PDF Gender Outlaw On Men Women and the Rest of Us Kate Bornstein Books

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Download As PDF : Gender Outlaw On Men Women and the Rest of Us Kate Bornstein Books

“I know I’m not a man . . . and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m probably not a woman, either. . . . . The trouble is, we’re living in a world that insists we be one or the other.” With these words, Kate Bornstein ushers readers on a funny, fearless, and wonderfully scenic journey across the terrains of gender and identity. On one level, Gender Outlaw details Bornstein’s transformation from heterosexual male to lesbian woman, from a one-time IBM salesperson to a playwright and performance artist. But this particular coming-of-age story is also a provocative investigation into our notions of male and female, from a self-described nonbinary transfeminine diesel femme dyke who never stops questioning our cultural assumptions.

Gender Outlaw was decades ahead of its time when it was first published in 1994. Now, some twenty-odd years later, this book stands as both a classic and a still-revolutionary work—one that continues to push us gently but profoundly to the furthest borders of the gender frontier. 
 
With a new introduction

PDF Gender Outlaw On Men Women and the Rest of Us Kate Bornstein Books

"Fantastic overview of the issues of gender euphoria and the extraordinary complexity of gender and sexual identity and preferential expression of the same. Updated recently and VERY thought provoking. Must read in the current social climate in re gender and sexual isses."

Product details Paperback 320 pages Publisher Vintage; Revised, Updated edition (November 15, 2016) Language English ISBN-10 1101973242

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Gender Outlaw On Men Women and the Rest of Us Kate Bornstein Books Reviews :

Gender Outlaw On Men Women and the Rest of Us Kate Bornstein Books Reviews

• Although not particularly fond of the manner, and style of writing, once the reader gets past the avant garde presentation, she will be fascinated with the advancement of a transgender identity presented at its early stages of development. Bornstein uses her life story as a way of showing her growing discontent with the present theories of transsexual dilemma and gender dysphoria, to carve out a niche that subscribes to the theory that simply because a person wants to express her (or his) gender identity doesn't necessarily mean that they want, or should change their sex; although she is careful to point out that for her, the change of sex, was appropriate. Bornstein, an actor by education and trade, transitioned, not fully understanding the dysfunctional feelings with gender, but arrives at the conclusion, she is a product of the cultural binary gender system, and says instead of being genderless she would rather poke fun at it, and refers to this outward display of cross dressing as 'camp' but stops short of saying it should be abolished, or that if was no longer the norm, or that gender roles would be non-existent. Transgendered people, Bornstein says are not necessarily gay, lesbian or bisexual, but may be, depending upon their own diverse individual sexual preference, but do share the same stigma as gay people. Transgendered, she concludes are the rule breakers, crossing the cultural barriers established by society. Bornstein uses her writing to challenge the LGB and now T community to become more adhesive, and only then will it allow a true revolution of sex and gender to take place. Bornstein uses her art form to advance her cause, to change the attitudes and cultural norms which confine gender to a standard that is hard to live under. The last part of her book is a play she had written obscuring the gender lines, in an effort to expose the fallacy of the binary Eurocentric gender system, and suggest a change to a more cohesive continuum of gender, full of individual self expression. The book is recommended for anyone who has a serious interest in transgender evolution and understanding cultural pressures that keep it in place.
• Kate Bornstein has written a fabulous book about what it means to be differently gendered. Her experience of being male, being female, being something else entirely, has lead her to ask the question "What is gender, anyway?" This book is the beginning of an answer to that question.
  Boornstein does not pretend to know the answers to the questions she raises. For the most part, the critical act in this book is raising the questions at all. And even when she has worked out an answer for herself, she is extremely clear (with herself and with the reader) that the boundaries of that answer pretty much end where her body ends and the rest of the world begins.
  Her experience acts as a prism through which she views everything else about the world (about theatre, about "the lesbian community", about straight marriage, about loving, about medicine and therapy). Her sideways view of things that had previously seemed solid to me helped me re-orient my vision of the world as it is, and as it might be.
  Come to this book with an open mind, and reading it will open your mind even farther. It is absolutely not required that you agree with everything she has to say, that you interpret her observations the way she does, that you experience the world the way she does. Whatever answers you find for yourself, traveling with this author through her world of questions is a ride which should not be missed.
• Fantastic overview of the issues of gender euphoria and the extraordinary complexity of gender and sexual identity and preferential expression of the same. Updated recently and VERY thought provoking. Must read in the current social climate in re gender and sexual isses.
• The subtitle of the book is, "on Men, Women and the Rest of Us." Bernstein's book is not just about a man becoming a woman, but it puts into doubt the whole sex/gender system. Bernstein does not use the term, "biological sex," but refers to all gender identity as "gender" biology does not have any primacy. She pokes holes in the binary gender system by questioning why one has to be one or the other of these, or even remain stable in one gender. This "fluidity" is different from ambiguity, in which it is not clear at a given moment which gender one is. This book is liberating for those who feel they might not fit in no matter what kind of operation they had.
  
  As the New York Times says, instead of being hostile about gender liberation, Bornstein is sweet, sincere, lucid. Her sometimes anthropological point of view is useful in lifting up age-old cultural assumptions about gender and orientations in a section she jocularly calls "The Rulebook." Gender can be assigned, attributed, there can be gender roles or an experienced identity. Bernstein suggests fifteen other models in addition to the usual gay, straight or bi- orientations. The list is fascinating, including multiple partners models, differently-abled bodies models, reproductive models, models based on sex act preference...leading up to the heading of sex without gender.
  
  After setting up the rules, Bornstein enthusiastically dismantles them. Are there solid definitions of male and female? In addition to the usual two sets of chromosomes there are five other sets. If gender equals what hormones you have, you could buy your gender at any pharmacy. In addition, she tells us several times that in some other cultures it is normal for someone born one gender to assume the gender of the other. She mentions more than once that a gender transformation often accompanies the process of becoming a tribal healer or shaman.
  
  Bornstein namedrops many people of transgressive gender that you can look up - many of whom have written books. In addition, she provides a fascinating bibliography. Her questions are possibly the most interesting part of the book. "Do you `feel like a man'? Do you `feel like a woman'?" she asks. "What does a man feel like? What does a woman feel like?"
  
  There are many other considerations like gender and politics, oppression, etc., but the list is too long for a short review. There is a play included which I did not think was very good although parts were interesting. Nevertheless, I would enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone interested in transgressive gender issues.