Mirrors: Portrait of a Lesbian Transsexual

by Geri Nettick, Beth Elliott

This is a new, revised edition of the cult classic "Mirrors - Portrait of a Lesbian Transsexual" by Geri Nettick as told to Beth Elliott, in which Beth Elliott steps out from behind her pseudonym to claim her place in lesbian/trans activist history. The new appendix, which is the first major critical essay on the 1973 West Coast Lesbian Conference at UCLA, places Elliott's now-famous expulsion from the Daughters of Bilitis in the context of the takeover of the lesbian movement by feminists for whom "lesbian" was to be a purely political identity, as opposed to a matter of passionate, intimate and committed female bonding.

Genres: LGBT, Nonfiction, Memoir, Queer, Transgender, Lesbian

308 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1996

Reviews

[Jeanne Thornton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Invaluable history of West Coast lesbian scene of the early 1970s and the place trans women had in it. Kind of a lot of judgey stuff about GRS/op status/who belongs where and has warrant to call herself what that I don't agree with/find REALLY REALLY problematic, and the metafictional hi-jinx when the character named Beth Elliot shows up are kind of cringe-inducing (wooga wooga), and there's a mean-spirited by-name callout of my fave former fiction teacher, which pretty definitively soured me on things. And I wish the title weren't the most generic imaginable thing.

All that said tho: it's a pretty great resource if you're interested in this era of trans & lesbian US history, shows some wrinkles and complexity regarding the history of acceptance of trans women within so-called "women-born-women" spaces, and generally to the Thousand-Year-War between radical feminists and trans women, plus a neat appendix essay regarding Robin Morgan and the power play at the West Coast Lesbian Conference in the context of the general space lesbians have occupied within "the discourse." It suited my specific research purposes and the first part is a pretty good instance of its genre. I just kind of wish I'd quit reading before the callouts and judgments started to get really, really fast and furious all around (though I get why many of the specific callouts here are being made, in response to, you know, EXTREME SOCIAL OSTRACISM AND DEATH THREATS.)

[l · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't read this.

[Rain Bradshaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting read but gets a little boring + she presents a couple questionable ideas imo