Female MasculinityDuke University Press, 1998 - 329 pages Masculinity without men. In Female Masculinity Judith Halberstam takes aim at the protected status of male masculinity and shows that female masculinity has offered a distinct alternative to it for well over two hundred years. Providing the first full-length study on this subject, Halberstam catalogs the diversity of gender expressions among masculine women from nineteenth-century pre-lesbian practices to contemporary drag king performances. Through detailed textual readings as well as empirical research, Halberstam uncovers a hidden history of female masculinities while arguing for a more nuanced understanding of gender categories that would incorporate rather than pathologize them. She rereads Anne Lister's diaries and Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness as foundational assertions of female masculine identity. She considers the enigma of the stone butch and the politics surrounding butch/femme roles within lesbian communities. She also explores issues of transsexuality among "transgender dykes"--lesbians who pass as men--and female-to-male transsexuals who may find the label of "lesbian" a temporary refuge. Halberstam also tackles such topics as women and boxing, butches in Hollywood and independent cinema, and the phenomenon of male impersonators. Female Masculinity signals a new understanding of masculine behaviors and identities, and a new direction in interdisciplinary queer scholarship. Illustrated with nearly forty photographs, including portraits, film stills, and drag king performance shots, this book provides an extensive record of the wide range of female masculinities. And as Halberstam clearly demonstrates, female masculinity is not some bad imitation of virility, but a lively and dramatic staging of hybrid and minority genders. |
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Contents
The Androgyne the Tribade the Female | 45 |
John Radclyffe Hall and the Discourse | 75 |
Even Stone Butches Get the Blues III | 111 |
ButchFTM Border Wars and | 141 |
A Rough Guide to Butches on Film | 175 |
Masculinity and Performance | 231 |
New Masculinities | 267 |
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Common terms and phrases
androgynous Anne Lister argue Barker bathroom become bian butch-femme called camp Catherine Opie century chapter cinema club contemporary cross-dressing culinity discourse dominant drag king drag king contest drag king performances drag queen dyke Elvis embodiment essay Esther Newton example female body female masculinity femininity feminism femme film forms Furthermore gay and lesbian gay male gender identity gender variance girl Hall's heterosexual homosexuality identify images invert John k. d. lang kind lesbian feminist linity lives Loneliness lover male impersonation male masculinity mascu masculine women Miss narrative Newton notion novel obviously perverse play pleasure political produced queer theory Radclyffe Hall relation representation role Routledge same-sex scene sexual identity sexual practices simply Sister George social Souline Stephen stereotype stone butch Stone Butch Blues suggests tend theatrical tion tomboy tomboy film trans transgender transsexual tribadism University Press woman York