Did you ever wonder if the little sissy boy that lives in your neighborhood was born that way or if his attitude and demeanor was something he picked up along the way? What about if he has ever encountered a sexual experience with a woman? If you have answered yes to any of these questions then you should be reading Mississippi Sissy.
Kevin Sessums is well known as a contributing editor at Allure magazine, and articles that have been written for Vanity Fair. He was also the executive editor for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. His work has also appeared in Elle, Travel + Leisure, Playboy, POZ, Out, and Show People magazines. But nothing compares to the memoir Mississippi Sissy.
Written like a true confession or a diary, the author takes you through the many adventures of his life growing up in the racist Mississippi during the 1950’s outside of Jackson. Not only was there racial prejudice but being gay was definitely nothing that was accepted easily.
Kevin was fortunate to have two caring parents and unfortunate to have lost them at a very young age. His father was a very well-known basketball player for the Knicks. He had the typical male, macho ego that would not allow him to accept his son’s sissy ways, while his mother nurtured his flamboyancy and sometimes encouraged it by allowing him to participate in sewing, wearing a witch costume for Halloween, and talking about the latest gossip coming from Hollywood and Broadway.
Sessum’s life was filled with colorful people that loved him and he shared his love affairs throughout out the book. A few of the most memorable were with the maid, Matty May who he adored and did everything for and with her until one day she quit never to return. Was it something that Kevin said? Was it something that the family had done? What happens to her later in future is shocking and heart touching.
Kevin did experience a crush on a little girl that had an interest in Kevin. She was not like your average little girl and there was much more to her then a cute face. As she and Kevin ventured out to the ball field while their mothers bathed in sun, she gave him his first experience as to what it feels to be with a girl... intimately.
There were times that were also very hard to speak of but Kevin persevered by sharing about the time he was molested by a very respected preacher who stole his innocence and used Kevin’s admiration as a means to getting what he wanted. Kevin also experienced another tragic situation as a youth that was hard to swallow as you read word for word.
Kevin also gave a confession. He and his father did something that was never to be spoken about. If anyone was to find out it would bring humiliation on them both and the entire family. As Sessum confesses to the offense, he makes it clear that it was this incident that made the secret that he share with his father a gulity pleasure.
Although it is not clear as to say whether or not a person is born gay or if it is something that they choose along the way because of an tragic experience in life that made them go in that direction. What you will learn from reading Mississippi is that Kevin enjoyed being who he was and his family accepted it lovingly or with a chaser.
Kevin Sessums is well known as a contributing editor at Allure magazine, and articles that have been written for Vanity Fair. He was also the executive editor for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. His work has also appeared in Elle, Travel + Leisure, Playboy, POZ, Out, and Show People magazines. But nothing compares to the memoir Mississippi Sissy.
Written like a true confession or a diary, the author takes you through the many adventures of his life growing up in the racist Mississippi during the 1950’s outside of Jackson. Not only was there racial prejudice but being gay was definitely nothing that was accepted easily.
Kevin was fortunate to have two caring parents and unfortunate to have lost them at a very young age. His father was a very well-known basketball player for the Knicks. He had the typical male, macho ego that would not allow him to accept his son’s sissy ways, while his mother nurtured his flamboyancy and sometimes encouraged it by allowing him to participate in sewing, wearing a witch costume for Halloween, and talking about the latest gossip coming from Hollywood and Broadway.
Sessum’s life was filled with colorful people that loved him and he shared his love affairs throughout out the book. A few of the most memorable were with the maid, Matty May who he adored and did everything for and with her until one day she quit never to return. Was it something that Kevin said? Was it something that the family had done? What happens to her later in future is shocking and heart touching.
Kevin did experience a crush on a little girl that had an interest in Kevin. She was not like your average little girl and there was much more to her then a cute face. As she and Kevin ventured out to the ball field while their mothers bathed in sun, she gave him his first experience as to what it feels to be with a girl... intimately.
There were times that were also very hard to speak of but Kevin persevered by sharing about the time he was molested by a very respected preacher who stole his innocence and used Kevin’s admiration as a means to getting what he wanted. Kevin also experienced another tragic situation as a youth that was hard to swallow as you read word for word.
Kevin also gave a confession. He and his father did something that was never to be spoken about. If anyone was to find out it would bring humiliation on them both and the entire family. As Sessum confesses to the offense, he makes it clear that it was this incident that made the secret that he share with his father a gulity pleasure.
Although it is not clear as to say whether or not a person is born gay or if it is something that they choose along the way because of an tragic experience in life that made them go in that direction. What you will learn from reading Mississippi is that Kevin enjoyed being who he was and his family accepted it lovingly or with a chaser.
Overall, I thin that Sessum’s lived a full live and he is not ashamed. He has experienced the good and the bad of growing up a sissy; there is nothing to apologize for as he is now living a life that is fulfilling to most of us. His open diary was an the opportunity for him to analyze himself and an opportunity for us to experience through a young boy what it was like to grow up a Mississippi Sissy.
Heather Elitou- Reviewer
No comments:
Post a Comment