Digital Transgender Archive

Interview with Amanda Beech

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Amanda Beech is a 48-year-old woman who was assigned male at birth. Beech went to school in the little town of Ellendale, Minnesota and lived in Bath, Minnesota. From a young age friends and family picked up on her feminine expressions. She always knew she was a woman and tried to get others to understand. She was a cheerleader in the 1940s in school. During World War II she remembers her family having to ration goods such as sugar, gasoline, and canned goods. She always liked boys for their protective and comforting nature. She went to Augsburg in Minneapolis, Minnesota staying in a dormitory, but she eventually left college. She was bullied by boys in college who called her names such as cocksucker. She became a hairdresser with upper class clientele for 35-40 years. She began going back to school in the evenings to pursue liberal arts. She was with a man named Ronnie for 7 years who was a G.I. that bought a little house in St. Louis Park where the two of them lived together for a while. She’s been on hormones, and she had transition related surgery in 1969 and had her first orgasm after surgery with a man. She then had surgery again to widen her opening for sex but it seemed to have closed up a bit after a year and a half. She also had electrolysis. After legally changing her name to Amanda she began to dress full time as a woman. Since then she has been able to be more herself and to enjoy herself more.

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