Me And Bobbi And The Gyrls

Rating:
Summary: Ideal way to bridge the gap of understanding
Review: I'm foreign to the issue of transgendered people, with no background to understand the startling news about George and Bobbi.This book is enlightening and entertaining. I'm glad George wrote this, because he is a talented writer who makes the stories easy to step into. The stories are plausible. I can feel the conflict and the process of getting comfortable in your own skin. The chapters, "Looking Good" and "What Are You Wearing?" are my favorites. I came away with an understanding I didn't think anyone could provide.

Rating:
Summary: An Act of Courage
Review: People who are transgendered are among the most misunderstood and abused in our society. There is a lot of time and energy spent on condemning people who are transgendered, and little effort put into understanding or acceptance.

George Wilkerson and his female persona, Bobbi Williams, bring to life the realities of living as a transgendered person. This is a courageous book. At great personal risk, George writes about his own experiences and those of others. It's about pain, personal growth, and acceptance of self and of others. It's about the delight in expressing the part of yourself that (especially for men) is usually hidden (or forbidden). I laughed out loud at some parts of this book. Others made me weep. But all of the book helped me understand the people whom others love to hate. And accept them, as they are.

My favorite story in the book was "Looking Good," which starts as a group of the gyrls are out on the town and having a wonderful evening. Then, one of the gyrls gets a phone call from her wife to come to the hospital: the wife's father has had a stroke. The wife, forgetting that her husband is out on the town as a gyrl, begs him to come to the hospital. He (and the other gyrls) go to the hospital directly from the bar. The rest is a funny and poignant story of love and acceptance.

The most difficult story to read in the book was "One Last Story". It is a true story about a transgendered man who was murdered in Schenectady earlier this year. After reading that story, it is clear that this book represents an act of great courage.