First of all I have to say that although I am transgendered, I do not necessarily agree with all of Bornstein's ideas, and a lot of what she says doesn't really apply to me. That aside, she is a wonderfully witty and intelligent writer with some very thought-provoking theories, and for anyone new to the idea of exploring gender, it's a great place to start. ( )

I have this feeling that Kate Bornstein is never not "on," and I'm actually really glad for that. ( )

Kate Bornstein is supergrappig en vlijmscherp. Haar pionierswerk voor transgender aanvaarding dateert reeds van 1994 en is niet onopgemerkt gebleven. Een mens van grote klasse! - Kate Bornstein is extremely witty and sharp as a razor. Her pioneering work for transgender acceptance dates from 1994 and hasn't gone unnoticed. A person of great class! ( )

I've been meaning to read Kate Bornstein's Gender Outlaw for the last couple of years--even more so now that I've read Hello, Cruel World and have seen Kate in performance. I finally got to it.

Gender Outlaw is an exploration of gender (especially in the United States) as from the perspective of a person who was born male and had a sex reassignment surgery in adulthood, only to later discover that being female didn't quite fit or work either. Kate came to the conclusion that gender is not a strict binary as we've often been taught or coerced into believing, but that it is a vibrant continuum.

If I had read this book earlier in my life, it would have totally blown my mind and it would have been a very, very good thing form me. As it is, having already been exposed to various genders and sexualities, I was not taken aback--in fact, I found some of my own thinking reaffirmed. The book is a very accessible introduction to the discussion of gender. I can see how this book and this discussion would be offensive to some people, but Kate is adamant that this is only one person's point of view and that not everyone adheres or agree with it, trans or otherwise.

The prose isn't linear--it bounces between three sections: the main text, side notes and commentary, and quotations from other sources. Each of these sections has its own formatting and font. At first it seemed fragmentary, but ultimately the pieces created a cohesive whole. I got this same feeling from Kate's performance. In fact, the performance that I saw was very reminiscent of the book and several pieces came directly from it (or perhaps it was the other way around, I'm not sure.) The script of Kate's play, Hidden: A Gender, has been included as well as an additional afterword written for the paperback edition.

Originally published in 1994, Gender Outlaw still has a lot to offer, especially to those who have had little exposure to transgender issues. While transpeople and their lives have become more visible in recent years, there is still ground to be gained in this area. Not all will agree with Kate's position regarding gender (and some will vehemently disagree), but I think that this book provides an excellent place to begin that conversation. I find all of Kate's work to be honest, and despite the serious topics, filled with a fair amount of lightheartedness which make them extremely effective.

Experiments in Reading ( )

You know this is not a subject that I know a whole lot about…though I do profess some interest and curiosity about the reasons why people choose gender reassignment surgery. Mostly I was interested in exploring the why’s and if’s about gender and the myriad of choices and ways of being that people encounter and deal with or embrace in their lives. I wasn’t sure what to expect…and I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about this book, but I’ve finished reading it and it’s time to write down my thoughts about it. First and foremost, this is a book that doesn’t just rehash the same debates one sees nearly everywhere these days about how little Tommy can play with dolls and Sally can play with cars or how Molly can be a doctor and Biff can be a nurse…this goes beyond what’s considered politically correct or “allowable” excursions outside the comfort zone of the tribe. In Gender Outlaw Borenstein really tries to examine why we need gender at all and how gender is really determined in today’s societies, she looks both backward and forward with regards to this issue in a way that is both informative and entertaining. Gender Outlaw is a strange blend of biography and gender theory written with a theatrical flair. The author is really not looking to redefine gender so much as she is looking to toss it out altogether, in favor of a gender model that is more dynamic and fluid. Now for what I didn’t like about the book…well, I do understand that the author is an artist and performer at heart, but I read because I LIKE to read and while I like most of what I read to be entertaining and informative, I DON’T like to have to struggle to read it because the author thought it would be interesting and creative to create columns and make the reader have to read from side to side skipping about on the page. There is a serious lack of continuity in the format of the text that makes it a bear to read. Everything does not have to be performance; everything does not have to be art. Sometimes a book should just be a book. Outside of that, I enjoyed reading Gender Outlaw, I think the author wanted to reach the mainstream and this book is certainly readable and accessible to the general public…now if we could just get them to read it and open their minds to the ideas presented. Borenstein certainly got there with me, as I had no quarrel with the gender I’ve been assigned, but it certainly gave me lots of food for thought and I’ll probably never think of gender the same way again. I give it a 4 stars (3.5 really, but since Amazon doesn’t allow ½ stars, I’ll settle for 4, round up instead of down). ( )