Her Body, Her Self

[Shana A]

Her Body, Her Self
What it meant for one person, born male, to become a woman
Interview by Sara Ivry

http://nextbook.org/cultural/feature.html?id=2535

Joy Ladin is a poet and a professor of English at Yeshiva University's Stern College for Women. For most of her life, though, she was known as Jay and her biological sex was the source of deepest unhappiness. A few years ago, Jay decided to start the process of becoming a woman, a move that caused additional wells of anguish as her marriage fell apart and she worried about how the world would receive her.

Now out as a woman, Joy Ladin discusses her decision to transition, her relationship to God, and reactions from her Orthodox students.