Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue [Hardcover]

Leslie Feinberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 1998

Those who have heard Leslie Feinberg speak in person know how powerful and inspiring s/he can be. In Trans Liberation, Feinberg has gathered a collection of hir speeches on trans liberation and its essential connection to the liberation of all people. This wonderfully immediate, impassioned, and stirring book is for anyone who cares about civil rights and creating a just and equitable society.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Although readers familiar with Feinberg's earlier books will not find much new material here, this collection of hir (this transgendered author's pronoun of choice) speeches, presented with a few essays by other transgendered writers, serves as a good introduction to Feinberg's ideas about the complexities of gender expression and to hir vision for a future "beyond pink or blue." As someone who faces oppression, incomprehension, and violence every day on the basis of hir appearance and the refusal to adhere to a rigid gender designation (Feinberg was once denied emergency medical treatment for endocarditis by a doctor who dismissed hir angrily as "a very troubled person"), Feinberg is in an excellent position to refute the shallow assumptions of the medical establishment and the mainstream media, as well as the more extreme views of the political and religious right. Most compelling are hir arguments on the importance of a broad-based multi-issue coalition among gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people, an alliance that could easily extend to other progressive groups. "Everyone who is under the gun of reaction and economic violence," Feinberg contends, "is a potential ally." --Regina Marler

From Publishers Weekly

This collection of occasionally repetitious talks that Feinberg gave in the spring of 1997 is balanced by the inclusion of interviews with other "transgender warriors." Feinberg (Stone Butch Blues; Transgender Warriors) continues here her explication of prevalent gender "dogma"?of "what it means to be a 'real' woman or a 'real' man"?and assesses medical professionals' treatment of society's "Others." The latter category includes women like herself, and men in the process of evolving alternative gender identities and who thus present a "social contradiction": "I've lived parts of my life as a straight woman, as a butch dyke, as a man?both straight and faggot," says one. Capsule portraits include Latino "lesbian" Michael Hernandez, Stonewall veteran Sylvia Rivera and Craig Hickman, who invokes RuPaul's dictum that "gender is performance." Feinberg highlights outdated legal statutes prohibiting cross-dressing, and the social and economic consequences of their implementation. She also discusses "gender reassignment" surgery, which she says is standard practice in the U.S. for infants born with seemingly ambiguous genitalia, but which she sees as more of a service to worried parents than for the children. Above all, Feinberg seeks a reordering of society, with unity as the ultimate goal, and gives frequent examples of the commonalities that transcend race, social class, physical abilities and gender. The material here was meant to be delivered orally, giving the text an immediacy that makes the message all the more compelling, although readers familiar with Feinberg's earlier writings will find it somewhat repetitive.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (October 2, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807079502
• ISBN-13: 978-0807079508
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #387,156 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #90 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Nonfiction > Transgender

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Opening eyes to different colors of oppression, November 30, 2002

By 

Andrew J. Sydlik "writer and artist" (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue (Paperback)

Although a masculine heterosexual male, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and found it applicable to my own life. Feinberg's examination of the restrictive ideas of sexuality and gender are insightful, and have made me think a lot more about being more open in all areas of my life.
I also think it's important that Feinberg notes that while advocating individuality, s/he also supports unity and the right for everyone's expression-whether they be what is socially acceptable or the most radical, looked-down upon revolutionaries. I also like the fact that she saw this unity as necessary, because anti-transsexual/transgender attitudes are not "special" but related to ALL forms of oppression, including homophobia, racism, sexism, classism, and discrimination based on physical disabilities. Feinberg looks at the manifestations of all this oppression-from gang rape and beatings, to refusal of medical care and cutting of social support institutions-explores how these attitudes developed, and suggests how they can be combated. Overall, a very good read whether you know about transgenderists or transsexuals, are only vaguely familiar with them, or know nothing about them at all, for it is valuable in becoming aware of the myriad forms of oppressive norms, laws, and behaviors that we are daily subjected to.
I also think it's important that s/he recognizes that labels and circumstances do not define who you are, but actions. Feinberg makes a significant and not too frequently voiced claim that Democrats are no better than Republicans-they are basically Republicans in disguise.
Feinberg's writing style is not boring. Even those who do not care much for political or social reading might enjoy this. While many of the issues cover violence and emotionally rending accounts of discrimination, there is also humor in the text, and optimism. Feinberg also frequently uses literary devices such as metaphor, making the text less dry, with such colorful phrases as: "To me, gender is the poetry each of us makes out of the language we are taught."
The brief essays by other people are useful portraits of a diversity of people and the different hardships they endure.
My one complaint is that I wish there was more on what to actually do in order to actively combat these attitudes. While some attention is given to this subject, ideas far overshadow specific suggestions for how to fight discrimination in daily life. I think a more thorough exploration of the moral implications of such issues-and the possible consequences toward social attitudes-would have been a great addition.

17 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top Shelf from a Master, December 1, 1999

By 

Sarah Knight - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue (Paperback)

I've read all of Les's books, this is the best so far. S/he goes beyond gender roles as they are currently constructed because those roles cripple us all in the long run.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in gender.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Celebrate gender diversity!, August 3, 2006

By 

wildflowerboy (Turtle Island, Planet Earth) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue (Paperback)

In this beautifully written and persuasive volume, trans activist Leslie Feinberg articulates a deep and compassionate vision of trans liberation that interconnects issues of trans oppression with issues of poverty, racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism and sexism. (Like the labor saying goes, "An injury to one is an injury to all.") As a working-class, effiminate gay young man living with AIDS, I especially appreciated hir class analysis. I also enjoyed the fact that s/he included essays by other trans activists in this book, making it multi-dimensional. Read this book and encourage your friends and family to do so as well. The fresh perspectives of this volume will enrich your life and better equip you to challenge the forces of inequality, violence and discrimination in our world.