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"Thirty years ago, I lay in the womb of a woman, conceived in a
sexual act of rape, being carried during the prenatal period by an
unwilling and rebellious mother, finally bursting from the womb
only to be tormented in a family whose members I despised or
pitied, and brought into association with people whom I should
never have chosen." This is the searing opening to Edna "Gertrude"
Beasley's raw and scathing memoir, originally published in Paris in
1925 but ultimately suppressed and lost to history-until now. Only
five-hundred copies were printed, very few of which made it into
readers' hands, having been confiscated by customs inspectors or
removed from bookshelves by Texas law enforcement. Her book was
essentially banned, her voice silenced. In 1927, Beasley-a
self-proclaimed socialist and staunch feminist who fought for
women's rights-disappeared. Her fate remained a mystery until
researchers began digging into her story. While living in London,
she had been thrown out of her lodgings-for reasons that remain
unclear-arrested and placed in a mental ward. A few months later,
she returned to the U.S. and was committed to a psychiatric center
on Long Island. She never left, dying there of pancreatic cancer in
1955. My First Thirty Years reveals the story of a woman who grew
up in abject poverty in rural Texas during the early 1900s, where
she battled ongoing internal wars with herself concerning her
family, faith, sexual reckoning, and quest for education at a time
when women were not supposed to discuss those things. Beasley's
memoir is one of the most brutally honest coming-of-age historical
memoirs ever written. Her story deserves to be heard.
Bernadette (Terence Stamp) is a middle-aged transsexual mourning
the recent death of her lover. She embarks on a cabaret tour with
two transvestite friends, Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) and Felicia (Guy
Pearce) and together they set out for a professional engagement in
Alice Springs in a gaudily painted bus they christen Priscilla.
Along the way they encounter various macho characters - one of
whom, Bob (Bill Hunter), begins to form a romantic attachment to
Bernadette.
Bernadette (Terence Stamp) is a middle-aged transsexual mourning
the recent death of her lover. She embarks on a cabaret tour with
two transvestite friends, Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) and Felicia (Guy
Pearce) and together they set out for a professional engagement in
Alice Springs in a gaudily painted bus they christen Priscilla.
Along the way they encounter various macho characters - one of
whom, Bob (Bill Hunter), begins to form a romantic attachment to
Bernadette.
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