The Female-Impersonators (1922) is an autobiography by Earl Lind. Accompanied by an introduction by Dr. Alfred W. Herzog, Lind’s autobiography―intended for a clinical audience―has been recognized as a pioneering work in the history of transgender literature. Throughout his life, Lind was forced to justify and defend his existence from puritanical authorities who refused to even recognize the reality of his identity as an androgyne. In this third installment of his autobiographical trilogy, he focuses on the community of androgynes or “female-impersonators” he joined when he moved from Connecticut to New York City. “I was predestined to an unusual role in the great drama we call ‘life.’ I was brought into the world as one of the rare humans who possess a strong claim, on anatomic grounds as well as psychic, to membership in both the recognized sexes. I was foreordained to live part of my life as man and part as woman.” Situating his own identity within the history of transgender oppression, Lind makes the case for recognizing the presence of androgynes in all human societies. Ever since he was a child, Lind identified as feminine and was keenly aware of his homosexual desires, gaining a reputation among the local boys and soon turning to girls for friendship and understanding. In a world that saw androgynes as both corrupt and willfully different, Lind sought to increase understanding and to explain through scientific, historical, and personal evidence why his identity was congenital, and therefore natural. In this final installment of his trilogy of autobiographical works, Lind focuses on the community of androgynes he joined at New York’s Columbia Hall, a well-known brothel and gay bar on the Bowery. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Earl Lind’s The Female-Impersonators is a classic work of transgender literature reimagined for modern readers.

For two years Ester Newton did field research in the world of drag queens—homosexual men who make a living impersonating women. Newton spent time in the noisy bars, the chaotic dressing rooms, and the cheap apartments and hotels that make up the lives of drag queens, interviewing informants whose trust she had earned and compiling a lively, first-hand ethnographic account of the culture of female impersonators. Mother Camp explores the distinctions that drag queens make among themselves as performers, the various kinds of night clubs and acts they depend on for a living, and the social organization of their work. A major part of the book deals with the symbolic geography of male and female styles, as enacted in the homosexual concept of "drag" (sex role transformation) and "camp," an important humor system cultivated by the drag queens themselves. "Newton's fascinating book shows how study of the extraordinary can brilliantly illuminate the ordinary—that social-sexual division of personality, appearance, and activity we usually take for granted."—Jonathan Katz, author of Gay American History "A trenchant statement of the social force and arbitrary nature of gender roles."—Martin S. Weinberg, Contemporary Sociology

Excerpt from The Female-Impersonators: A Sequel to the Autobiography of an Androgyne and an Account of Some of the Author's Experiences During His Six Years' Career as Instinctive Female-Impersonator in New York's Underworld The sale Of the book, while not as large as it ought to have been, Showed however that the interest of the professional man could be awakened, and he be made to realize that the androgyne is no more to be punished for his harmless sexual transgressions than a congenital physical cripple for the latter's unaesthetic physique. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Drag Queen Anthology: The Absolutely Fabulous but Flawlessly Customary World of Female Impersonators examines the phenomenon of male-to-female gender performance and the people who live it. This provocative collection of original essays explores the possibilities, limitations, ironies, and controversies surrounding men who perform as women to an audience that knows the truth but celebrates the illusion. The book's contributors call on extensive backgrounds in sociology, anthropology, theater, literatureeven military studiesand use a variety of approaches to address common themes and genres of presentation, performance, and style in a wide range of historical settings and cultures.

Earl Lind’s 1918 autobiography has been recognized as a pioneering work in the history of transgender literature. Throughout his life, Lind was forced to justify and defend his existence from puritanical authorities. In the first of his trilogy of autobiographical works, he not only demands recognition, but exposes the denial of his existence as nothing but hatred and fear. “Androgynes have of course existed in all ages of history and among all races. In Greek and Latin authors there are many references to them, but these references are not always understood except by the few scholars who are themselves androgynes or at least passive sexual inverts. […] [T]hese men-women, because misunderstood, have been held in great abomination both in the middle ages and in modern times, but the prejudice against them was not so extreme in antiquity, and a cultured citizen having this nature did not then lose caste on this account.” Situating his own identity within this history of oppression, Lind makes the case for recognizing the presence of androgynes in all human societies. Ever since he was a child, Lind identified as feminine and was keenly aware of his homosexual desires, gaining a reputation among the local boys and soon turning to girls for friendship and understanding. In a world that saw androgynes as both corrupt and willfully different, Lind sought to increase understanding and to explain through scientific, historical, and personal evidence why his identity was congenital, and therefore natural. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Earl Lind’s Autobiography of an Androgyne is a classic work of transgender literature reimagined for modern readers.

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