Waubonsee Community College

Adventures in the gender trade, produced by Susan Marenco

eng

videorecording

For College; Adult audiences

Adventures in the gender trade

electronic resource

747796128

produced by Susan Marenco

40

Kate Bornstein, writer and performer, was born a man. This documentary presents her frank account of her personal journey from unhappy boy child into liberated transsexual lesbian. Intercut with her satiric night club act called "Hidden: A Gender," are the stories of a wide range of people who refused to have their identity defined by whether they were born male or female. We are thus presented with a spectrum of colorful gender anomalies: drag queens, transsexuals, cross dressers, gays and lesbians ... and those who refuse to be categorized. They want the right to be not "male" or "female," but whatever they choose in between. Why, they ask, must we have a bipolar gender system, when some other cultures can accommodate diversity? Academics including Dr. Walter Williams, anthropologist, and David Halperin, of M.I.T. encourage a reevaluation of traditional thinking, and a distinction between gender orientation and sexual preference. Adventures in the Gender Trade is guaranteed to provoke discussion!

general