Mustn't get distracted...
Oct. 13th, 2005 07:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gementWhile skimming for an assignment (I had to evaluate the experience of reading an e-book), I lost 45 minutes absorbed in my selection, despite the painful interface.
The Man Who Would Be Queen, written by an obviously sympathetic clinical psychiatrist on transexualism and tranvestitism among biological males. (The foreword assures us that the only reason it's not on both male and female trans is that the butches deserve their own book.)
I haven't read enough of it to figure out if this person needs to be slapped, of course. Academics is tricky. You can be careful to respect every single point of view and never say anything substantial. You can make some assumptions and sweeping interpretations and take the risk of misinterpreting the whole thing, and eventually get a spot next to Freud in the Hall Of Goofy Ideas About People.
This author is definitely leaning to the latter. He's willing to say straight-out that he sometimes disagrees with trans self-assessments of their feelings, including stating that a motivation seems sexual to him when the individual does not perceive it that way. He's also willing to state that he can make certain assumptions about particularly flamboyant people just by looking at them. He points out that a lot of the reason for avoiding such assumptions is the fear of offending or the fact that femininity is still unfairly stigmatized, but I'd like to see his statistics.
While I don't quite trust "interpretations" like that, he's reaching toward an interesting proposed model for classifying types of trans, based on what he sees as clear patterns and subsets of behavior and presentation. (The gay ones that try on high heels from the age of three versus the het ones that head for the lingerie at 14, for example.) I'm partly writing this note so I'll remember to go check out a hard copy.
Edit: Thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dymaxion for saving me the trouble of reading this and supplying a link to the "this guy's insane" site!
The Man Who Would Be Queen, written by an obviously sympathetic clinical psychiatrist on transexualism and tranvestitism among biological males. (The foreword assures us that the only reason it's not on both male and female trans is that the butches deserve their own book.)
I haven't read enough of it to figure out if this person needs to be slapped, of course. Academics is tricky. You can be careful to respect every single point of view and never say anything substantial. You can make some assumptions and sweeping interpretations and take the risk of misinterpreting the whole thing, and eventually get a spot next to Freud in the Hall Of Goofy Ideas About People.
This author is definitely leaning to the latter. He's willing to say straight-out that he sometimes disagrees with trans self-assessments of their feelings, including stating that a motivation seems sexual to him when the individual does not perceive it that way. He's also willing to state that he can make certain assumptions about particularly flamboyant people just by looking at them. He points out that a lot of the reason for avoiding such assumptions is the fear of offending or the fact that femininity is still unfairly stigmatized, but I'd like to see his statistics.
While I don't quite trust "interpretations" like that, he's reaching toward an interesting proposed model for classifying types of trans, based on what he sees as clear patterns and subsets of behavior and presentation. (The gay ones that try on high heels from the age of three versus the het ones that head for the lingerie at 14, for example.) I'm partly writing this note so I'll remember to go check out a hard copy.
Edit: Thanks to
dymaxion for saving me the trouble of reading this and supplying a link to the "this guy's insane" site!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-10-14 03:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-14 03:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-14 03:30 am (UTC)http://www.tsroadmap.com/info/man-who-would-be-queen.html
:-)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-14 02:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-14 03:37 am (UTC)Seriously though, I won't be reading this because a) if it triggered your crap detector it might make me go apoplectic; b) I'm too busy living it to want to read about it any more than I have already; and c) his conclusions are almost certainly based on a small quantity of poor data. Why, I hear you ask, is it so hard to get good data on trannies? Because there's a huge incentive for us to lie to shrinks to get what we want, and because we move a lot in search of acceptance and a decent standard of living. </rant>
no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 04:05 pm (UTC)a little like the hunters and gatherers? *grin*
only in garters . . .
mother o' gement