A Book and a Story About Gender Reassignment

Today’s title is “You’ve Changed” : Sex Reassignment and Personal Identity, edited by Laurie Shrage. This collection of essays should be of interest for those involved in queer studies, gender studies, sexuality studies, or perhaps anyone who still has questions about why people proceed with this transition.

But if I may, I’d like to share a quick story with you.  One of the best sports writers to ever live was Christine Daniels. On my birthday in 2009 (which happened to be the day after Thanksgiving),  Christine Daniels took her own life after existing for 2 years. How is that possible? Christine Daniels was born Mike Penner.

After living as a male for 49 years, Christine finally went through the procedures to become the woman she had felt she always was.

In this incredibly moving eulogy Rick Reilly (of all people, right?) wrote in ESPN The Magazine, Reilly says he received a text message from her after her transition announcement in the LA Times (available here), saying “I’m finally glad […] you got to meet the real me.”

Reilly concludes his post with this:

I don’t know why he did it. Nobody knows. Maybe being Christine caused others too much pain. Maybe being Mike caused him too much. “Maybe trying and failing to be Christine Daniels,” says Kahrl, “killed Mike Penner.”

I’ll miss them both.

If you read Reilly’s article or have any interest in the topic of gender transitioning or want to understand why someone would or what they must have been going through before and during the change, I recommend “You’ve Changed”.