AmosL
05-19-2008, 12:14 PM
Bloom, Amy. “Normal: Transsexual CEOs, Crossdressing Cops and Hermaphrodites with Attitude”, Vintage. 2003.
An Intimate Journey
Amos Lassen
Amy Bloom takes us on a provocative and intimate journey to visit with people who are transgender and they are willing to either reveal or talk about it. The live with variegated gender and they are male to female transsexuals, heterosexual crossdressers and intersexed. Lyle Monelle’s mother, Jesse realized early that her little girl was in reality a boy and Jesse used her life savings to help Lyle make the transgender transition. Peggy Rudd and her husband, Melanie are met on a Carnival cruise ship where they are with a group of crossdressers and their spouses.
These two devote their lives to the cause of ordinary heterosexual men with a “feminine dimension”. Then there is Hale Hawbecker who is a regular, middle-of-the road guy with a wife and kids and a medical condition that if he had it taken care of, both his life and gender would be changed.
Bloom shows us the people and also their humanity thereby allowing us to appreciate them for who they really are. They are both alike and unlike everyone else. She takes us into their worlds and then to the larger world in which they live with the rest of us. We see that our assumptions about sex, gender and identity and what it means to be male and female may not be what they should be and that even the most liberal of us have preconceived notions about what is “normal”. After reading this it is hard to look at happiness, personality and character in the same way. Bloom has a great deal to say about the concept of “normal” and does so in a way that is easily understood.
An Intimate Journey
Amos Lassen
Amy Bloom takes us on a provocative and intimate journey to visit with people who are transgender and they are willing to either reveal or talk about it. The live with variegated gender and they are male to female transsexuals, heterosexual crossdressers and intersexed. Lyle Monelle’s mother, Jesse realized early that her little girl was in reality a boy and Jesse used her life savings to help Lyle make the transgender transition. Peggy Rudd and her husband, Melanie are met on a Carnival cruise ship where they are with a group of crossdressers and their spouses.
These two devote their lives to the cause of ordinary heterosexual men with a “feminine dimension”. Then there is Hale Hawbecker who is a regular, middle-of-the road guy with a wife and kids and a medical condition that if he had it taken care of, both his life and gender would be changed.
Bloom shows us the people and also their humanity thereby allowing us to appreciate them for who they really are. They are both alike and unlike everyone else. She takes us into their worlds and then to the larger world in which they live with the rest of us. We see that our assumptions about sex, gender and identity and what it means to be male and female may not be what they should be and that even the most liberal of us have preconceived notions about what is “normal”. After reading this it is hard to look at happiness, personality and character in the same way. Bloom has a great deal to say about the concept of “normal” and does so in a way that is easily understood.