Shorn: Toys to Men

Dennis Milam Bensie
Coffeetown Press (2011)
ISBN 9781603810920
Reviewed by Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views (12/10)

 

Author Dennis Bensie has written on a personal topic that many of us know nothing about.  Dennis Bensie came from a dysfunctional family where his father had one train of thought- boys will act like boys. His father was neither affectionate nor loving toward Dennis or his mother. His mother, on the other hand, loved her son but would not stand up against her husband. The only person that didn’t judge him for his behavior and interests was his grandmother.

When he was in his early school years, teachers would comment that he would rather play with the girls than participate in sports or be with boys. “He ran like a girl, talked like a girl and acted like a girl.” He was teased unmercifully at school and he hated gym class. His father always called him a sissy. So Dennis started doing things in secret- always hiding in his room and began his infatuation playing with dolls. He was fascinated with their hair and would style them for hours on end until he couldn’t stand it anymore and cut it.

Little did he know at the time that he had a fetish with hair and, as he grew, he would often pay gay hustlers to cut their hair. When he went to college, he thought things would be better because no one knew his secret and they wouldn’t call him names. He could be normal. However, in college he remembered being molested at a young age and tried to tell his parents he was gay. His father said “You can’t know that; you have never been on a date with a girl.” But in his heart he knew something wasn’t right. It was also during his time in college he learned secret places to have clandestine meetings with men who gave him what he wanted, but not the love and attention he so desperately needed.

After working at the Intiman Theater as a Wardrobe Manager, Dennis got the chance for an apprenticeship in theatrical wig making in Los Angeles. What Dennis realized is that his obsession was an addiction. He knew it was unhealthy, as most addicts do, but he just didn’t know if he could give it up. While in Los Angeles, Dennis found the need to go into therapy again. Would he succeed or be a failure all his life?

“Shorn: Toys to Men” isn’t about being a failure; it’s about not having emotional or psychological needs met when in childhood that has a dramatic impact on one’s personality and behavior. The author has done an excellent job in letting reader’s get inside his thought process and how he perceives the world. His soul was lost and yet in spite of everything he encountered and searched for, he found his way back.

Make comment on weblog

FTC Disclosure