Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls

Book excerpt: It is estimated that three to five percent of the adult male population of the United States feels the need, at least occasionally, to dress in women's clothing. Judging from enrollment at her academy, Miss Vera would say that figure is low. Veronica Vera founded Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls in 1992 and started a gender revolution. Working from the pink palace of the Academy's intimate Manhattan campus, she has helped hundreds of students embrace and master Venus Envy through her expert instruction in the arts of dressing up, making up, going out, and acting like a lady. In her new book, she shares her priceless wisdom with the world. With sparkling wit and dazzling insight, Miss V gives us the 411 on body hair, foundation garments, make-up, and dressing, as well as offering invaluable advice on Creating a Herstory (finding the real life story of the femmeself within) speech, manners, walking in high heels, and--that biggest step of all--going out in the real world all dressed up. Amply illustrated and filled with the real stories of students and graduates, Miss Vera's Finishing School also offers a fascinating history of how the Academy came to be, as well as Miss Vera's own incisive gender manifesto. "As we step boldly toward the new millennium, many more of us will be doing it in high heels," says Veronica Vera. In Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls, she proves conclusively that, after a long day in wingtips, there's nothing like slipping into a pair of spiked heels.