Transgender Voices: Beyond Women and Men [Paperback]

Lori B. Girshick (Author), Jamison Green (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2009 | ISBN-10: 1584656832 | ISBN-13: 978-1584656838 | Edition: 1

In this extraordinary book, based on 150 in-depth interviews, Lori B. Girshick, a sociologist and social justice activist, brings together the voices of sex- and gender-diverse people who speak with absolute candor about their lives. Girshick presents transpeople speaking in their own voices about identity, coming out, passing, sexual orientation, relationship negotiations and the dynamics of attraction, homophobia (including internalized fears), and bullying. She exposes the guilt and the shame that "gender police" use in their attempts to exert control and points out the many ways transpeople are discriminated against in daily life, from filling out identification documents to gender-segregated bathrooms.

By showing us a variety of descriptions of diverse real lives and providing a thorough exploration of the embodied experiences of gender variant people, Girshick demonstrates that there is nothing inherently binary about gender, and that the way each of us experiences our own gender is, in fact, normal and natural.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...gives us perspective into the long history of gender variance and its natural place in human cultures..."--Feminist Review

"Sociologist and activist Lori B. Girshick provides a literature review of the most cutting-edge gender theory, gives us perspective into the long history of gender variance and its natural place in human cultures and among animals of other species, and ends with advocating the adoption of a radically inclusive alternative model of gender and sexuality. The book's greatest strength, however, lies in its extensive quoting of the in-depth interviews with 150 sex- and gender-variant people that formed the basis of Girshick's research. Their candid and sometimes heart-rending accounts reveal diverse experiences of self-definition and coming out, of evolving relationships and sexual orientations, and of all-too-frequent encounters with discrimination and violence. These stories, and Girshick's insightful analysis, clearly show how normal and natural gender variance is - and how much harm is caused by cultural assumptions that it is not. Transgender Voices points a way forward toward a more inclusive and liberated world for us all."--Feminist Review

"... interesting and important book . . . highly recommended for readers at all levels."--Choice

Review

"Lori Girshick's helpful, provocative book is a real contribution to the science and sociology of transgender people. Her many luminous interviews allow trans people to speak for themselves; her uncanny and cutting-edge criticism provides both the theory and the compassion in order to further illuminate these voices. Transgender Voices speaks with wisdom, complexity, and insight on a topic key to our understanding of men, women, and everyone else." (Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of She's Not There and I'm Looking Through You )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: UPNE; 1 edition (June 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584656832
• ISBN-13: 978-1584656838
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #774,566 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Profound Insights September 5, 2008

By Jamie Nettles

Format:Hardcover

The individuals that Lori quotes obviously have suffered much, longed for acceptance and struggled with their own understanding of gender. Some are sad, some defiant, some exuberant. Each voice tells a different story. From stone butch lesbian to genderqueer to intersex individuals to crossdressers to transitioning MTF and FTM to non-transition MTF and FTM to transmen to femme lesbian, butch, Dyke, soft butch, every variation and more has a chance to speak. They tell of the twists and turns that the developing fetus can take where perhaps the brain and the body don't quite follow the same path, or perhaps the body only only strolls along a path, not quite sure if it wants this one or that one. They tell of birth and doctors who are overly fast at making a decision without consulting that person whom the decision would affect the most. They tell of children praying for God to correct his mistake and give them the bodies that fit their minds. They tell of parents, teachers and peers mostly hostile to their true self, policing the gender binary, enforcing a rigid interpretation and what is allowable and what is not. Then they talk of puberty, with it rush of hormones and changes, which mostly just makes things much, much worse. They talk of family, jobs, friends, bathrooms, laws, love and intimacy. They talk of their own self-doubt, of their own sense of identity. And each one has their own story and their own path.

And through it all Lori organizes and comments and analyzes, always with sympathy and insight and wisdom. So in the end you see how society fears transgressions against gender norms and fights to maintain the status quo, how society uses ridicule, sarcasm, hate, bullying, put-downs, cruel humor and fear to enforce the gender binary, but how really the rigid gender binary doesn't make any sense biologically or culturally, how the rigid gender binary is a denial of our true selves.

Lori talks about how transitioning isn't really about transition from being one thing to being another thing, it is really about changing society's perceptions so that society can perceive our true form.

And Lori shows us a vision of a society where we don't have to fear the unknown, where a person can be free to be attracted to that kind of person they are attracted to. Where they can express whatever form their gender identity takes, whether it is highly masculine, moderately, slightly, not at all **and** at the same time highly feminine, moderately, slightly, not at all.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great outlook of the Trans world July 16, 2008

By Carrie Cotten

Format:Hardcover

Lori Girshick has done a terrific research job and has explained a very dificult topic in a very simple, sensitive and easy to understand manner. She starts from the very basic definitions and goes all the way to the most intricate aspects of being transgender. Her interviews are very thorough and goes a long length describing the hard and difficult world of transgender people both male-to-female and female-to-male. And by using 150 subjects, she was careful to include everything under the transgender umbrella. This book does not miss any detail and is what I consider a very complete account of everything transgender.

Skilled writers like Ms. Girshick are needed to add light and educate the world about these very and easily misunderstood concepts.

Caroline (Carrie) Cotten

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Transgender Voices May 30, 2008

By Bonnie De Clark

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

It has been argued that the transexual is the last minorityand it's a statement that's hard to refute. As Lori B. Girshick, in her brilliant book "Transgender Voices: Beyong Women & Men",points out to be fully human means accepting both your female and male natures.

Ms. Girshick asks many questions in this book such as what is the relationship between gender identity and sexual orientation? Many of the answers were an identification of androgeneny. But as Girshicks point out, this terms has multiple means.

Gircheck is not the first to address this subject of gender idenity and sex reassignment. Dr. Renee Richards, pediatric opthalmologist and tennis coach to Martina Navratilova wrote about beginning life as Richard Raskind in "Second Serve". Famed trael writer, now retired, Jan Morris wrote about her transformation from James to Jan in "Conundrum".

Still, the subject of the transgener is one that is urually not addressed because it remains uncomfortable for many. Yet anyone who has been rejected by family or friends for any reaon will relate to the pain that endures.

Ms. Girshick's profound book deserves wide distribution and study especially by those who usually avoid this senstitive subject. The book has a few faults but too minor to mention. I hope the book will be read and more reviews posted.