Blending Genders: Social Aspects of Cross-Dressing and Sex Changing [Hardcover]

Richard Ekins (Author), David King (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415115515 | ISBN-13: 978-0415115513 | Publication Date: December 20, 1995

Considers the treatment of gender blenders by the medical framework, in literature, the press and telephone sex lines and examines its prominence in recent contemporary cultural and queer theory.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (December 20, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415115515
• ISBN-13: 978-0415115513
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,373,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Professional and scholarly articles are the focus, October 8, 2004

By 

TammyJo Eckhart "TammyJo Eckhart" (Bloomington, Indiana United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Blending Genders: Social Aspects of Cross-Dressing and Sex Changing (Paperback)

This is a more academic collection than many others discussing transgender and transexual issues. Thirteen researchers and activists have contributed to this book. Usually their biases are clearly stated up front and for the most part the evidence is also well presented. As in most academic articles the reader may be surprised by the personal focus and "attacks" in some of the articles -- sadly this is all too common in many of the social and medicial sciences. Not geared toward the average reader; having a good grasp of social or psychological theory plus some experience in college level analysis is practically a must to get the most from this book.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A primarily psychoanalytic and somewhat disappointing book, December 12, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Blending Genders: Social Aspects of Cross-Dressing and Sex Changing (Paperback)

Although it covers a broad spectrum of experience (if from a somewhat limited viewpoint) I expected a lot more from a book that has Stephen Whittleand Janice Raymond contributing adjacent chapters. Thecore of the book is a debate about the historical construct- ion of "transgender" and its legitimacy in modern culture. The arguments against, with the exception of Raymond's revised introduction to the Transsexual Empire (1994), seem to predate the emergence of "transgender" as a term, and thus don't address any of the cultural developments that have sprung up around it. Furthermore, as psychoanalysts predominate, there is an annoying tendency for essays to treat transgendered subjectivity as a source only for raw data, and not a legitimate independent critical voice.