Stone Butch Blues

Stone Butch Blues is a 1993 semi-autobiographical novel by writer and activist Leslie Feinberg. Jess, the narrator of Stone Butch Blues, spends the space of the novel looking for a way to authentically exist in the world at large. Her childhood is one of pain and trauma. As a very young child, Jess briefly experiences a nurturing environment in the home of her Dineh neighbors but her father, suspicious of Native Americans, forbids her from being with this community that is not critical of her. Jess’s parents try to force her to act “ladylike” and to dress in traditionally-feminine clothes but Jess knows, despite these efforts, that she is not a girl in any traditional sense of the word. Even as a child, Jess latches onto the term of “he-she” and feels that this is the most accurate way of describing who she feels she truly is. When she tries to dress in a way that feels natural for her—in a man’s shirt and pants—her parents forcibly admit her to a mental hospital. She is persecuted at school as well—harassed, raped and suspended for attempting to talk about her identity problems with a black friend who will actually listen.