Product Description

A one-stop, no-nonsense introduction to the core of postmodern theory, particularly its impact on queer and gender studies. Nationally known gender activist Riki Wilchins combines straightforward prose with concrete examples from LGBT and feminist politics, as well as her own life, to guide the reader through the ideas that have forever altered our understanding of bodies, sex and desire. This is that rare postmodern theory book that combines accessibility, passion, personal experience and applied politics, noting at every turn why these ideas matter and how they can affect your daily life.

Riki Wilchins is the founding executive director of the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition. The author of Read My Lips and GenderQueer. She was selected by Time magazine as one of "100 Civic Innovators for the 21st Century."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #123863 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

About the Author
Riki Wilchins is the founding Executive Director of the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC), the national gender rights organization. The author of "Read My Lips," "GenderQueer," and "Queer Theory/Gender Theory," Riki was selected by TIME Magazine as one of "100 Civic Innovators for the 21st Century." Riki writes a featured columnist for The Advocate on gender issues and is a frequent speaker on gender rights.

Customer Reviews

Rigorous and Accessible
I found Quuer Theory, Gender Theory: An Instant Primer by Riki Wilchins to be both academically rigorous while being accessible for the reader who would like an inductory text on Queer and Gender Studies. I use this book in my Introduction to Queer Studies course, and students find that the author has a particular skill for introducing rather difficult concepts in a style that is fresh and engaging, without talking down to them. A must read for anyone wishing to gain a clearer understanding of queer and gender theory.

Gender Theory
The author attempts to take gender theory out of the classroom and bring it to the forefront of our culture. You'll learn what kinds of gender issues face Americans today.

Like most everything, good for some, but not for others.
In her third book, Queer Theory, Gender Theory: An Instant Primer, Riki Wilchins ventures from writing an autobiography (_Read My Lips_) and editing an anthology (_GenderQueer_) to writing theory explicitly. In particular, she seeks to take theory out of its current limited circulation among "academics and graduate students" (1) and reinvigorate its political center and make it accessible to activists.

Wilchins begins by giving brief histories of civil rights movements (chapters 1-3), follows with discussions of postmodern theory centered around Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault (chapters 4-6) complete with contemporary examples of uses of postmodern theory (chapters 7 & 8), and then proceeds to discuss postmodern theory's weaknesses (chapter 9-11), notably its lack of "any vision of constructive social engagement and political action" (100), and its tendency not to account for the varying perspectives people might encounter due to dimensions of difference, specifically race (chapter 10). Similarly focused on limitations and weaknesses, in chapter 11, Wilchins uses Judith Bulter's work to assert that identity-based politics, while in some ways facilitate political organizing and movement, inevitably and undesirably create margins and practice exclusion. The final chapter chronicling GenderPAC's founding and continue development and growth are offered by Wilchins as an example of theory being put into action.

Wilchins' purpose is to bridge queer theory and human rights activism in order to instill in academics the necessity of putting theory into action, and perhaps more importantly, to offer those unfamiliar with queer theory access to the possibilities such theorizing has opened up and makes available (as evidenced by the book's subtitle "An Instant Primer").

I was really excited when this book came out, so much so that I assigned it to an upper-level feminist theories class I was teaching. The reactions were missed. Some felt it was too abridged, and that its focus on being an "instant" primer sacrificed much needed nuance and complexity. Others really thought the book was accessible and understandable, which appealed to them. One of the biggest problems I found, though, were when students read this book and thought that afterwards then "knew it all."

I can't fault Wilchins for this, but I do think that there are ways in which the book lends itself to exactly this reading of it. A good text for a quick intro, and for folks new to the topic, but definitely only a beginning.