Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: Highly recommended. Patrick Califia writes:
"What would it be like to grow up in a society where gender was truly consensual? If the rite of passage was to name your own gender at adolescence, or upon your transition into adulthood? What would it be like to walk down the street, go to work, or attend a party and take it for granted that the gender of the people you met would not be the first thing you ascertained about them? ... If these questions frighten, offend, or annoy you, you are one of the people who stand to benefit from transactivism - although it probably doesn't feel like your benefactor. And if these questions amuse, engage, and challenge you, you're probably a transactivist already. Welcome to the genderevolution."

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: Highly recommended. Patrick Califia writes:
"What would it be like to grow up in a society where gender was truly consensual? If the rite of passage was to name your own gender at adolescence, or upon your transition into adulthood? What would it be like to walk down the street, go to work, or attend a party and take it for granted that the gender of the people you met would not be the first thing you ascertained about them? ... If these questions frighten, offend, or annoy you, you are one of the people who stand to benefit from transactivism - although it probably doesn't feel like your benefactor. And if these questions amuse, engage, and challenge you, you're probably a transactivist already. Welcome to the genderevolution."

Rating:
Summary: Readily accessible history and analysis
Review: Most of you may know Pat Califia as a SM writer -- both fiction and non-fiction. This is one of Califia's non-fiction works. In 8 chapters, Califia tackles the public lives of several transgendered folks in the twentieth century. In no way does Califia endorse their views, in fact she points out that many of them are hardly gender radicals because they embrace very traditional views of gender roles. In many ways, this was quite sad to read. If you know that Califia has now become Patrick Califia you can read this book as both a historical and psychological analysis of the issue of transgenderism as well as a historical look at Califia's own personal journey. This book is not for those of you with very conservative views of sexuality or gender roles so if you buy it, it will make your upset but now you are warned.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent look at the public issues surrounding the topic
Review: Pat Califia looks at several transgendered individuals, organizations, and those who both oppose and support them in this book. For those who are not familiar with the political, social and public issues involved in what you can see almost every week on Jerry Springer, this is a good introduction to publications and attitudes of 20th century America. I found Califia's analysis and presentations sharp and challenging -- especially since she has become Patrick Califia and he has written his own books. There were occassions where there needed to be more citations for the statements and facts which Califia makes but overall this is an excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Evaluation
Review: Pat does a really great job at evaluating the literature written by and about the transsexual over the years.

She starts with the well-known early transfolk who pushed the limits so that everyone else would have an easier time, such as Christine Jorgenson, Jan Morris, and Mario Martino - and highlights the differences between each autobiography. She heads through material written by the first doctors involved, and manages to show how it's both forward-looking and stereotype-promoting at the same time.

Of course, she can't leave out the backlash against transsexuality promoted by people such as Janice Raymond - and deals with them sharply, in the process, showing her own evolution from being in the trans-hating group, to being supportive. She even gives reasons why the trans-hating feminists may be undermining their own movement.

She then looks at how gay historians have downplayed the role of trans folk, and then hits the next generation of biographies, such as Renee Richards and Mark Rees, and shows how they are written differently, emphasising points not covered in the first wave.

Her attempt to deal with literature on the partners of the transgendered suffers from the lack of literature in this area - forcing her to deal with a book on the partners of transvestites. She might have done better to just avoid this, since it doesn't really match the rest of her book.

Then current and future activism is covered, mentioning reactions to tragedies such as Brandon Teena and Tyra Hunter. Her look into the future only handles Kate Bornstein's Gender Outlaw, however, and doesn't get a true variety of literature as in other chapters.

Overall, a high quality book, worth reading, with a few hiccups in it.

Rating:
Summary: "Sex Changes" is the best book on TG to date.
Review: The reviewer who claimed that Califia thinks that transexuals should not exist or change their bodies clearly did not read the book. Not only does she protect transexuals, transgenders and gender misfits in general, she praises transsexual Kate Bornstien lavishly, calling her brave, beautiful and brilliant.

What Califia does is question the binary categorization of gender, given that humanity is expressed on a spectrum of gender expression, not two distinct categories. Why do people feel the need to pathologize those that don't cleanly fit? Is changing our bodies giving in or resisting the binary gender discourse? In her introduction she makes clear that only the individual can decide what gender path to take, and that claims of objectivity in gender research or theory should be viewed skeptically. She ultimately upholds personal choice of gender expression, which is varied, not one-or-the-other, and attacks those who judge, medicalize, and pathologize those of! us who refuse to conform to one box or the other. Her chapter on the gender "scientists" of John Hopkins medical school was brilliant.

Excellent work, as usual, from Pat Califia.

Rating:
Summary: Anaylsis of the Binary Gender System and Who Benefits
Review: The reviewer who claimed that Califia thinks that transexuals should not exist or change their bodies clearly did not read the book. Not only does she protect transexuals, transgenders and gender misfits in general, she praises transsexual Kate Bornstien lavishly, calling her brave, beautiful and brilliant.

What Califia does is question the binary categorization of gender, given that humanity is expressed on a spectrum of gender expression, not two distinct categories. Why do people feel the need to pathologize those that don't cleanly fit? Is changing our bodies giving in or resisting the binary gender discourse? In her introduction she makes clear that only the individual can decide what gender path to take, and that claims of objectivity in gender research or theory should be viewed skeptically. She ultimately upholds personal choice of gender expression, which is varied, not one-or-the-other, and attacks those who judge, medicalize, and pathologize those of! us who refuse to conform to one box or the other. Her chapter on the gender "scientists" of John Hopkins medical school was brilliant.

Excellent work, as usual, from Pat Califia.

Rating:
Summary: Honest Social History
Review: This is a great book on transsexuality, and to a lesser extent, on transgenderism. While Califia spends (understandably) a lot of time on the loudest and most transgressive transsexuals, she gives everyone a fair hearing in a way that most reviews of the subject don't. I did not feel she had an axe to grind in any direction, but was motivated by honesty and a fierce protectiveness.This is the first book on gender politics which I felt I could give to anyone of fair mind who was new to the subject