Andrew's review of Gender Outlaw (original) (raw)

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Andrew's Reviews > Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us

Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us
by

It's weird how fast the culture changes, sometimes. When I was a kid in small-town Iowa in the '90s, the tranny joke was simply part of the repertoire of playground banter among boys. To a certain extent, so was casual homophobia -- plenty of things were called gay -- but I can say with certainty that that always made me a bit uncomfortable. My parents had gay friends, and they seemed alright. But trans folks -- not that we'd ever heard the word "trans" yet -- were a species apart, to be made fun of, completely without consequence.

I can look back on that with serious shame, and now I can call actual, real-life, flesh-and-blood trans men and women my friends (an adulthood split between Seattle and Bangkok will enable that).

But many people don't have that. Someone like Kate Bornstein could help bridge the gap. Why? Because Kate Bornstein writes like a friendly, witty trans grandma, a refreshing change from the po-faced struggle sessions (hey there, Tumblr) and mush-mouthed theory (hey there, Judith Butler) that mark so much of the gender justice and trans rights public discourse in America. She cares about being funny, entertaining, playful, and even seductive (if you've watched Contrapoints on Youtube, you get the idea) just as much as she cares about the salient points of trans experience (whereby my main objective as Mr. Cishet over here is to not be a dick -- something I think we can all manage).

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Reading Progress

March, 2019 –Started Reading

March, 2019 –Finished Reading

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