Bringing Gender Theory out of the 'ivory tower' of academia... and into 'the streets'!

from the introduction...

if you've ever struggled with norms of masculinity and femininity, if you've ever wondered why you're supposed to fit in, if you don't always feel like a 'real man' or a 'real woman' or you don't want to take sides in the gay-straight-bisexual wars, if you were ever teased because you 'threw like a girl' or were 'too much like a boy,' if you ever wondered if there's more to you than an adjective list like bisexual, Jewish, transgender, asian-american, male ... [or simply wo/man homo/heterosexual white/black... the endless list of binary boxes which identity is sardined into] then this book is for you.

In fact, if you've ever wondered if there might be a different way to be human, this book is for you too.

And if you're that rare reader who never wondered any of these things, don't worry . By the time you've finished this book, you will. [and moreover this book is espeachially important for those to read who do not ordinarily think about the impact of gender difference]....................

This book is soooooooo good i will not quite be able to bring myself to part with it forever but i am hopeing to construct a bookring and send to readers who wish to borrow as this book is too important to gather dust on a shelf......

.......available to anyone interested who is willing to return or send on to someone who will return/send on....to return etc... i know im a terrible bookcrosser arn't i :) will try to afford a second copy so can keep one and send one out into the world freely :)

bright blessings

alexa

ps... briliantly recomended by Gender/Enlgish Literature Lecturer Dr. Sarah . Cheers !

Have finally overcome my fear and offered this as a BookRing :) sO excited am loving the fluffy warm feeling organising this BookRing and sending this fantastic book out into the world is evoking.

‘QT,GT’ was my creative revision for the amazingly inspiring Literature/Gender module I studied this year, so you are going to have to read through some, well lots, of underlinings/silly squiggles and many smiley faces at Wilchins’ brilliantly funny wording!

Loved

…the terms ‘femi-nazis’, gender phobic, gender-variant/nonconformist, Wrongheadedness(/false consciousness) and cleverly observed trans(gender)people.

…Hah! @ wrong/right sex p.75-7 : The chapter on intersex was really shocking! I walked around our student house for a whole day doing the finger shifting exercise showing everyone for weeks on end the bare(!) difference between female and intersex which indicates the necessity for ‘corrective’ surgery hehe the educating illustrating diagram with ruler is still stuck on our hall way wall :)

…*grin* I am un/fortunately sO one of Wilchin’s silly students who ‘enjoy[s] debating “ the signifying practices of the prevailing phallocentric economy, with its inevitable tropes and metaphors of hetero-normativity”’ hehe!

….I want to be a ‘Radical Faerie’! :) *childtantrum*

…Wilchins simplifying overly convoluted Derrida down to “Modernism is just, like, you know…so over dude.” *giggle* if I ever become a lecturer I am using that quote to illustrate post-modernism :)

Ok I will cease ruining the book for everyone now…
Feel free to add your own squiggles and smiley faces (if you enjoy it)!

BookCrossers:

Lottiotta (HouseofGerald Wales:)
carriehhh (England)
Drusillamac (Scotland)
pelikanol (Denmark)
French-Girl (Netherlands)
Semming(Finland)
Wirigerie (Australia)
Dittybopper (Louisiana, USA)
Doceo33 (Arizona, USA)
andthings (UK)
...
and back to me; al3xa (HouseofGerald Wales)

• Please journal when it arrives, once read and once sent off.
• If it is possible try to read/pass on within a month(ish). That would be fantastic if isn’t possible no stress just let me know its safe :)

Thank you so much for joining! Enjoy!

MUST-READ!

Wahey! Thanks Al3xa! :) This seems a lot more readable than most books on the subject, so I'm looking forward to it. It's next after "The Merlin Conspiracy" and the Gospel According to John...! OK I have weird reading tastes, I'm going to be quiet now... :P

28th April 2006
Just finished this today - it made some very good points! I skipped the chapter on race, just 'cos it bored me. But everything else either made me think or caused me to make some noise of shock.

Mainly I found it interesting to be told about all these categories that people fall into in terms of gender, only to be told that none of them are real. :) I didn't know about most of the categories anyway, and if I saw some bloke trying on dresses in New Look I'd probably think it was really cool. Now I know to call them genderqueer! (Aren't we all?) Hurrah!

To summarise - I didn't so much enjoy this book as find it really involving and enlightening. A lot of the attitudes that Wilchins encourages I already seem to have, which is nice - but now I have the vocabulary! Shven-bob must read this book. I may ask if he wants to be added. Anyway, highly recommended! I know lots of people who would benefit from it, actually.

Rock on! Open your mind! Find out about and disregard gender-binaries! Inform people of the non-necessity of their undergarments! (OK, that last one was nothing to do with this book...)

RELEASE NOTES:

finally leaving the House of Gerald to journey to the far off shores of Shropshire. enjoy! :)

Sorry, couldn't register this for days - my internet wasn't working! I've nearly finished it now, actually. Thank you!

YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!

I cannot express how brilliant this book is... and how enlightened I now feel! I must confess that I found some of the ideas given by Riki Wilchins quite difficult to get my head around at first, but once I did...! This book is a fascinating study and approached lots of issues that I was semi-aware of but had not really thought about fully up until now. The divisions between gender - being 'too masculine' or 'too effeminate' - really struck a chord with me; I was bullied loads when I was younger for being the only girl in my class to have short hair (because I was OBVIOUSLY a lesbian, having short hair and all!)... and this book explained everything! The chapter on intersex was also really interesting (one of my favourite books at the moment is Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides)... and shocking!

Underlinings and margin doodles also heightened my enjoyment of the text :)

I am PMing its next lucky reader today to get their address, then I solemnly vow to post it on as soon as possible and enlighten someone else!

RELEASE NOTES:

Sorry for the delay... just couldn't bear to let go *sniff*. Winging its way to sunny Scotland now.

Caught this book in today's post. I'm taking a Sociology of Sexuality class next semester so I'm hoping this book provides a basic intro. Thanks to carriehhh and Al3xa for sharing :-)

I have finally finished reading this book. It was a rather tough read. The ideas presented clash with the social construction I have been brough up with. Of course that is the purpose of the book but I still found it difficult to deal with.

The end chapters brought home a sore point for me. At school I was bullied for being a "dyke" because I wasn't really interested in boys. I was but I prefered to keep my feelings private rather than broadcasting it to the rest of the school. I was more interested in books than boys which automatically made me gay.

The endless labels confused me. The end chapter did make me laugh when Riki was explaining about LGBTIQQSSAY and trying to include every possible category! Perhaps there are some sour grapes in this chapter because the organisation was dropped from various funding and blacklisted for being too inclusive.

I am looking forward to my 'Sociology of Sexuality' class next semester now I have been armed with this introduction! Thanks to al3xa for sharing and the quick chat we had at the Unconvention in July :-)

Off to French-Girl when I get an address.

Sent to pelikanol today via airmail.

Ooops! Got the book Saturday, but forgot to journal it :) Reading it now.

This was a very interesting book. I wish it had been longer! This is the first book I've read that truly recognizes the connection between all forms of oppression and discrimination - a very important thing, in my opinion. It shows the importance of working and fighting together in order to make actual changes. All those things are connected. This book has left me hungry for more!

Sent on to French-Girl on 4 September

The book arrived yesterday. I started reading right away, and frankly, this might be a very enlightening reading!
Thank you Pelikanol for sending the book and Al3xa for ringing it!!

Vow. Wilchins articulates things I've felt for ages about gender stereotypes, and about that "wall in almost everyone's head": gender is just a another category you never completely fit in.
I liked as well the explanations for Foucault, Derrida and Modernism. Some will perhaps find it oversimplificated, but it works for me. :-)
Al3xa thanks again.
The book is off to Semming, as soon as the post office opens tomorrow!

Arrived today, thank you! This is surprisingly thin and looks easy to read - I was mentally prepared for a sturdy brick. :D I've got a few other books to finish, though I'd like to start this one straight away...

This was much more personal than I anticipated, and with personal I mean it wasn't just "a guide to Queer/Gender theory" - Riki Wilchins's voice was always present. In one sense it was wonderful: it helps to break the boxes and categories and see the people behind the words, but then again the book wasn't "a neutral guide". However, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole book and will definitely find a copy for my personal/professional collection for later use. Thank you for the ring!

I've got the book packed and ready for mailing, but lately it's been absolutely chucking it down and I don't really fancy a bicycle ride to the post office in pouring rain and darkness (yes, I'm near-sighted)... I'll mail this and another ring book as soon as possible!

EDIT 25.10. It finally stopped raining and I was able to take a bag of parcels to the post office. The book has been mailed today!

Arrived in the post today. I had a bit of time before class today so I've started it already.

CAUGHT IN ADELAIDE SOUTH AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA

Sorry about the last post. I was at TAFE which of course doesn't automagically log me on.

I found this a difficult read. I only read a few pages at a time before I put it down. While the subject matter was interesting the style reminded me of the text books that used to put me to sleep when I was a student.

I don't think any real conclusions were drawn by the end of the book except what we already know... people who are different are ostracised and made to feel guilty about not fitting into societal norms.

I was hoping for more clearly put goals. I'm glad I read this book but I'm sure there must be some out there that are eminently more readable.

Waiting on Doceo33's details as Dittybopper has asked to be skipped.

I just received this book in the mail as part of a bookring. I am anxious to read this one.

I just mailed this book back to its owner, al3xa. I was unable to contact andthings, who was next on the list. Thanks for sending it out in the first place, and I hope it gets back to its owner safe and sound.