cover image Bert & Lori

Bert & Lori

Robert J. Rowe. Prometheus Books, $39.98 (388pp) ISBN 978-1-57392-149-7

Cross-dressing, the self-identified heterosexual author argues, is a fetish rather than a sign of confusion about one's gender, at least for him. Married twice and a father, art historian Bert Rowe--called Lori by his wife when he dresses up once a month to do the housework and engage in extended sex play-smoothly incorporates extensive research into his personal narrative, going so far as to include an appendix of his analysis of cross-dressing fantasy fiction. Unfortunately, Rowe does not restrain himself from going off on tangents or including large portions of his life experience that bear little direct relation to his cross-dressing. As a result, this book will be of greatest interest to researchers looking for raw material--the life story of a cross-dresser--to incorporate into their own studies. Rowe's wife contributes a less than gracious postscript on being the spouse of a cross-dresser. (July)