The Transvestite Memoirs of the Abbe de Choisy

Memoirs of the courtier and abbot whose cross-dressing brought him into conflict with French society. By a whim of his mother, Francois Timoleon de Choisy—better known as the Abbé de Choisy—was dressed as a girl until the age of 18. After a short spell in male attire he became, by all accounts, the classic transvestite—a male heterosexual who never attempted to disguise his biological sex while going about in public in full female attire. Choisy's fascination with feminine accoutrements made him something of an expert on women's fashions, and prominent society women even brought their daughters to him for advice. His increasingly extravagant toilettes and exhibitionist behavior eventually earned him a public rebuke and exile from Paris. This study recounts the scandalous and entertaining escapades for which Choisy is best known today in a light, intimate, and accessible style. These authentic memoirs provide a firsthand account of manners and morals in late 17th-century society as well as remarkably exact portraits of his contemporaries, constituting a remarkable document in the history of transvestism.