Here you have women and men who risk not only being arrested for being in the gay bars but tortured and raped, they know this will happen to them but they still go as it's the only place they can be themselves. I'm finding myself unable to say anything significant about it without using the complicated words and phrasings that used to pour out of me and are now tired and dusty and put away somewhere inaccessible. Jess gets an after-school job at a print shop, and learns from a coworker of a gay bar in Niagara Falls; when Jess finally makes it out to the bar, she meets drag queens, butches, and femmes, and feels validated in the company of other gender nonconforming individuals. I've read a lot of books about being queer in the 50s and 60s but none of them were anywhere near as honest as this.

Following several years of passing as a man, Jess makes the decision to stop taking testosterone. I couldn't see how I would relate to it, then. Sexuality and desire, like gender, exist on a continuum. Jess starts taking testosterone, and her body begins to change; she grows facial hair, her body gains muscle mass and becomes leaner, and her voice deepens. Were you surprised by the way violence was portrayed in this book, and how it was woven into this world?

Jess is aware from a young age that she is different from other girls, and often receives the question—"Are you a boy or a girl?

The narrative follows the life of Jess Goldberg, who grows up in a working class area of upstate New York in the 1940s to 1950s. I don't think I've cried so much on public transport reading anything. But really the story ends well and I think that's really the part that stays with you. I don’t know.Leslie Feinberg was a transgender activist, speaker, and author. The book has I know this is an old question, but you might find something at universities or colleges that have a queer or gender studies department. After being arrested in a bar, Jess is severely beaten and drifts in and out of consciousness waiting for Theresa to come pick her up. I feel like if everyone were to read this book, so many things could be different in our world that is far to run by the gendered binaries and heteronormativity that exist within our society. I think when I was younger, and first self-identifying as genderqueer and learning about gender difference and theory, this book felt really dated; I wasn't interested in history, I was interested in the cutting edge. It's been a long time since I've been able to invest myself in a book. I read this a looooong time ago so I can't write a proper review and my rating is one of reverence rather than one of storytelling, literary meaning and merit, etc. Jess hides underneath a "stone butch" persona, which doesn't really protect her from trauma and often distances her from intimacy.Jess learns that she can take male hormones and "pass" as a man. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Chapter 1 Summary. But when one's very existence is against the law - homosexuality in and of itself was illegal in nearly every state in the 1960s and it was still considered a mental disorder - a solid sense of self is hard to find. To create our lis...Woman or man? I moved this to the top of my to-read list after seeing the outpouring of love and grief after her recent death from among so many of my friends, and now I too can mourn her properly. After the bust, the bar shuts down, and Jess loses touch with Butch Al and Jacqueline.

While she is recovering on paid leave, Jess invests a lot of energy at Abba’s. After spending several months developing a loving friendship, the two develop a romantic relationship and move in together. Each kiss on the street corner tastes sweeter with freedom.I've been trying to cop to the real reason I didn't read this book for so long. I like to think if I was immersed in it again it would come back to me. Not just because it was this brutally honest confession about being stone butch, but just because it that kind of letter where you say everything you ever meant to and it was beautiful. Do we reward authors with great technical ability, authors whose control of language is so commanding that their stories live and breathe? At an early age, Jess latches onto the term “he-she,” though later she is unsure if that is the correct word for who she is. Maybe a nicer way to explain it is that the writI have had this book sitting on my bedside table for literally three years. It is so sad and so insightful. There, she meets Rocco, a butch lesbian who is taking steroids and has had bosom medical procedure. everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Stone Butch Blues.

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