"Misery Loves Company ver.2 is an updated, 100-page re-release of Christine Beatty's 1993 semi-autobiographical collection of poignantly vivid sometimes brutal short stories and poetry, a perky, suicidal plunge into transsexual transition in mid-1980s San Francisco.
This book takes the reader to a place most people never see, a poignant peek into the twilight world of San Francisco's meanest district, offering insight into an ordinary person's burgeoning self-awareness and shocking discoveries.
It pulls back the curtain on a world of prostitution, spiraling addiction, borderline insanity, and the beginnings of redemption. Enhanced with illustrations by transsexual surreal artist Nola Van Della and photographs from the place where it all happened."
In 2013, I interviewed Christine and asked her about her transition experiences: "I was 27 and I had almost no money and so I was coached by my peers who were also living on the underside of society. I lost all of my old friends and I became estranged from my family. Also, I got fired from my housekeeping job when I said I wanted to work as a woman. That was when I became a prostitute, so I could afford to support myself and to do my transition."
Christine Beatty is an American writer, musician and transgender activist. She is known for being one of the first trans women to perform and record as a heavy metal musician. Her writing has been published in various publications such as Spectator Magazine, Transgender Tapestry magazine, and the Bay Area Reporter. In 1993, she published a semi-autobiographical collection of short stories and poetry, Misery Loves Company, which provides insight into the lives of transgender people and other disenfranchised members of San Francisco’s underground community.
She also co-founded and performed in Glamazon, one of the first transsexual-fronted heavy metal rock bands. Beatty uses journalism and public speaking to advocate for the transgender and LGBT communities. She testified before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors regarding transgender concerns and served on the San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution. In December 1991, she established San Francisco Gender Information, a database of resources for transgender people.
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Photo via The Heroines of My Life
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