first things first (Note: for electronic purposes, the paragraph formatting in this excerpt has been simplified. The paperback and ebook editions contain the fully formatted text.)
I keep trying to integrate my life. I keep trying to make all the pieces into one piece. As a result, my identity becomes my body which becomes my fashion which becomes my writing style. Then I perform what I’ve written in an effort to integrate my life, and that becomes my identity, after a fashion. 1 Transgender Style Some Fashion Tips People are starting to ask me about fashion. I love that! Maybe they think the doctor sewed in some fashion sense during my genital conversion surgery. I see fashion as a proclamation or manifestation of identity—so as long as identities are important, fashion will continue to be important. The link between fashion and identity begins to get real interesting, however, in the case of people who don’t fall clearly into a culturally-recognized identity—people like me. My identity as a transsexual lesbian whose female lesbian lover transitioned to gay male is manifest in my fashion statement—both my identity and fashion are based on collage. You know—a little bit from here, a little bit from there? Sort of a cut-and-paste thing.
And that’s the style of this book. It’s a trans style, I suppose. I can see it in the work of Susan Stryker, Sandy Stone, David Harrison . . . the list is getting longer and longer. But the need for a recognizable identity, and the need to belong to a group of people with a similar identity—these are driving forces in our culture, and nowhere is this more evident than in the areas of gender and sexuality. Hence the clear division between fashion statements of male and female, between the fashions of queer and straight.
In my case, however, it’s not so clear. I identify as neither male nor female, and now that my lover went through his gender change, it turns out I’m neither hetero nor homo. What I’ve found as a result of this borderline life is that the more fluid my identity has become—and the less demanding my own need to belong to the camps of male, female, gay or straight—the more playful and less regimented my fashion has become—as well as my style of self-expression.
Will the identification with a trans writing style produce an identification with a trans experience? Anyone who knows fashion will tell you that the operative word is accessorize! That’s how I dress in the morning. That’s how I shift from one phase of my life to the next—first I try on the accessories. And that’s also part of the style of this book: I’ve added some accessories here and there to spice it up a bit.
Welcome to my runway!
Copyright © 1994 by Routledge. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
