Autobiographical Stories by Allison Washington
See also —
Reader Guide
Expository Pieces by Allison Washington
Interviews & Reviews by Allison Washington
Selected Correspondence and Commentary by Allison Washington
(In reverse chronological order. Titles are links.)
Trans Women and the Police: Cairo, Amman, London, San Francisco
Primarily a sweeping report on the treatment of trans women by law enforcement, but includes personal material around Allison’s move to Egypt and her relationship with the LGBT+ community in MENA (Middle East and North Africa).
Allison talks about her relationship with her mother, her daughter, and her feelings about this holiday and its history.
The Woman I Left in San Francisco
A brutally confessional account of a time when Allison was a confused and conflicted your woman.hurting herself and another.
A continually growing series of very brief vignettes from Allison’s life; early childhood to the present day.
#11 Plait — Childhood intimacy with mother.
#10 Fish Sandwich — Serving a very rude man.
#9 The Birth — Becoming a mother.
#8 The Book — A book more devastating than beatings.
#7 Viennese Moment — A romance in four minutes.
#6 Liverpool Moment — Girl meets boy with ball.
#5 Clocked (in the best possible way) — Waylaid by an old friend.
#4 Übergangsmoment — Some toilet trouble.
#3 Another Transitional Moment — A helpless woman.
#2 Transitional Moment — Recognition.
#1 Livename — How I got my name.
Twined Fragments, Chapter 3: Sex, Love, & Romance
Allison and her co-author Miriam Suzanne share their fragmented memories of encounters and relationships.
A heart-wrenching and heart-warming scene at the funeral of Allison’s best friend.
Love and Disclosure as a Trans Woman
Allison talks about her boyfriend and her struggles with disclosure of her trans status in romantic contexts. (Includes audio.)
Twined Fragments, Chapter 2: Shifting Nouns
Allison and her co-author Miriam Suzanne share their fragmented memories of gender transition.
Wolf in Sheep’s Cloak, a letter
Allison describes her feelings around a transmisogynist hate piece that was published in a journal that handles her own work and that of other transfeminine writers.
Twined Fragments, Chapter 1: Mothers, Fathers, Husbands, Wives
Allison and her co-author Miriam Suzanne share their fragmented memories.
Allison tells about losing her virginity. Includes frank discussion of transactional sex and two not overly graphic sex scenes. Published in SELF Magazine.
Allison discusses her struggle with her weight with another woman.
Requiem for a Friend Not Yet Dead
Allison grieves her friend following a massive stroke. This is the sequel to That Was Yesterday.
Do you ever get weirdly conscious of your labia?
Allison makes fun of her own hyperfemininity and gets rather TMI. A version of this story was featured on the front page of the USA Edition of Huffington Post.
I Am (Not) Native American, and I Have No Right to Wear It
Stories of Allison’s Native American intersections, in her life and on her body.
Allison offers words of comfort and encouragement to Mary, as she faces a daunting choice. Published in Athena Talks. 2017.02.11
Seventeen: Sex and the Trans Girl
On her own at age 17, Allison sleeps with a man for the first time. Includes a discussion of the difference between sexuality and gender identity, and heterosexual ‘flipping’ in trans women. Published in P.S. I Love You. Featured on the Medium front page, and a Medium Editors’ Pick. 2017.02.05
A four-part series spanning Allison’s childhood, plus aftermath. Published in Athena Talks. 2017.01.21 — #5 in Medium Top Stories (2017.01.28–29), twice featured on the Medium front page, and a Medium Editors’ Pick.
I. Girl, Begun: Why my mother raised me as a girl.
II. Girl, Disrupted: How my body betrayed me.
III. Girl, Discontinued: How I was forced from my gender.
IV. Girl, Epilogue: The red-haired, green-eyed girl returns.
Allison’s experience of struggling with gender dysphoria and recovering from long-term, repeated trauma. Published in Athena Talks. A Medium Editors’ Pick. 2017.01.18
Life as a child in a Spanish fishing village, upon returning 51 years later. 2017.01.04
Not a story proper, but interesting nonetheless.
A friend has a massive stroke. 2016.12.14
Allison recounts her rape. Published in This Glorious Mess. A Medium Editors’ Pick. 2016.12.11
What’s it like to be a trans woman?
A small taste of what it’s like to be Allison. Published in Be Yourself. 2016.11.28
How Allison coped during her mid-teens, and an intense experience from that time. Published in Student Voices. 2016.11.05
My Experiences of Transmisogyny
A discussion of what transmisogymy is and how it impacts the lives of trans women; concludes with some of Allison’s experiences in this regard. 2016.11.02
My experience during the Trans Dark Ages
A recounting of Allison’s personal experience transitioning during the 1980s, followed by a more general discussion of the challenges trans women faced during the ‘Trans Dark Ages’. 2016.10.23
Allison relates current trans experience to that of trans women 30 and 50 years ago. Presentation at Gender Odyssey 2016. 2016.08.25
Three lines encapsulating a friend’s gift. Also a meme. 2016.08.14
A poem about Allison’s relationship with her trans body. 2016.07.25
A poem about the loss a trans woman (and perhaps any woman) feels. Published in This Glorious Mess. 2016.07.18
Conflicted Romance, Part 1 — Dating after Transition
Now anatomically female, Allison tries to sort out romance with men after transition. Published in Our Queer Stories. 2016.07.15
Conflicted Romance, Part 2 — Falling in love, and a girl’s First Time
Allison struggles with love and sex as a woman, and with honesty and disclosure as a trans woman. 2016.07.17
As a little girl, Allison brushes past the trans women of 1960s Paris. 2016.07.12
Just a few of her harsh experiences with the medical community, as a trans woman. 2016.07.05
Allison’s surprising (and surprised) emergence from the woodwork into a new age of trans visibility. Published in Our Queer Stories. 2016.06.26
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