Christine Beatty's Writing

---

Journalistic Stories

Most of these articles were among the twenty-plus stories I published in Spectator magazine — long ago a part of the legendary Berkeley Barb — published while I was on the masthead from 1991 until I moved to Los Angeles in late 1999.


Margo St. James Runs for Supervisor
Spectator Magazine November 1, 1996
A feature story on Margo St. James' nearly-successful candidacy for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The article includes a long and detailed interview with Ms. St. James.

Lusty Ladies Are Feisty Ladies
Spectator Magazine July 18, 1997
A feature story on the unionization of San Francisco's exotic dancers, with a history of the Exotic Dancers Alliance. The article includes interviews with the organizers, plus coverage of the June 1997 fundraiser.

I Was a Shameless Phone Slut
Postfeminist Playground (webzine), February 1998 issue.
An insider's overview of the sex industry with an emphasis on phonesex.

Review: My Gender Workbook
Spectator, March 1998 issue.
Kate Bornstein's breakthough work Gender Outlaw (Routledge, 1994) has been instrumental in many people coming to terms with their gender identity. In this book Kate disects gender down to the nitty-gritty and takes it to places one might never suspect it applied.

Queens Lose Their Virginity
Spectator Magazine October 30, 1998
Coverage of the annual Virgin Queen Pageant, a fundraiser for Larkin Street Youth Center,
produced by the Klubstitute artist collective.

Motherlode Finally Victorious
Spectator Magazine December 25, 1998
The Motherlode bar, an establishment for transsexuals, crossdressers and their friends, is finally granted the necessary licenses and permitted to move to a better location after years of legal and political battles. This story includes a synopsis of the five year saga, the opposition from vocal neighborhood groups, the support of the transgendered community and its allies, and the owner's struggle to overcome discrimination.

Fabulous Fauxs Fight for fame
Spectator Magazine January 15, 1999
Coverage of the annual Faux Queen Pageant, a fundraiser for W.O.R.L.D., a women's advocacy group,
produced by the Klubstitute artist collective.

Review: Mark 947
Spectator Magazine May 2, 2003
A review of the memoirs of transsexual woman Calpernia Addams, Gulf War veteran turned Nashville showgirl whose romance with murdered soldier Barry Winchell inspired Showtime's Soldier's Girl. Highly recommended.

Review: The Man Who Would Be Queen
Spectator Magazine, December, 2003
A frank look of a controversial work that transsexual leaders call the most dangerous book in twenty years.


Back to Table of Contents

---

Short Stories

Dirty Trick
Previously unpublished - newly revised
An out-of-work actress directs herself in hotel room outcall with a toadlike trick. Partly based a humorous real-life tale related to the author, she plans to redo this as a short screenplay.
Rated PG (Pretty Good)

That Mean Streak of Yours
Previously unpublished.
A transsexual lead singer clashes with her lover Dea, a beautiful lead guitarist, whose chemically-enhanced rageaholism creates tension in the band and their relationship. After Dea's dysfunctional departure, the band lands a recording contract, leading to an uneasy reunion at the homecoming stop of their national tour.
Rated PG-13 (Pretty Good if you're 13)

Stranded Without Even Cabfare
Beyond Definition: New Writing from Gay and Lesbian San Francisco (Manic D. Press, 1994).
Author's whining comments: "I sent them this story and they excerpted it bigtime. They even changed the title to the hackneyed Long Lost Love. See the kind of treatment a new writer gets? [moan, sniffle]" This is the full version of the story penned in 1993, spiffed up and editorially massaged to enhance your rubbernecking pleasure. A stark look at the travails of transsexual junkie whore. A fetid slice of urban life served up steaming cold.


Back to Table of Contents

---

Ask Trixie

Ask Trixie columns #2 and #3
In 2000 Christine wrote an "advice" column for 'zine 100 Punks targeted at rock musicians and their fans. "Trixie's" mixture of humor and earnest candor was inspired by syndicated columnist Cintra Wilson.


Back to Table of Contents

---

Transgender Writings

What Sex Are You?
TransSisters Magazine Summer, 1994
Sex and gender. What is meant by those words? Interchangeable, right? Okay, so what do you think they mean? Could they have more than one definition? And what would it mean to our concept of man, woman, male and female if they were rooted in a definition whose meaning may be open to interpretation? An outrageous yet thoughtful exposition into the most primal of topics. And far from the dry treatise you might expect. Careful, you might learn something!

Toxic Thinking, Part One: Elitism
TransSisters Magazine, Winter, 1995
One would think that a group as marginialized and oppressed as transgendered people would shy away from making value judgements of other people within the group, of ranking them, of excluding them, of carrying on us-and-them thinking within our own little gender ghetto. Sadly this is not the case. In doing so, we are sacrificing the power of community, creating our own little islands, diminishing our own collective power.

Chicks with Dicks
Transsexual News Telegraph Magazine, Autumn, 1998
Given that SRS is considered so important by many, that the desire for SRS is often held as the hallmark of the "true" transsexual, why would a transsexual person not undergo that procedure? This article delves into the reasons why some transsexuals forego this "radical" surgery.

It's Not Just Another Label
gay.com's Transgender Gazebo, September, 2000
What "transgender" means to me in 669 words. The evolution of my identity over twenty years and the search for a place to belong in the world.


Back to Table of Contents

---

Misery Loves Company

This collection of Christine's short stories and poetry is based on her darkest and most difficult years. Click on the book cover for samples from its pages, plus artwork by transsexual surrealist Nola Van Della who did the illustrations.

Back to Table of Contents

---

Screenplays

Christine is currently marketing both a high concept Romantic Action/Comedy, DADDY'S GIRL and an Action/SciFi adaptation of William Gibson's bestselling novel VIRTUAL LIGHT. If you are an accredited agent or a credentialed producer interested in a logline or synopsis please contact Christine . To obtain a copy of the script, request her attorney's contact information.


Back to Table of Contents

---

Christine's Literary Background - The Fiftycent Tour

Writing was never an ambition of mine; it was something I slowly grew into. I began writing out of need, and eventually out of love for the art. Until I turned thirty, my transsexuality and enslavement to drugs derailed my productivity in every department. My writing was neither remarkable or frequent until I found myself in a Veteran's Administration drug rehab in 1988. At that point, I had to write; there was no other outlet for the feelings now returning with a vengeance. I wasn't prepared to share my history with a bunch of fellow ex-GIs: that I'd lived as a woman, worked as a prostitute not two years before. And since the staff at the rehab had touted a journal as a surefire form of therapy, I scrawled a couple pages every time I felt a sashay returning to my hips. Soon I was wrapped up in Why was I a transsexual? Thus I began to render my perplexing life as an autobiography, hoping it would help me understand and perhaps "cure" my feelings.

Obviously that plan failed, but I mercifully came to the conclusion that I didn't need to understand—just accept. However, this expository explosion did get my pen out of its torpid rut. With Recovery and Gender Identity in heavy rotation, I published twenty articles from mid-1989 until 1991.

Then, in September of '91, Spectator magazine (formerly the Berkeley Barb) shelled out the princessly sum of $58.12 for an op-ed piece I did on gender stereotypes and feminism. A month later I began conducting interviews for a two-part article on street prostitution, which Spectator ran in December and January of that winter. Until I moved to Los Angeles in 1999 I graced the Spectator masthead as a regular contributor covering local politics and community events.

In 1992 I cranked out a dark "romantic" novel, later rewritten as a cyberthriller. Both stories were eventually adapted into the screenplays Homegirl and Twilight Secrets. In '93 I produced Misery Loves Company, and from 1994-96 I unleashed a torrent of short stories, some of which appear here and in other publications. However, my writing career was mostly on hold in favor of my former band, Glamazon. Since I quit the group in 2002, I am back to writing full time.

Among the authors who've blown my skirt up over the years include Seth Morgan (Homeboy), Richard Bach, Chuck Palahnuik, Douglas Adams, Phillip K. Dick, Joseph Wambaugh, William Gibson, Carl Hiaasen, James Ellroy, Michael Crichton, Kate Bornstein, Ridley Pearson, Cintra Wilson, and the master storyteller, Stephen King.

Perhaps the writer who inspired me the most was Hunter S. Thompson, one of my greatest heros. Not only did he create a wholly unique style of writing, he said exactly what he thought, he cared a great deal about this country and he was an activist in the truest sense of the word.

It is sad that many people think of him merely as a drug writer, because if they delved into his prolific body of work they might well see him differently. Though he wrote these words about Oscar "Dr. Gonzo" Acosta, they applied to Hunter as well: "One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die." Herr Doktor, you will always live in your words and in the hearts of your fans, mine among them.

Well, I suppose that's it for now... I hope you have gotten some pleasure, perhaps learned something from these offerings. I certainly enjoyed crafting them for you. If you'd like to correspond, please drop a line and I will do my best to answer though I can't promise I will. The Work must come first!