"There’s no news like hearing irrefutable proof that you’re not the sole cause of your parents’ woes, your father’s drinking, your unshakable feeling that you’re not put together quite right and finding out the problem all along was your father’s unrequited yearning for angora." —Noelle Howey from Dress Codes Throughout her childhood in suburban Ohio, Noelle struggled to gain love and affection from her distant father. In compensating for her father’s brusqueness, Noelle idolized her nurturing tomboy mother and her conservative grandma who tried to turn her into “a little lady.” At age 14, Noelle’s mom told her the family secret straight out: “Dad likes to wear women’s clothes.” As Noelle copes with a turbulent adolescence, further confused by the male and female role models she had as a girl, her father begins to metamorphose into the loving parent she had always longed for—only now outfitted in pedal pushers and pink lipstick. Could becoming a woman make her father a completely different person? With edgy humor, courage, and remarkable sensitivity, Noelle Howey challenges all of our beliefs in what constitutes gender and a “normal” family.

Dress Codes: Of Three Girlhoods--My Mother's, My Father's, and Mine

Biographies & Memoirs

Howey, Noelle

Arts & Literature

Picador

An intensely felt and extraordinary family memoir by Noelle Howey, who characterizes her touching and confusing sexual journey into womanhood as influenced by her relationship with her transgendered father and tomboy mother.
Throughout her childhood in suburban Ohio, Noelle struggled to gain love and affection from her distant father. In compensating for her father's brusqueness, Noelle idolized her nurturing tomboy mother and her conservative grandma who tried to turn her into "a little lady." At age fourteen, Noelle's mom told her the family secret: "Dad likes to wear women's clothes." As Noelle copes with a turbulent adolescence, her father begins to metamorphose into the loving parent she had always longed for―only now outfitted in pedal pushers and pink lipstick.
With edgy humor, courage, and remarkable sensitivity, Noelle Howey challenges all of our beliefs in what constitutes gender and a "normal" family.

Dress Codes: Of Three Girlhoods---My Mother's, My Father's, and Mine

"There’s no news like hearing irrefutable proof that you’re not the sole cause of your parents'’ woes, your father's drinking, your unshakable feeling that you’re not put together quite right and finding out the problem all along was your father's unrequited yearning for angora." --Noelle Howey from Dress Codes Throughout her childhood in suburban Ohio, Noelle struggled to gain love and affection from her distant father. In compensating for her father’s brusqueness, Noelle idolized her nurturing tomboy mother and her conservative grandma who tried to turn her into "a little lady." At age 14, Noelle's mom told her the family secret straight out: "Dad likes to wear women’s clothes." As Noelle copes with a turbulent adolescence, further confused by the male and female role models she had as a girl, her father begins to metamorphose into the loving parent she had always longed for--only now outfitted in pedal pushers and pink lipstick. Could becoming a woman make her father a completely different person? With edgy humor, courage, and remarkable sensitivity, Noelle Howey challenges all of our beliefs in what constitutes gender and a "normal" family.

"I have a dad who is a woman, much like me, but with better legs." Growing up, Noelle Howey hardly spoke to her distant, bad-tempered father. "After coming home, he'd mix up a twelve-consonant vodka and orange juice and then sleep, watch TV, drink, and sleep again. Occasionally, he'd shake up the routine by eating a salad." Instead Noelle drew all her comfort from her wonderful, tomboyish mother. Then, when she reached 14, Noelle finally discovered her father's secret: Dick Howey liked to wear women's clothing. In fact, he wanted to be a woman. For years Dick had hidden his true nature behind a brusque, masculine persona. With his secret out, everything changed. Noelle, used to being ignored, now has to deal with a father who wants to be involved in her life. Hard enough to get used to, but even worse, because of her father's hormone treatment, they're going through adolescence together. With wit, honesty, hard-learned wisdom, and absolutely no self-pity, Noelle Howey tells her family's extraordinary story and explores that most universal of truths: that you cannot enjoy love and happiness until you accept who you really are.

Dress Codes : Of 3 Girlhoods - My Mother'S, My Father's and Mine

Virago Press Ltd.

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Books by Howey, Noelle

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Howey, Noelle. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Dress Codes: Of Three Girlhoods--My Mother's, My Father's, and Mine

Dress Codes: Of Three Girlhoods---My Mother's, My Father's, and Mine

Dress Codes: Of Three Girlhoods--My Mother's, My Father's, and Mine

Dress Codes : Of 3 Girlhoods - My Mother'S, My Father's and Mine