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Summary: Rave Reviews for MY GENDER WORKBOOK
Review: "If you think you don't have issues to resolve about gender and sexuality, you'll think otherwise by the time you finish reading Kate Bornstein's latest volume, MY GENDER WORKBOOK...the outspoken transsexual lesbian rebel disarms the reader with mock aptitude tests, crossword puzzles, and third grade-style textbook talk. But the subject at hand is significantly more adult." -- Time Out New York"My Gender Workbook is a smart, sassy, and interactive journey of rethinking the limits and breaking down the restraints of the binary man/woman gender system." -- Chicago Outlines "Only the most indifferent reader can get out of MY GENDER WORKBOOK unaltered -- a proof positive of the fluidity of identities Bornstein lives to (dis)embody." -- The Boston Book Review "A complex, yet easy to work with book on a complicated subject." -- San Francisco Bay Times "Bornstein, a gifted performer, entertaining author, and magnificent at self-promotion, does provide a poignant look at the ghetto society has prepared for those who question gender." -- Baltimore Alternative "MY GENDER WORKBOOK really does slowly, gently, personably and comically, but thoroughly and devastatingly pick apart close to everything I'd thought about gender..." -- Bert Archer, The Toronto Star "...the most complete guide to living with or without a gender to have been written to date..." -- The Seattle Gay News "MY GENDER WORKBOOK is deceptively simple, hands-on, and entertaining." -- Au Courant "Bornstein's new book is a playful look at assumptions, identity and power." -- Washington Blade "A thorough, supportive, and much needed nuts-and-bolt guide to untangling the quandary of culture, desire, and chromosomes...an extraordinarily insightful and personalized journey through gender." -- New York Blade "...laced with witticism." -- Out Magazine "...a cozy bedside book about gender transgression..." -- Girlfriends "With exercises and though-provoking narratives, Kate Bornstein gently prods readers to take a fresh look at their own gender with an open mind and a sense of humor." -- Gay People's Chronicle "An interesting self-introspective trip (laced with her insightful wisdom and acerbic wit, as well as comic illustrations by 'Hot Head Paisan' artist Dianne DiMassa) that provides us with tips on getting in touch with ourselves and finding out exactly what it is we want that self to be." -- Etc. "...valuable to anyone questionning the rules of gender that attempt to keep us all trapped in neat little boxes..." -- Southern Voice "Bornstein's book offers a taste of her deliciousyly sly sense of humor, while at the same time providing the reader a key to unlocking his or her own personal mysteries." -- Creative Loafing "This will be a huge hit...a highly accessible, hands-on (gloved or ungloved)guide to having your own unique gender. I'll eat my boa if I'm wrong on this one." -- Feminist Bookstore News "Bornstein takes a fun approach to the subject of gender, gently pushing her main ideas." - Xtra West "MY GENDER WORKBOOK is a giddy, book-length, Cosmpolitan kind of questionnaire that asks what it means to be a man, woman, or neither." -- Philadelphia City Paper "The most exciting and difficult aspect of this book is the way it never relents. It asks a question, the another, then another, answering questions with more questions." -- Hungry Mind Review "The celebrated 'gender outlaw' tells how to loosen up and enjoy your male side, female side, and all the sides in between." -- The Advocate
Rating: 
Summary: incredible! mind-blowing!
Review: a book for all genders, orientations, and adjectives. i've yet to show this book to someone who wasnt impressed. kate talks theory for those of us that would like a little, adds a dash of cosmology, and then gets into the true, errr, meat of exploring gender with fun exercizes and quizzes. hilarious, irrreverent, and ever-relevant it explores gender while maintaining the upbeat aesthetics of a true gender artist. whether your interest is academic or personal, it's a must read for _anyone_ interested in questions of gender.
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Summary: Kate Bornstein's Book Will Change How You Look at Gender
Review: Are you a real man? A real woman? If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, why do you sometimes feel like you're from another galaxy? MY GENDER WORKBOOK How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You... Or Something Else Entirely Kate Bornstein Kate Bornstein, a most eloquently outspoken and candidly humorous transsexual rebel, considers (her?)self to be neither a man nor a woman. This brave attitude, well-known in many cultures throughout history, is here newly expressed at the turn of the millennium, begging the question: How on earth do you live without a gender? Audiences all over the country who have heard Kate lecture or perform in her solo shows are eager for Kate to expand on the answer she routinely tosses off with a grin, "I look for where gender is, then I go someplace else." MY GENDER WORKBOOK (Routledge; January 21, 1998;) takes off from that premise and winds up being the most complete guide to living with or without gender to have been written to date, putting books like Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, squarely where they belong: on Uranus. Bornstein, a cutting-edge performance artist and acclaimed writer (Gender Outlaw, Nearly Roadkill), has put together a deceptively simple, hands-on, and always entertaining guide to thinking about your own unique gender expression. Using a workbook format (she contends you have to do the work), Bornstein shows us that there are not simply two genders performed in today's world, but countless genders lumped under the two-gender framework. Whether she's using the USFDA's food-group triangle to explain gender, or quoting the words of more than 300 gender transgressors, Bornstein's first and foremost concern is putting truly accessible information on gender into the hands of readers. "The demand for rigid gender expression is sitting out there on every sidewalk," says Bornstein. "I want to help people learn how to watch out for it and how to scrape it off their shoes once they've stepped in it." Bornstein certainly knows that gender -- and, especially, transgender -- is not an easy concept to grasp. Her story gives readers a vision of a life that might be a tad more complex than usual. Kate was born Al Bornstein, graduated from Brown, took a turn at an acting career, was married (three times), joined and left the Church of Scientology, then made a series of dramatic life decisions to move from man to woman to neither. Kate's is a poignant story of self- discovery and rethinking of gender. Today, she manages to prove that there is more to life than male or female, gay or straight, or, for that matter anything else in between or outside of those binary constructs. While Bornstein warns that this may not be an easy journey (since you many need to go up against some painful truths about your own life in order to get to and appreciate the fun stuff), her down-home, amusing soup-to-nuts approach is a welcome collection of advice for anyone who wants to know more about how to best express themselves through a gender...any gender at all. Are you ready to boldly go where few people have gone before? MY GENDER WORKBOOK is the guidebook for what may very well be a most delightful personal journey. May you discover yourself the best man, woman -- or something else entirely -- that you can be. # # # About the Author Kate Bornstein, the acclaimed author of Gender Outlaw and co-author of the on-line novel Nearly Roadkill (with Caitlan Sullivan), is a nationally-known playwright and performance artist. She has written, produced, and toured North America and Europe with three solo shows: Virtually Yours: A Game For Solo-Performer with Audience, The Opposite Sex Is Neither, and Cut'n'Paste. Kate has, as might be expected, a somewhat eclectic resume: minister and executive in the Church of Scientology, salesperson for IBM, lecturer at major universities, writer for such publications as The New York Times Magazine, professional dominatrix, and phone sex operator. Kate has been interviewed or profiled by such media outlets as Donahue, Geraldo, NPR's Fresh Air, Mondo 2000, The New York Times, and The Boston Globe. She currently resides in New York City, where she is at work on a new play which will premiere in the spring of 1998. About the Illustrator Diane DiMassa is the creator of the internationally-acclaimed, banned-in-Canada comic zine, HotHead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist. She is a New England-based cartoonist, illustrator, and maker of art in the tradition of Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Mad magazine. DiMassa's work has appeared in group shows and solo shows throughout North America. MY GENDER WORKBOOK By Kate Bornstein Illustrated by Diane DiMassa Routledge; January 21, 1998; 0-415-91673-9; A Trade Paperback Original
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Summary: Mind-opening book for all
Review: I have always considered myself an open-minded, unassuming person, but after reading the first chapter of this book, I have come to realize that there is a world out there that I never conceived: A world of In-The-Middle. Bornstein shares hir unique gender enlightenment with us through this workbook that could be used for personal exploration or as a college textbook. One thing is for certain: Bornstein will challenge your notions about what "male" and "female" are!
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Summary: Not impressive--too much theory, too much hokeyness
Review: I'm not as impressed as I'd hoped to be by this book--it's playful but obnoxiously heavily theory-oriented. Bornstein spends forever discussing the time ze spends on MOOs rather than talking about how gender is done in the real world. And then ze starts to talk about gender and science, and it's clear she's never even written to any of the scientists she's caricaturing. Instead, we get told that there's the "bad" scientists (conventional ones), and the "exciting, clever, good" scientists (chaos theorists). 'Scuse me? There's a hell of a lot of interesting, gender-conformity-challenging science being done in biology labs. And not much science about gender at all in chaos theory centers. The author doesn't know what is meant by chaos theory, except maybe having watched Jurassic Park. Perhaps Bornstein should spend a little time offline in the real world.
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Summary: The Real Thing
Review: If you have ever wondered what a real man, a real woman, or a real something in-between is, this is a must read. "My Gender Workbook" has interactive exercises, advice, and guidance on gender, and provokes the reader to question the whole idea of gender as an absolute. We all have elements of each gender, and Bornstein goes to the point of arguing that there are many genders, not just two, and it is possible to lack gender entirely. As a transgendered person myself, I found the book enlightening and helpful in my own discovery of gender, and who I really am. In fact, this is one of the most useful books I have found on gender identity, and I refer back to it often.
Rating:
Summary: The Real Thing
Review: If you have ever wondered what a real man, a real woman, or a real something in-between is, this is a must read. "My Gender Workbook" has interactive exercises, advice, and guidance on gender, and provokes the reader to question the whole idea of gender as an absolute. We all have elements of each gender, and Bornstein goes to the point of arguing that there are many genders, not just two, and it is possible to lack gender entirely. As a transgendered person myself, I found the book enlightening and helpful in my own discovery of gender, and who I really am. In fact, this is one of the most useful books I have found on gender identity, and I refer back to it often.
Rating:
Summary: The Real Thing
Review: If you have ever wondered what a real man, a real woman, or a real something in-between is, this is a must read. "My Gender Workbook" has interactive exercises, advice, and guidance on gender, and provokes the reader to question the whole idea of gender as an absolute. We all have elements of each gender, and Bornstein goes to the point of arguing that there are many genders, not just two, and it is possible to lack gender entirely. As a transgendered person myself, I found the book enlightening and helpful in my own discovery of gender, and who I really am. In fact, this is one of the most useful books I have found on gender identity, and I refer back to it often.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book but could be better
Review: The layout of this book -- as a workbook with exercises you can do as you move through it -- makes this a very interesting way to examine gender issues in your own life. However I found two problems with the book. First, not all of the sections flow smoothly and the stream of consciousness moments can be distracting and patronizing on a few occassions. Secondly, I think the definition used of "gender" is far to broad to really give the book a solid foundation to build on. You'll find yourself agreeing or disagreeing with much of the book -- isn't that the appropriate thing for a book of self-growth?
Rating:
Summary: Good book but could be better
Review: The layout of this book -- as a workbook with exercises you can do as you move through it -- makes this a very interesting way to examine gender issues in your own life. However I found two problems with the book. First, not all of the sections flow smoothly and the stream of consciousness moments can be distracting and patronizing on a few occassions. Secondly, I think the definition used of "gender" is far to broad to really give the book a solid foundation to build on. You'll find yourself agreeing or disagreeing with much of the book -- isn't that the appropriate thing for a book of self-growth?
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