Living as Transgender

Chapter by chapter, the author considers different aspects of the experience of living as transgender, using both anecdotal commentary and scientific research to reinforce her central consideration: individuals are driven to experience both the dangers and rewards of living openly as transgender by a determination to live fully and openly in the identities they believe represent their truest selves.

This, in turn, relates to a key component of the author’s development of this core theme: the idea that there is not really a single, standardized definition as to what living as transgender means. The author does offer a broad strokes definition that suggests that “transgender” usually refers to an experience of living with, and manifesting, characteristics of gender other than those with which an individual is genetically identified. Her main point, however, is that how exactly that definition manifests or applies is strongly dependent on...