Warrior Princess: A U.S. Navy Seal's Journey to Coming Out Transgender

Picking up a new book for the first time may seem intimidating, especially if it has a well-built, muscular, heavily-bearded man dressed in a military uniform on the front cover of it. However, "Warrior Princess," a biography by Kristin Beck and Anne Speckhard, is not a book to be judged by its cover.At first glance, the book is formatted much differently than other biographies. "Warrior Princess" is a chronicle of short stories collected to follow Chris Beck's transition to Kristin Beck, a male-to-female transition.Chris had been a U.S. Navy SEAL, one of the most demanding positions within the military. While in the military he faced 13 different deployments, seven of them in high-combat zones. He fought honorably throughout his time in the Navy SEALs, facing many different injuries and the loss of many men he fought beside while in both Iraq and Afghanistan.During his 20 years in the military, he was married twice and had two children, all the while suppressing his desire to be a woman. His marriage to Shelly, his first wife, brought him his two children, Max and Henry. The marriage failed after Chris was deployed almost constantly for nine years while simultaneously dealing both with his underlying gender identity conflict and the ramifications of war, including post-traumatic stress disorder. His second marriage to his ex-wife Samantha lasted only a few years.The rest of the book describes Chris' transition into Kristin and her experience of coming out as a woman to all of her colleagues at the Department of Defense, as well as all of the people she had met while in the SEALs. The transition was mostly welcomed with words of encouragement. The major consensus at the DOD was that her skill set and intelligence did not change -- she was still the same person with the same capabilities and intellect, just a different way of presenting herself after her transition into her new body.Overall, the book was very strong. It tells the story of Chris' abusive family and sheds some light on the perils of war, such as being down range in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the after-effects of dealing with PTSD. The conclusion brings insight to gender identity, especially for Kristin, who had been dealing with this for more than 30 years. She had suppressed it deep down inside her throughout every event in her life -- through deployment, being state-side, interactions with her family and day-to-day life.Toward the end of the book, Kristin talks about the perils young transgender children face. "I don't deserve the disrespect and ridicule they throw at me. People don't point at wheelchairs and laugh. But they laugh at me," she wrote. "I feel like Quasimodo. I feel extremely sorry for kids growing up with this issue -- girls and boys. The suicide rate among transgender kids is off the charts; it's about 50 percent! It's a shame and I want to reach out to all of them. They shouldn't be bullied; they are people and deserve happiness."Kristin is concerned about the young transgender people in the United States because of the discrimination they face. According to a February 2011 report from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, transgender youth in K-12 schools experience enormous rates of abuse from their classmates -- 78 percent reported that they were harassed, 35 percent reported they were physically assaulted and 12 percent reported sexual violence. This harassment was actually severe enough to lead 15 percent of the transgender youth involved in the study to leave school. Meanwhile, the same study reports that, of the students who experienced harassment or violence in school, 51 percent attempted suicide.Chris hid his female identity completely when he was young, even though he began wanting to be a woman when he was 10 years old. Chris was raised in a family that rejected any notions of gender identity or sexual orientation outside of heterosexuality.Kristin also had to hide her identity while she was in the SEALs. She suppressed all thoughts of wanting to be a woman through the constant pressure of multiple back-to-back deployments and the constant training leading up to deployments. While she was with the SEALs, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy was still in place. The policy meant that LGBT service members could remain in the military, but only if they remained closeted. While Kristin was serving, she hid her identity to uphold the policy. Even though the thoughts of wanting to be a woman would often creep into her mind, she would suppress them, continue to face war zones and drink.This book addresses the extremely important issues that transgender individuals face in day-to-day society and to an event greater extent within the armed forces. "Warrior Princess" sheds light on the chronicled stories of one person, but the empathy and understanding coming from this book is important for anyone facing gender identity. Even more than that, it's important for others who aren't transgender. It's important to see the struggles, the battles and the happiness that comes from transitioning from one gender to another. I rate this book 4.5 stars out of 5.Jakki Thompson is a junior in journalism and mass communications and American ethnic studies. Please send comments to [email protected].*This review was originally printed in "The Collegian" at Kansas State University.*

The subject matter that "Warrior Princess" addresses held the promise of being the "perfect storm" of reading pleasure, focusing on counter terrorism and transgenderism. Did "Warrior Princess" deliver the goods? On some level it did, but not nearly to the extent to which I had expected. While the Kristin Beck story was sometimes exciting, moving, gut wrenching and often painful, it fell short in some important ways.Clearly damaged in early life by victimization, child abuse and the pain of deeply internalized gender dysphoria, Kristin still appears to be guilt ridden about her past marriages and especially for her failure to be a parent and role model for her two sons. Years of trying to please those closest to her and particularly her father, are still evidenced by the searing self-judgment that has often haunted her decision making process. As clearly communicated by her description of events, many of her actions are never good enough and she tends to become her own worst enemy. In these areas she is certainly not alone. Many of us experience regret and second guess ourselves.However, the most important aspect that is missing from "Warrior Princess" is how Kristin is going to deal in real time with her continued anger problem, PTSD, potential suicidality, lack of boundaries and most urgently, her alcohol abuse, the later often both a trigger for anti-social behaviors and a form of self-medication. I don't believe these issues will heal themselves without some deep psychological care and substance abuse treatment, both leading to her taking more personal responsibility for her present state of mind and behavior. I would be willing to bet money that Kristin is currently getting such treatment, although the book contains no mention of this.It was quite disconcerting to read about Kristin's disdain for and irritation with other traumatized vets, simply because they either did not experience the depth of her own hellacious deployments, or because she made the evaluation that they were exaggerating about their combat history, or just plain lying. For Kristin, it would seem that group therapy, which she seems to avoid like the plague, might bring with it the ability to learn empathy for others, and that is precisely what might benefit her at this point. That she literally socks a guy in the mouth when she uncovers his bogus military background is clearly questionable behavior. There obviously are other, less self-destructive ways that healthy women (and men) can deal with their rage. I'm sure that on an intellectual level Kristin knows this, but isn't it about time to walk the walk? To me, this type of behavior is a reflection of early childhood wounding, of which Kristin still appears to have copious amounts to process. One would hope she will address this and maybe talk about it more in a later update.Initially, "Warrior Princess" seemed to be on the right track, but somehow the memoir veered off. Though somewhat lacking in the area of editing and having a certain choppy feeling to some of the chapters, this was a book that was interesting in many respects, but not nearly as much after the half-way point. Enter Dr. Anne Speckhard, Kristin's co-author, who apparently is a genuine expert on the subject of PTSD. However, when Kristin meets Anne and the later begins to relate her view of things, Kristin's story shifts and begins to morph into a lengthy explanation of the transgender phenomenon, obviously meant for the consumption and mollification of the general public. While this section includes data anyone can readily obtain on the Internet, it didn't really add anything to Kristin's tale and appears to be an attempt to try to "normalize," lend some "street cred," and/or wrap everything up in a neat little package. All this, while at the same time providing more length and girth to what would otherwise have been a relatively short book.There are some redundancies afoot and Kristin twice quotes RuPaul as noting that it is most important for us to learn to love and accept ourselves first. I agree, and when that finally happens for Kristin, it probably will be evidenced by her generating more patience and understanding for her less driven, but equally emotionally and/or physically challenged comrades-at-arms and her willingness to delve deeper into her own feelings. Lastly, for her next book, there seems to be much more to say that was not said about her feelings concerning the loss of her family because of her gender transition.

I could relate to Kristin's childhood issues although I struggle with the conclusion. No less, I can acknowledge that Kristin's decision may be right for her.The book was thoroughly enjoyable and I could hardly put it down. On the other hand, the editing was poor and makes Kristin seem somewhat less intellectually sophisticated than it could have. Someone that's capable of providing this level of leadership and technical insight probably can communicate better than this.

This is a bravely written book and gives the reader an insight into the world of someone with gender dysmorphiaWhen this person lives within the macho world of the US Navy SEAL the transition becomes even more traumaticI would recommend this book to anyone wanting some insight into this issue, or who wants to read a story of true courage and braveryI have nothing but admiration for Kristen Beck for sharing her story

Reading Kristin's book has made me appreciate the great importance of cultural competency and respect for fellow human beings who are different from me ethnically, racially, physically, professionally, sexually, socially, religiously, spiritually, economically, culturally, and any other ways -- and especially those who have been marginalized, shunned, and "othered."I admire Kristin Beck for her courage then, and even more, her courage now.I hope Kristin puts out more books about her service, and also about the transitioning into her new life, and perhaps even a novel or two. She could easily author a dozen books that could all become best-sellers. ( I agree with comments made about the need for better editing that others have made. I hope Kristin gets a top notch professional writer to help her with this.)I imagine Kristin as a new "Amazon." The Amazons were a nation-tribe of all-female warriors, who Herodotus placed them in a region in modern Ukraine, where recent archeological finds of females buried in battle gear have confirmed their existence).The role of the female warrior in modern combat has been underestimated, and I am confident Kristin is right that women will become SEALs and female warriors in other areas of service, alongside men.I have never met Kristen Beck, but from her CNN interviews with Anderson Cooper, from her book, and some other sources, I imagine that she is a supremely candid, caring, competent and committed individual . I can't wait for Kristin's next book.

I am not sure to what extent Kristin Beck was satisfied by this rendering of her story. I find the writing botched. The story is unique and well worth looking into. This book doesn't really do it justice, unfortunately.

honest and real...