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genderqueer

May 27, 2003 02:37 PM posted by april : track it (0)

Genderqueer: Voices from Beyondthe Sexual Binary (edited by Joan Nestle, Riki
Wilchins, and Clare Howell)

From Revo: A friend with whom I’d talked extensively about gender and queerness issues sent me this book, recommended by an intersexed, transgendered friend of his who knew the editor.

No group challenges conventional definitions of genderso much as those who are neither male nor female. This book features personal accounts from a variety of people that could be considered "genderqueer" in some manner – male-to-female and female-to-male transsexuals and transgendered people, crossdressers, high femmes, and intersexed people, including Sylvia
Rivera, best known for her role in the Stonewall Riots of 1969. Editor Riki Wilchins explores the theoretical side of genderqueerness in her iconoclastic essays, also challenging the validity of the polite dissociation of gender and sexuality in feminist circles.

It's not an easy book. Reading it challenges one’s beliefs about gender in ways that are really not discussed even in the feminist community, and Wilchins
in particular has an aggressive style that might be off-putting to some people. However, for anyone interested in learning and thinking more about transgender issues, queer issues, or the meaning of gender and sexuality, this is an excellent read.

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