Reading Mike: The Annotated Bailey: Chapter 8, page 148

<< previous page

Bailey Commentary

[148] 8 Terese and Cher

  
the "mommy" when playing house, and avoided the rough boy sports. His best friends were girls. (In all these senses, he was just like Danny, whom we met earlier. Danny probably will not become transsexual, though he will probably become a gay man. Why most very feminine boys grow up to be gay men and a few get sex changes is not known, though I’ll speculate about it later.)  
Although his friends were mainly girls, Jose was also intensely interested in boys, especially when he got to junior high. He began having crushes on them, especially the athletes, and even some of his male teachers. He never experienced sexual feelings for a girl or woman. When he was 13, an older boy initiated Jose into sex. Jose is certain that the older boy is now a gay man. He had several gay partners—Terese calls this her "gay boy" phase—but began to notice that he did not find other gay boys or men to be particularly attractive. They were too feminine. Jose was much more attracted to the straight men that he met. Also, Jose did not like it when others touched his penis (or even when he touched it himself). He preferred giving others oral sex, or being penetrated anally, though this latter activity frequently hurt.


When he was fourteen, Jose found some gay friends with similar inclinations toward femininity. They began going out to parties, or shopping, in drag. It was fun to get away with cross-dressing. Jose was a late maturer, with a smooth complexion and no facial hair, so he passed well. And the straight men he met when in drag frequently pursued him. This was exciting but frustrating, because obviously, Jose could not let them complete their advances.

 

 
Jose was lucky to be well liked at school, and so he was not teased as mercilessly as many very feminine boys. But his family was not happy with his development. His father met him after many years and told him to "stop acting like a girl." His mother was also disturbed and worried that he would be gay. As he got older, he made more of an effort to appear masculine, though he kept his hair long. Pictures from this time show Jose to be a rather androgynous young man, but clearly a man.


next page >>