SEX CHANGES: THE POLITICS OF TRANSGENDERISM - By Pat Califia
(Cleis Pr)
reviewed by Nicole Blizzard
Chapter one discusses the first wave of transgendered autobiography and gives a Cliff Notes version of the life of people such as Christine Jorgenson, Jan Morris and Mario Martino. These people, while no doubt brave and courageous considering the times in which they lived and suffered with their awareness that they were different, eventually lived an almost asexual life after they started living in their new lives.
Chapter two deals with the early gender scientists such as Harry Benjamin, Richard Green, and John Money. Even today, many psychiatrists, psychologists, and doctors are guided by the guidelines that Dr. Benjamin established for the diagnosis and treatment of their transgendered patients. While sometimes well-intentioned (like Dr. Benjamin) or misguided (like John Money), these men suffered from their own internalized biases which was often reflected in who they thought would be "good" candidates for gender reassignment. A male-to-female (MTF) who professed to be a lesbian (and vice-versa with FTM, female-to-male), were often rejected for consideration. It was often their opinion that after someone changed their sex, that the person should be interested in establishing a relationship with someone of the opposite sex, if they established a relationship at all. These preconceptions often led to their clients telling their doctors and therapists what they wanted to hear. Either that, or go to some country where the standards were less ridged, and more fraught with problems such as infections, scarring, etcetera.
Chapter three deals with the all too common problem within the lesbian community of the 80's and early 90's of Transphobia. In the 70's, there were a few transgendered lesbians within the lesbian community, most notable was a woman named Sandy Stone who was part of the collective that ran the Olivia Records label (they now do the Olivia Cruises). In 1979, a book was published by Janice G. Raymond called "The Transsexual Empire". The book accused transgendered lesbians of being a part of some secret plot to undermine the lesbian movement by the male patriarchy. Raymond even equated transgendered lesbian as almost being Nazis. Sandy Stone was one of those affected by the publication of Raymond's book. Olivia Records was besieged by hate mail. Sandy, for the good of the label and with uncommon grace, chose to leave the collective. Patrick, then known as Pat and a young separatist dyke, relates how at the time she agreed with Raymond's theories. It was only after an older butch told Pat that what Raymond and her followers were wrong, and why, that Pat started to question her own misconceptions.
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