Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism

While I enjoyed the book throughly and learned a great deal I felt at times that the author's personal agenda clouded some of her discussions, especially those involving women (whether straight, lesbian, transgendered or otherwise). While I agree that women have been and in some places still are dominated and or repressed by men, I cannot agree that the experiences are as uniform and unilateral as she insists they are. Chapter three is the worst offender and quickly goes from being an academic essay to being a long winded rant.

I really enjoyed this book overall, but after a while I began to notice that almost no one can do anything right in Calfia's eyes. I admired his biting remarks regarding Janice Raymond, but when he began criticising fellow gender-queer authors I was a bit annoyed. It's been a while since I read it, but I recall that mixed in with the highly informative text was a lot of whining and complaining I could have done without. That's really the only reason I gave it 4/5 stars.

An excellent overview of the history of transgender politics, probably one of the best primers I know of on the subject. There's a 2nd edition out now, which I haven't read.