Product Description

Part coming-of-age story, part mind-altering manifesto on gender and sexuality, coming directly to you from the life experiences of a transsexual woman, Gender Outlaw breaks all the rules and leaves the reader forever changed.26 black-and-white illustrations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39576 in Books
• Published on: 1995-04-25
• Released on: 1995-04-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780679757016
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Library Journal
Bornstein considers herself a gender outlaw because she breaks the laws of nature. A former heterosexual male and now a lesbian woman, Bay Area Reporter writer, and actor who has appeared on talk shows, she has completed the transsexual process, including surgery. As she considers her workplace the theater, about a third of this autobiographical work is devoted to queer theater, including her play, Hidden: A Gender. The black-and-white photos were not seen but are apparently a significant part of this informative and humorous book.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
A thoughtful challenge to gender ideology that continually asks difficult questions about identity, orientation, and desire. Bornstein cleverly incorporates cultural criticism, dramatic writing, and autobiography to make her point that gender (which she distinguishes from sex) is a cultural rather than a natural phenomenon. The chapters range from ``fashion tips'' on her writing style to dialogue between herself and another about the ``nuts and bolts'' of the surgical process of a gender change (which she has undergone). Confronting transgenderism and transgendered people is not easy for many individuals, but Bornstein does it in a way that sparks debate without putting her audience on the defensive. She suggests that ``the culture may not simply be creating roles for naturally-gendered people, the culture may in fact be creating the gendered people.'' Her discussion of the ``parts'' of gender is based on respected sources and includes analyses of gender assignment, identity, and roles. Things get mixed up, according to Bornstein, because ``sexual orientation/preference is based in this culture solely on the gender of one's partner of choice,'' in effect confusing orientation and preference. Seeing queer theater as a place in which gender ambiguity and fluidity can and should be explored, she includes in the book her play, Hidden: A Gender. Bornstein uses the term ``gender defenders'' to describe those who work hard to maintain the current rigid system of gender, and she claims that her ``people'' (i.e., the transgendered) are just beginning to challenge the system and to demand acceptance and understanding. Bornstein's witty style, personal approach, and frankness open doors to questioning gender assumptions and boundaries. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
"Gender Outlaw is a radical document. . .." -- The Nation

"Gender Outlaw is an eye-opening book, combining the emotional force of a coming-of-age story with a savvy cultural critique.." -- Out

"a pastiche of oddments--dreams and memories, influences and quotations, fresh ideas and numerous received wisdoms. . .." -- Richard McCann, author of Ghost Letters

Gender Outlaw is an eye-opening book, combining the emotional force of a coming-of-age story with a savvy cultural critique. -- Out
[Kate Borstein] offers us an abundance of questions--thoughtful, disarming, revelatory questions. Gender Outlaw is an invitation to dialogue, and it's a conversation well worth having. -- Ms.
Gender Outlaw is a radical document. . . -- The Nation
a pastiche of oddments--dreams and memories, influences and quotations, fresh ideas and numerous received wisdoms. . . -- Richard McCann, author of Ghost Letters
In an age of often hostilely expressed gender politics, Ms. Bornstein gently leads audiences through her own psychic labyrinth without antagonism. She is sweet, sincere, lucid and sometimes as corny as Kansas in August. She really should have her own television show. -- New York Times
...it is a pastiche of oddments--dreams and memories, influences and quotations, fresh ideas and numerous received wisdoms.. -- The Nation
To help us rise above the Geraldo mentality of genital fixation, Bornstein has avoided writing a traditional, tell-all autobiography. Instead, her book is a stream-of consciousness essay designed to make us think for ourselves. -- The Boston Phoenix
Bornstein's revolutionary ideas about gender and sexuality are authentic precisely because they come from one who's been there. . .By the time readers finish Gender Outlaw, they may indeed wonder why we live in a world with only two genders, let alone why we place so much importance one which one someone happens to be. -- San Francisco Bay Guardian

Gender Outlaw is an eye-opening book, combining the emotional force of a coming-of-age story with a savvy cultural critique. -- Out
[Kate Borstein] offers us an abundance of questions--thoughtful, disarming, revelatory questions. Gender Outlaw is an invitation to dialogue, and its a conversation well worth having. -- Ms.
Gender Outlaw is a radical document. . . -- The Nation
a pastiche of oddments--dreams and memories, influences and quotations, fresh ideas and numerous received wisdoms. . . -- Richard McCann, author of Ghost Letters
In an age of often hostilely expressed gender politics, Ms. Bornstein gently leads audiences through her own psychic labyrinth without antagonism. She is sweet, sincere, lucid and sometimes as corny as Kansas in August. She really should have her own television show. -- New York Times
...it is a pastiche of oddments--dreams and memories, influences and quotations, fresh ideas and numerous received wisdoms.. -- The Nation
To help us rise above the Geraldo mentality of genital fixation, Bornstein has avoided writing a traditional, tell-all autobiography. Instead, her book is a stream-of consciousness essay designed to make us think for ourselves. -- The Boston Phoenix
Bornsteins revolutionary ideas about gender and sexuality are authentic precisely because they come from one whos been there. . .By the time readers finish Gender Outlaw, they may indeed wonder why we live in a world with only two genders, let alone why we place so much importance one which one someone happens to be. -- San Francisco Bay Guardian

Customer Reviews

In Your Face
I've read many books on feminism and gender, most of the Ms magazine ilk, and all of one mind, spouting the message that William can have a doll, and Sally can be a doctor when she grows up. Mainstream feminism is carrying this message into the 21st century almost unchanged from the late 1960's. This type of book always leaves me feeling a little unsatisfied.

Kate Bornstein has written and book that attacks gender roles at the root, and not the flower. She is a male to female transsexual, in that she was identified as a boy at birth, and raised accordingly (there's a picture from her Bar Mitzvah), and was later surgically altered to look like a woman when she stands naked.

She has a woman's body, and a female name, and prefers the pronoun "she," but Bornstein does not claim a gender in the way gender exists as a social construct. Few things are as personal as gender, and no one has a right to dictate another person's gender, or even that a person claim a gender. She talks about men, and women, and everyone in between. The "everyone in between," however, are not sexless celibates nursing their melancholia in solitude; they are sexual beings like anyone else.

Bornstein, by dispensing with gender, opens up sexual possibilities that were previously unthought of. There's lots of sex in this book.

This book is not an apologetic for transsexualisn, or gender dysphoria. If anything, it is in your face regarding not only personal choices, but anyone who would dare to judge someone else's choices. This is not a plea for understanding, as books on transsexualism usually are, not a heart-breaking tale of emotional pain, rejection and confusion. Bornstein tells the truth of her story, and gives you the options of recognizing the truth for what it is, or continue living in a Fool's Paradise.

And in captivating narrative voice. Her style reflects her attitude, and you have no trouble hearing her in your head. This, to me, is the mark of a good author.

Gender as Tribal Culture, Indoctrinization & other Silliness
As someone often mistaken for a woman, and as an Anthropologist, I highly recommend this wonderful, whimsical, Enlightened view of the Society vs. Gender dilemma.
People often do not realize that a person must read stacks and stacks of books, to even come-close to comprehending WHY Gender is such a Big Deal in most cultures (especially American culture, which is extremely Repressed and dysfunctional).
I have been asking myself Gender-related questions since I was a small child. Unfortunately, being raised in an environment that precluded the possibility of asking my parents any questions, or talking about such things in any other circumstances, all I had were Books.
Obviously, Kate has read her fair share of books, magazines, Psychological arguments (I mean views), etc. Luckily, she wrote about her research, personal experiences, the challenges involved with living "Alternative Lifestyles" and society's response to people dropping out of the tribe....
The most inspiring and interesting concept I found in this work, was the idea that "Gender" is a "Tribal" concept. If you do not act the way your Tribe ("Male," "Female" / "Man," "Woman") WANTS you to act, you get kicked-out.
I enjoy studying Anthropology and this concept makes more sense than a lot of the other theories I have read.
When Kate puts things into perspective, and shows (easily) that the Man Tribe vs. Woman Tribe theory is in-action every day, in most cultures....it is like a Revelation.
When you read this book, you realize that Males act as-if they are a Phallic Cult & Females act as-if they are a Non-phallic Cult. Both Cults struggle to preserve their Born adherents and Demand they remain in the Cult of their birth (much like someone being born into a Religious Cult, from-which you cannot escape).
As I read Kate's book, I thought, "She should be writing Text books and Psychology papers....Anthropological Research."
It is wonderful to see someone bucking the System and providing an Insider's view of the Struggle between the Sexes.
I believe that if more people were honest with themselves, the Crime Rate, Depression, Homophobia, and numerous other Cultural Ignorance Factors would be reduced, phenomenally.
"Gender Outlaw" is a great start to educating the masses.
Gender issues have been confused, ridiculed, demonized and otherwise caused much unnecessary Grief for far too long. Patriarchal society has given us a Goofball, uneducated view of what Gender is, how it works, & WHY we are the way we are.
"Gender Outlaw" is a fresh, new perspective on Gender issues, and it is written in a humorous, easy to digest format.
Personally, I miss the 80's. It seems, people were a lot happier when they were Androgynous.

Outlaw Kate.
Kate Bornstein asks questions that are for some uncomfortable. You are asked to question the Gender system as defined by Society. You are also given an insite into the life and feelings of a Transsexual, everything you wanted to ask (well nearly). If you have an interest in Transsexuality or general Gender confusion. Then you may find that you cannot put this book down. I found this book to be well written, funny, sad, confusing. But thoroughly enjoyable.