A book by a transgender woman from Summerland retells her story of finding what she calls “gender joy.”
On Feb. 3, Dee McWatters held a launch party for her book, “Sorry I Was Such a D!ck When I Had One!” The event was held at Cannery Brewing in Penticton.
McWatters’ book was released in October. On Feb. 3, it was on the shelves of Coles in Penticton and Mosaic Books in Kelowna, and will soon be available at Indigo in Kelowna. It is available in paperback and ebook format.
McWatters is also working to release an audiobook version.
The book has been a six-year project for McWatters.
“It’s not a guide for anything,” she said. “It’s my life, the way I see it. There’s no one way to be transgender.
She added that while she did not feel as if she had been born in the wrong body, she sensed something was off. As a teen, she wondered what her life would be like if gender did not matter.
She later experimented with cross-dressing.
Later, on Sept. 4, 2017, she came out to herself, and in January 2018, she came out publicly.
“I had a truth that refused to be hidden,” she said.
Earlier, when she first came out publicly, she described herself as “gender fluid,” sometimes identifying as male and at other times identifying as female. Later, this term lost its meaning, she said earlier..
In 2021, she underwent gender reassignment surgery at GRS Montreal.
She also changed her name from her birth name of Darren to Darrien — keeping much of the name but adding the letter I to it. She said the I stands for identity.