Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The first in-depth examination of what it means to be a female-bodied transperson.
Synopsis
Writing as an insider and an anthropologist, Jason Cromwell presents the first in-depth examination of what it means to be a female-bodied transperson. Through extensive participant observation and open-ended interviews, Transmen and FTMs allows female-to-male transsexuals to speak for themselves and reveals aspects of female gender diversity that do not fit into the ready-made categories of male and female.
In clarifying how transmen and FTMs define and validate their lives, as opposed to how society attempts to pigeonhole and belittle them, Cromwell shows how female-to-male transpeople have been made virtually invisible by male-dominated discourses. He considers cross-cultural data on female gender diversity, historical evidence of female-bodied people who have lived as men, and contemporary transmen and FTMs. He also addresses how FTMs and transmen are working to challenge the mental illness model of transness as well as other misconceptions.
Transmen and FTMs seeks to reframe the dialogue about gender identity and move away from regarding fixed gender categories as normative. By redefining gender diversity from a manifestation of pathology to a human condition Transmen and FTMs promotes a fuller understanding of these individuals as persons in their own right.
Table of Contents
Making the visible invisible -- Transsexual discourses and languages of identification -- Bodies, sexes, genders, sexualities -- Visible yet invisible : female gender diversity historically and cross-culturally -- Transvestite opportunists, passing women and female-bodied men -- He becomes she : making contemporary female gender diversity invisible -- They are a part of my history : transperspectives on cross-cultural and historical data -- Fearful others : transsexual discourses construct female-bodied transpeople -- Queering the binaries : transsituated identities, bodies, and sexualities -- Making the invisible visible.