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

Throughout her childhood in suburban Ohio, Noelle struggled to gain loveand affection from her distant father. In compensating for her father'sbrusqueness, Noelle idolized her nurturing tomboy mother and herconservative grandma who tried to turn her into a little lady. At age14, Noelle's mom let her buy a pair of Guess jeans that she had beencoveting. Then, staring straight at the car windshield on the way homefrom the mall, her mom finally blurted out the family secret: Dad likesto wear women's clothes.As Noelle copes with a turbulent adolescence, further confused by themale and female role models she had as a girl, her father begins tometamorphose into the loving parent she had always longed for -- onlynow outfitted with pedal pushers and pink lipstick. Could becoming awoman make her father a completely different person?With edgy humor, courage, and remarkable sensitivity, Noelle Howeychallenges all of our beliefs in what constitutes gender and a normalfamily.