Crossing: a memoir
Author:
Publisher:
University of Chicago Press
Pub. Date:
2000
Edition:
Paperback ed
Language:
English
Description
At the age of 52, after years of cross-dressing, Donald McCloskey decided to cross the gender divide from manhood to womanhood. His new name is Dierdre. "My crossing - change, migration, growing up, self-discovery - took place from 1994 to 1997, beginning in my home in Iowa, then a year in Holland, then back to Iowa, with travels in between. As Donald and then as Dierdre I was and am a professor of economics and of history at the University of Iowa," she recounts in her preface (page xiii). By 1994 he had been married for three decades, had three grown children, and thought he would continue as a crossdresser for the rest of his life. As "Dee," his transvestite persona, he finally called it quits with disguise and decided to undergo the surgery necessary to become a trans woman. "It's hard to pass. You just try it, Dee would say," recalls Dierdre (page 160), "I mean really try to pass as the opposite gender, not just put on a joke dress and a lampshade hat for the Lions picnic. You'll be surprised at how many gender clues there are and how easy it is to get them wrong. Scores of them, natural and unnatural, genetic and socially constructed." Despite the sometimes painfully confessional tone of the "Donald" section of this candid memoir, its second and third sections (when Dee crosses over into Dierdre) are saved from maudlin self-pity and whining self-reproach by the autobiographer's self-satirizing humour. His sense of critical self-detachment is reflected in his use of third-person pronouns to refer to himself. By highlighting the joys as well as the difficulties of "transitioning," McCloskey has crafted a compelling critique of the American mental-health bureaucracy which remains under the illusion that transsexualism is a "gender identity disorder."
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ISBN:
9780226556697
Staff View
Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | 9458a2f0-7e3e-5e9c-6224-5bc6f0245371 |
---|---|
Grouping Title | crossing |
Grouping Author | deirdre n mccloskey |
Grouping Category | book |
Grouping Language | English (eng) |
Last Grouping Update | 2024-03-07 19:02:40PM |
Last Indexed | 2024-04-25 22:07:01PM |
Solr Fields
accelerated_reader_point_value
0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
0
author
McCloskey, Deirdre N.
author_display
McCloskey, Deirdre N.
available_at_ccu
Colorado Christian University
detailed_location_ccu
CCU Circulating Books (off-campus)
display_description
At the age of 52, after years of cross-dressing, Donald McCloskey decided to cross the gender divide from manhood to womanhood. His new name is Dierdre. "My crossing - change, migration, growing up, self-discovery - took place from 1994 to 1997, beginning in my home in Iowa, then a year in Holland, then back to Iowa, with travels in between. As Donald and then as Dierdre I was and am a professor of economics and of history at the University of Iowa," she recounts in her preface (page xiii). By 1994 he had been married for three decades, had three grown children, and thought he would continue as a crossdresser for the rest of his life. As "Dee," his transvestite persona, he finally called it quits with disguise and decided to undergo the surgery necessary to become a trans woman. "It's hard to pass. You just try it, Dee would say," recalls Dierdre (page 160), "I mean really try to pass as the opposite gender, not just put on a joke dress and a lampshade hat for the Lions picnic. You'll be surprised at how many gender clues there are and how easy it is to get them wrong. Scores of them, natural and unnatural, genetic and socially constructed." Despite the sometimes painfully confessional tone of the "Donald" section of this candid memoir, its second and third sections (when Dee crosses over into Dierdre) are saved from maudlin self-pity and whining self-reproach by the autobiographer's self-satirizing humour. His sense of critical self-detachment is reflected in his use of third-person pronouns to refer to himself. By highlighting the joys as well as the difficulties of "transitioning," McCloskey has crafted a compelling critique of the American mental-health bureaucracy which remains under the illusion that transsexualism is a "gender identity disorder."
format_category_ccu
Books
format_ccu
Book
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9458a2f0-7e3e-5e9c-6224-5bc6f0245371
isbn
9780226556697
itype_ccu
Book
last_indexed
2024-04-26T04:07:01.971Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
Non Fiction
literary_form_full
Non Fiction
local_callnumber_ccu
HQ 77.8 .M37 A3 2000
owning_library_ccu
Colorado Christian University
owning_location_ccu
Colorado Christian University
primary_isbn
9780226556697
publishDate
2000
publisher
University of Chicago Press
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Autobiographies
Biographies
Gender identity -- United States -- Psychological aspects
McCloskey, Deirdre N
Transsexuals -- United States -- Biography
Transsexuals -- United States -- Psychology
Biographies
Gender identity -- United States -- Psychological aspects
McCloskey, Deirdre N
Transsexuals -- United States -- Biography
Transsexuals -- United States -- Psychology
title_display
Crossing : a memoir
title_full
Crossing : a memoir / Deirdre McCloskey
title_short
Crossing
title_sub
a memoir
topic_facet
Gender identity
McCloskey, Deirdre N
Psychological aspects
Psychology
Transsexuals
McCloskey, Deirdre N
Psychological aspects
Psychology
Transsexuals
Solr Details Tables
item_details
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---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ils:.b15238441 | .i59359572 | CCU Circulating Books (off-campus) | HQ 77.8 .M37 A3 2000 | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | Nov 13, 2023 | ccbk |
record_details
Bib Id | Format | Format Category | Edition | Language | Publisher | Publication Date | Physical Description | Abridged |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ils:.b15238441 | Book | Books | Paperback ed | English | University of Chicago Press | 2000 | 266 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 23 cm |
scoping_details_ccu
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ils:.b15238441 | .i59359572 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | true | 80, 76, 77, 78, 79 |