SELF-ish: A Transgender Awakening

(Paperback)

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SELF-ish is a narrative drawn from an international life, beginning with some early glimpses out at the world by a girl in a boy's body. Chloe Schwenke was raised as Stephen in a Marine Corps family, and was sent off at age fourteen to "man-up" at a military academy. Later--and still embodied as a man--she ventured abroad to work in some of the

Reviews

Interview in Quaker Speak: My Journey as a Transgender Quaker

Chloe Schwenkes Self-ish offers an intelligent, thoughtful look at the complex journey that is gender transition, illuminating aspects of gender transitionsuch as the difficulties of job hunting, the process of forming and renegotiating friendships, and the intersection of trans identity and Quaker religious practicethat haven't received much attention in memoirs or the media.
Joy Ladin, author of Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey Between Genders

Self-ish takes the reader through a powerful, heart-wrenching journey of the innumerable, daunting challenges of gender transition confronted by a transgender woman. It is ultimately also a story of extraordinary courage in persevering through formidable odds to be true to oneself. Schwenke underscores the moral, human and societal imperative to confront and ameliorate the challenges faced by transgender people, and others marginalized by mainstream society.
Sanjay Pradhan, CEO, Open Government Partnership

What makes this story compelling is this push-pull of perspectives: the emerging identification as Chloe and diminishing association as Stephen. We identify with and root for Chloeyet its like a horror movie for those closest to Stephen...Self-ish is a fascinating puzzle of identity.
Master Michael Quinn, Gertrude Press

Author Bio

Chloe Schwenke is an openly transgender Quaker woman whose lifes journey includes living in five countries and working on projects in more than forty, mostly in Africa and the Middle East. As a human rights and peacebuilding activist, an international development practitioner, an academic, a former Obama Administration appointee, and the parent of two children, she has committed her life to assisting marginalized groups in some of the worlds most challenging countries. In 2013 she received the National Center for Transgender Equalitys National Public Service Award.