Deirdre+N.+McCloskey


 * Deirdre N. McCloskey **

**Deirdre N. McCloskey: ** She was originally born as Donald N. McCloskey on September 11, 1942. McCloskey studied and trained at Harvard for as an Economist (“True Knowledge”). She is most known for being an Economics professor at the University of Illinois at Ch icago but is also involved with the Communication, History, and English departments. Began teaching Economics at University of Chicago Illinois at Chicago in 1968, as a graduate student, and continued to do so until 1979. She went back to school to study rhetoric, feminism, and to better her understanding on the history and philosophy of economics. McCloskey has authored fourteen books and edited seven, putting her name on a total of twenty-one published books. To add to that impressive resume she also has published an astonishing 360 articles, all of which were on economic theory, economic history, philosophy, rhetoric, feminism, ethics, and law. The books that she was most known for include //The Bourgeois Virtues, The Rhetoric of Economics//, and //Crossing: A Memoir//. She has had many notable accomplishments, as recent as receiving two honorary doctorates since 2007 (Macdonald). For thirty years Donald McCloskey was happily married to his wife Joanne McCloskey who worked as a professor of Nursing at the University of Iowa. They had two children, and on the surface seemed to be perfect. However, at the age of 53, the same age McCloskey’s father passed away, he decided to go through a life changing process. McCloskey decided to follow through with a lifelong fantasy of his and actually become a woman. The complete process took roughly three years, and the last step took place in 1995 when Donald officially became Deirdre N. McCloskey. In many articles and speeches Deirdre talks about how her kids have not talked to her since, and how her wife/partner immediately left and divorced her (McCloskey 1999). The desire to become a woman was not just an overnight thing for Deirdre. An Excerpt from Deirdre McCloskey's //Crossing, A Memoir shows us a quote from Deirdre that reads, As Donald aged 13 or 14 waited for sleep in his bed," she writes, referring to her selves in the third person, "he would fantasize about two things. Please, God, please....Tomorrow when I wake up: I won't stutter....And I'll be a girl. A girl....”(//Reason, 1999//)// Donald did not just wish to become a girl, but also took action at a young age. Deirdre talks about how at the age of 11 he, at the time, began to cross dress, and this continued up until the sex change. Because of having two children and a wife, this was obviously toned down for thirty years but the desire was always still there. Then in 1992 when him and his wife’s youngest daughter went off to college the cross dressing resurfaced itself, and became a much more frequent thing. Then Donald would often borrow his wife’s clothes and wear them around and out (McCloskey 1999). This clearly did not go well with Joanne, and led to their divorce immediately after Donald’s decision to become Deirdre. Not only did Deirdre not receive support from her loving wife of thirty years, but her two children have not spoken to her since. Dispute many attempts to contact them they still will show their once father the time of day.
 * Career: **
 * Personal Life: **
 * Living Life as a Lie: **

Deirdre knew that the life of a cross gender was not going to be easy, and in many interviews she goes into detail of this. In Crossing, A Memoir Deirdre talks about how difficult the decision was, and how she knew it would cause much controversy. She was fully expecting to lose her job, family, and take a lot of heat from the public and students. However, it was something that needed to be done she said. She claims she used to lay awake in bed at night and feel as if something was missing and something was wrong. Shortly after the sex change was complete she did have a little regret and remorse, but when she went to bed one night, and was actually able to fall asleep feeling rght she knew that she had made the right decision for her life. Surprisingly enough the school where she was working at during this time was very supportive, and did not let her go. Instead they helped her through the process and were very supportive. Deirdre was very open with her students and colleagues and told them upfront what was about to be taking place. She explained that they were going to see many changes in her physical and mental appearance. She was going to become more feminine on both the in and outside. She was going to be much less intense and much less demanding. She claimed that she was going to be more understanding and personable with everyone around her (Wilson, 1996). Currently Deidre McCloskey still works at the University and still covers topics such as Feminism, Economics, and other Social Sciences. She has still been publishing many articles and books, and is still considered to be one of the most prestigious members of her field. One major change in her life is that she has used her change into womanhood as a way to talk to people and educate them on the topic. McCloskey shares the information that the sex change from woman to man and man to woman are pretty much equal. She talks to people about the difficulties that come along with becoming cross gender, and also the reasons why some people do it. She really harps on the point that like most things in life it was not a choice to be this way. She did not one day flip a switch in her head and say, “I think I want to become a woman today.” Instead it was something she has lived and struggled with for her entire life, and she had to do what was right for her. Just a few weeks ago McCloskey made her way down to the University of Illinois to talk to students in the Human Sexuality course to give them a better understanding of the cross gender people.
 * Life as a Transsexual: [[image:tranny_symbol.jpg width="228" height="278" align="right"]] **
 * Where is She Now?: **

** References: ** Macdonald, SB. (n.d.). Biography. Retrieved from []

McCloskey, DN. (1999). //Deirdre n. mccloskey//. Retrieved from http://www.queertheory.com/histories/m/mccloskey_deirdr

Reason,. (1999, December). From donald to deirdre: how a man became a woman — and what it says about identity. //Prudentia//, Retrieved from http://www.deirdremccloskey.com/gender/dee.php

// True knowledge //. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.trueknowledge.com/q/when's_deirdre_mccloskey's_birthday

Wilson, RW. (1996, February 16). "leading economist stuns field by deciding to become a woman". //The Chronicle of Higher Education//, Retrieved from http://www.deirdremccloskey.com/gender/edu.php