Paula Stone Williams’ memoir offers a look at gender roles in society, from one who’s been on both sides TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER | BOOKWORM SEZbookwormsez@yahoo.com As a Woman: What I Learned about Power, Sex, and the Patriarchy After I Transitioned by Paula Stone Williams; c.2021; Atria Books $27; 256 pages.
There are two sides to every story. In politics, there’s left and right; in fairy tales, it’s good or evil. Guilty or innocent in court, salty or spicy at mealtime, dog or cat among friends, heads or tails.
Sometimes you choose and, at other times, like in As a Woman by Paula Stone Williams, you can see both sides. From the time he was very small, Paul Williams thought that he “should have been born a girl.” He wasn’t bitter about it —