My Gender Workbook
How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely
Published on 19. June 2013
304 pages
978-1-135-24428-6 (ISBN)
Description
Gender isn't just about "male" or "female" anymore - if you have any doubts, just turn on your television. RuPaul is as familiar as tomato ketchup with national radio and television shows, and transgendered folk are as common to talk-shows as screaming and yelling. But if the popularization of gender bending is revealing that "male" and "female" aren't enough, where are we supposed to go from here? Cultural theorists have written loads of smart but difficult-to-fathom texts on gender, but none provide a hands-on, accessible guide to having your own unique gender. With My Gender Workbook, Kate Bornstein brings theory down to Earth and provides a practical approach to living with or without a gender.
Bornstein starts from the premise that there are not just two genders performed in today's world, but countless genders lumped under the two-gender framework. Using a unique, deceptively simple and always entertaining workbook format, Bornstein gently but firmly guides you to discover your own unique gender identity. Whether she's using the USFDA's food group triangle to explain gender, or quoting one-liners from real "gender transgressors", Bornstein's first and foremost concern is making information on gender bending truly accessible. With quizzes and exercises that determine how much of a man or woman you are, My Gender Workbook gives you the tools to reach whatever point you desire on the gender continuum.
Bornstein also takes aim at the recent flurry of books that attempt to naturalize gender difference, and puts books like Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus squarely where they belong: on Uranus. If you don't think you are transgendered when you sit down to read this book, you will be by the time you finish it!
Bornstein starts from the premise that there are not just two genders performed in today's world, but countless genders lumped under the two-gender framework. Using a unique, deceptively simple and always entertaining workbook format, Bornstein gently but firmly guides you to discover your own unique gender identity. Whether she's using the USFDA's food group triangle to explain gender, or quoting one-liners from real "gender transgressors", Bornstein's first and foremost concern is making information on gender bending truly accessible. With quizzes and exercises that determine how much of a man or woman you are, My Gender Workbook gives you the tools to reach whatever point you desire on the gender continuum.
Bornstein also takes aim at the recent flurry of books that attempt to naturalize gender difference, and puts books like Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus squarely where they belong: on Uranus. If you don't think you are transgendered when you sit down to read this book, you will be by the time you finish it!
Reviews / Votes
"My Gender Workbook [is] the most complete guide to living with or without gender to have been written to date, putting books like Men are From Mars, Women Are FromVenus squarely where they belong: on Uranus." -- Seattle Gay News"[T]he most exciting and difficult aspect of My GenderWorkbook is the way it never relents. It asks a question, then another, then another, answering questions with more questions... Bornstein never tells us what or where the genderless promised land might be, but by the end of the book you do get the sense that she never describes it because she understands its indescribability so deeply." -- Hungry Mind Review
"My Gender Workbook [is] the most complete guide to living with or without gender to have been written to date, putting books like Men are From Mars, Women Are FromVenus squarely where they belong: on Uranus." -- Seattle Gay News
"[Bornstein's] ideas are both novel and intriguing." -- Baltimore Alternative
"My Gender Workbook may take a leap of faith to crack open, but the charm, wit, and quiet intelligence of its author will almost undoubtedly keep you along for the whole trip. And it is a trip, let me tell you." -- TheToronto Star "My Gender Workbook [is] the most complete guide to living with or without gender to have been written to date, putting books like Men are From Mars, Women Are From Venus squarely where they belong: on Uranus." -- Seattle Gay News
"[T]he most exciting and difficult aspect of My Gender Workbook is the way it never relents. It asks a question, then another, then another, answering questions with more questions... Bornstein never tells us what or where the genderless promised land might be, but by the end of the book you do get the sense that she never describes it because she understands its indescribability so deeply." -- Hungry Mind Review
"[Bornstein's] ideas are both novel and intriguing." -- Baltimore Alternative
"My Gender Workbook may take a leap of faith to crack open, but the charm, wit, and quiet intelligence of its author will almost undoubtedly keep you along for the whole trip. And it is a trip, let me tell you." -- The Toronto Star
Winner of the 1999 Firecracker Alternative Book Award, Special Recognition/Wildcard Category: Self Improvement
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
File size
10,72 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-135-24428-6 (9781135244286)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Kate Bornstein
My Gender Workbook
How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely
Book
02/1998
1st Edition
Routledge
€133.70
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Kate Bornstein is the author of Gender Outlaw (Routledge, 1994) and co-author of the novel Nearly Roadkill (1996). She lives, writes and rehearses her stage work in Seattle.
Content
1. Welcome to Your Gender Workbook
2. Solving the Gender Puzzle
3. Who's on Top? (and why are we on the bottom?)(and is that really such a bad place to be?)
4. Be All That You Can Be!
5. Fuck Your Gender! Love, Sex, Desire and Gender
6. Just Say No
7. Just Say Yes
8. Zen and the Art of Gender Maintenance
9. The Playgrounds
10. Cautionary Interlude
11. This Quiet Revolution
12. Okay, Now What?
2. Solving the Gender Puzzle
3. Who's on Top? (and why are we on the bottom?)(and is that really such a bad place to be?)
4. Be All That You Can Be!
5. Fuck Your Gender! Love, Sex, Desire and Gender
6. Just Say No
7. Just Say Yes
8. Zen and the Art of Gender Maintenance
9. The Playgrounds
10. Cautionary Interlude
11. This Quiet Revolution
12. Okay, Now What?
