Horse Barbie A Memoir 2nd Edition Geena Rocero by Geena Rocero 9780593445891, 0593445899 instant download after payment.

“Rocero forged a path for herself where one hadn’t previously existed & in Horse Barbie gives us such a warm & relatable story of strength & spirit.”— Elle, Best Memoirs of 2023 (So Far) 

As a young femme in 1990s Manila, Geena Rocero heard, “Bakla, bakla!,” a taunt aimed at her feminine sway, whenever she left the tiny universe of her eskinita. Eventually, she found her place in trans pageants, the Philippines’ informal national sport. When her competitors mocked her as a “horse Barbie” due to her statuesque physique, tumbling hair, long neck, & dark skin, she leaned into the epithet. By seventeen, she was the Philippines’ highest-earning trans pageant queen. 

A year later, Geena moved to the United States where she could change her name & gender marker on her documents. But legal recognition didn’t mean safety. In order to survive, Geena went stealth & hid her trans identity, gaining one type of freedom at the expense of another. For a while, it worked. She became an in-demand model. But as her star rose, her sense of self eroded. She craved acceptance as her authentic self yet had to remain vigilant in order to protect her dream career. The high-stakes double life finally forced Geena to decide herself if she wanted to reclaim the power of Horse Barbie once & for all: radiant, head held high, & unabashedly herself. 

A dazzling testimony from an icon who sits at the center of transgender history & activism, Horse Barbie is a celebratory & universal story of survival, love, & pure joy.

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Born & raised in the Philippines, Geena Rocero is an award-winning producer, director, model, public speaker, trans rights advocate, & television host, & was named one of Gold House’s 2020 #A100 most impactful Asians & Pacific Islanders. Her directorial debut Caretakers (PBS), a docuseries about Filipinos in care work, received four Emmy nominations