The Porchlight Business Book Awards longlist is here!

Horse Barbie: A Memoir

Horse Barbie: A Memoir

By Geena Rocero

"A moving chronicle of trans resilience and joy" ( Vogue ) from one of Out100's Most Impactful and Influential LGBTQ+ Storytellers "Groundbreaking. . . [Rocero] quite literally models what triumph can look like. "-- Glamour (Women of the Year) WINNER OF THEM 'S AWARD FOR LITERATURE - A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Book Riot, Elle, Esquire As a young femme in 1990s Manila, Geena Rocero heard, " Bakla, bakla.

READ FULL DESCRIPTION

Quantity Price Discount
List Price $28.00  
1 - 24 $23.80 15%
25 - 99 $17.36 38%
100 - 249 $16.80 40%
250 - 499 $16.24 42%
500 + $15.96 43%

Quick Quote

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit

Non-returnable discount pricing

$28.00


Book Information

Publisher: Dial Press
Publish Date: 05/30/2023
Pages: 320
ISBN-13: 9780593445884
ISBN-10: 0593445880
Language: English

What We're Saying

June 01, 2023

LGBTQIA+ Pride Month is as much about celebrating and making a very large community visible as it is about protecting human rights. The books we’re highlighting here do both.  READ FULL DESCRIPTION

Full Description

"A moving chronicle of trans resilience and joy" (Vogue) from one of Out100's Most Impactful and Influential LGBTQ+ Storytellers "Groundbreaking . . . [Rocero] quite literally models what triumph can look like."--Glamour (Women of the Year)

WINNER OF THEM'S AWARD FOR LITERATURE - A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Book Riot, Elle, Esquire
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, and 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 and gender marker on her documents. But legal recognition didn't mean safety. In order to survive, Geena went stealth and 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 and for all: radiant, head held high, and unabashedly herself. A dazzling testimony from an icon who sits at the center of transgender history and activism, Horse Barbie is a celebratory and universal story of survival, love, and pure joy.

About the Author

Born and raised in the Philippines, Geena Rocero is an award-winning producer, director, model, public speaker, trans rights advocate, and television host, and was named one of Gold House's 2020 #A100 most impactful Asians and Pacific Islanders.

Learn More

We have updated our privacy policy. Click here to read our full policy.