Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us - Kate Bornstein
Have you read the classic groundbreaking memoir of Kate Bornstein? If not, get to it!
“I know I’m not a man . . . and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m probably not a woman, either. . . . . The trouble is, we’re living in a world that insists we be one or the other.” With these words, Kate Bornstein ushers readers on a funny, fearless, and wonderfully scenic journey across the terrains of gender and identity.
On one level, Gender Outlaw details Bornstein’s transformation from heterosexual male to lesbian woman, from a one-time IBM salesperson to a playwright and performance artist.
But this particular coming-of-age story is also a provocative investigation into our notions of male and female, from a self-described nonbinary transfeminine diesel femme dyke who never stops questioning our cultural assumptions.
Gender Outlaw was decades ahead of its time when it was first published in 1994. Now, some twenty-odd years later, this book stands as both a classic and a still-revolutionary work—one that continues to push us gently but profoundly to the furthest borders of the gender frontier.
- Editorial Reviews“In an age of often hostilely expressed gender politics, Kate Bornstein . . . is sweet, sincere, lucid, and sometimes as corny as Kansas in August.” —The New York Times “
- A foundational voice. . . . Kate Bornstein is a historic figure in the queer and trans community.” —The Huffington Post
- “[Bornstein is on the] leading edge of contemporary debate about sexual identity and gender. [She] asks fundamental and challenging questions about what it means to be a man or woman in our society.” —San Francisco Chronicle
- “Gender Outlaw is an eye-opening book, combining the emotional force of a coming-of-age story with a savvy cultural critique.” —Out
- “A radical document.” —The Nation
- “While Bornstein covers an incredible range—from the ‘nuts and bolts’ of her surgery to more abstract musings on a brave new gender-free world—the book never stops fascinating. [She offers us] an abundance of questions—thoughtful, disarming, revelatory questions. Gender Outlaw is an invitation to a dialogue, and it’s a conversation well worth having.” —Ms.
- Explore the concept of "masculine" or "feminine" presentation or develop your own unique agender or third gender or androgynous persona with tools help you look the way you want to be in our Gender Expression collections.
- Kate Bornstein divides their time between New York City and the Rhode Island shore. They can be seen in all episodes of Season 2 of the reality TV show I Am Cait. Their stage work includes the solo performance pieces The Opposite Sex Is Neither, Virtually Yours, and On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us.
- Publisher: Vintage; Illustrated edition (November 15, 2016)
- Weight: 10.4 ounces
- Size: 5.1 x 0.6 x 8 inches
- Paperback: 320 pages
