I Want What I Want by Geoff Brown was first published in 1966 by Great Britain's
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Limited. A film by the same title, the script of which was written by Gillian
Freeman, stars Anne Heywood.
The novel's tagline suggests its content: "Roy was different from most boys--he was a girl. . . ."
I Want What I Want can be read online at [1].
April Ashley
One of Brown's inspirations for the protagonist of his novel may have been English model April
Ashley, whose autobiography, April Ashley's Odyssey (1982) (ISBN 0-224-01849-3), co-written by April Ashley and
Duncan Fallowell and published in London by Jonathan Cape, recounts her experience
after she was outed as a transsexual.
Prior to being outed, April had worked in Paris as a female impersonator at Le Carrousel nightclub, where she earned the money to pay for her sex-reassignment
surgery.
April's autobiography can be read online at [2].
Confused Terminology
In the late 1960's, transsexuality was not widely understood, and as I Know What I Want shows in the use of the terms
that were employed to describe this condition, transsexuality was confused with male
homosexuality, with transsexuals being referred to as "sexual inverts," "extreme
homosexuals" or "transvestites."
Although Dr. Harry Benjamin used the term "transsexual" as early as 1952, it did not come into widespread use until the
publication of his groundbreaking treatise on the subject, The Transsexual Phenomenon (1962).
(The Transsexual Phenomenon can be read online at [3].
Film
| I Want What I Want |
I Want What I Want (film) |
| Directed by |
John Dexter |
| Written by |
Geoff Brown (novel)
Gillian Freeman |
| Starring |
Anne Heywood
Harry Andrews
Jill Bennett |
| Release date(s) |
1972 |
| IMDb profile |
The film version of I Want What I Want (1972) starred Anne Heywood as the protagonist,
Roy/Wendy; Harry Andrews as Roy's father; Jill
Bennett as Margaret Stevenson; Paul Rogers as Mr. Waites; Michael Coles as Frank; Sheila Reid as June; and
Virginia Stride as Shirley.
Other cast members include Daphne Anderson, John Baskcomb, and Paul Prescott. The
film, which is also known as I Want What I Want--To Be a Woman, was produced by Raymond
Stross and directed by John Dexter.
I Want What I Want helped to pave the way for the release of many other transvestite and transsexual films or films
that contain scenes or references to transsexuality.
External links
- [4] This web page lists 101
films featuring transsexual plots, themes, or references.
- [5] This is an
introduction to the novel, I Want What I Want, to which it povides a link to the online text.
- [6] Read the online text of
the novel, I Want What I Want, at this site.
- I Want What I Want at the
Internet Movie Database
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