My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely

by Kate Bornstein

Book Overview

Gender isn't just about "male" or "female" anymore - if you have any doubts, just turn on your television. RuPaul is as familiar as tomato ketchup with national radio and television shows, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415916739
• ISBN13: 9780415916738
• Release Date: December 1997
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Still working through it

My Gender Workbook is an easy-to-read book but it's taking longer to get through than I expected due to the mental exercises Kate presents. I purchased this book hoping to understand more about gender and I'm finding the more I learn, the more confusing gender becomes to define. I recommend this book to anyone who feels gender should be challenged, or feels gender challenging. I also recommend it to anyone who feels there is no grey area in gender. My Gender Workbook will challenge you to analyze gender and everything the majority of us were raised to believe about it.

Excellent introduction to nonstandard gender

Kate Bornstein's writing is a pleasure to read! My Gender Workbook is a great way to start looking at nonstandard genders if you're used to thinking in strictly binary terms. While there's room in her viewpoint for girly girls and manly men, there's definitely a bit of bias towards transsexual and genderqueer folks. The quotes from different sources in the sidebar create a variety of perspectives on gender, in case you don't identify too strongly with Kate Bornstein's personal story (which, let's face it, isn't common to most of us). If you're already breaking the gender binary- that is, if you're the sort of person who'd be interested in this book- then likely it wouldn't provide much more than some much-needed encouragement. However, if you're new to transgressing gender, then this is probably the book for you.

Mind-opening book for all

I have always considered myself an open-minded, unassuming person, but after reading the first chapter of this book, I have come to realize that there is a world out there that I never conceived: A world of In-The-Middle. Bornstein shares hir unique gender enlightenment with us through this workbook that could be used for personal exploration or as a college textbook. One thing is for certain: Bornstein will challenge your notions about what "male" and "female" are!

The Real Thing

If you have ever wondered what a real man, a real woman, or a real something in-between is, this is a must read. "My Gender Workbook" has interactive exercises, advice, and guidance on gender, and provokes the reader to question the whole idea of gender as an absolute. We all have elements of each gender, and Bornstein goes to the point of arguing that there are many genders, not just two, and it is possible to lack gender entirely. As a transgendered person myself, I found the book enlightening and helpful in my own discovery of gender, and who I really am. In fact, this is one of the most useful books I have found on gender identity, and I refer back to it often.

incredible! mind-blowing!

a book for all genders, orientations, and adjectives. i've yet to show this book to someone who wasnt impressed. kate talks theory for those of us that would like a little, adds a dash of cosmology, and then gets into the true, errr, meat of exploring gender with fun exercizes and quizzes. hilarious, irrreverent, and ever-relevant it explores gender while maintaining the upbeat aesthetics of a true gender artist. whether your interest is academic or personal, it's a must read for _anyone_ interested in questions of gender.