This Body I Wore

A Memoir

By: Diana Goetsch

Narrated by: Diana Goetsch

Long before Laverne Cox appeared on the cover of Time, far removed from drag and ballroom culture, there were countless trans women living and dying as men, most of whom didn't even know they were trans. Diana Goetsch's This Body I Wore chronicles one woman's long journey to coming out, a path that runs parallel to the emergence of the trans community over the past several decades.

"How can you spend your life face-to-face with an essential truth about yourself and still not see it?" This is a question often asked of trans people, and a question that Goetsch, an award-winning poet and essayist, addresses with the power and complexity of lived reality. She brings us into her childhood, her time as a dynamic and beloved teacher at Stuyvesant High School, and her plunge into the crossdressing subculture of New York in the 1980s and '90s. Under cover of night, crossdressers risked their jobs and their safety to give expression to urges they could neither control nor understand. Many of them would become late transitioners, the Cinderellas of the trans community largely ignored by history.

Goetsch has not written a transition memoir, but rather a full account of a trans life, one both unusually public and closeted. All too often trans lives are reduced to before-and-after photos, but what if that before photo lasted fifty years?

©2022 Diana Goetsch (P)2022 Tantor

Perfect

This book is like feeling around in the dark for a light switch, and then finding it and turning it on, letting your eyes adjust. Totally engrossing, complicated and wise, beautifully narrated. I loved it.

A unique perspective, but frustratingly organized by every gf she ever had

This told a very unique perspective from a trans woman who came out later in life, not just to others but also herself. The perspective is unique and interesting but most of the memoir is organized by each successive girlfriend she ever had. It’s still varied and interesting for most of it but grows redundant after a while and I began to wonder when she was going to get to the point.

One thing I was uncomfortable with and that I think is important to note here- The author, a white woman, repeatedly quotes some of her Black students, using the n-word several times. It was very uncomfortable to listen to and I had to take a break from the book for a bit after about the 4th n-word out of her mouth. It isn’t like this is an old audiobook so it’s surreal to me that Audible allowed it and that the author didn’t appear to receive or heed any guidance around not saying the word. It wouldn’t have been difficult to have Audible insert bleeps instead of having her say the word.

Love the details

I was impressed with this story. Loved the way she did not leave out the details of growing up in a dysfunctional family. The second guessing your self and denial trans people go through was good to read about.

Stunning

Beautiful personal story. From growing up on Long Island, to the 80s and 90s in NYC. Hearing about Diana’s fulfillment of her female-self from her own voice was moving and beautiful. I will miss having her in my ear.

Beautiful, Tender, Fierce

This book touched me very deeply. I am humbled by the complexity of the human experience.