It not only sparked an uproar in the media but it also inspired many individuals to come out of the transgendered closet as well as help those who did not yet know what or how they should identify. It would also serve as the “force of survival” that would “overcome even the severest forms of fear, shame and embarrassment” (Renard chapter 30). In Renard’s memoir Pholomolo, she recalls the stories of her childhood and explains how she discovered her identity despite the hindrances that the world around her created and reinforced by telling her that she had to identify as male. In the chapter “The Boy Who Changed into a James Bond Girl,” she discusses how the outing of Caroline Cossey transsexual status during the early 1980s gave her the power to decide that she wanted to become female. While it shocked the dominant heteronormative Western society, Cossey’s story gave Renard the strength to pursue her true self-conception and not to be ashamed, embarrassed, or afraid of
It not only sparked an uproar in the media but it also inspired many individuals to come out of the transgendered closet as well as help those who did not yet know what or how they should identify. It would also serve as the “force of survival” that would “overcome even the severest forms of fear, shame and embarrassment” (Renard chapter 30). In Renard’s memoir Pholomolo, she recalls the stories of her childhood and explains how she discovered her identity despite the hindrances that the world around her created and reinforced by telling her that she had to identify as male. In the chapter “The Boy Who Changed into a James Bond Girl,” she discusses how the outing of Caroline Cossey transsexual status during the early 1980s gave her the power to decide that she wanted to become female. While it shocked the dominant heteronormative Western society, Cossey’s story gave Renard the strength to pursue her true self-conception and not to be ashamed, embarrassed, or afraid of