I find this type of book difficult to rate. I think it’s because I’m pretty much a dedicated romance reader and I don’t read a lot of non-fiction books. The description of the book drew me to it so I requested a copy for review. I’m giving it 5 stars because it was very interesting and poignant. It was unique to me how the writer expressed their various feelings by writing letters to them. (Dear Darkness, Dear Puberty, Dear Cupid, Dear Adulthood, etc.)

A Life in Letters is a quick read and a touching insight into the life of a very interesting person who went through a lot of hard things and seems to have come out of the darkness on the other side to live their true self.

Reviews for Rodney Rhoda Taylor

♥ Amazon US ♥ Amazon CA ♥ Amazon UK ♥

#CommissionsEarned

I have spent years trying to figure out who you are, and I am no closer to solving this mystery than I was when I first started. You are an enigma—a puzzle that cannot easily be solved. I know as much about you as I know about the moon’s backside. Why is that? (Well, not the moon part…) Why is your identity so vague?

All I know is that for years, both the straight and gay communities have told me that I don’t act like you, that I act like a girl, and that I’m too effeminate. But neither constituency can provide me with a definition of who you are. The straights can’t define you because, for

them, you are based on some ancient notion of what a man should be. And the gays can’t represent you because, for them, you are based on some overhyped-up sexual fantasy drawing created by Tom of Finland. And no one can measure up to an entire community’s sexual fantasy. I mean, damn—based on those two concepts, I was/am never going to fit into anyone’s idea of what being “masculine” is. The one element both communities agree on is that “men” are not supposed to have “feminine” characteristics. And if they do, then they better watch it, or they will be deemed … undesirable.

That leads to this question: Isn’t the whole preoccupation and belief that boys and men are supposed to act one way and girls and women are supposed to act another a bit … archaic?

Why do boys have to be masculine? Why do girls have to be feminine? And why, on God’s Green Earth, can’t either sex just “be”? Sans labels? If boys want to play with Barbie—so be it. If girls want to play football—so be it.

Let’s just say it: the idea of “masculinity” is out-of-date. It’s based on an out-of-date assumption that “men” are the more vigorous sex. These days, one’s strength is no longer strictly judged to be a “physical” attribute. These days, it is more (correctly) about a person’s inner drive and determination, regardless of the chromosome lottery.

Women have become quite “strong,” in my definition because they have had to fight their way out of being dominated by “masculine” men and more than a few ill-informed women. Then there are those men, like me, who get their nails done, walk with a swish in their step, shape their eyebrows, and act in a way that society says is “feminine.”

Our folks have always been deemed “not masculine” because of the way we act/appear. Yet many of us live on our terms—and do not welcome others’ ideas of how we should “act.” It takes a strong person to live their life that way. Especially considering the condemnation one can receive for doing so.

So, which is truly the strong, masculine person? The individuals who think Penis=Superior/Stronger? Or those who have had to fight to live on their terms despite the adversity they receive from the world for doing so? And which gender are they?

Thoughts?

Feminine and Proud