She's Not There Jennifer Finny Boylan Analysis

Envision feeling as if you were in the wrong body, and so desperately wanting to change your gender? To a majority of people this is not a thought that would ever cross their minds. Although, for many people it can be a thought that crosses their minds every second of every day. The terms transgender and transsexual are more commonly known and understood today. It can be a change that is accepted by some, but looked down upon by many. I am someone who has always been extremely comfortable with the person that I have grown to be, and in turn have always believed that I am exactly who I am meant to be. That being said, I myself have never taken into consideration what it must feel like to want to alter my gender. There has not been a time in

This memoir tells the story of a man named James. James struggled many years wanting a sex change, and this eventually lead him to becoming Jenny, who is the author of this amazing story. James had been a husband to his wife Grace for many years, as well as a father. James truly believed that he was a woman, and he knew that he wanted to eventually become a woman. James had known this for a while, because he would yearn to dress as a woman and act as a woman. All in all, as cliche as it sounds, I learned that anything is possible. If you wish and try for something enough, then anything can happen. I also learned that if a person feels that they are struggling with a problem about themselves, then they can and should change it, even if it seems as if it is

I was definitely surprised by a lot in this memoir. To be honest, at first the entire concept of this story surprised me. I come from a mediocre sized town outside of Boston, in Canton, Massachusetts. I have been a great deal of places for only being 21 years old, but I cannot say that I have witnessed or seen anything relating to transgender’s. So you could say that this topic before this course was a bit taboo to me. I do have some homosexual family members, but no one in my family has ever came out about wanting to have a sex change. Therefore, Jennifer 's story did surprise me at first, because it was the first actual story I have read about someone who went through with this lifestyle change. I still do not fully understand why a man who is older and seems content with his wife, family and kids could even have a family in the first place, and then plan on completely changing his gender. Why would anyone, especially James, want to become a woman, and knowingly have something seriously alter their entire life at such an old age? Why wouldn’t you do it earlier in life, so you could live happily being the person you have always felt you were? Although, I do understand things more after reading this memoir, but it mostly surprised me at first because I myself could not personally relate to Jenny 's story in any