Customer Reviews

Becoming a Woman: A Biography of Christine Jorgensen (Sexual Minorities in Historical Context)

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I've long felt it was high time someone wrote a comprehensive biography of Christine Jorgensen. As the book itself says, many people under thirty, including the transgendered, have never heard of Jorgensen. When I was growing up she was usually the punchline to a joke. As a teenager I read her autobiography (which I now learn was ghostwritten by someone else) but Jorgensen was not the most honest or forthcoming celebrity. Dockter's new book is really quite good, covering a lot of territory in her unusual life.

My only complaint was that the last chapters seemed rushed, and her ultimate death in 1989 was handled very quickly and unsatisfyingly. But the rest of it was detailed and thoughtful, with some interesting surprises along the way. Ms. Jorgensen would probably be horrified by the secrets revealed but would also be glad that her mystique lingers on, nearly 20 years after her death.

BECOMING A WOMAN: A BIOGRAPHY OF CHRISTINE JORGENSEN offers a more studied examination of the state of transsexuality than most biographies offer, focusing on the sociology and science issues as much as the biographical factors involved. Thus BECOMING A WOMAN, with its scholarly approach, becomes much more the item of choice for the college-level health or sociology library than for the general-interest collection, with its chapters on psychology, social interactions, and Jorgensen's struggles within larger contexts of social definitions. An excellent guide for college-level holdings specializing in alternative social issues.