update 2005: there is a much more complete list of recommmended books on gender, trans issues, crossdressing and feminism in my book My Husband Betty, and an additional one on the new website.

(on the subject of cd-ing.  my recommendations list for other books & films is far far longer...)

i will remind you that i am an so, & thus my interest in these books comes from my initial desire to learn more about the subject.  i do not know if they speak for cds - but i do know that in one way or another they were helpful to me.  if there isn't a note to the contrary, these books are currently in print & available.

Vested Interests
by Marjorie Garber

    this is a well thought-out & remarkably well-documented piece of rather academic writing.  if you haven't got at least a little background in contemporary theory/philosophy you might just find it obstruse & difficult.  i found it to be enlightening, funny, & very very informative.  since it's broken up into chapters that are essentially essays, you can read one you're particularly interested in (say, the one on race & cd-ing, or the one on the history of sumptuary laws, or the ones on cd'd characters in shakespeare) and leave the rest.  to me it's like an excellent guidebook:  that is, it's not just a great resource for films & art & history re:cd-ing, but it also gives you a theoretical context in which to think about it all.  brilliant.

Transformations: Crossdressers and Those Who Love Them
by Mariette Pathy Allen

    this *looks like* a photography book, & it is that, but the essays - which are basically autobios written by the cds themselves - are what really moves this book.  by allowing the cds to speak in their own words, has given them not only their humanity but their own voices, their own thoughts, their dignity.  in addition, there are brief pieces by the so's of cds.  this is the book - of all of them - that i found most interesting & helpful to me as a brand-new so.  it gave me hope that love can conquer all, & i think gave me some realistic expectation of what my life would be like.  you have to read between the lines a little bit to find that, but it's there, in lived lives, on the page.

*this one's hard to find.  try out of print book searches like www.alibris.com or www.bibliofind.com

Transvestites and Transsexuals
by Richard F. Docter

    this is a book by a psycholgist, on the subject of cd-ing as a psychological issue.  it is not warm, but it is informative.  the author attempts to break down what is currently a rather simplistic view of cds by the psychological community - & does a fine job.  first off, he separates the gay men who crossdress from the straight ones, and then tries to identifies commonalities in the various groups.  it gets a little - dry - but there is an invaluable chapter toward the end that are the results of polls/conversations with the so's of cds.

Transgender Warriors
Leslie Feinberg

    i can't say this book is about cd-ing per se.  it's more about the whole of the transgender community.  think identity, personal pride, history & activism all rolled into one.  this book is a wonderful great read, inspirational and informative at once.  leslie is herself transgendered, & so for once it's a book straight from the horse's mouth - not by a doctor or an academic, but rather about a real person & his/her own explorations into his/her own transgendered life.  highly recommended for *everyone* - not just those interested in cd/tv/ts issues.

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