ISBN:

Accession Number:

Abstract:

In this article, the author argues against the feminist critique that transsexuals do nothing to challenge the gender system, and against the claim that transsexualism is simply a conservative act of crossing from one sex to the other. It is noted that feminists have engaged with transsexualism over the last 30 years, but it has generally been as a concept and in terms of what it means for their understanding of the analytic category, gender. Rarely have they sought to begin their theorizing of gender from an understanding of the experience of being transsexual. As a result, feminists have formulated critiques of male-to-female transsexualism as an affront to women, often based on deliberations on the ontological status of women.

Notes:

Vol. 24 Issue 2, p36-39 4p