Q & A
September 25, 2013
A Memoir of Jewish, Transgender Spirituality
By Joy Ladin
http://www.religiondispatches.org/books/rd10q/7150/a_memoir_of_jewish__transgender_spirituality/ (http://www.religiondispatches.org/books/rd10q/7150/a_memoir_of_jewish__transgender_spirituality/)
What inspired you to write Through the Door of Life?
Early in my gender transition process, my therapist urged me to write an autobiography. "How can I do that?" I responded. "To write an autobiography, you need a self and a life, and I don't have either." I wasn't being flip or figurative. I had lived 40+ years hiding behind a male persona; my self, my true self, the female self I felt was actually me, had literally never seen the light of day. None of my life experiences—the stuff of autobiography and memoir—reflected that self.
When I was a little further along in transition, occasionally spending a few hours a week dressed as myself, a close friend urged me to start writing down what I was telling her about my gender identity. But she hated the essay I wrote—a detached presentation of what trans people call "Trans 101," basic education about trans issues. "You're writing like a man," she said, referring to the impersonality of the essay, its lack of autobiographical specifics.