book details

Book: Shadowboxer by Paula Sophia

categories: Book, Transgender, Cops, Boxing, Gender Identity, Homophobia, Transphobia, Oklahoma City, LGBT

Paula Sophia

about this book: Shadowboxer depicts a young police officer struggling with a gender identity crisis. Many people have wondered if Shadowboxer is an autobiography, but I must assert that the narrative arc is completely fictional while the emotional and spiritual depth is very true to life, portraying the psychological impact of my own gender confusion earlier in life.

There are many gender transition stories available on the market, but I had not read anything that explores the pain of suppressing one's personal truth before I wrote Shadowboxer. I'm hoping the reader will experience the intense paranoia of a person trying desperately to hide a dark secret and the claustrophobia a person who's world is getting more and more confining. I want the reader to understand the psychology of a person on the verge of acknowledging a desparate truth, a truth that can destroy everything he's ever known and drive away everyone he's ever loved.

Willie Guyles must face this truth at great personal risk while dealing with the external pressures of adjusting to his occupation a police officer in Oklahoma City, a place known for being openly hostile to people who are homosexual and/or do not adhere to the norms of gender identity and expression.

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Visit related websites:

Video 1: Documentary about Paula Sophia Schonauer, a transgender woman living in Oklahoma City, OK
Video 2: 2012 LGBT History Month Gala - Torch Award Presentation to Paula Sophia Schonauer