Two Different Worlds I've Lived In

by Wilma Swartz

Wilma's mother was believed to be pregnant with twins due to fertility drugs taken by her. However, it was found that when the babies were born they were merged into one child. This child was male externally and female internally. The mother cleverly hid this fact from everyone including Wilma for 30 years. Born and raised as male, Bill's life was a living hell of confusion, hate, deception and betrayal. Due to the medicine that Bill had to take to suppress the female hormones from sending his body into menstruation and embarrassingly leaking breast milk, he was given an alternative: die or allow his female hormones to take over. This is the story of Wilma and Bill's struggle to live and die.

280 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 19, 2015

Reviews

[Janet M. Fish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of you've ever wondered what it feels like to be "different", here is a first person opportunity to experience it. More importantly, if you've ever thought it was ok, to put down people who are "different", this book should be required reading. I felt like I was reading a modern version of the Book of Job, and all inflicted by people who thought they were better than Wilma. This is not a preachy book, simply an autobiography of a person abused by virtually everybody.

[Emma Jean Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

insight gained

I knew Wilma Swartz a little before I came across this book though I did not know any of her story. This book has given me a lot of insight into problems faced by intersex people and made me aware of the strength Wilma’s faith has helped her to draw upon through the years.

[Megan Fritz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Openly transphobic from the author's note in the beginning. Wilma states than God intended for men to be men and women to be women and that intersex is different because it wasn't what God intended but the result of a choice her mother made to take a medication while she was pregnant.