Man Enough To Be Woman: The Autobiography of Jayne County [Paperback]

Jane County (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1996

Life story of the queen of shock 'n roll--the world's first punk transsexual.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The saga of a true rock & roll eccentric, by turns mindlessly rambling and hilariously brash, this autobiography offers a raw and raunchy tour of the transsexual side of the underground music scene of the last 25 years. Jayne County (ne Wayne Rogers in rustic Dallas, Ga.) came to prominence as a proto-punk chanteuse in the New York glam rock scene of the early '70s. Her concerts came across as a kind of gross-out theater of the absurd, complete with prosthetic body parts and portable toilets. Here, County recounts 30 years of heartbreaks and cat fights, brushes with more famous peers like David Bowie, Johnny Rotten, Debbie Harry and Sting and countless performances, tours and style changes. She tells of arriving penniless in New York in time to partake of the Stonewall riots and Woodstock; camping around New York with Warhol divas like Candy Darling and Jackie Curtis; making the nascent U.K. punk scene as Wayne County and the Electric Chairs ("we must have played every fucking toilet in England"), and bottoming out in Berlin's sleazy transvestite demimonde. County has cross-dressed much of her life, taken hormones and had her nose done, but never did undergo a total sex change ("I'm used to my little friend by now, and quite honestly I'd rather save up the money for a facelift").
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

The memoirs of a '70s punk/drag sub-icon whose unique trajectory across the counterculture has supplied her with great troves of decadent gossip as well as novel insights into life as a transsexual. County, n‚e Wayne Rogers, grew up a ``sissy boy'' in small-town Georgia and adopted flamboyant habits of makeup and dress while still in his teens, in the mid-'60s. Moving to New York City, County established a niche on the hippie edge of the gay community--in the summer of 1969 County both rioted at the Stonewall and grooved at Woodstock. While working menial day jobs, he was soon sharing an apartment with Warhol drag superstars Holly Woodlawn and Jackie Curtis, whose outrageous personalities and talents are the subject of some delightful, seamy anecdotes. Under Curtis's influence County adopted an extravagant, absurdist approach to cross-dressing that would be an important vehicle in an ongoing transformation from ``him'' to ``her.'' County acted in surrealist theatrical farces like the Warhol-sponsored Pork and DJ'ed at Max's Kansas City, where she began performing with a rock band in 1972. When punk exploded, County started making records, performing, and rubbing shoulders with Sid Vicious and the Clash. But strained by her amphetamine use and tensions within her band, County's odd career in rock had largely collapsed by the end of the '70s (after a hiatus, she has returned today to recording and performing). County discusses with disarming forthrightness the ambiguities of gender and her decision to forgo sex-change surgery (she does take female hormones). And she avoids both self-pity and backbiting, recalling frankly even her stint as a prostitute in '80s Berlin and London. County's lively memoir illuminates the original intermingling of gay and punk subcultures that's experiencing an energetic resurgence today. (2 b&w photo inserts) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852423382
• ISBN-13: 978-1852423384
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,574,678 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars To Be, Or Not To Be (A Girl, That Is), August 17, 1999

By 

Anita Weinberg (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Man Enough To Be Woman: The Autobiography of Jayne County (Paperback)

Riddle me this, Batman: when is a grrl not quite a grrl?

Why, when she's the lovely and talented Miss Jayne County, of course! Born Wayne Rogers (no, not that guy from M*A*S*H!), but having lived as Jayne for most of her life, County has written a raucous autobiography, recounting her more than 30 years as a performer, and the personal challenges she faced both as a boy and a grrl.

Jayne County first gained notoriety when she burst upon the New York glam rock horizon in the early 1970s, her shows as much outrageous performance art as they were concerts.

As well-populated as a good night at Studio 54 or one of Warhol's legendary Factory parties, Jayne's saga does drop, drop, drop those names for us (Candy Darling, Johnny Rotten, Sting, David Bowie, and Debbie Harry, for a start) and gives us a glimpse into the struggles that made up life on the road for this eclectic performer.

This book is a great trip through the "other" side of the female rock experience, for those of us who'll never have the opportunity to be there.

Thank heaven for (all) little grrls. . .

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book but do NOT buy it new, December 11, 2005

By 

Johannesson Elsa (Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Man Enough To Be Woman: The Autobiography of Jayne County (Paperback)

The five stars are for the truly amazing, immensly well written, entertaining and hilarious story of transsexual Jayne County, once a part of the Warhol gang and still a fixture on the NY scene - a true star. This is a book that everyone should read! However, do NOT buy this book in "new" condition but order a decent used copy. The "new" version I received from amazon was a crappy scanned version of a paper copy of the original paperback, with the text messy and hard-to-read and the photos fuzzy, unrecognizable blobs. Obviously the publisher lost the digital files and was too cheap to recreate the book. I was so upset that I wrote the publisher (in England) and told them that it was fraud to offer a book in this condition as "new". However, the 1995 version is everything that you could wish for, including some fabulous photos from a very glam era that has now gone by.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life of boy turned girl, May 31, 2002

By 

"devilcakes" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Man Enough To Be Woman: The Autobiography of Jayne County (Paperback)

I love Jayne County. I loved Wayne too. This is all about Wayne transforming into Jayne, the true-life tale of a gender-bending rock'n'roll survivor. Jayne describes her early years, as a "sissy boy" who dared to wear lipstick in a southern small town during the '60's. Young Wayne was actually shot at by local rednecks. County wisely decided to get out of town, ditching small-town hell for the much more cool NYC, Andy Warhol scene. Jayne describes the influence gender-bending Warhol superstars had on the pre-Ziggy David Bowie. Bowie is described as a hippy who's only saving grace (at that time) was his outrageous wife, Angie. County describes turning down Bowie flat ("He was of no interest to me sexually."), and un-requited lust for...Rod Stewart! Very entertaining anecdotes about roomates Holly Woodlawn and Jackie Curtis, both Warhol Factory and Max's Kansas City fixtures. Highly fascinating account of her life in Berlin, and transformation from Wayne to Jayne.