Hausman sets out to explore the development of the idea of gender identity out of the treatment protocols for the intersexed in the middle of the 20th century and how those ideas were appropriated by transsexuals for their own use. The facts are fascinating, but the analysis, which relies very heavily on post-structuralism, especially Judith Butler, ends up not saying anything except that bodies don't fall neatly into categories and gender is a problematic category. This is stuff that anyone paying even remote attention to these issues already knows.

I've given up thinking that post-structural texts are going to be able to advance the politics of gender, so I wasn't as disappointed in this book as I might have been. It does present some very interesting historical facts about sexualized bodies and the idea of gender. What we do with those facts in the long run is going to require another book. ( )