 On Becoming
"Crossing" is an honest account of a high-profile intellectual's sometimes terrifying journey to herself through a maze of psychological, social and physical barriers. A noted economist and economics historian, Deirdre McCloskey is currently UIC Distinguished Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago. and a visiting professor at Erasmusuniversiteit Rotterdam. She began this career as Donald McCloskey, and her gender change was heralded by accounts in The Chronicle of Higher Ed and elsewhere.
Arranged in three sections named for a progression of personae -- "Donald," "Dee," and "Deirdre," the book follows decades of furtive cross-dressing to a moment of epiphany in 1994 at the age of 52, followed by learning to "pass"as a woman, by loss of family and some friends, by painful surgery, and on to discovering new friend, and rediscovering the world (and the academic discipline of economics) through the eyes of a woman. Joys -- a child born, named for her -- sorrows -- her own children, long since grown, refusing to acknowledge her. Well paced yet thoughtful, "Crossing" reads like a novel despite its long passages of musing on the economic, social and political aspects of her situation and of that of other crossers, of women, and of men in a "free" society that is severely opressive to those whose free choice is to redefine their gender expression. Want to know more about these issues? Or just want to know a brave new woman better? Buy the book.
The medical profession has labeled crossing as a medical condition, "transsexualism," for which there is a specific cure, an agonizingly slow course of treatment consisting of counseling, mandatory two years living as the other gender, hormone therapy, and gender assignment surgery, most of which is regarded by the insurance industry as strictly elective and uninsurable. McCloskey makes the excellent point, not always made clear, that the two year's waiting game thus mandated is not only quite dangerous to many crossers, due to the activities of "gay" bashers but is in most places illegal. Police, firemen, EMTs, doctors, and nurses have all been known to slow down or even stop rendering assistance when faced with "pre-op" gender crossers. In the case publicised by the 1999 film "Boy's Don't Cry," the attitude of the police actually contributed to the death of a young woman, living as a man, at the hands of intolerant youths. Given the often painful struggle Donald went through to become Deirdre, it is interesting to note that criticism of her memoir is often directed, sometimes by women, to what is thought to be the flaw in her theory of womanhood; the word "stereotyping" is bandied about, in a tone suggesting that it is improper to notice how women move, how men move, and that we know and can tell the difference almost immediately. Such knowledge is vital to the crosser, who needs it in order to survive, yet describing these cultural realities invites ridicule. I think the flaw is in the thinking of the critics here, not that of our author. Stereotyping is simple habituation -- the habitual awareness of characteristics statistically common to a population -- raised to a pernicious art form by its being applied to individuals in order to objectify them. It's a power move, used either by oppressed or oppressors, to dehumanize the opposition. When Deirdre McCloskey observes male behavior and its consequences, or female behavior she wishes to learn, in individuals, this is not sterootyping, it's recognition -- since she has no agenda to objectify anyone. The chapter on the women's culture of gifts -- required reading for anyone hoping to make this a better world -- should be convincing on this point. One of the deepest attractions of womanhood to a gender-crossing male is the opportunity to inhabit a space of caring, of not needing to play the game of winning. McCloskey says it best: "One of the policemen asked Dee, 'Is this about money?' He meant: You obviously are not crazy; is your sister trying to get you declared crazy in order to take over some inheritance? 'No,' said Dee, "It's about love."
 Too many stereotypical assumptions for my comfort
Generally speaking, radical feminists and early-transitioning transsexuals hate people like Dierdre McCloskey--and one need only to read her book to understand why.McCloskey, like many transsexuals (including myself)is a walking contradiction. She is a woman who spent most of her fifty-something years trying to be a man, and a gender rebel who is one of its most ardent defenders. It has long been a source of embarrassment and irritation to me, but many of us transsexuals are profoundly conservative when it comes to gender roles, and McCloskey is no exception. When she rhapsodizes on her newly-acquired compulsion to clean, I'm tempted to send her a list of the women I know who could give Oscar Madison slob lessons. Dusting is NOT in one's DNA. Nonetheless, one cannot help but feel for McCloskey, who suffered the torments of the damned to become who she truly is. Ironically, the lion's share of prejudice and fear came not from her friends and colleagues (most of whom accepted her) but from members of her own family. The one clear villian of this book is her psychologist sister (I thank whatever God is out there that thre are no shrinks in my family) who has Dierdre committed no less than three times. Her view, apparently, is that transsexuals are delusional in the same sense as a man who believes he is Napoleon. That there are professionals who still hold this view is frightening--the fact they can succeed in committing a transsexual multiple times is terrifying. All in all, this book is a compelling study of the roller-coaster process of changing gender. Yet women, both transsexual and natural-born, will be infuriated for decades by this "tranny come lately," who preseumes to tell them what being a woman is.
Scholar Finds True Self
I found Deirdre's memoir refreshing, honest, and insightful, as well as humorous. Deirdre is not an author who takes her self too seriously, though dealing with personal experiances that are both serious and painful.Her story brought back memories of my childhood. My mother was misdiagnosed as a schizophrenic and institutionalized when I was 7 years old. I highly recommend this book. It does have some "mild profanities" such as "jeez" and "God" (used litely in the beginning, but it turns into a heart felt prayer)
|