Spring 2001

THE WOMAN I WAS NOT BORN TO BE: A Transsexual Journey

by Amy Bloom

TheLincoln Memorial ings, religious or otherwise, is an important pitched battles over the messages conveyed by of the capital's life. This book makes clear statues, museums, and memorials. that ours is not the first generation to fight -AMY SCHWAR'IY CONTEMPORARY FFAIRS THE WOMAN I WAS NOT 13OAW 7'0BE: A IranssexuaI ~ourtze~/. By Aleshia ~revarcl.lemple Univ. I'ress. 260 pp. S24.95 This is the story of a small-town kid, grow- ing up ill the narrow-minded but not delib- erately unkind...

This is the story of a small-town kid, growing up in the narrow-minded but not deliberately unkind Tennessee of the 1940s and ’50s, dreaming of Hollywood and fame. She achieves minor stardom (shows at Finocchio’s, almost-dates with Jack Jones and Anthony Newley, "pretty girl" parts on the Red Skelton Show and in the Don Knotts movie The Love God) and marries a few bad but not terrible men (one lazy, one gay, one far too young).

In her forties, she becomes a feminist and realizes that she will never be truly happy, or truly safe, if she keeps seeking validation and a sense of self from men: "I’d squandered valuable years in an attempt to become someone worthy of love." What distinguishes Brevard’s book from the slight, feminist coming-of-age stories of the 1970s are passages such as this: "We made love in front of the roaring fire and later... fell asleep melded like two cherubs in a sugar-spun dream. The next morning, Hank and I went to the doctor’s. I had a rectal tear."

Research, browse, and discover more than 35 years of articles, essays, and reviews by preeminent scholars and writers. Our searchable archive of back issues is free for WQ subscribers.

Subscribe today
to the WQ Online
and receive immediate access
to the WQ archive for a full year.
Subscribe Now