Book Review

Reviewed by Tracie O'Keefe

(The Gender Centre advise that this article may not be current and as such certain content, including but not limited to persons, contact details and dates may not apply. Where legal authority or medical related matters are cited, responsibility lies with the reader to obtain the most current relevant legal authority and/or medical publication.)

Transgender Rights

Editors: Paisley Currah, Richard M. Juang & Shannon Price Minter
Published by University of Minnesota Press, 2006
I.S.B.N.0816643121

They say "knowledge is power" but simple acquisition of knowledge does not bring power, it is just the collection of another commodity. Discourse is what defines a civilised debate and this book has plenty of discourse. It has been fifteen years since the bomb dropped and the Internet connected a world wide web of brilliantly articulate transpeople forming and accelerating the transgender rights debate; and what a fifteen years! Sure, the fight's been going on longer but the Internet was like the first rocket into space: suddenly trans people could see each other across the globe.

This book gives voices to many of the heroes and thinkers such as Phyllis Randolph Frye, Dallas Denny, Judith Butler and others who stood up and challenged the status quo by challenging within and without the gender community. Much has been achieved and often our American brothers, sisters, "bristers" and "sothers" were at the forefront of the thinking and experimenting with gender fluidity and sex self-differentiation. You might not agree with all the thinking in this book but it may provoke you into discomfort with your preconceived ideas of sex, gender and sexuality identity.

There is still much to do in gaining rights for the less polarised sex and gender identified and this book will help you identify the areas in which laws need to change and soil restructuring needs to grow.

Trans issues have turned the world inside out, leaving Adam and Eve far from alone in the Garden of Eden and this book will not only help the novice to trans politics but also make seasoned trans campaigners take a fresh look at their liberation strategies.

Sure, America can be a scary place. They have their own wildly differing issues with evangelical bigots but it is interesting how, issue by issue, the American campaigners are seeking to redress trans inequality. If you're a trans person, sociologist, psychologist or psychiatrist, read this book because it will educate you to know more than you think you know about trans rights. And remember the old saying, "All it takes for evil to take over the world is for good people to do nothing " Oh ... and if you teach trans theory and this book is not on order ... resign!

Polare is published in Australia by The Gender Centre Inc. which is funded by the Department of Community Services under the S.A.A.P. Program and supported by the N.S.W. Health Department through the AIDS and Infectious Diseases Branch. Polare provides a forum for discussion and debate on gender issues. Advertisers are advised that all advertising is their responsibility under the Trade Practices Act. Unsolicited contributions are welcome, though no guarantee is made by the Editor that they will be published, nor any discussion entered into. The editor reserves the right to edit such contributions without notification. Any submission which appears in Polare may be published on our internet site. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, The Gender Centre Inc.I, the Department of Community Services or the N.S.W. Department of Health.