A small but significant collection of articles.

1970’s

Understanding Crossdressing, Virginia Prince, California, Chevalier Press, 1971. A series of papers by Dr. Prince which discuss various aspects of male heterosexual crossdressing.

The Transvestite and His Wife, Virginia Prince, California, Chevalier Press, 1971. This book examines the relationships between heterosexual crossdressers and their spouses and is the foundation work for the Society for the Second Self (Tri Ess).

Canary, The Story of A Transsexual, by Canary Conn, Nash Books, 1974. Conn was an American musician/songwriter and an early guest of the Merv Griffith show.

Sexual Signatures: On Being a Man or a Woman, Money, J., &Tucker, P. (1975), Boston, Little, Brown &Co. It cannot be said better than the authors in the first chapter: “This book is a road map to show you where you are now as a man or a woman and how you got there.” There is considerable discussion of transsexualism and crossdressing.

Transvestites and Transsexuals: Mixed Views, Deborah Feinbloom, New York, Delacorte Press, 1976. Contains various chapters on the wide spectrum of gender dysphoria, including the transformation of “Phil” to “Helen.”

Emergence: A Transsexual Autobiography, Mario Martino, New York, Crown Publishers, 1977. The autobiographical account of a female-to-male transsexual, one of the few such accounts published.

Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach, S. Kessler and W. McKenna (eds.), New York, John Wiley &Sons, 1978. In the opinion of one scholar this is one of the most intelligent, clinical and empathetic books on the subject. It includes a lengthy appendix which chronicles the two-year transformation of a male-to-female transsexual.

Mirror Image; The Odyssey of A Male-to-Female Transsexual, Nancy Hunt, New York, Holt, Rinehart Winston, 1978. A highly personal story about the journey from man to woman by a Chicago Tribune reporter and the story of her relationship with a woman who supported Hunt’s crossdressing but who could not accept Hunt’s growing urge to change his gender.

Dressing Up, A History of Transvestism and Drag. Peter Ackroyd, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1979. This is a well written and often entertaining work with very good historical references to famous and infamous crossdressers. It is somewhat flawed by the author’s acceptance of many misconceptions about transvestism and transsexualism.

Mother Camp: Female Impersonators In America, Esther Newton, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1979. An anthropologist’s view of the American subculture composed of female impersonators, both as entertainers and as a minority component of the gay community in the Midwestern United States.