Joan Nestle

Clare Howell

Riki Anne Wilchins

Gender identity, an issue that has galvanised the queer community in recent years, goes beyond the nature of male/female to a yet-to-be-traversed region that lies somewhere between and beyond biologically determined gender. In this groundbreaking anthology, three experts in gender studies and politics navigate around rigid, societally imposed concepts of two genders to discover and illuminate the limitless possibilities of identity.

Voices from Beyond the Sexual Binary

GenderQueer

This book is essentially a collection of personal essays that explore some of the multitude of ways that people can be genderqueer, initially published almost two decades ago. Various essays look at the connection between gender and sexuality, the disconnect between gender expression and gender identity, the policing of gender expression, and just generally the question of what does it mean to be genderqueer. Despite the age of the book, a lot of what's discussed here feels very timely and relevant to our world today. However, there are some ways where it's easy to tell that this book was initially written at the beginning of the millennium, mostly because of what isn't talked about. There isn't really any discussion of the Internet or how changing methods of communication have affected the way that gender is viewed and talked about. Nor are there mention of any identities that only reached a wider population because of the Internet, such as asexuality and aromanticism. This isn't, of course, a criticism of the book, but rather something I noticed that makes me wish for a new collection along the same lines as this one that grapples with the same questions and presents some of the new answers (and even more questions) found in the last two decades. 

The only real criticism of the volume I have is that I really would have liked there to be some kind of content warning attached to each essay. This collection addresses numerous difficult and traumatizing subjects such as rape, child abuse, drug and alcohol addictions, eating disorders, medical mistreatment, and various forms of queerphobia. All of these issues are, unfortunately, common problems for genderqueer people, which is obviously why they appear in so many essays, but that also means they could be triggering as well and I think some kind of warning is needed. And as a sex-repulsed asexual person, a warning for the sometimes aggressively sexual content would have been appreciated as well.

GenderQueer Voices from Beyond the Sexual Binary

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