| Title | : | Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1580053084 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781580053082 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 304 |
| Publication | : | First published August 24, 2010 |
| Awards | : | Lambda Literary Award Transgender Nonfiction (Nominee), LGBT Anthology (2011), Publishing Triangle Judges’ Special Award in Nonfiction (2010) |
Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation Reviews
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Thoughts that are not really a review: This book was written in 2010, which was before I was out as trans. When it comes to trans things, seven years simultaneously seems very recent and a long time ago. I find that when I look at trans history, lots of things seems the same (discrimination, struggles with documentation, violence, bathrooms, in-community fighting over terminology) but other things change rapidly... namely, terminology. The 2010 terminology is mostly the same, but there are a few relics that pop up that are not used nowadays. (TG, transgendered, transwoman and transman as one word. Cis actors playing trans get a thanks, which I choose to find hilarious or else I’ll cry).
Considering the fact that this book was written a scant seven years ago, it blows my mind how many people I don’t know. I recognize Bornstein and Serano, of course, but few others—I have a couple of Ryka Aoki’s books. I follow Sassafras Lowry on twitter and they’re in my TBR. Since 2010, Scott Turner Schofield has become one of the few trans men actors on TV.
Most of my favorite trans voices, however, had yet to come out and/or had yet to reach a platform. Can you imagine going back to 2010 and being like JEN RICHARDS AND JANET MOCK AND LAVERNE COX AND YOON HA LEE AND CHARLIE JANE ANDERS AND ALOK VAID-MENON AND JANANI BALASUBRAMANIAN AND ANGELICA ROSS AND LAURA JANE GRACE AND TYLER FORD AND IMOGENE BINNIE AND PEPPERMINT AND FALLON FOX AND KYE ALLUMS AND KAT BLAQUE AND JAZZ JENNINGS AND JACOB TOBIA AND ISIS KING AND LAITH ASHLEY AND MORGAN M PAGE AND BAILEY JAY AND JIZ LEE AND ZACKARY DRUCKER AND RHYS ERNST AND OUR LADY J AND and and...
(Not saying that people from my list weren’t out/had a platform in 2010, I don’t have their Wikipedia pages memorized, lol, but none of them were mentioned in the book that I recall.)
I guess my point is that a trans community has a wealth of history (300 people submitted to this anthology!! 300!!) and simultaneously a huge amount of growth. Can you imagine how my rambling all caps list is going to look seven years from now? The trans community is going to grow and and I’m going to find new favorite voices. This book has simultaneously made me ready to learn more about our past and excited to see our future. -
This is a fierce collection. Some of these authors take back slurs, such as sh*m*le and tr**ny. They are all fearless. They rip apart the gender binary in order to live authentic lives. Their words are shocking, introspective, profoundly honest, and touching. If you want to truly listen to voices from the trans community — across the spectrum — this is a must-read.
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This book is a kind of sequel to Kate Bornstein's Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us, published in 1994. Gender Outlaw, which has become a staple in Queer Studies classrooms, questions the fundamental necessity of dividing the human race into only two genders assumed to be "natural" and mutually exclusive. Gender oppression, in Bornstein's view, is not only a form of inequality imposed on the value-neutral categories of "male" and "female," but is intrinsic to them. As a charismatic speaker and performance artist, Kate Bornstein exemplifies her own argument. She has done a lot to spread the message that every person in every human culture performs a gender role.
S. Bear Bergman, the other editor of the current anthology, complements Bornstein’s voice. While the latter was born in the late 1940s, Bergman belongs to Generation X and identifies as a transman. Bergman's book on gender, Butch Is a Noun (2006) defines a self-respecting masculine identity as chivalrous and fun rather than exploitative. Bergman, like Bornstein, dramatizes his own concepts as a performance artist.
Gender Outlaws resembles a fringe festival, or a series of one-person plays organized into five sections. Most of the pieces are first-person essays on some aspect of transgenderism or gender fluidity. In lieu of a conventional introduction, there is a flirtatious dialogue between the two editors. Bornstein compliments Bergman’s “genderation for its sophistication: “People today are starting from further than I got to when I'd finished writing Gender Outlaw. That's exactly what I hoped to live to see.”
Although most of these pieces describe the disadvantages of being outside the gender binary, the opening article describes the corporate advantages of being fluent in two communication styles. In "Trans-Corporation: A benefit analysis of a transgender man in a corporate setting," CT Whitley says:
"Thanks to my time in the queer spaces and liberal enclaves I've been a part of, I was able to view with fresh eyes the heteronormative world I worked in and its heavily gendered corporate interactions. In a corporate world where the infinite possibilities of sex, gender and sexuality went unnamed and unnoticed, gendered stereotypes about communication quickly proved useful.”
Whitley, who identifies as a female-born masculine-identified person, makes a good case for transgendered employees as mediators in a corporate setting.
Much of this anthology, however, has a more comical and experimental feel. There are several comic strips and poems here, as well as the transcript of a performance piece, Trans as Fuck, by A.P. Andre and Luis Gutierrez Mock(photographs included). "I am Transreal: a reflection on/of Becoming Dragon" is a parallel piece on a “mixed-reality performance” by Micha Cardenas.
The difficulty of finding an appropriate restroom when you’re transgendered is hilariously illustrated in a love letter by StormMiguel Florez, "Dear Austin Special Needs Bathroom." In another comic monologue, "the secret life of my weiner," Cory Schmanke Parrish asks rhetorically: "What does my weiner do on the days i don't wear it?"
There is understated tragedy in this book as well. In "A Slacker and Delinquent in Basketball Shoes," Raquel (Lucas) Platero Mendez addresses a letter to Maria Helena N.G., a 21-year-old who was imprisoned as a "slacker and delinquent" in Spain in 1968 for going to a bar dressed as a man. In "Marsha P. Johnson::Ten Suns the Transformer," Tamiko Beyer commemorates a transwoman who took part in the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969 and whose body was found later in the Hudson River. In "Shot, Stabbed, Choked, Strangled, Broken: A Ritual for November 20th," Roz Kaveney explains the need for a Transgender Day of Remembrance: "The ones who died/The ones we know about/Thirty a year--that's more than two a month."
Time will tell whether this book becomes as influential as Bornstein’s earlier work. In the meanwhile, it is guaranteed to entertain while it deconstructs deeply-held assumptions, including those held by some who describe themselves as transgendered.
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Gender Outlaws is a series of poems, essays, comic strips, etc. which offers insight into a variety of trans* issues. o many different perspectives are presented in this text; however, intersectionality drove many essays in the book. Focusing on the vast space between in the gender binary, these essays are quite unique despite the commonality. Gwendolyn Ann Smith's essay, "We're All Somebody's Freak", resonated with me as encapsulating the primary theme throughout the text. She writes:
"We live in a world of incredible variations, where there are some 200,000 species of moths and butterflies to be found in this planet, where biodiversity is the very thing that keeps the whole complex system in tune. The notion of classifying things and then claiming that only this or that is a proper version of some being is a distinctly human construct, full of arrogance and hubris."
The insistence of the dominant ideology on prescribing specific and set gender roles does violate a basic law of nature: variation is highly beneficial, too much of the same is bad.
My favorite essay, as of this moment, comes from CT Whitley. "Trans-Corporation: A benefit analysis of a transgender man in a corporate setting" tells the story of Whitley's time as a financial officer in New York. You may expect the rest of the essay to talk about the difficulty of working in (what is widely considered as) a conservative, relatively homogeneous environment. Not so. This article is much more interesting and unique. Whitley has "a female past and a male present" providing him with invaluable insight into gendered communication. His ability to manipulate his own style of communication to address particular audiences not only gave him opportunities for promotion, it also put him in a unique position to act as a sort of translator between the biomales and biofemales in his office. I love this.
I want him to come to my classes and give a presentation. Seriously, if anyone reading this knows him or knows someone who knows him or even has a third cousin twice removed who once dated his mother's old tennis instructor, tell him I need him. Typically my philosophizing on gendered communication takes place with Deborah Tannen, who is absolutely fantastic. Reading this essay gave me a whole new perspective on the issue, however, and now I want more.
Okay so back to the book as a whole... I found this to be a wonderfully informative collection; although I will admit that by the end I was reading pretty dang fast, a wee bit ready for the end. And a few of the entries were a bit too figurative for me - but I completely recognize that that is my own issue. Poetry is not my thing and overly figurative poetry is really really not my thing. As with any collection of works by disparate authors, my enjoyment depended on the piece: I absolutely adored about half the entries, was ambivalent about a few, and didn't enjoy a few. Overall though, I would highly recommend it for those I did love. -
A collection of a variety of personal stories and experiences about gender. They vary in subject, genre and quality. Some of the texts left me with nothing, but others, especially Kyle Lukoff's "Taking up Space", touched me and made me think about me own experiences. I wasn't too keen on the editing: the sections written by the editors were in text chat from, which I think is both annoying and old fashioned, and the texts were not, in my opinion, arranged very carefully or with ingenuity. All in all an OK read, it would have gotten two stars if Lukoff's piece hadn't touched me so deeply.
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I love anthologies because they're kind of like internet content - wide sample, varied voice and perspective, if you like something you can dig up more by the author, if you don't like something that's okay because it only lasts a few more pages. Kate Bornstein is obviously a saint whomst we stan, but I am growing to understand that her co-editor, S Bear Bergman is not someone with whose work I vibe endlessly. I have not yet read Gender Outlaw (Bornstein) which I imagine would frame this book a little better, but taken on its own I felt that Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation was a little too broad in scope, or perhaps organized in away that felt... like it was not organized. I think curation and organization are really important, and when you have a such a diverse group of people writing about their personal experiences with something as mercurial as gender, in my opinion, there should be some logical progression of essays within an anthology. Ultimately, there wasn't a thesis that resonated with me. I don't know if that's because this book is already a decade old, and conversation has shifted since then? Or maybe I'm part of the next-next generation with different ideas? Either way, there were a couple essays that stood out, and perhaps someone at a different point in their Gender Exploration(tm) would take heart from this anthology, but I was not moved. Don't get me wrong - so glad it exists. So glad there is enough writing on trans/gender identity at this point that I have the luxury of not connecting with everything in print. Maybe you should read it to see what you think.
If this interests you, I would recommend: The Remedy (ed. Zena Sharman) or Persistence: All Ways Butch & Femme (ed. Ivan Coyote & Zena Sharman) -
Title: Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation
Editors: Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman, both of whose work I respect greatly
Genre: Collections, LGBT.
Finished In: I think I read about half of this book when it first came out. I finished it this week. So I'm going with "years."
Pages: 302
Copyright Date: 2010
Cover: Some nice pop art by
Kimberly Glyder showing a variety of presumably gender variant people.
First line: "S. Bear Bergman: 'Good morning, cutepants.'"
Favorite quote: "Most people strive to find comfort in the stability of their identities. I am most comfortable wading amongst the instabilities and inconsistencies of my gender. When I leave my house for an evening out (out of face) I often pack a change of clothing, full-well knowing that I may not be comfortable presenting as one linear or traditional gender over the entire course of the night." from "Glitter, Glitter, on the Wall, Who's the Queerest of Them All?" by Esme Rodriguez (aka t. Kupin-Escobar) p 167.
Favorite pieces:"Today's New Name May Be Tomorrow's Old," by Sassafras Lowrey, "Transfag Robot Manifesto" by Sam Orchard, "The Manly Art of Pregnancy" by j wallace, and "Cisgender Privilege: On the Privileges of Performing Normative Gender" by Evin Taylor."
Themes and Triggers: Violence, oppression, gender bending, gender changing, sex, relationships, intersectionality.
Best part: I really enjoyed the diversity of pieces, both in terms of the perspectives of the authors, and the mix of poetry, prose, and comics, manifestos, essays...
Worst part: I'm not sure why, since it was several years ago, but the first time I tried to read this book I had a really hard time getting through it. I guess I'm in a different place now?
Imaginary Theme Song: I'm going with
Supermodel by RuPaul because I think that was the first exposure a lot of mainstream folks had to gender variance.
Grade: A. This is a groundbreaking collection for the new century.
Recommended for: If you're curious about gender- and frankly, who isn't? You should read this book.
Related Reads: My Gender Workbook by Kate Bornstein. I've also been hearing great things about The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You by S. Bear Bergman. And what we might call the original edition is Gender Outlaw by Kate Bornstein published in 1995. -
“Let's stop pretending that we have all the answers, because when it comes to gender, none of us is fucking omniscient.”
Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation is a collection of essays, poems, and comics that examine the nature of gender choice, identification, and oppression. It works as a quasi sequel to Burnstien's books released back in 1995, Gender Outlaws. Even though I haven't read the original book I feel that it is almost a necessity to release this, as the world and how people choose to identify and be heard changes in almost every second.
In general this was a thought provoking reading. Some of the essays spoke to me, and I could feel with every molecule the way the author felt. Other's upset me or bored me, and I just skimmed over them a bit and moved on. But overall this collection presents an eye opening and marveling take on the next generation of gender identification. Anyone even remotely interested in gender studies is likely to find this book entertaining and riveting. -
Actual rating 4.75
This. Was. GREAT. This was a brilliant and fantastic collection of poems, comics, short stories, and q&a's covering the world of trans and queer individuals. The rawness of so many of these stories helped me to better empathize with the struggle of the trans/genderqueer communities. And while these were all well written and thought provoking there were a few that didn't stand out to me so I couldn't give this one a full five stars but I was very close. I highly highly recommend this to anyone and everyone looking to read some fantastic non-fiction about all kinds of individuals in the queer community.
Video review -
https://youtu.be/Er7ZXln1Q-M -
This is a genuinely remarkable collection. I don't know how, exactly, they called for submissions, but everyone should use the same technique because the majority of the writing in this book was outstanding. The variety and depth of experience that is captured is beyond impressive - intersections of gender (trans* and otherwise) and religion, class, race, language, country, culture, ability, you name it. Contains poetry, prose, persuasive arguments, eulogies, cartoons: all incredibly effective. I really can't say enough about how much I got out of this book; pick it up!
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Such an important collection of narratives that disrupts the binary at every turn!
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I am giving this a five because it encouraged me to think about gender and gender identities in a number of new ways, and also because it is an unusually well-curated collection of this type.
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While I understand sex and gender as socially constructed labels, I also understand that those labels are made real by their enforcement in dominant culture. Gendered behavior patterns were the key to at least half of miscommunication in my office.
Eye opening
There are plenty of books where I learn new facts. But the ones that are most striking to me are those that present new ways of thinking.
Gender Outlaws is a straightforward collection of essays from talented writers sharing the trans experience(s). The stories are short, yet manage to convey perspectives that I had not given thought to. Their kaleidoscopic nature gives the book a depth greater than its page count. While there are imperfections, they don't really interfere with the book as a whole. It's easy to take what you want from each story and move on.
But the debate doesn’t have to be about who is and is not a woman. These sorts of considerations become irrelevant if we start organizing our events, meetings, and working groups in terms of experience of sexism, rather than identity.
The book was released in 2010, so there have been some good (and bad) developments in acceptance and linguistics since then. However it's still relevant - it is experience after experience, thought process after thought process in digestible form. It's an opportunity to feel empathy, without seeing monolithic groups - while there is no outright conflict between the stories, the writers find different elements interesting to them.
At least one of the stories refers to opening your third eye, so do that and give this book a shot.
We could talk about our sexual orientation in terms of what gender presentations we are attracted to rather than what identities we are attracted to. -
It’s always tough rating anthologies, but this one I can honestly say that I found every entry interesting and engaging. Obviously I enjoyed more than others and I’d totally like to share a couple I thought were just awesome.
Telyn’s Vegan Curry
Made it today and it is awesome!
The Big Reveal
I must of read this one at least 6 times before moving on. Sherilyn Connelly really knows how to tell a story. I’d love to hear an audio telling of this from the author.
She-Male Rising
Another entry that was SO engaging that I read it a few times before moving forward.
Personal story inspired by an entry in this book regarding public restrooms. I think I was 22 when I visited a friend of mine at Western Illinois University who was in his freshman year living in the dorms. I used the bathroom and while I was washing my hands a girl stepped out of the stall behind me and proceeded to wash her hands in the sink next to me. At the moment I was internally freaking out thinking I must have accidentally went in the women’s restroom, but the girl (around my age) just sparked some small talk with me and went about. When returning to my friend’s dorm I mentioned the encounter and he responded with “oh yeah...we have co-ed restrooms” and explained it was a shock at first but you got used to it after a week or so. -
Enjoyed some pieces (especially "Cisgender Privilege: On the Privileges of Performing Normative Gender" by Evin Taylor and "transcension" by Katie Diamond and Johnny Blazes); others, not as much. Still, I appreciate this work and its place in the trans literary canon.
"While I understand sex and gender as socially constructed labels, I also understand that these labels are made real by their enforcement in dominant culture." p. 33 (from "Trans-Corporation: A benefit analysis of a transgender man in a corporate setting" by CT Whitley) -
A variety of texts on transgender experience, mainly narrated from a 1st person perspective. Texts are empowering and more or less healing. Some articles are more enjoyable to read. The book is informative for anyone, both within and without the queer community.
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The sheer diversity of life stories is amazing to me. On top of it, the book is a collection of many different genres, which makes it even more interesting. This is really going push to the reader to expand their horizons.
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If a book makes me cry five times, it gets five stars
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Already 10 years old, but I feel still relevant to the mishmash of gender exploration I see in my world. I crave more books like this, especially from intersex voices.
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Required reading for a class I took. Very interesting! Lots of interesting stories and perspectives.
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Divine. I learned so much.
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Acabé subrayando algunas ideas interesantes, aunque quizá no contiene nada demasiado rompedor que no hayas oído si estás puesto en el tema género, otros tipos de sexualidad, etc. Hay un poco de todo: experiencias, reflexiones y hasta poesías. Una buena lectura, si bien los interludios en forma de teatro/chat no me han gustado demasiado.
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BASED
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This book has so many stories and perspectives while still maintaining the theme. I appreciated the authors taking me into their worlds and I learned so much!
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9 years made a hell of a difference in regards to trans politics and experiences, but this book was a wonderful snapshot of trans lives in 2010. It was remarkably good at showing depths of conversations and multiple viewpoints, while giving voices to a myriad of identities and experiences. A compelling and very thoughtful read!
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I picked up this book thinking it would educate me of the experiences of transgenders. What I got was piles of screams of how they don't fit in--often in a strangely proud voice. After a while, I wasn't even sure if they wanted to be understood. It probably feels good to be outlaws, to get together as social minorities--and explaining things in a way non-trans can understand would deprive them of this curious joy.
(I remember some gay people were once this way. Really, I remember a guy who was afraid of warmly accepted in a social setting because he'd then lose the glory of a victimized minority.)
So I guess I'm looking for a more levelheaded and better organized book that explains, for instance,
* the various types of transgenders (multiple essays in his book say there are many types, not just two--M to F, F to M--so, okay, what are they?)
* their firsthand experiences of the change (even if it's something they chose, I'm sure there were moments they felt confused or even upset)
* their family, friends, coworkers, strangers, etc's responses--and the change in their responses if any
* and more--I guess there may be issues I can't even imagine as yet
Hipster language is optional. (New York and California are not the only place trans people live, right?)
Not rated because 1) I didn't read through 2) I'm not sure how to rate this type of nonfiction (my frustration may largely be due to my ignorance of the topic) -
My rating is based on being a person who's in reading as a form of self-care. It's something I do for myself in my free time to help me relax and recharge. I have wrist tendinitis and it's aggravated by reading. I am doling out precious spoons here. So when I'm reading a collection of personal stories, it's not enough that the content be interesting or enlightening; I want to see great writing too. And it's not there. I'm reading through story after story and thinking "Okay, this person is obviously not a writer." But that's a problem to me, since they did write. It's a book FFS. My Kindle tells me that I have two hours left to finish the entire book. I got 26% in. It's not a long book. I could knock this out. But I think I'm saving tonight's spoons for Harry Potter instead.
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Brilliant reflections, which are of course mixed in with some pretty-good essays. Gender Outlaws is a hipper, queerer take on the heartfelt "gender is a spectrum" essays we've read in the New York Times... not just a discussion of gender complexity, but a joyful and thoughtful and angry and loving celebration of why gender diversity is so damn cool.
It's easy to read in ten minute chunks, which is about the attention span I have available lately. Go ahead and skip the introduction and interludes between S. Bear and Kate... they are written in text-chat format and are quickly becoming dated.
Bonus points for the vegan sweet potato curry recipe, which rescued Sunday night dinner. Because not everyone who's a gender outlaw wants to talk about gender.
