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.

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Showing posts with label 1982. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1982. Show all posts

Marie-Josée Enard - Vouloir être: transsexuelle, femme et mère

Original title: "Vouloir être: transsexuelle, femme et mère" (Wanting to be: transsexual, woman and mother) by Marie-Josée Enard, afterword by Catherine Rihoit.

This incredible story raises many questions. The truth is that the child is hermaphrodite: the sex of angels. But angels, we love them in heaven, that is to say dead, they have absolutely no place here below. Marie-Josée dreams with such force that it becomes real. And yet she has to wake up. And when she wakes up, she's in the middle of a nightmare.

As in the past, when the other children refused to play with her and called her a “chick”, they point the finger at her, they don't give her a job. They reproach her for having prostituted herself, and they push her to return to prostitution. Because if there is one thing that disturbs more than monsters, it is a monster who says he is like you and me.

Caroline Cossey - Tula: Ik ben een vrouw

"Tula: Ik ben een vrouw" (Tula: I am a woman) is the Dutch language edition of "Tula: I am a Woman" (1982) by Caroline Cossey.

She is one of the most iconic figures in the history of the transgender movement. She is also one of my biggest inspirations. This is her first memoir, published in 1982.

Caroline Cossey is a British model who often worked under the name Tula, which she also used for two memoirs. She appeared in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only. Following her appearance in the film, she was outed as transgender by the British tabloid News of the World. In 1991, she became the first trans woman to pose for Playboy.

Ovida Delect - La prise de robe, itinéraire d'une transsexualité...

Original title: "La prise de robe, itinéraire d'une transsexualité vécue" (Dressing up, route of a lived transsexuality). The book was the first autobiography written by Ovida Delect.

According to Wikipedia, Ovida Delect (1926-1996) was a French poet, politician, and member of the French resistance during the Second World War. In February 1944 she was arrested by the Gestapo for being a member of the National Front, a movement created by the French Communist Party (PCF). She was tortured and deported to a German concentration camp.

After the war, she finished her university education and became a writer. In 1952, she met her future wife Huguette, a kindergarten teacher from Sarthe. They had a son, Jean-Noel. In 1953, Ovida read about the transition of Christine Jorgensen in the press and recognized the similarity between their lives. At the beginning of the 1960s, Delect, under her birth name Jean-Pierre Voidies, became mayor of Freneuse, a small town in Île-de-France. She transitioned socially into a female at the age of 55 and continued to live with Huguette Voidies, her wife, and their son in Saint Pierre Alizay. She died on 9 October 1996.

Chris Johnson & Cathy Brown - The Gender Trap

Full title: "The Gender Trap: The moving autobiography of Chris & Cathy, the first transexual parents" by Chris Johnson and Cathy Brown, with Wendy Nelson

The book presents the story of the first British transgender couple, Christopher Brown, formerly Anne Johnson, and Cathy Browne, formerly Eugene Brown, from Handsworth, Birmingham. Both of them transitioned after their daughter was born.

I found one article about them in the Digital Transgender Archive portal: "Cathy was born Eugene in Belfast. Her parents were travelers, her father in and out of jail. At 14, she was placed in Borstal for constant truanting. At borstal, she had her first experience of homosexuality and rejected it. Throughout her childhood, she felt 'different'. She dressed in women's clothes. She disliked the idea of heterosexual relationships in which she took the male role but neither was she attracted to men."

Duncan Fallowell and April Ashley - April Ashley's Odyssey

Full title: "April Ashley's Odyssey" by Duncan Fallowell and April Ashley.

It was the first biography of April Ashley, written by Duncan Fallowell and April Ashley herself. April Ashley (1935–2021) was an English model, actress, cabaret artist, and celebrity. Outed as a transgender woman by The Sunday People newspaper in 1961, she was one of the earliest British people known to have undergone gender reassignment surgery.

After a short episode in the Merchant Navy, she started cross-dressing and she moved to Paris in the late 1950s, using the name Toni April. She joined the entertainer Coccinelle in the cast of the famous drag cabaret at the Caroussel Theatre.

At the age of 25, she underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1960, performed in Casablanca, Morocco, by Georges Burou. After returning to Britain, she started using the name April Ashley and became a successful fashion model, appearing in many fashion magazines.

Caroline Cossey - Tula: I am a Woman

Full title: "Tula: I am a Woman" by Caroline Cossey.

She is one of the most iconic figures in the history of the transgender movement. She is also one of my biggest inspirations. This is her first memoir, published in 1982. Caroline Cossey is a British model who often worked under the name Tula, which she also used for two memoirs. She appeared in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only. Following her appearance in the film, she was outed as transgender by the British tabloid News of the World. In 1991, she became the first trans woman to pose for Playboy. Since then she has become one of the biggest advocates of the transgender cause. In 2017 I had the honour of interviewing her for my blog and one of my questions was related to how she was treated by society.

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