"My Face for the World to See" (full title: My Face for the World to See: The Diaries, Letters, and Drawings of Candy Darling, Andy Warhol Superstar) is the published diaries of Warhol Superstar Candy Darling.
The book is made up of several edited diary entries written at different times and in different journals throughout Darling's short life. It ranges from entries from Darling's childhood as a young boy, "James Slattery" in Massapequa Park, Long Island, to later entries towards the end of her life. The book also includes various letters and unprofessional sketches drawn by Darling, who was known to be interested in drawing from childhood. Most pages reflect Darling's desire for appreciation, love, respect, and her longing to belong. Also, the book's pages tell of her dreams, ambitions and wishes; including super-stardom, to be a complete woman, and to marry.
Darling's diary entries also reveal her confusion about her sexuality and gender identity (as she was a pre-operative transsexual). Her loneliness, desperation, and ultimate frustration at society's refusal to accept her and its rejection of who she truly was are described as well. This is evident in that Candy Darling even went so far as to state that she may actually be mistaken about her female gender identity only in an attempt to banish her loneliness and receive the acceptance and love she craved. She was well aware that her situation rendered it impossible for her to find a normal partner who would love her as a woman. Darling's life is summarised in a short poem at the end of the book titled "Stardusk".
This memoir documents the fact that Darling was a talent who could not be fully appreciated by the culture of the day. Although many transgendered individuals have achieved some success today, American singer and actor RuPaul, Israeli Pop star Dana International and South Korean pop singer Harisu, there is as yet no major transsexual or transgendered star in the film industry.
Famous quotes containing the words face and/or world:
“Kelly: I washed my face clean the morning I woke up in your bedroom.
Griff: You got morals in my bedroom?
Kelly: You had nothing to do with it. Nothing! It was your mirror.
Griff: You must have taken a long look.
Kelly: It was the longest look of my life. I saw a broken-down piece of machinery. Nothing but the buck, the bed, and the bottle for the rest of my life.”
—Samuel Fuller (b. 1911)
“Assumptions of male superiority are as widespread and deep rooted and every bit as crippling to the woman as the assumptions of white supremacy are to the Negro.... this is no more a man’s world than it is a white world.”
—Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, African American civil rights organization. SNCC Position Paper (Women in the Movement)