# Please recommend an informative and tolerant book on transsexualism **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 16, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-informative-and-tolerant-book-on-transsexualism/578651 "2011-04-16T20:56:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stauderhorse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Stauderhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stauderhorse)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-informative-and-tolerant-book-on-transsexualism/578651/1 "2011-04-16T20:56:32Z")
I try to be as tolerant and accepting as possible of GBLT people. They are no different from anyone else and deserve the same rights as their straight counterparts. But I confess that I have a limited understanding of transgender/transsexual people. I know a few from our gay/straight alliance at school, but don’t know enough about the issue of being transgendered to talk about it with any certainty. Can anyone recommend a good book that has everything one needs to know about what transgendered and transsexual people go through, that’s also open and tolerant about it’s subject? Thanks very much. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-informative-and-tolerant-book-on-transsexualism/578651/2 "2011-04-16T23:35:41Z")
After much thinking, I can’t name a specific book. OTTOMH, I’d actually recommend a few of the GD threads we’ve had on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![simply\_cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@simply\_cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simply_cats)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-informative-and-tolerant-book-on-transsexualism/578651/3 "2011-04-16T23:41:16Z")
I really enjoyed reading “She’s Not There; A Life in Two Genders” by Jennifer Finney Boylan. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-informative-and-tolerant-book-on-transsexualism/578651/4 "2011-04-17T01:15:45Z")
Not quite what you’re looking for, but _Middlesex_ by Jeffrey Eugenides won a Pulitzer Prize and it certainly has some related issues in it. I can recommend it in regards to this particular issue, but also just as a book because it’s quite fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-informative-and-tolerant-book-on-transsexualism/578651/5 "2011-04-17T01:19:37Z")
I was thinking of\* Middlesex\* as well. I do have a hard time lumping “transgendered”, “transsexual” and “hermaphrodites” in the same category. Actually, I have a hard time putting “anything not straight” in the same category. 😃 But \*Middlesex \*was great! ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-informative-and-tolerant-book-on-transsexualism/578651/6 "2011-04-17T04:58:29Z")
I’ve got a great one: [Conundrum](http://www.amazon.com/Conundrum-York-Review-Books-Classics/dp/1590171896/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303015904&sr=8-1) by Jan (originally James) Morris. It’s a short, personal, and very well-written account of the author’s journey from being a man to a woman. Morris is better known as a travel writer and historian - I’d also recommend those works. Her writing can be a bit florid at times, but overall I think she’s great. Highly recommended. ETA that the above book won’t give “everything one needs to know” about being transgendered; it’s very much a personal account, and not a history/psychology text. ---
**Author:** ![Monkey\_Chews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Monkey\_Chews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey_Chews)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-informative-and-tolerant-book-on-transsexualism/578651/7 "2011-04-17T13:17:39Z")
> [@Stauderhorse](#): > > I try to be as tolerant and accepting as possible of GBLT people. They are no different from anyone else Of course they are. What’s wrong with being different? > [@simply\_cats](#): > > I really enjoyed reading “She’s Not There; A Life in Two Genders” by Jennifer Finney Boylan. That’s the one I came in to recommend as well. Very well written, by someone who’s quite insightful and not afraid to share basically every aspect of her journey. ---
**Author:** ![Monkey\_Chews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Monkey\_Chews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey_Chews)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-informative-and-tolerant-book-on-transsexualism/578651/8 "2011-04-17T13:25:33Z")
Also, I know you were asking for books, but you might also be interested in this short documentary that aired a few weeks ago on an Australian TV show called Hungry Beast (directed by a friend of mine :)) where several trans men talk about their experiences. [http://hungrybeast.abc.net.au/stories/trans-guys-disclose-extended-version-0](http://hungrybeast.abc.net.au/stories/trans-guys-disclose-extended-version-0) (I hope that’s viewable outside Australia. If not, it’s also on [Youtube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi1LYunGSjM).) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-an-informative-and-tolerant-book-on-transsexualism/578651/9 "2011-04-17T13:48:45Z")
[Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity](http://www.amazon.com/Whipping-Girl-Transsexual-Scapegoating-Femininity/dp/1580051545) A biologist explores her trans identity by challenging traditional assumptions about masculinity and femininity. The argument, in essence, is that sexism against women is at the root of hatred for transgender people. As a straight woman I found this to be a really accessible way to learn more about the experiences of the transgendered. Good on you for looking into this more. To be honest it’s an area I don’t understand very well either. I really like being a woman and it’s hard to even imagine feeling uncomfortable with my sex and the gender identity that comes with it. I’m very socially liberal but if the degree of anxiety/discomfort I feel around this issue is any indication, transgender individuals are faced with a tremendous amount of social prejudice. Hell, if you really want to see how deep this prejudice goes, just take a look at some of the threads here on the subject. It’s quite shocking how willfully ignorant otherwise enlightened people are willing to be on the subject of gender identity.