TransActions

This is simply an excellent read. Erica's account of her growing up with transsexuality and her transition, including her relations with family, friends, lovers, work-colleagues and other transgendered people, not to mention her run-ins with radical feminists is told so openly and tenderly. She doesn't hold anything back. And not only does Erica open the doors on to her life, past and present, but she also discusses the issue of transsexuality in a more general sense and offers up to us her own feelings and opinions. All in all this is a must read. It is much more than the average transition story. It's funny, entertaining, engrossing and heartwarming. So why are you still sitting here reading this review? Go and buy the book!

Erica, your book captivated me from first up to the last sentence. I never read a book about Gender Dysforia that expound the issue so clearly and made clear the dilemmas we are placed in. You also described it with a great sense of humor. Now I realize I don't have to write the book I was planning for the last 3 years. All I wanted to say and comment on the issue, you did. Thanks for giving me time to do other things. Your book let me discover and have the courage to saÿ: "Gosh, I'm a lesbian!" (inhabiting a male body) Your book gave me the courage to get on with my life and gives hope to achieve my goal, even when it is so difficult. I'll end with one of the many nice things you wrote: "....I will transition socially so that I can dress in skirts, physically so that I can go back to wearing jeans again". Gerty

I found Erica's story of her transition from male to female to be a lovely account not only of her life and feelings but about her coworkers, friends, children, and perhaps most of all her wife "T". Erica's story gave me hope and encouragement. I found myself laughing, crying, smiling, and perhaps most important of all hopeful of what can be. While Erica's story is hers alone, it is in many ways similar to the stories of other transgender people. I highly recommend TransActions not only for those of us that are transgendered but also our families and friends.

Would you like to get under the skin of a transsexual woman ? This is how close Erica Zander takes you. All her thoughts, feelings, successes and failures are to be found in this book.In a way, TransActions could have been two books; There's the autobiographical part, with notes from her diary before, during and after her sex reassignment surgery.And there are chapters with facts, terminology, statistics, scientific finds and different views on what transsexualism really is. And what it isn't.And then there are the philosophical texts, where Erica presents her ideas about male vs female, the effects of hormones on our bodies and minds, the symbolic value of clothes, jewelry et cetera. Her book is also beautifully structured, and you easily find the most interesting parts or the information you are looking for. For this reason TransActions is excellent also for references. But there is so much more.Personally, I preferred the analyzing chapters, which gave me many new angles to think about or discuss with my friends. On the other hand these texts might well have felt impersonal without the background of the self exposing notes from her diary. The main reason why her book feels so real and alive, is that it was written here & now; Erica wrote it throughout her transition. It isn't a look in the rear-view mirror, no reconstruction. It's a living documentary.

This is easily one of the best books - if not the best - on the life of transsexual women available today. Instead of the American or Canadian approach, what is presented is a wonderfully European, down to earth and insightful view of trnassexuality. Honest, open and candid, without the myths that one normally finds in those books that are strictly "politically correct".As a transsexual woman, I find that far too often the mythology of transsexuality is overwhelming. No, I was not born a woman, but a male. I am now legally and hormonally female, but that does not erase that portion of my life that I lived as a male, nor can it ever do so. Further, I can and do take pride in what I am, without reservation. This book will not be popular amongst the many transexual women who claim to be and to have always have been women for it acknowledges and pays homage to reality, not fiction. It presents practicality and common sense, far from the quasi-fictional accounts that most books dwell upon. Nor does it pander to matter of gender generally, for it acknowledges the deep divisions that do exist - like it or not. Quistesentially European, it is as refreshing as a cool sea breeze after a hot an muggy week.After years of books that sensationalize or sanitize the world of transsexual women, we finally have a book that with clarity and insight looks at us as we truly are. It is an essential addition for any collection of gender studies. A small part is autobiographical; the majority of the book is an exploration of how transexuals fit into society.I fear that many or the reviews by transexual women wil be negative for many of them are believers in the myths that surround our lives. This is a book that gives rightful pride to transsexual women, should they but have the courage to embrace it... Willow Arune