As a Woman: What I Learned about Power, Sex, and the Patriarchy after I Transitioned
256
As a Woman: What I Learned about Power, Sex, and the Patriarchy after I Transitioned
256Hardcover
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Overview
As a father of three, married to a wonderful woman, and holding several prominent jobs within the Christian community, Dr. Paula Stone Williams made the life-changing decision to physically transition from male to female at the age of sixty. Almost instantly, her power and influence in the evangelical world disappeared and her family had to grapple with intense feelings of loss and confusion.
Feeling utterly alone after being expelled from the evangelical churches she had once spearheaded, Paula struggled to create a new safe space for herself where she could reconcile her faith, her identity, and her desire to be a leader. Much to her surprise, the key to her new career as a woman came with a deeper awareness of the inequities she had overlooked before her transition. Where her opinions were once celebrated and amplified, now she found herself sidelined and ignored. New questions emerged. Why are women’s opinions devalued in favor of men’s? Why does love and intimacy feel so different? And, was it possible to find a new spirituality in her own image?
In As a Woman, Paula’s “critical questions about gender, personhood, and place are relevant to anyone. Her writing insightfully reveals aspects of our gender socialization and culture that often go unexamined, but that need to be talked about, challenged, and changed” (Soraya Chemaly, author of Rage Becomes Her) in order to fully understand what it means to be male, female, and simply, human.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781982153342 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Atria Books |
| Publication date: | 06/01/2021 |
| Pages: | 256 |
| Sales rank: | 1,156,112 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.10(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
What You Write This For 1
Introduction: Trusting the Flow 5
Part I
1 My Wedding Night 13
2 A Gender Revealed 17
3 The Problem with Puberty 25
4 Escaping the Fires of Hell 33
5 Till Death Do Us Part 41
6 Life Together 55
7 Will This Decision Enhance Your Life or Diminish It? 67
Part II
8 A Call to Deny 81
9 Telling Our Children 93
10 Time before a Time 107
11 Eighteen Days in December 119
12 The Darkest Night 129
13 Hope Unfolding 137
14 A New Church and New Life 147
15 Dying before Dying 163
Part III
16 Life Is Easier for Men 177
17 What I Wish I Could Tell Paul 193
18 Just-in-Time Grace 205
19 Religions of Hate, Religions of Love 217
20 Gender and Sexuality 225
21 For the Greater Good 235
Acknowledgments 241
About the Author 243
Reading Group Guide
This reading group guide for AS A WOMAN includes an introduction, discussion questions, ideas for enhancing your book club, and a Q&A with author Paula Stone Williams. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.
Introduction
As a father of three, married to a wonderful woman and holding several prominent jobs within the Christian community, Dr. Paula Stone Williams made the life-changing decision to physically transition from male to female at the age of sixty. Almost instantly, her power and influence in the evangelical world disappeared and her family had to grapple with intense feelings of loss and confusion. Feeling utterly alone and at a loss after being expelled from the evangelical churches she had once spearheaded, Paula struggled to create a new safe space for herself where she could reconcile her faith, her identity, and her desire to be a leader. Join her as she shares her incredibly journey of love, loss, and, most important, rediscovery.
Topics & Questions for Discussion
1. “We can either spend our lives searching for comfort or we can spend our lives searching for meaning. Rarely will the two lead to the same conclusion” (page 76). Why does Paula perceive these as mutually exclusive? Do they always have to be? If not, where can the two intersect?
2. “We don’t dream in mathematical equations. We dream in stories. A story has the power to change a person’s life, and that story upended mine” (page 86). In this metaphor, what is the mathematical equation? What is the story?
3. Paula often refers to the “death” of Paul, or of “grieving” Paul. What does death represent here? Who or what exactly is dying?
4. “Everyone was in excruciating pain, and it had all been sourced by me” (page 99). Take note of Paula’s choice of the word “sourced.” Does she place the blame on herself? Is she at fault? Is anyone at fault?
5. In social justice, an ally is defined as “a person who uses their privilege to advocate on behalf of someone else who doesn't hold that same privilege.” Following her forced departure from the Orchard Group after coming out, Paula encountered some challenges with getting the money she was rightfully owed. The CEO of the tax firm and the nonprofit she mentions helped her gain that money (page 134), and in doing so were allies to Paula in facing the transphobia of the Orchard Group executive committee. Who are Paula’s other allies, whether they help her directly, indirectly, vocally, or silently? Keep note of all the allies so far and that appear over the course of the book and discuss the role they play in Paula’s journey.
6. On page 138, Paula says “Evangelicals reject others because they are afraid . . . that a [pastor] could come out as transgender frightened them.” What do you think is frightening to evangelicals? What did Paula’s authentic existence threaten for them?
7. “Living authentically is not only a gift to our own soul; it frees the generation behind us to live their best life” (page 172). What is Paula referring to specifically here? Can you think of ways she internalized her parents’ pain? Can you think of ways you may have internalized your own parents’ pain? What does it take to break that cycle?
8. In recounting her experience on an American Airlines flight, Paula says (on page 179) “this was the first time the two halves of my life merged.” Speak more to the uniqueness of this moment and what made this different from any other instance post-transition, both in a literal sense but also in a greater sense.
9. On page 189, Paula says “Yes, I am a woman, but I am White, well educated, and a professional,” and on page 194 says “all men . . . have more privilege than the women in their respective worlds” in response to working-class men questioning the existence of their male privilege. Here, Paula acknowledges how someone can simultaneously be marginalized (such as being poor, trans, a woman, etc.) while also being privileged (white, a man, wealthy). Discuss the presence of that duality in Paula. Now discuss the presence of that duality in you, if it exists.
10. Paula discusses her transition from being an older man to an older woman, with the former being the more privileged within their gender, and the latter often being the most overlooked in their gender. Explain how Paula experiences not only misogyny and transphobia, but also ageism, and the ways in which people of marginalized identities have completely different experiences at different intersections.
10. In Chapter 18, Paula asserts the importance of spirituality to her. How has Paula’s idea of, and connection to spirituality changed over time? What does it mean to her now? What does it mean to you?
11. “As a man, I struggled with my feminine side. As a woman, I spent my first several years trying to deny my masculine side” (page 212). Do you believe everyone has masculinity and femininity within them, regardless of their gender? What are ways in which both can exist simultaneously and in contrast with one another, in Paula, but also within you?
12. Paula describes certain moments wherein she feels a “continuity between Paul and Paula.” What does that continuity refer to? How can that be juxtaposed with her desire to leave Paul behind?
13. “Whenever you have a group that judges all others to be wrong and not a part of the truly enlightened, you have a form of fundamentalism” (page 219). How does Paula describe the limitations of religious fundamentalism? What are ways in which fundamentalism and rigidity can manifest in other aspects of our lives, beyond religious and political beliefs?
14. In describing her experience with evangelical Christianity’s approach toward sex, Paula says “if you could convince people that the most desire is something sinful, and you were the only one able to forgive those sins, you could pretty much guarantee retaining your power” (page 227). What do you think this concept of “sin” is meant to evoke? How does this desire to retain power fundamentally influence the nature of relationships within the evangelical community?
15. On page 236, Paula says “joy and happy are not synonymous” and goes on to paint vivid examples of each. What do you think is the primary difference between the two? How do they both function uniquely to serve us and enhance our lives?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. On page 170, Paula says “Paul is not my deadname” referring to the concept of former names that some transgender people choose to abandon and reject after adopting a new name. Do you have any friends or loved ones who are trans? If not, do you have any favorite trans celebrities? If you don’t, try doing some research on any public figures who are trans and have shared their story. In the case of the individual you chose, what was their coming-out story? Did they transition? Did they change their name? How do they view their previous name? How do they describe their transness? Use this as an exercise to attempt to understand the ways in which the trans community is not a monolith, and each trans person’s story and “framing of the past” (page 166) may be different. (Please try to use any information that is readily available so as to avoid subjecting trans individuals to any uncomfortable, triggering, and/or unwanted conversations.)
2. “Maybe someday we will know more and be able to relieve the suffering of individuals and families.” What could this potentially look like? Discuss with your book club and come up with a resource that could help LGBTQ+ individuals and their families. Using the information, you gained from As a Woman, and research of your own, this could look like guidebook on how to support someone in your life who comes out. Think of other resources that the LGBTQ+ community, either locally, nationally, or internationally could use, whether educational, emotional, financial, etc.
3. Paula frequently explains her spirituality with the idea that “the call toward authenticity is sacred and holy for the greater good.” What are ways in which Paula’s story has inspired you to practice authenticity in your own life? What are other aspects of your life, work, community, and even book club that could embrace authenticity more? Discuss whether you think the “default” in which modern society often operates should be more encouraging of authenticity? Why or why not?
A Conversation with Paula Stone Williams
Q: After having written a few books, what inspired you to come out with this memoir?
A: All my earlier books were written in my previous life and were for the religious market. When I transitioned, I was a well-known evangelical leader. I knew I couldn’t slip quietly into the night. Embedded in my identity were responsibilities. I always knew it was important to tell my story, and from the time I transitioned I had an inkling that I might tell it through a memoir.
Q: Which parts of the book were you most hesitant about sharing? Were you able to overcome those feelings?
A: Chapters 14 and 20 were the ones I was most hesitant to share. Chapter 14 was difficult because at the time I was writing it, the chapter was still a fresh wound. But I also knew it was important. I am still amazed that I’ve had more conflict with women in six years as a woman than I had in sixty years as a man.
Chapter 20 was tough because it is so intimate. I thought it was important to write about the one area in which the greatest changes have occurred—how I experience my sexuality.
Q: You have had the opportunity to experience vastly different worlds within what is quite a divided country. Do you think it is possible for different people to reconcile such different belief systems?
A:I do believe in the power of narrative to lessen our cultural divide. Humans do change their minds, but not unless information comes to them in a nonthreatening way. Few are frightened by a good story.
Q: Did you learn anything new about yourself when writing this book? If yes, what did you learn?
A: The most important lessen is that I am more resilient than I realized. This was a tough journey, but I made it all the way through to dawn.
Q: What do you hope transgender readers will take away from this book? What about cisgender readers?
A: I am hesitant to suggest lessons for transgender readers, because each story is uniquely its own. When you hear the story of one transgender person, you’ve heard the story of exactly one transgender person. I can’t pretend to speak for other transgender people.
For all readers, including those who are cisgender, I hope the story draws them into a deeper understanding of their own journey, and the hero they are called to become.
Q: Do you believe understanding, acknowledging, and celebrating transness will allow for a greater understanding of the world?
A: Gender is a spectrum. We all have both male and female characteristics. I hope celebrating transness, as well as those who are nonbinary, will help us all feel more comfortable with where we are on that spectrum.
Q: What are your hopes for trans representation, both in the church and in general, for the future?
A: I long for the day in which being transgender is no longer the main thing that defines me, but is instead incidental to my life.“She was a parent, spouse, and pastoral counselor who tried to love well. And, oh yeah, she also happened to be transgender.”