Floating Forum #1: Possible Texts

www.feministing.com/archives/018023.html

sorry if it double posts, but this made me think back...

More of a question, but this is a thread about texts...I'm an English major, and my primary area of interest is children's and young adult fiction. I'm taking a YA Lit class at Penn and we were discussing the subgenre of "issue" books for teens - there are quite a lot of them, but I'm having trouble (and I think the rest of the class was, too), thinking of those that specifically deal with gender identity. There's obviously a fair amount of books for younger readers that deal with the issue of teen sexuality/sexuality in general, specifically the coming out story (which seems to be the only kind of gay teen ficiton available, though that's a whole 'nother rant), but I'm thinking more along the lines of a story of a transgendered or intersexed teen, or just one struggling with issues of definition/self-identification. Seems like, with the popularity of Middlesex in the adult genre, there would be a market for that sort of thing. But you never know with mainstream publishing.

I'm really interested in exploring non-binary aspects of gender and sexuality (that might be poorly worded, but basically all the stuff that doesn't fall within the categories "man" and "woman" or "gay" and "straight" and "bisexual"). I read a few books this summer that I found really fascinating, and they've influenced my own ideas about gender and sexuality.

One book is called PoMoSexuals: Challenging Assumptions about Gender and Sexuality. It was edited by Carol Queen and Lawrence Schimel. Actually, I'm not sure how much this book itself has really shaped my ideas, but I like the concept of PoMoSexuality, and I think it's really important to think about queerness and not just gayness. Or rather, to recognize all of the ways that sexuality exists and to recognize that rigid categories like "homosexual" and "heterosexual" and "bisexual" don't suit all people. This book itself is interesting, but (as a warning) it's also...rather explicit about sex, sometimes. Not gratuitously so, but possibly more than people would be comfortable with in a classroom setting. Anyway, mainly I just think that something relating more to queer studies than to gay/lesbian studies would be interesting.

Another book I read that I really loved was Leslie Feinberg's Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink Or Blue. This one actually has shaped my views on gender. It's less of a textbook and more of a collection of essays and speeches, but I think it's really great. The second paragraph of the book is as follows, and I think that it sums up the book better than I could: "Each person should have the right to choose between pink or blue tinted gender categories, as well as all the other hues of the palette. At this moment in time, that right is denied to us. But together, we could make it a reality" (Feinberg 1).

Another book that I'm actually hoping to base my thesis around (I just sent in my proposal about half an hour ago!) is GenderQueer: Voices From Beyond the Sexual Binary, edited by Joan Nestle, Clare Howell, and Riki Wilchins. Some of the stories are a bit sexually explicit because, well, I think it'd be difficult to really showcase people's voices about their genders and sexualities in a completely sanitized way. Nevertheless, it's really a wonderful book. Part of the back of the book's description reads as follows:

In this groundbreaking anthology, three experts in gender studies and politics navigate the rigid, societally imposed concepts of two genders to discover and illuminate the limitless possibilities of identity. Thrity-eight first-person accounts of gender construction, exploration, and questioning provide a groundwork for cultural discussion, political action, and even greater possibilities of autonomous gender choices. Noted lesbian-feminist scholar Joan Nestle is joined by internationally prominent gender warrior Riki Wilchins and historian Clare Howell to provide a social, cultural, and political exploration of gender identity that is essential reading for anyone interested in gender rights--and human rights in general.

The book starts with essays by each of the editors, and they're really great. If nothing else, it might be worth it to put them on blackboard (or serendip) or something for reading. The essay "Deconstructing Trans," by Riki Wilchins is particularly useful, I think, especially since there is such confusion over what the term "transgender" means (since there are so many definitions--probably as many as there are trans folk, or more). Actually, the thesis thing is more about this essay than the whole book (not that it's really relevent to anyone other than me). 

Anyway, I just wanted to point out some of the books I've been reading and enjoying. Another positive thing is that none of them are official-type textbooks, so they're all under $20. 

Today in class we'd talked about what it is that we need to make the study of gender and sexuality appealing to both sexes, engaging for various pools of people. That's something I'd thought about many times and I think a number of months ago I finally got my answer.
I asked a close male friend of mine what it was like to be a man in this world. By that point I'd listened to many women's narratives and many men's narratives, but the men's narratives seemed to come from the infamous "neutral" point - since in a phallocentric society the neutral experience is predominantly male and the female experience is invariably made into that of the outcast, the minority. He said it was tiring. That it was like constantly having to live through pre-written narratives with little to no room for the creation of one's own.
I was shocked, but in a good way. I think that in order to have a successful gender and sexuality curriculum we need to focus on the traps of traditional masculinity and masculine narratives in their relation to the non-dominant narratives. We tend to forget that the dominant culture, as male-oriented as it is, is rightly called out on hindering the progress of BOTH sexes (that is, if we're still sticking to the gender binary, which is a whole other issue) and we need to acknowledge that.