Customer Reviews
A brave and personal story - By: , 20 Feb 2006 
This is a brave & personal story of one mans journey to make his body reflect the gender his mind knew that he always was. It is an important addition to the ranks of transgender writing.
It is writtenin an informal style as he would tell it if spoken which may not be to everyones taste. It suffers from a spellchecker & some poor grammar & punctuation. It would have benefited from some proofreading & professional editing. However none of the foregoing should stop you buying the book, it is eminently readable.
The author has crammed a lot into its few pages & maybe was constrained by this. The book covers two areas. Firstly its auto biographical & I found these details fascinating. Rico really has the ability to set a scene & convey the atmosphere of a period. The other area covered is that of a self help/ professional guidance book. Here although hes obviously very experienced & knowledgable it does have an element of evangialism about transexualism.
The transgendered community argue over labels endlessly & what they mean (no one likes having someone elses label & their definition of it being pinned to them). Throughout the book the term Tranz is used as if it is an accepted orthodoxy. It is a term I have never heard anyone else use. I use this as an example of why *professionals" must realise that this book is one persons story & views & not the be all & end of how to deal with every transgendered person they come across.
Ricos partner has written a chapterin the book of her life with him. For me this was a difficult chapter to read. I found the physical details of their lovemaking rather embarrassing. I felt it was something too private to tell. Yes maybe it has a placein a book for professionals but notin a book for the general public.
So allin all I'm glad I bought it & I can reccomend it to both the casual & professional reader. I belive the author intends to write two more books about his journey. I will be buying them.
TRANSMAN - Bitesize - By: , 11 Feb 2006 I found this book extremely educational!
The life story of the author, along with the pictures really brings this book to life. I had so many asumptions about someone that was transsexual(bought about by the media & nurture while growing up),that were totally smashed by this book being published!
The book isin easy (bitesize chunks) to read format. In simple language, instead of filling your head with the usual medical complexities of the transition process.
I feel it is an absolute 'must buy', for anyone employedin Equalities/Diversity, to give them a greater understanding of a section of the population that are truely a minority, & totally misunderstood by the general population - due to little being known publically about transexualism & all that the condition entails.
All to often, transsexuals are portrayedin the mediain a negative light. Only through educating ourselves, if the government/schools/media will not assist us, can we break the cycle of discrimination toward this group of indiviuals, through books like this. I for one, will now be on the lookout for other books such as this to gain a greater understanding for myself.
Would be good if schools could have a copy (if only one)in their library, this would help children to understand, & hopefully assist to deter certain types of 'Hate Crime' from occuring, & would also assist any child that may have this condition to find the answers they are looking for.
Well done to the author, I look forward to any other books you may decide to penin the future.
Many thanks.
