Lee Penman

I had what most would euphemistically describe as a troubled childhood. I was born in a small fishing village in Scotland to very 'hands-off' parents. I was a loner, a misfit, a tomboy...you name it. I felt no place of belonging or of being loved.

My feeling of being 'different' led me to decades of dealing with anorexia nervosa - not as a way to lose weight but as a way to prevent my body from taking on female characteristics (breasts, hips). This in turn led me to spend 6 weeks in a mental institution at age 17. Sectioned under the mental health act and given one week to live.

After surviving that I had a ten-year successful career as a nationally published music journalist in the UK. Then over 30 years in the fitness industry as a writer- which eventually took me to NYC my home for 22 years as I write this.

In between all these life events I was diagnosed by an eminent psychiatrist in London as suffering from gender dysphoria at 28 but it took me till I was 47 to finally transition and live the life I was always meant to ...as a man,

I currently write in the medical field and am in the early stages of writing my autobiography, suitably titled 'Misfit'