces of evidence into their proper political and social contexts, completely discrediting the portrait's connection to Hyde, and clarifying the difference between the rumors of the day and what actually took place. More importantly, Bonomi explains, to a certain degree, why these rumors were so prevalent, and why so many of the rumors focused on sexual innuendo. One does not need to look farther than the Monica Lewinsky scandal to see the application of Bonomi's findings to our understanding of our own time. A new form of media, greater press freedoms, and a large upheaval in the nature of political institutions and leadership are just three of many parallels between the late 17th/early 18th centuries, and the late 20th/early 21st centuries.

One might desire more from this text, however. The balance between salvaging Hyde's historical legacy and of analyzing the social context that led to the charges against him, is heavily weighted towards the former, with only one chapter dealing with issues of sexual identity and changing morals in this period. Further, Bonomi comes across not so much as a disinterested detective, but rather as defense attorney, committed to proving that Hyde wasn't a bad guy above all else. Her analysis of the letters charging Hyde with cross dressing is primarily devoted to showing why we shouldn't believe them, and little else, and such problems are scattered throughout the book. Additionally, the book lacks something of a cohesive structure, and would do well to have a more solid introduction, any kind of a conclusion, and perhaps a glossary for those readers who aren't as intimately familiar with British political history as the author herself clearly is. Still, Bonomi's book accomplishes much of what it sets out to. It exonerates Hyde, for the most part, returning the charges against him to the context that historians have stripped them from, and increasing our understanding of the political climate of the early 18th century. It is useful for any student of colonial or British politics, and for anyone interested in the forms political discourse takes. Not to mention for all the historians who have taken the charges against the Lord Cornbury at face value and perpetuated some of the most vulgar and base forms of political accusations for their readers, out of self-interest and expediency. Despite it's flaws, this book opens the door to new interpretations of colonial and British politics, and paves the way for a more responsible historical interpretation of the American past. (originally prepared for History H398, Spring 2000, Ohio State University)

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The squirrel cage of Cindi Jones

A story of great conflict and love

The Human Experience from a transgendered perspective

Squirrel Cage
Cindi Jones
Manufacturer: Lulu.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1847289428

Book Description

Softcover Cindi Jones chronicles her life as she banters with her squirrel muse. While her autobiography is about transsexualism, the story of love and struggle is universal. Cindi's compelling style is powerful as she pulls the reader in to her life walking the forbidden path alone. Her writing is fresh, inviting and engrossing. Join her as she details her sorrows and joys as she forges gold from lead, changing her gender in reassignment surgery, and culminating her story by leading a productive life as a woman. This is a story of love betrayed, brutal loss, and sweet victory.

Customer Reviews:

The squirrel cage of Cindi Jones.......2006-09-23

Squirrel Cage is certainly one of the best written pieces I've read regarding the transsexual dilemma. Cindi Jones' choice of words is powerful and illustrate perfectly the unique struggles she experienced in her journey from male to female. As Cindi takes us through her unbelievable odyssey, she confirms once again that being transsexual is neither a lifestyle nor a choice, but a matter of life and death indeed.

Her struggles with gender incongruence and her determination to match her body to her soul teach us a powerful lesson of survival in a world where gender identity is often misunderstood and shadowed by bigotry.

A story of great conflict and love.......2006-09-12

Some people believe that transsexualism is an extreme sexual fettish. After all, that's pretty much all we get to see about them on the tube. This book clearly dispells those beliefs.

Cindi has presented her story in a brutally honest fashion. She makes it clear that her case is not due to some sexual perversion but a deep seated and horrifying secret she felt from her earliest memories.

Cindi grew up in Utah and was a devoted member of the Mormon faith. Her conflict was always at odds with her conservative beliefs. And as she worked to resolve her "condition", she was faced with an onslaught of opposition from her church, family, and management where she worked.

She details how she was counseled to get married and be faithful to her beliefs by church authorities. Her counsel did not deal with her deep seated problems. They made them worse. She endured persecution from all that she loved. Feeling completely isolated, she proceded with her transition at great personal cost. After her transition, Cindi slipped back into society where she has lived a normal life as a woman for several years. Cindi has held true to her strong personal values and has won back the love and support of her family.

Cindi's writing style is sometimes whimsical, often blunt, and totally engrossing. Her discussions with her muse, Squirrel, work effectively in showing how she came to terms with her internal conflict. Her story is not so much about her sex change as is with that conflict she recognizes and resolves. I believe this book is a must read for anyone who needs help understanding and helping a loved one with any unusual personal problem.

The Human Experience from a transgendered perspective.......2006-09-12

Most people are afraid of transsexuals, pre-transsexuals included. We all want to belong, to conform, to fit in. Change your gender? You would become a freak! Yet, resisting the NEED to change almost always causes those so afflicted great emotional pain. Pain from hiding their secret shame, and pretending every minute of every day to be something they don't feel.

Sounds pretty melodramatic, eh?

Enter David Steele, born into a traditional American household in Salt Lake City, Utah. At an early age, he is told NO he is not to behave that way, boys don't wear dresses and look pretty -- and so begins David/Cindi's odyssey, trying repeatedly to cure/quit/give up this sinful compulsion. He is aided by his inner muse, Squirrel, who helps him plan how to get away with obtaining and hiding girls' clothes so he doesn't get caught.

After high School and 'Mission' he marries his childhood sweetheart, secretly hoping this will cure him of the wish to be female. But the urges and Squirrel return, and he begins getting caught by his bride. The church finds out, and they submit him to various 'therapies' to cure him. Finally David is has no choice but to accept and embrace this need and transform into Cindi.

She tells her tale with candor and conviction. The events are all true, and the real people in Cindi's life will recognise themselves in these pages even though their names are changed. But this book isn't about one woman's transsexuality -- it is a book about life, as she overcomes many obstacles before during and after her transition. About half of these obstacles have nothing to do with her transsexuality, occuring before transition to David, or after to Cindi, who now 'passes' completely as female.

This book may answer for some what it's like to be a transsexual who transitions. But it is also about the human spirit.

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Sexological history of cross dressing
Gender 501

Cross Dressing, Sex, and Gender
Vern L. Bullough , and Bonnie Bullough
Manufacturer: University of Pennsylvania Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0812214315

Book Description

"For all scholars of psychology and sexuality, as well as the literate general public, historian Vern Bullough and nurse Bonnie Bullough have done an invaluable service in providing an overview of the phenomenon of cross-dressing. . . . This book is an

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Sexological history of cross dressing.......2003-02-05

A marvelous read that goes well into the sexological depths of cross dressing. It resists a disease model approach discussion of gender variance and gives a more interdisciplinary account. Since the authors have been providing great contributions to the field of transgender studies for so long, they are easily able to provide historical analyses of cross dressing, sex and gender that are rivetting.

This is but one of the amazing texts in their treasure trove. It can easily be read by both scholars and a general reader since it is so accessible and well written.

Gender 501.......2001-08-04

This book might be a textbook for a first level graduate course in gender variance. If you've already read a lot on the subject, this book will help you to organize your thoughts (and your library). It's a wonderful survey, both from a historical standpoint and from a cross-cultural standpoint. There is also a critical, but sensible, review of the various biological, psychological and sociological explanations of gender variance. The authors suggest that no one explanation suffices; this book was written in 1993 and although a lot has been learned since then, I would guess that they would draw the same conclusion today if they were preparing a second edition. Which I hope they are! Either way, they also argue that gender variance is not a disease (but we already knew that, didn't we!) unless it causes other problems in the life of a particular individual. Although I have described this book as a "textbook", it isn't at all dry, musty and academic. There are endnotes for each chapter which you can reference for aditional reading, and rather than a bibliography the final chapter is the authors' well-thought out list of recommendations for additional reading. Because they tell you why they selected these books, you will find their recommendations very useful. An unusual book---a great textbook and a great read!

The Female Marine and Related Works: Narratives of Cross-Dressing and Urban Vice in America's Early Republic

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The Female Marine and Related Works: Narratives of Cross-Dressing and Urban Vice in America's Early Republic

Manufacturer: University of Massachusetts Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1558491244

Amazon.com

First published in 1815, The Female Marine purported to be the autobiography of a woman who, in order to escape the shame of having a child out of wedlock and subsequent work as a prostitute, disguised herself as a boy and joined the Marines. The popularity of this narrative led to its being reprinted 19 times in 3 years and gave rise to a series of sequels, also included in this modern edition. This is a lively tale full of duels, piracy, and swashbuckling. It is also a sobering study about what a woman in early 19th-century America had to do to achieve some level of independence. Cross-dressing for this protagonist is not about performing; it is about saving her life. In addition to the action-filled plot and astute cultural observations, this book has wonderfully florid 19th-century prose that makes it appropriate for reading aloud.

Unzipping Gender: Sex, Cross-Dressing and Culture (Dress, Body, Culture)

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Gender Unzipped? Not yet!

Unzipping Gender: Sex, Cross-Dressing and Culture (Dress, Body, Culture)
Charlotte Suthrell
Manufacturer: Berg Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1859737250

Book Description

How does culture shape notions of sexuality and gender? Why are transvestites in the West so often seen as "deviant" or "perverse," while they are accepted in other societies? Is transvestism motivated primarily by sex or gender? What are the implications for the categories of "male" and "female" when considering transvestism? Unzipping Gender compares transvestism across cultures and considers how emotion, mythology, imagery, and beliefs influence ideas about sex and gender. Suthrell challenges the straightforward binary divide that dominates Western theories of gender. She argues that sex and gender are really so closely connected that we need a more sophisticated response to the complex practice of transvestism. In order to gain a deeper understanding of sex and gender issues, it is imperative to examine underlying social and symbolic structures. This unique study across cultures leads the way.

Customer Reviews:

Gender Unzipped? Not yet!.......2005-02-17

"How does culture shape notions of sexuality and gender? Why are transvestites in the West so often seen as `deviant' or `perverse', while they are accepted in other societies? What are the implications for the categories of `male' and `female' when considering transvestism?"

Author/researcher Dr. Charlotte Suthrell attempts to answer these questions which are posed on the back cover of her book, "Unzipping Gender", sub-titled "Sex, Cross-dressing and Culture".

The book, itself, is the author's doctoral thesis based upon field work conducted on two continents and over a four year time span. From an academic viewpoint it makes fascinating reading. In particular, the last two chapters give the reader much thought provoking material for discussion.

Chapter One starts by examining the ongoing debates and discourses on sex, sexuality and gender. Contending that gender lies at the intersection of culture and biology, Dr. Suthrell examines current doctrines concerning cross-dressing, its prevalence, and its uses. Her study is focussed exclusively on male-to-female cross-dressers, excluding so-called "drag queens" and stage personalities in cross-dressed roles.

Chapter 2, entitled "Clothing Sex, Sexing Clothes: Transvestism, Material Culture and the Sex and Gender Debate", starts with the author's claim that "Clothing as an artefact, with its clear gender divisions, illustrates, as few other things can, the socially constructed nature of gender which goes beyond biological sex." (p. 14). Then, for purposes of her study she goes on to define transvestism as "the deliberate and conscious wearing of clothes which, in that particular society, are perceived as the domain of the opposite sex, usually to knowingly create an image of the self as a person of the opposite sex." (p.17). Having thus defined and delineated the scope of her studies she moves quickly to her field work.

Chapters 3 and 4 describe her interviews with subjects from two widely diverse cultures, one representing the West (the UK), and the other the East (India), to illustrate the stark difference between the way the two cultures regard cross-dressing males.

In Chapter 5 she expands upon the interviews and case histories to show that "belief systems are a crucial part of the underlying structures which shape the sex, gender and sexuality discourses in each society." (p. 123). It is here that she states "one of the reasons why sex and gender are so powerful as systems of control is that they are considered so normal and natural that they are rarely opened up to be questioned in a radical fashion," which this book does. (p.124).

But it is in Chapters 6 and 7 that she really digs her teeth into her study and where she massages her data in an attempt to wring out basic truths which call into question Western society's current approach to transvestism.

Because her study is about material culture and the use of clothing as an artefact of gender, only rarely does she dig into transgenderism. Although she states that transvestism is primarily a gender phenomenon, rarely is the term "transgender" used in her discourse. Arguing that cross-dressing cannot be satisfactorily separated from issues of sex and sexuality she observes that "in our society, there seem very few things that one needs to be gendered for except sexuality; sexual relationships are one of the only places where gender is the key defining object - clothing being one of the few others." (p. 144).

Although this reviewer's perception is that transgender individuals seem not wanting to be represented by any specific social group, preferring to speak for themselves, Dr, Suthrell contends that s/he, [the transvestite], "is also performing a social role for the whole of society, whether this is viewed as a social imperative, a transgression, or a striking out for balance and wholeness." (p. 164). That is something to think about!

However, the sad fact, so clearly delineated by Dr. Suthrell, is that: "Within the Western context, it therefore starts to become very clear why transvestites have no place in the scheme of things. Women's economic and social position in the UK may have altered significantly in the last century, as parallelled by clothing changes, but not much has really changed for men - and underneath the surface improvements, at the level of structural symbolism (particularly regarding presumptions and truisms of what men and women do and are), little has changed for either sex." (pp. 169-170).

The book is very aptly entitled "Unzipping Gender" as opposed to "Gender Unzipped", for although Dr. Suthrell has gotten the zipper moving, it still has a long way to go. Let's hope that as society continues to move the zipper further it doesn't get stuck on a broken fingernail in the process.

Whether for academic study or just for general knowledge this book is an excellent read.

Crossing the Stage: Controversies on Cross-Dressing

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Crossing the Stage: Controversies on Cross-Dressing
Lesley Ferris
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0415062691

Book Description

Cross-dressing in theatrical performance has generated a lively, controversial debate in the last decade. This collection examines cross-dressing as a culturally determined performance phenomenon, and brings a wide range of arguments and historical evidence to bear on this fascinating subject. The essays focus on cross-dressing in theatre, cabaret, opera and dance, and address everything from the significance of the cross-dressed classical Greek actor to the Renaissance tradition of adolescent boys playing female roles: from Restoration breeches roles to "vogueing."

Using critical perspectives drawn from social history, anthropology, psychoanalysis and gender theory, contributors discuss performance traditions within the wider context of sexology and sexuality, and draws out the differences of their approach.

Contributors include Jill Campbell, Yale University; Elizabeth Drorbaugh, Hofstra University; Lynn Garafola, Senior Editor, Dance Magazine; Marybeth Hamilton, University of London; Jean E. Howard, Columbia University; Peggy Phelan, New York University; Isa Ragusa, Princeton University; Laurence Senelick, Tufts University; Alisa Solomon, staff writer for The Village Voice.

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