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Distributed for University Press of New England

Transgender Voices

Beyond Women and Men

In this extraordinary book, based on 150 in-depth interviews, Lori B. Girshick, a sociologist and social justice activist, brings together the voices of sex- and gender-diverse people who speak with absolute candor about their lives. Girshick presents transpeople speaking in their own voices about identity, coming out, passing, sexual orientation, relationship negotiations and the dynamics of attraction, homophobia (including internalized fears), and bullying. She exposes the guilt and the shame that “gender police” use in their attempts to exert control and points out the many ways transpeople are discriminated against in daily life, from filling out identification documents to gender-segregated bathrooms. By showing us a variety of descriptions of diverse real lives and providing a thorough exploration of the embodied experiences of gender variant people, Girshick demonstrates that there is nothing inherently binary about gender, and that the way each of us experiences our own gender is, in fact, normal and natural.

208 pages | 6 x 9 | © 2009

Gender and Sexuality


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Table of Contents

Foreword - Jamison Green • Acknowledgments • Introduction: Identity Boxes • The Social Construction of Biological Facts • Self-Definition: Birth through Adolescence • Constructing the Self: Options and Challenges • Coming Out to Community, Family, and Work • Gender Policing • Inner Turmoil and Moving toward Acceptance • Epilogue: Gender Liberation • Appendix 1: Survey Flier • Appendix 2: Survey • Glossary • Bibliography

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