Sexual Metamorphosis: An Anthology of Transsexual Memoirs [Paperback]

Jonathan Ames (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 2005

But who could describe my fright when, on the next morning, I awoke and found myself feeling as if completely changed into a woman. — Case 129, Autobiography, from Psychopathia Sexualis, a Medico-Forensic Study by Richard Von Krafft-Ebing
At the time the passage above was written, people who felt trapped in the wrong gender automatically became case-studies. Today they become the men and women they always felt they were. Transsexuals test our notions of what it is to be male or female and, more provocatively, what it means to be one self as opposed to another. “Their stories,” says Jonathan Ames, “hold the appeal of an adventurer’s tale.”

In Sexual Metamorphosis, Ames presents the personal narratives of seventeen gender pioneers. Here is Christine Jorgensen, the first celebrity transsexual, greeting thousands of well-wishers from the stage of Madison Square Garden. Here is Caroline Cossey, former model and Bond (as in James) girl, being outed in the tabloid press. Here is novelist and English professor Jennifer Finney Boylan discussing her impending transformation with her heartbroken spouse and supportive yet confused colleagues. The result is a fascinating and compulsively readable book, filled with anguish, introspection and courage.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It's a story that extends back far into human history: a boy or girl feels uncomfortable in his or her own gender-"trapped" in the body of the wrong sex-and life becomes an attempt to reconcile the dichotomy. But it's only in the last 75 years or so that, with the help of medical technologies, a third act has been possible for this narrative, one in which the story's hero has the opportunity to bridge the schism by actually changing his or her physical gender. And, as the stories in this remarkable anthology show, it's in this third act that the true difficulties begin. In his introduction, editor Ames argues that the shared narrative that runs through this anthology parallels that of the classic "bildungsroman," and it's true that the book is really a collection of coming-of-age stories. But it's the unique perspective of the storytellers, as well as Ames's editorial decisions that make these 15 memoirs (all excerpts) particularly engaging. The book covers such surprising subjects as a Bond girl, a Gulf War vet turned beauty queen and an amateur tennis champion while offering such prurient details as the gory particulars of the operations themselves and the first post-op sexual encounters. But it's the excerpts' most human moments-attempts to explain the transformation to young (and even grown) children, reactions of family, friends and strangers-as well as otherwise mundane situations (i.e., getting fitted for one's first suit as a man) that truly make the book a worthwhile cover-to-cover read. Being an anthology, the book is naturally uneven in sections, occasionally dull or repetitive but, in general, Ames makes great choices in his excerpts, and his introduction is good enough that one wishes he had inserted his own voice in the volume just a bit more.
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From Booklist

Several of these first-person transsexuals' accounts question socially assigned gender roles and expectations and challenge basic assumptions about what we think we know about gender. What is a "true self," and what does it mean to transform one's "self" outwardly to match one's inner gender identification? The reports of male-to-females (mtfs) Christine Jorgensen, Renee Richards, and Caroline Cossey, a (James) Bond girl and Playboy centerfold--no strangers to the media spotlight--mingle here with those of lesser-known female-to-males (ftms) Loren Cameron, a San Francisco photographer and bodybuilder; English-born transgender rights activist Mark Rees; and others. The many testimonies constitute a valuable collage for gender studies and sociology collections, matching human faces and emotions with external and internal procedures. Though no longer as shocking and rare, transsexual transformations still strike at the core of individual and communal identity issues, and that situation demands testimonies such as these to promote general understanding and acceptance. Readers should, however, prepare for graphic details of surgical procedures, and revelations of newly found erogenous pleasure, too. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Edition(PB) edition (April 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400030145
• ISBN-13: 978-1400030149
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #598,808 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #51 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Biographies & Memoirs > Transgender

More About the Author

Jonathan Ames is the author of the novels Wake Up, Sir!, The Extra Man, and I Pass Like Night; a graphic novel, The Alcoholic (with artwork by Dean Haspiel), and the essay collections I Love You More Than You Know, My Less Than Secret Life, and What's Not to Love? He is the winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship and is a former columnist for New York Press. Ames performs frequently as a storyteller and has been a recurring guest on David Letterman. He has fought in two amateur boxing matches as "The Herring Wonder," and he has peformed in a number of shows. Ames had the lead role in the IFC film "The Girl Under the Waves," was a porn-extra in the porn film "C-Men," and played himself in a pilot episode for the Showtime network. At the time, he said, "It's the role I've been waiting for!" He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent overview, January 7, 2007

By 

Lynn H. Weir (Gainesville, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sexual Metamorphosis: An Anthology of Transsexual Memoirs (Paperback)

I was quite impressed with this collection of first person narratives about transitioning from one gender to the other. The editor has chosen extracts from autobiographies of various (mostly famous) transexuals from the 1800's until the present. Christine Jorgensen, Renee Richards, Loren Cameron, Jan Morris and many others are all here. Harry Benjamin, the "grandfather" of sexual reassignment surgery is included, and so is a chapter from Krafft-Ebing's 1886 text "Psychopathia Sexualis". So it's very diverse -- covering very different kinds of transitions by very different people under very different situations. But the common thread is that they have all thought deeply about their journeys and are able to communicate their reflections in a very articulate way about them.

All in all, a very good collection for anyone interested in the subject.

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a first-rate anthology, September 16, 2011

By 

tree turtle - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sexual Metamorphosis: An Anthology of Transsexual Memoirs (Paperback)

This is an excellent anthology, truly well done, carefully-compiled and deeply informative--voices of transformation gathered together at last. One of the things that I appreciate most of all is the range of transgendered experiences.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Nope, August 6, 2007

By 

Van Halen Kurtz (Twin Oaks) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sexual Metamorphosis: An Anthology of Transsexual Memoirs (Paperback)

"We're the hippies of the nineties," a pre-op TS told Ames (as recounted in his introduction). Alas, Ames follows the media trail to a lowest common denominator in this putatively meat & potatoes anthology (Jorgensen, Morris, Richards, Boylan, et al. chopped into prose hash). Although Ames was fortunate enough to have none other than Aleshia Brevard flirt with him in a bar, he squanders the anecdote by ending his prefatory essay with an unforgivable Kafka analogy. No, Ames, TS's do NOT wake up as cockroaches!