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Reading Mike: The Annotated Bailey: Chapter 8, page 151
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Commentary |
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[151]
8 Terese and Cher |
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very attractive feminine daughter rather than
an unhappy and noticeably feminine son. When she visited Terese, she proudly
took her new daughter shopping.
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In an attempt to make a new life for herself,
Terese has distanced herself from her old transsexual friends. When she
goes out to meet men, she does not want to have her secret revealed because
she is with people who are visually identifiable as transsexual, or who
are widely known to be transsexual. This has caused varying degrees of difficulties
with her old friends. Cher, for one, is deeply hurt, and they have fallen
out as friends. Even Cher admits, however, that Terese’s new life appears
to suit her.
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In important respects, Terese’s story is
the story of all homosexual male-to-female transsexuals. Her early, extreme,
and effortless femininity, her unambiguous preference for heterosexual men
as sex partners, her (however brief) attempt to live as a gay man, and her
difficulty in securing the right kind of guy prior to surgery, are universal
among this type of transsexual. There are some differences among them, to
be sure. For example, although Terese disliked her penis, some homosexual
transsexuals not only like, but use, their penises while they have them.
Some, like Terese, alternate between unsatisfying and limited sexual relationships
and self-imposed isolation; others earn good livings as she-male prostitutes
(more on this later). These differences reflect differences in personality
styles. Fundamentally, all homosexual transsexuals are similar, and after
a bit of experience, easily distinguishable from the other type of transsexual.
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Cher, né Chuck Mondavi, was born in Chicago, to lower
middle class parents. Cher remembers her father as nervous, punitive, and
eccentric man, who had a "nervous breakdown" when Chuck was young.
Chuck was sometimes withdrawn and shy, but not feminine. He participated
in boys’ sports and activities and had male friends. Cher remembers
that Chuck had occasional wishes to be a girl as
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