Books about Gender Expressionism

NOTE: After much debating, I decided maybe a ranking on the books would be a good idea. Please note this these stars (5 being the best, 1 being the lowest) is only a matter of my opinion and may or may not coincide with your own interests.

* * * * * Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

This is my favorite transgender book I've read so far. It's about growing up as a jewish transgendered youth. This novel deals a lot with the feelings of isolation and lonliless that goes along with growing up as a transgendered female.

* * * * * The Escape Artist by Judith Katz

It's about a Jewish girl named Sofia, that is kidnapped by her "future husband" and taken to live the rest of her life as a whore. While at the whorehouse she meets Hankus, a gifted magician disquised as a man. Hankus and Sofia fall in love and attempt to free Sofia from the whorehouse.

* * * * * Transgender Warriors by Leslie Feinberg

This book takes a look at transgender history. It is very imformative, and has many cool pictures. I recommend reading this book if you don't know everything about gender expressionism.

* * * * * TransLiberation by Leslie Feinberg

Yet another wonderful book by Leslie Feinberg about Transgenderism. This book is a compile of many speeches she has made about gender expressionism. She also highlights the book with many autobiographies of famous people that have helped the Transliberation movement. I highly recommend reading this book, if you're at all curious about gender expressionism.

* * * * * The Last Time a Wore a Dress by Daphne Scholinski

Wow, is all I can say about this book. It's all about growing up as a transgendered person. This is an autobiography of Daphne's life through mental hospitals and at home abuse. It offers amazing insight into our institutions, and it is just amazingly written. I'd recommend this book to anyone.

* * * * * Body Alchemy by Loren Cameron

This is another great transgendered book. I love it!! Loren Cameron is a transexual, who is an amazing photographer. This book takes about 30 minutes to read, but the pictures are just amazing. Cameron takes many beautiful pictures of F2M transexuals. I would recommend this book to everyone as well.

* * * *Dyke Life edited by Karla Jay

This book covers all aspects of a dyke life. Jay has collected essay from various famous authors like Ruthann Robson and Leslea Newman. It covers topics varying from sex and gender identity to raising children. It's a great resource to look into.

* * * *The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian Culture by Walter L. Williams

Primarily this book is based on the male berdache, which means half man half woman. It's fascinating, to learn about how these transgendered males were highly respected by the other American Indians. This book also has a very small section on female amazons, who dressed as males. This book is a great way to learn about gender expressionism in the American Indian culture.

* * * *Lessons of the Intersexed by Suzanne Kessler

This book answers all the questions of intersexuals. It's a wonderful resource to learn about intersexuality in all its forms.

* * * Tomboys edited by Lynne Yamaguchi and Karen Barbar

If you grew up as a tomboy, this is a fun book to read. It's just a collection of essays about various tomboys who grew up to be lesbians. Some of the stories are hillariously funny.

* * *The Destiny of Isabelle Eberhardt by Cecily Mackworth

This is a biography based on the life of the writer Isabelle Eberhardt. Isabelle was born in Russia, and converted to Islam. She dressed in men's clothing and traveled throughout Africa writing stores about life there.

* * Dick for a Day edited by Fiona Giles

I got this book just because of the title, but I have to say that the contents of the book weren't as good as the title. Several writers like Pat Califia were asked to write down what they would do with a penis for a day. This is a collection of their work.

* *Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton by Diane Wood Middlebrook

Billy Tipton was not born Billy, but instead Dorthy Tipton. At a young age Dorthy decided to transform herself into Billy in order to make it as a professional musician. This book documents his whole life. While the book is very thorough in its research, I do not feel Middlebrook has a strong sense of gender identity and why Billy chose to live his life as a man.

If you have any other books that you would recommend e-mail me