Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2002

From: Terisa Gibson <terisa_gibson@hotmail.com>  

Gay City News (NYC, glbt weekly)

vol. 1, issue 16

September 13-19, 2002

http://www.gaycitynews.com/GCN16/writingacross.html

GENDERQUEER: VOICES FROM BEYOND THE SEXUAL BINARY

Edited by Joan Nestle, Clare Howell, and Riki Wilchins

Alyson Books, $16.95

Writing Across Gender

Collection of essays taps diverse

expressions of desire

By JANE S.VAN INGEN

As the LGBT community gains more recognition: Why do so many butches,

high femmes, cross dressers, drag queens, tomboys, sissy boys,

fairies, intersex and other gender-variant people feel excluded? In

one of four essays on gender theory, activist and author Riki

Wilchins asks: "Do we want a transgender struggle that focuses on the

rights of transsexuals to change their driver's licenses, get

surgery, and transition on the job? Or do we want a movement against

the gender stereotypes that affect all Americans?"

It's a provocative question in an anthology about people who defy

gender norms on a daily basis. Take J.T. LeRoy. He writes novels

about transgender prostitutes that have reached cult status˜but

transgender groups are wary about mentioning it in their magazines.

Or Cheryl Chase, who discovered she was intersex (someone who is born

neither male or female but is given a sex by a physician). She took

her fear, outrage and isolation and formed the Intersex Society of

North America.

Or "Lionhart," a feminist-lesbian therapist who finds herself

attracted to men but writes using a pseudonym, feeling that it's

inappropriate for therapists to be public about desire.

Or Carrie Davis, a transgender activist who writes about being

harassed on the A train, and her rules for working in the sex

industry. Earlier this year, she moved City Councilwoman Christine

Quinn to tears giving testimony during the passage of the local

transgender civil rights bill.

Some of the stories in this new book are more touching than sad. In

the aptly-titled "Story of a Preadolescent Drag King," L. Maurer

writes wistfully about being a tomboy in the 5th grade and failing

because of poor penmanship. But when she becomes more feminine, her

grades perk right up. In "Scars," Aaron Link, who's had reassignment

surgery, and his mother, Hilda Raz, who survived breast cancer,

compare their scars as well as the scar of Aaron's brother, who had

heart surgery. In another story, Shirle (another pseudonym), pens a

loving tribute to various women who saved her from childhood abuse.

There are also moments of humor and erotica. Allen James writes a

bitchy rant aimed at the whiners in the gender-variant community.

Sonya Bolus writes of transition and sex when her butch lover becomes

a man.

A lot has already been written about gender, and in lesser hands, an

anthology about transgender people would not be terribly innovative.

But Nestle and Wilchins are both well-revered activists and writers

who clearly took pains to include as many different voices as

possible. Howell is perhaps not as well known as the other two

editors. A MTF who is a senior librarian at the Brookyln Public

Library, her activism is simply going to work every day and greeting

the public at the reference desk.

In fact, Nestle, author of The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch

Reader and A Fragile Union, had reservations about editing this

anthology because she's a non-transgender lesbian. But her essays on

femme desire, including a sexy tribute to her butch lover, offer a

broader spectrum on gender identity and are also just plain fun to

read. Wilchins, for her part, is an executive director of GenderPAC,

and this influence is clearly evident in some of the essay choices.

It is obvious that many of the contributors and editors know each

other.

Regardless, this is a laudable contribution to the world of gender

studies. But a book that's not afraid to ask questions shouldn't just

be read by the converted. Anything that can get this book out into

the world should be done.

Sylvia Rivera, the veteran of the Stonewall uprising and a longtime

political and transgender activist who died last winter, wrote about

her personal life and political struggles. She wanted to live to see

the transgender community get the respect it deserved. After dying

earlier this year, we all know that didn't happen.