A random collection of over 1910 books and audiobooks authored by or about my transgender, intersex sisters, and gender-nonconforming persons all over the world. I read some of them, and I was inspired by some of them. I met some of the authors and heroines, some of them are my best friends, and I had the pleasure and honor of interviewing some of them. If you know of any transgender biography that I have not covered yet, please let me know.
Full title: "Transsexualism: A study of forty-three cases (Reports from the Psychiatric Research Centre, St. Jörgen's Hospital, University of Göteborg, Sweden)" by Jan Wålinder.
"As a boy he played mostly with girls; people teased him for being a sissy; he was embarrassed about his own body. At 12, he began to feel uncertain about his sex role; he felt as if he were "neutral"; after a time he began to feel as if he belonged to the opposite sex, and this feeling grew stronger shortly before he entered puberty, at which time he also began to be disgusted at the sight of his own body. At 26 he began to have periods of gradually mounting desire to cross-dress, ending in continual crossdressing for a time. He was erotically aroused by men and had a few homosexual contacts; he never showed any interest in girls. He had a weak libido, and said that he had never masturbated. He tried to conquer his anomaly by marrying, but this only made matters worse; he got frequent attacks of depression and at 26 was admitted to a psychiatric department, but after five years of supportive psychotherapy, he was no better. He wanted to have his name changed and to be operated on."
1967,
English,
Jan Wålinder,
Sweden,
Full title: "Roma erotica" (Erotic Rome) by Giò Stajano.
Giò Stajano, the most famous transgender woman in the history of Italy, shares her erotic encounters in the city of Rome at a time when she is still not certain about her true identity. She starts as a homosexual man, gradually discovering her feminine side.
According to Wikipedia, Countess Maria Gioacchina Stajano Starace Briganti di Panico, known simply as Giò Stajano (1931-2011), was an Italian nobleman, writer, journalist, actress, and transgender painter. In the 60s, before her mtf transition in 1983, she was the center of public attention as one of the first homosexual men publicly declared in Italy. She is remembered for a night swim in the Fontana della Barcaccia. She was said to have been inspired by Federico Fellini's scene of Anita Ekberg's bath in the Trevi Fountain in La dolce vita (1960).
1967,
Georges Burou,
Giò Stajano,
Italian,
Full title: "The Transvestite and his Wife" by Virginia "Charles" Prince.
We can read on the cover of the book: "Virginia "Charles" Prince is an authority on the subject of transvestism. She has been invited to speak before many service organizations, medical classes and other interested groups, has appeared on several national radio and television broadcasts, and is a prolific writer on the subject of transvestism."
Dallas Denny wrote an interesting article about Virginia Prince - "Heteropocrisy: The Myth of the Heterosexual Male Crossdresser" where she addressed some of the ideas elaborated by Virginia Prince in the book: "Virginia, who is sometimes referred to jokingly by some (and devoutly by others) as The Godmother of Crossdressing, formulated a philosophy which has been carried to the four corners of the world by FPE and its successors, which include The Society for the Second Self (Tri-Ess) in the United States, the Seahorse Clubs of Australia, and the Beaumont Societies in Europe."
1967,
English,
Virginia Prince,
Full title: "The Transexual: The True Story of a Man Turned Woman!" by Richard-Rachel Lafayette. The publication is an autobiography translated from French by Jacques Benoit.
"Richard-Rachel in his and her search for sexual identity was willing to go in any direction to accomplish this end.
The story presents a sexual adventure of self-discovery. Growing up in the small house of his parents in the French wine country educated Richard about conjugal sex. His father's continuous ridicule was balanced by his mother's intimate attention."
"He tells of early encounters with male and female schoolmates and his teacher. Escaping to Paris at the first opportunity, he became the pampered guest of a wealthy land-owner, who used Richard-Rachel for his pleasure. An x-ray disclosed that the feminine young man had a woman's genital architecture within him, in addition to his modest visible manhood."
1967,
English,
Richard-Rachel Lafayette,
The book was published in 1067, and it had many re-editions, including the one in 2000 with the introduction by Susan Stryker.
It covers the story of Christine Jorgensen (1926-1989), an American singer, actress, celebrity, and the most iconic figure of the transgender movement in the USA, if not in the whole world, famous for being the first world-famous person to have surgery sexual reassignment conducted in Denmark in the 1950s, inducted into Chicago's Legacy Walk celebrating LGBT history in 2012, honored in San Francisco's Rainbow Walk in 2014, and included in the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor at Stonewall National Monument in New York City in 2019.
When a slender young woman stepped off a plane from Denmark to be greeted by howling reporters and an outraged American public, nobody expected that it would be one of the biggest moments in the history of transgender women.
1967,
2000,
Christine Jorgensen,
English,
