Monday, January 31, 2022

Summer of ’68

A Year Among the Girls by Darrell G. Raynor documented a novice crossdresser’s experience at a crossdresser B&B in the Poconos in the mid-1960s.

When I read A Year Among the Girls in 1968, I was a high school senior trying to figure things out about my gender. The book did not help me figure things out, but it did make me aware that there were more guys dressing as girls than I had originally suspected. (I originally thought it was only me and my best friend Billy.)

The book was such an eye-opener for a young femulator like me. Back then, there was next to no information available on the subject unless you frequented the right (wrong) bookstores or received mail wrapped in plain brown paper. So I was amazed that there were adult males dressing up and socializing as women!

I read that book over and over again and it inspired me to keep on dressing. I would love to read it again, but over the years, it disappeared from my library... probably lost during a move.

If anyone has a copy of the book that they would like to dispose of or let me borrow, I would be eternally grateful.



Source: StyleWe
Wearing StyleWe


This is The Army
U.S. soldiers getting dressed for a performance of This is The Army (circa 1945).

10 comments:

  1. There's one copy I could find after a quick search:

    https://biblio.co.uk/book/year-among-girls-raynor-darrell-g/d/1277192368

    However, there might be a free ebook version somewhere. Good luck.

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  2. Around 2000 I remember that there was a member at the support group that said she was living as a woman for a year to write a book on what it is like living as a woman. I didn’t believe her and I think most of the members didn’t, I think that she just couldn’t admit to herself that she is trans.

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  3. Apparently there are HARDCOVER, FIRST EDITIONS.... WTF?
    https://www.biblio.com/booksearch/author/raynor-darrell-g/title/a-year-among-the-girls?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyua5h8vc9QIVU8yzCh2UWQd0EAMYAiAAEgL9tfD_BwE
    V.

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  4. I read this book in a dark corner of my university library. It was the first book I had read about the subject of crossdressing.

    - Calie

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  5. I wish I had come across something like this in the late 60s or 70s; I too felt like it was just me until I was well into my 40s

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  6. Thanks for the tip. This is actually the first I've heard of this book but it sounds interesting. I have the idea of preparing a kind of list of books on the subject that for me is very attractive and I already put it on the list.

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  7. I wish I still had my copy. It played kind of the same roll for me but I was disappointed back then on how to actually pass as the girl I wanted to be.
    Ironically, the book Casa Susanna was based on the people in FPE, now tri S that Ray or was hanging around with. And sadly, I do vividly remember his chapter on trans suicides. I think of that every time I hear the trans suicide rate is going up due to Trump's pronouncements or some new anti strand law.

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  8. My local library has access to a copy!

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  9. Film coming out about the inn of the book. And it was revealed the author was really Donald A. Wollheim, noted science fiction writer, editor, and fan.
    https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/casa-susanna-review-lost-chapter-093006234.html

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  10. Just saw Casa Susanna at a film festival and Google brought me to this article. Definitely worth a watch.

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