Review: The Last Time I Wore a Dress

The Last Time I Wore a Dress: A Memoir by Daphne Scholinski, with Jane Meredith Adams

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"Even now, it's always the same question: Why don't you act more like a girl? Makeup, dresses, a little swing in my walk is what people mean. The millennium is upon us and this is the level of discussion." -- The Last Time I Wore a Dress, Prologue

The Last Time I Wore a Dress is author Daphne Scholinski's memoir, recounting her childhood and the three years she spent in mental hospitals for being an "improper female." Physically abused by her father, sexually abused by many, and emotionally starved by her mother, Daphne spiraled out of control. She drank and did drugs, skipped school, and began stealing. She was put in a mental institution at age fifteen and diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder, among other things. She made friends, lost friends, caused some trouble, was on the receiving end of much trouble, and was shuffled from hospital to hospital until she turned eighteen -- all while being taught how to be properly girly.

I could not put this book down. I checked it out from the library yesterday afternoon and finished it last night. Daphne goes back and forth between talking about her time in the different hospitals and her childhood, changing it up about every other chapter. The way she tells her story pulls the reader right in. She opens up her soul to reveal the failings of mental health facilities in the 80s. From privilege points for wearing makeup to being restricted from seeing her best friend because of the possibility of a physical relationship, she shows the truth of what happened in these facilities that so many people are unaware of. And she does it in a beautiful, honest way -- there are no secrets in this book. Everything is laid bare. It's heart-wrenching but so important to realize that this used to be the treatment that girls received for being tomboys -- and that in some cases they are still thought of as somehow wrong.

4/5

DISCLOSURE: I borrowed this book from the library where I work and received no compensation for this review.